I am happy to serve on what I believe to be a healthy team. It’s amazing how many church leaders I know who say their team is not healthy.
I have often been asked, however, why I claim our team is healthy. This is simply my opinion, but I can share some things I think healthy teams have in common.
Here are 10 commonalities of healthy teams:
- A shared vision is embraced by everyone on the team.
- Team member’s individual ideas are equally valued.
- The organization readily embraces change.
- Risk taking is encouraged.
- Encouragement flows freely.
- People enjoy their work and relationships are deeper than just the professional environment.
- Mistakes are used to make the team stronger
- The structure doesn’t limit growth, but provides healthy boundaries.
- There is freedom to offer constructive criticism, even of top leadership, without fear of retribution.
- Conflict is not discouraged, but handled in a healthy way.
There’s my list. Are we perfect in all of them – all the time? No. Do we see them consistently and value all of them? Thankfully, yes.
What would you add to the list?
Great post, Ron. Spot on. If I were to add one, it would be that leaders and team members are open and forthright in their communication. It's such a foundational component of both great leaders and great teams. There are elements of communication touched on in several of your points; however, it is such a critical issue for many leaders and teams, that I think it deserves its own bullet point! 🙂 It also is built upon the trust that Laura mentioned.
Cheers,
Will R
Ron, great post. Many organizations get some of these but rarely all of them.
Thanks Michael. Hope you are well.
Great post Ron! I'm sharing it with my team. Blessings!
Thanks Julie!
Okay, so today we discussed the 10 points when it came to our staff at LifePoint Church. What an eye-opener. There were three things I think we need to work on. Our staff singled out another that we spent 45 minutes talking about.
Overall, we spent an hour on this post.
Thank you Ron, our staff is stronger now having worked through these ten characteristics.
Blessings,
Dave
What a great encouragement! Thank you Dave!
Hey Ron,
We regularly have a segment of our staff meeting where we discuss, "Leadership Lessons." In our next meeting we're going to discuss this post. It looks good.
Thanks so much,
Dave
Thanks! That's an honor!
Number 3 and 5 have to be my two favorite on this list! If I were to add a number 11, I think it would have to do with team members encouraging each other to spend time and invest in their families. An orginization that encourages you to shut down and go home because the family is important is bound to create a happier spouse which creates a healthier team member.
I like your number 11 Mason
Great thoughts. Freedom to fail is crucial in an ever adapting culture. Thus the need for innovation & creativity. Teams that foster that secure environment to innovate together along their shared vision unleash the best creativity. Fear ladden environments only foster status quo & more than likely lead to decline.
Thanks Jack. I totally agree. When team members are afraid to fail, they quit dreaming big dreams.
This is a great post! I think that a shared vision where the entire team participates is integral in developing a healthy and thriving team. Certainly, that would top my list as well.
One thing I would add is that trust is also an important component to team building. If you can't trust your team to do the right thing, it's hard to create a positive environment. I've seen so many workplaces put so many rules and restrictions in place to make sure employees do the right thing. Great teams don't need that. If you trust your team and give them appropriate responsibility for their actions, they will do the right thing without having to put consequences in place.
I love that add Laura…and totally agree! Thanks!
Thanks Fernando! I think you are right about structure. As our organization grows, we have more need for structure, but we never want that structure to stifle creativity or growth…which has gotten us where we are today. Thanks for your comment.
Thank you for your post. I believe you hit several key aspects. Although I think they are all important, for large organizations, I think the one you mention on structure is very central. I have served in some organizations where structure instead of enabling, it limited the effective functioning of the organization, usually opening the space to political moves, rather than visionary, ministerial, strategic moves to develop the organization. I also find important the one on leadership development. In the end leaders are in the business of raising new leaders thus training/mentoring is of utmost importance. In the context where I am serving now both geographical and organizational, this has not been a key factor, and the organization has been paying the price in shortage of leaders to take different levels of responsibility in the structure. Thanks for these great points.