Much of your effectiveness as a leader will be directly
related to your ability to build a team of people who are passionately
committed to the ministry you lead. Team building is leadership the way God
designed it (Mark 1:16-17. Eph.4:11-16). The “team building” process includes
four important tasks:
1. Gather –
recruit people to your team. As a leader, you must be a “people person” who is
friendly, outgoing and always on the look out for new people and new leaders,
so they can be gathered in and harnessed. Learn to relate to a wide variety of
people and be inclusive in your relationships. Then build relationships with your people. Spend time with them and share
experiences. Be around your people, love them, laugh with them, cry with them,
work with them, and eat with them. We can't simply cheer people on and give
them our best wishes. We have to make room for them in our lives.
Remember that the community
aspect of your team is just as important as the productivity aspect. Jesus called his disciples to be “with him”.
Teams that enjoy being together tend to be more effective. Make people feel
needed, worthwhile, valuable and important. Use ample amounts of encouragement
and express appreciation regularly. Take an interest in people’s personal
lives, not just in what they can do for you or the ministry. Enjoy the journey
together.
2. Motivate –
inspire and influence people with vision and purpose. Seek to motivate (not manipulate) people for mutual advantage. Create an
atmosphere conducive to motivation by creating a sense of expectancy, through
being enthusiastic and optimistic, through meeting people’s need for a sense of
belonging, as well as for opportunities for growth and recognition, through
ample doses of appreciation (say “thank you” often) and encouragement, and
through making ministry enjoyable.
All ministry is hard work and discouragement and apathy can
easily set in. Your job as a leader is to ensure that each person on your team
keeps motivated for the ministry. Your attitude, and especially your enthusiasm
(Jn.2:17. Rom.12:11), is highly contagious. As a leader, you need to be the
chief cheerleader of your ministry. Qualities such as passion, confidence and
courage are extremely valuable and need to be guarded carefully as they are a
prime target of the enemy (Gal.6:9-10).
3. Train – coach
people to effectiveness. Make sure people know exactly what they are supposed
to do and why, who they’re responsible to and then give them good training, direction and supervision, as well as
the resources they need. Give them opportunity to ask questions, share how they
are going and give you feedback. Then you give them honest feedback showing
them areas they can grow in and how they can go about it.
Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do
better. Give people time, opportunity and training to help them become the very
best they can at what they do. Provide them with a variety of training
opportunities – personal coaching, group training sessions, resources (books
and or audio messages), mentors and appropriate seminars.
4. Mobilise –
empower people through delegating ministry. Take time to get to know people,
their desires and their spiritual gifts. Then seek to place them in an area of
ministry that matches their strengths. The art of delegation is one of the most
powerful tools leaders have. It increases their individual productivity as well
as the productivity of their ministry. Leaders who can't or won't delegate
create a bottleneck to growth and development. The other benefit of delegation
is that it increases the initiative of the people within the church because it
gives them a chance to grow and succeed.
Delegation is "the process of identifying your work
responsibilities and assigning portions of your work to others, so that the
workers become fulfilled and the work is accomplished". When we delegate,
we have a job that needs to get done and people who need caring for and
development. Our primary motivation in delegation is not just getting rid of
work we don't want to do – it is developing
people!
Leaders who fail to delegate do so because of insecurity,
lack of faith in others, lack of ability to train others, personal enjoyment of
the task, inability to find someone to do it, laziness,
lack of time, reluctance caused by past failure or an "I do it best”
mind-set.
Leadership development is the key issue for the ongoing
health and growth of any ministry. Build a dream team – let other people carry
the ball and star. It’s about winning the game not who gets the credit.
Insecurity in leaders is a deadly disease. It results in the failure to raise
up others, especially talented and strong people. There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you
aren’t concerned with who gets the glory.
How do you respond when (1) others are applauded OR (2)
others are more talented or experienced than you? Small people hold others down
while BIG people make room for everyone.
Putting Legs on It:
* Keep an updated list of all the leaders and
volunteers you are responsible for in appropriate groups. Make sure that each
person receives plenty of encouragement and lots of good feedback. Include
plenty of informality and fun along the way.
* Ask yourself: “What training is needed to this
person to a new level of effectiveness?” “Where are assistants needed and how
can I fill these gaps?” “Who has the greatest potential for development or
future promotion?” “Whose morale is sagging?”
* Resolve relational issues quickly (within 24 hrs, if possible) and
thoroughly. Untie those knots of anger and frustration. Nothing is more important.