The STaRS teams.

The First 90 Days book identifies two types of teams that are needed in different organizations: HUNTERS and FARMERS.

Hunters

• Best used in: START-UPS and TURNAROUNDS
• team members who can move fast and take chances
• act quickly and decisively, often on the basis of incomplete information
• make rapid diagnosis
• the problems teach them about the need for change
• they handle ready-fire-aim situations
• in SUSTAINING SUCCESS and REALIGNMENTS they can stumble by arriving with the answer and moving too fast, needlessly causing resistance

Farmers

• Best used in: SUSTAINING SUCCESS and REALIGNMENTS
• subtle influence skills needed
• they understand the organization’s culture and politics
• they cultivate the awareness of the need for change by promoting diagnosis, influencing opinion leaders, encouraging benchmarking
• they must teach people about the need for major change
• they handle ready-aim-fire situations
• in START-UPS and TURNAROUNDS they can stumble by moving too slowly, expending energy on cultivating consensus when it is unnecessary to do so, squandering precious time

Here’s the question for church leaders: Do you have the right team members for your type of organization? Do you have farmers farming and hunters hunting?