Every team needs some inexpensive ways to develop people on the team. That way even when finances are tight, development keeps going.
When budgets are stretched, development often is pushed to the back burner or cut altogether from the budget. This is dangerous for a team, which wishes to remain healthy and continue growing. If a team is not learning and improving it will soon struggle to maintain any level of success.
So, build into your system some inexpensive ways to develop people.
10 Inexpensive Ways To Develop People on a Team:
Bring in a leader:Â It may be cheaper to bring the expert to you than it is for multiple people to attend a conference. Find someone from whom your team can learn and pay his or her expenses to visit the team.
Send a representative:Â You may have to draw names to decide who, but pay for one person to attend a conference with a catch. They have to bring information back to share with the team.
Read a book together: The number of leadership books easily outnumber the months a team will be together. Find some good ones, read and digest them as a team. (I’d recommend my book “7 Myths of Leadership,” but that would seem self-serving.)
Use local resources:Â Most likely, there are businesses or universities near your community that have development offices or procedures to develop people, with people already skilled who can inexpensively invest in your team.
Online or teleconference:Â Technology allows for some great online conferences. Gather the team around a computer and learn without leaving the office. Additionally, if you have a telephone, you have the makings of a great way to connect with other leaders. Arrange for a joint call with one and let the team ask questions and then process the interview together.
Pool Resources:Â Join forces with another church to accomplish any of these ideas. Learn from each other. Swap responsibilities to lead a development activity. Share the costs of bringing in a speaker and do a combined mini-conference of your own.
Visit other churches:Â Allow the team to visit other churches in the area, either individually or as a group. Sometimes the quickest ways to promote change is to introduce leaders to other environments. It is a great way to develop new ideas and improve upon what you are doing as you see what others are doing firsthand. Be sure everyone goes expecting to bring something back to the team they have learned.
Learn from each other:Â Chances are good that everyone on your team has something to offer that can make the team better. Take turns sharing with each other something you already know or are learning.