Tweet Recently I gave our staff this exercise. This is a preference assessment. Basically, if you could only choose one option, which would you choose from the four figures shown?…
Read More
Tweet (Update: You can read the results of this post HERE.) If you have read my blog for more than a year, then you know that one of the personal…
A team…at least a healthy team…is not just a group of people who perform a common task. That may be a group, but it shouldn’t be called a team. I’ve written on healthy teams before:
10 Characteristics of a Healthy Team
Signs of an Emotionally Healthy Team
You can tell a healthy team by how it responds to each other and how it performs as a team.
A healthy team:
We have a healthy team. It’s full of grace, which works well, since that word is in our name. We consistently laugh together. We encourage each other to accomplish our goals. As a leader, I solicit feedback consistently. (I even allow the staff to anonymously evaluate me each year. Read about that process HERE.) We are generally flexible and laid back as an organization, yet we accomplish much towards our mission. I’ve worked in lots of environments and this is a good one…a healthy place to work. I’ve written articles about healthy teams, many of them based on the team on which I serve. (Read some of them HERE, HERE, or HERE.) I think our team would agree.
Still, I’m not sure we have eliminated what I call organizational fear. I’m not sure there is 100% freedom to share what’s on a person’s heart. I consistently address this concern. I’ve even said that sometimes we are too “nice” as an organization. We need to challenge more, even enter into healthy conflict, but sometimes it seems we are timid towards sharing our true feelings; especially some on the team. Problems exist…people see them…they continue for months…everyone recognizes something is wrong….yet no ones brings them to the surface. This is not a huge problem, or we wouldn’t be as healthy or successful as we are, but for whatever reason, some I may not understand, team members at times shy away from sharing what’s really on their mind.
Why is that? ….
I love the Whiteboard application on my iPad. I find myself using it to teach, when sitting with someone, think in pictures, and recently, just to scribble out a quick thought. I decided to periodically share some of them with you here:
Recently I was asked a question regarding how we handle set-up on Sunday mornings. Grace Community Church meets in a school and so every Sunday morning staff and volunteers start arriving about 5:30 AM to prepare for the day. The specific question was whether we have one person who oversees all the set-up. The answer is no. We actually have a team of people responsible; with different people in each area of ministry.
Answering the question reminded me of the value of teamwork. I personally believe that the way we are doing this is best. I’m not opposed to one central leader, and in some situations that may be better, but with this task, I think the team approach is more efficient than one individual being in charge.
Here are 3 reasons I personally prefer a team approach for this function of our church:
Tweet Recently in Costa Rica I saw a tradition that’s common in my country too. A child was placed in time-out… For a certain amount of time, a child is not allowed…
Recently I was speaking with someone about their experience with a controlling leader. My friend said, “He’s just one of those humor him and move on kind of guys.” I thought to myself, “What a sad commentary to be said about one’s leadership!”
It reminds me of a similar experience I had with a controlling leader…
You see, I once had an idea…
It was a dream…a big vision…
I knew it would require risk, extra energies, and the assistance of others, but I was confident this was something worth pursuing…
I even felt it was a call of God for my life…
I was a volunteer for the organization, not an employee, but I had been given a certain amount responsibility and authority…
The only problem…
The leader of the organization was a controlling leader…
That fact alone changed the way I approached (or didn’t approach) the opportunity…
Many controlling leaders receive that kind of attention…
I’ve noticed from my own experience and watching others, that we tend to respond to controlling leaders by:
The main battle for your organization’s long-term success doesn’t exist where you are…it exists where you are going…
Regardless of how great something may be now, this moment will pass. The successes created today will soon fade.
Take writing for example. Unless you are Rick Warren or a handful of others, the best selling authors have to continue to create new stuff to stay on the best sellers list for long. In the business world, the hottest products are only as hot as the next great update or until another “greater” product is introduced.
The fact is momentum dies. People lose interest. Motivation for what you are promoting fades. That’s more true now than ever before. If an organization wants to be successful over time, then it must be winning the battle for the future.
Here are three aspects or planning for future growth every organization must have:
Driving back from Nashville yesterday I listened to sports talk radio. The subject was the same I have been hearing for weeks. Everyone wants to talk about what’s wrong with the Titans. Everyone has his or her own theory. As I said in a previous post, (Read it HERE) I am a not an avid sports fan. I love sports, I love watching sports, but I don’t memorize player’s names or keep up with many statistics, I just enjoy sports.
I do keep up with leadership however, and as I said in my previous post, I think the main issue for the Titans now is a leadership problem. When leadership is uncertain or unsettled, it will impact the entire team. That’s an organizational leadership principle, and it’s true because it deals with people, which mean you can see the principle at work in business, in churches, and on professional football teams.
So, as one who does understand the subject of organizational leadership, here are 5 leadership suggestions I offer the Tennessee Titans leadership: