I’ve seen many leaders make a common mistake. They believe in teams, so they create a bunch of them. They charge the teams with carrying out a specific mission or an assigned task. The team is part of a accomplishing the greater vision. But their ineffectiveness comes when there is no leader.
Granted, I believe in teams.
I even love the word – TEAM! It sounds cooperative. Energy-building. Inclusive.
I think we should always strive to create great teams.
But here’s what often happens. The team doesn’t work. Nothing gets accomplished. There may have lots of meetings, but there is no real forward movement.
The team flounders.
Why? They had a great team. The team was full of great people. They were part of a great vision and everyone may have known exactly what they hoped to accomplish.
But, this is where the common mistake exists among many teams.
They never had a leader.
I have worked with a number of churches that have well-defined structures with lots of committees. The problem is they are too structured for effectiveness. And, many times, you have to be in the church at least a year before you could serve in leadership. In practice, this often means you have to be there for many years before you are ever “known” enough to be placed on a committee.
This process might work well for certain committees – such as finance committee, but it doesn’t seem to work as well for others, such as the garden committee or the usher committee. Churches need lots of people in those areas and need to be able to plug new people in quickly and let them get to work. Often in these circumstances, churches need more of a team concept than a committee structure.
But even with teams – the ineffectiveness comes when no one is ever appointed a leader.
At some point in time, a leader will need to stand up – and lead.
Any group of people without a leader is like an athletic team without a coach.
I love leading through teams, but in addition to making sure people know what’s expected of them, we have to make sure every team has a leader.
Personally, I try to never appoint or release a team to do work until we make sure a leader is chosen. They can choose their own leader, we can appoint one for them, or they may even have co-leadership, but there needs to be someone who has the assigned task of steering, motivating and leading the team to accomplish it’s mission.
I love teams. I just make sure every team has a leader.
Join Nate and I for the Ron Edmondson Leadership Podcast. And subscribe now, so you won’t miss the next one.
