Search teams consist of seven (7) members who:

• Are elected by the congregation (per the bylaws)
• Are committed to serve throughout the year-long process (see Search Team Time Commitment)
• Agree to give up all other leadership roles if they are chosen to be on the search team

The goals of the search team selection should be to have a high-functioning, wise, and thoughtful group that is committed to the congregation and its vision for the future. They will be a potential minister’s first touch with your congregation. Desired qualities include:

• are trusted by the congregation
• represent the congregation as a whole
• are in touch with congregational dynamics, its strengths and limitations, and its desired direction
• a rich diversity of perspectives and experiences, including those from historically marginalized communities
• able to be responsible for and capable of developing a good process in alignment with UU values for itself and the congregation.

Recommended Selection Process

A personal outreach process is time-intensive, but relational. It sets the tone for the search process, and it produces good results and a high degree of respect and trust for both the new search team and the board. Plan for a month to six weeks to carry out the steps.

It requires a couple key leadership roles:

• Cat-Herder: A person who tracks who keeps track of the master list of who is calling whom, and sends out gentle nudges as needed to get a high level of responses.
• Data Manager: A person designated to compile the data (see instructions below)

Personal Outreach Plan to Collect Nominations

The board members, along with other trusted and visible leaders as needed (i.e. leadership development, committee on shared ministry, RE committee) divide up a list of all members (and selected friends, as you decide). Everyont then conducts household interviews (via phone, Zoom, or in person) with everyone on their list, recording the result in a common spreadsheet. Google forms work well for this task.

Each household conversation includes generative questions that help guide the interview into big-picture thinking:

• Who in the congregation is a good team player, who works well with others and listens well?
• Who can represent and serve the whole congregation well (including looking out for the needs of children) without bias?
• Who among long standing members knows the history and culture of the congregation, or who among newer members is curious about it?
• Who has been and/or is active in the congregation and has demonstrated responsible participation and leadership?
• One of the most attractive qualities a congregation can have is self-awareness of strengths and challenges, as well as how they operate on a day-to-day basis. Who would be able to know and relate all this to potential candidates?
• Who will understand the call of a minister as a sacred task to find a long-term spiritual leader of a faith community? Who would not fall into hiring practices or patterns from a more familiar corporate or academic setting?
• Who would represent us well in interacting with applicants?

Then, you can ask the final question:

• After thinking about all of these questions, whom would you trust to serve on the search team on behalf of the congregation?

A Second Chance to Participate

Once the board feels that they’ve contacted and talked with everyone they could, they may offer an option to fill out a form with the same questions.

Compile an Initial List of Nomination Candidates

Once the nomination conversations are complete, the data manager compiles a list of the top 12 to 14 names from the collected names, considering natural breaks in number of nominations.

• Example: The top 13 names are mentioned twenty or more times. Name #14 is mentioned 15 times, and names #12 and #11 are mentioned 14 times. The natural break would be after person #13.

Board members call this short list to:

• see if they are interested in serving on the search team
• see if they would agree to give up any other leadership position they hold if chosen for the search team.
• get a short biographical sketch and profile photo to use for the election

They should also check on their availability and commitment in the fall through the spring of the search cycle (August-May). All search team members should be available for all pre-candidating weekends (February and March).

The board should now have a list of interested and available candidates to fill the seven positions.

Congregational Vote on the Search Team

Usually, a congregation’s bylaws require that a settled/called minister search team be elected by the congregation. Since bylaws vary, it’s up to each congregation to read them thoroughly to ensure compliance in the election process.

Contested or Non-Contested Election?

The search process provided a chance to practice accountability to UUA Shared Values. Here are a couple of option on how to ensure diversity on your search team.

Share the biographical sketches and photos well ahead of time, both in electronic communication and on a display in the church.

Nominations from the floor should never be considered for a search team.

Contested Elections

• Make it clear to the congregation and the candidates that some candidates will not be chosen in the election.
• Decide ahead of time on how many of the 7 search team members will be elected, and how many will be appointed by the board to meet your diversity goals. This should be communicated clearly before the congregational meeting.
• After the votes are cast, the board meets in executive session. (This may happen later in the week.) They count the votes and fill the “elected” seats with those candidates. The board then can choose from the remaining candidates to add diversity (age, tenure, gender, race/ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation) and appoint them to the search team.
• When the board announces the search team, with fanfare, they keep confidential within the board members who was elected and who was appointed.

Non-Contested Elections

• The board meets in executive session, choosing a diverse team which will work well together from the short-list of folks who are trusted by the congregation and are willing to serve.
• This search team is presented and is voted on as a slate at the congregational meeting.

Why Can’t We Do It the Old Way?

Questions may arise from previous search experiences. Here are some responses:

• Can a member of the board or a staff person serve on the search team?
  The search team needs to be both independent of and accountable to the governing board. A congregational member could do one, but not both. Staff and spouses of staff should also not serve on the search team.
• Can’t we just select one person from each (church team or committee) to serve on the search team?
  The search team should have the trust and endorsement of the entire congregation, and be selected based on qualities that will support a successful search that meets the needs of the congregation as a whole.
• Can we accept nominations from the floor during the congregational meeting?
  Floor nominations (and self-nominations)—even if permitted by the bylaws—would go against the trust being built by the congregation with a thoughtful and inclusive nomination process.