Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Talent Acquisition

Talent Acquisition and Management

And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren. – Nehemiah 13:13

Hiring the right candidates, otherwise called talent acquisition, is another leadership lesson we can learn from Nehemiah. From the passage above we see that after restoring order to the routine of the temple, Nehemiah did not stop there, he also sought the right personnel to manage the treasury of the storehouse. He did not hire any available person, mind you, the Bible says he appointed faithful persons as treasurers.

Talent acquisition and management, the process of identifying, recruiting, engaging and retaining the right personnel will always be a leadership conundrum. The extent a leader to which a leader can get this right will in part influence her success rate. This is because people make things; people also unmake things.

Therefore, a leader who knows his onions must ensure that he identifies the right candidate for every position or matches the skills and talents of the available personnel to the specific requirements of the job. Getting this wrong can be a recipe for failure.

In the case of Nehemiah, while he must have felt compelled to quickly do something that would prevent the temple from being taken over again by the likes of Tobiah, he did not allow that to pressure him into making hasty decisions as to whom he would put in charge. Rather, he did the diligence of looking out for the right persons among the priests and the Levites to manage the treasury. According to him, those he appointed were generally regarded as ‘faithful’ by their brethren, which suggests he must have also done a survey before settling for them.

This is another example in leadership from Nehemiah, one that is worthy of emulation by every leader who desires to run an entity that would survive the test of time. it starts with finding the right candidates for every role and matching the strengths of each personnel to the requirements of the assignments.

You Will Succeed in Jesus Name!

Also read:

• Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Confrontation (2)
• How God Creates: Creating by Declaration
• Great Goals Make You Stretch
• I Am So Grateful to God for His Faithfulness