Andy Stanley on Teams

In the last session of the DRIVE 06 Conference Andy Stanley talked about Building High Performance Teams. He started off with the comment, "Most people in the workforce don't feel like they are part of a team. They feel like employees. Team involves chemistry and that makes it hard to define and even harder to develop."

Thank goodness the days of solo-ministry is dying method. The days when pastors spend 27 out of 28 nights away from their family out doing ministry are all but history. The power of team is finally being brought into the church. Yet church staffs still struggle to build true teams. That type of chemistry comes from debating, playing together and depending on one another. That is why Andy drilled down on the benefits of truly doing ministry in teams and how to address the obstacles to building teams. He shared the following lists.

Tips for leading the team meeting (that is building a team)

• Prepare.
• Pull members into the discussion.
• Don't interrupt a debate...listen.
• Don't attempt to resolve tension - it won't really be resolved.
• Don't allow team members to interrupt each other.
• When you sense someone isn't listening...only waiting to talk...address it.
• Keep the discussion focused.
• When a sensitive subject is going to be discussed, give those who may feel threatened a heads-up.
• Conclude with assignments.

10 Ways to Kill a Team:

• Meet only when there is a crisis.
• Allow the strong personalities to dominate the discussion.
• Allow team decisions to be undermined by private meetings after the team meeting.
• Have your mind made up before you get input from the team.
• Remain inflexible in the face of new information.
• Cut off debate.
• Don't hold team members accountable for their assignments.
• Ignore the intangibles.
• Expect more of the team than you expect of yourself.
• Take individual credit for the accomplishments of the team.

I pulled this last list from Mark Waltz's blog. Mark is one of the Granger guys, who himself is a great team leader and future thinker. I've been to a couple of his "First Impressions" conferences that Granger hosts.