The success of your ministry depends largely on developing a strong team with a deep sense of team spirit. I’ve witnessed the incredible power of a unified team to create growth and have counseled many churches who weren’t growing because their team members worked as individuals and not as a team.
A team spirit is never accidental; it is always intentional. Teamwork is built on three factors:
- a compelling purpose
- crystal clear communication
- a code of commonly held values
At Saddleback Church, we express the eight values of teamwork in a simple acrostic, T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.:
T—Trust
Trust among your team is the emotional glue that binds them together; it’s essential to producing true confidence in each other. There are three factors that create trust within a team:
- Consistency—People will trust you if, time after time, they see you responding in a consistent and reasonable manner. You also need to be readable, in the sense that they need to know where you are coming from in your decisions and responses.
- Loyalty—Defend members of your team when they’re criticized and then check the facts later in private, always assuming the best until there is concrete evidence to the contrary.
- Delegation—When you delegate to your team the power to make decisions, you’re essentially telling them: “I trust you!” People trust leaders who trust them.
E—Economy of Energy
Even a thoroughbred horse can’t run at a full gait all the time. The quickest way to burn-out a team is to never let them relax. The book of Proverbs teaches: “A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life” (Proverbs 14:30, LB). If you want the people on your team to last, they must have some down time.
Here are some ways you can promote an economy of energy within your team:
- Anticipate and compensate for personal and family energy drains, such as illnesses and new babies. Your team has a life outside of their area of ministry.
- Allow people to work at different energy levels on different days. Some days, everyone must work fast and energetic. Other days, it is important to slow the pace a bit. In the long term, slow and steady always outlasts the fast and furious.
- Plan your year in energy cycles. At Saddleback, we always build in rest periods for consolidation between major growth campaigns and initiatives.
- Allow flexibility in schedules when possible.
- Make the work fun!
A—Affirmation
Everybody is hungry for affirmation. When they don’t get it, they get cranky. It’s amazing how a smile and a simple word of encouragement can change a team member’s entire day. Four practical ways you can affirm your team would be:
- valuing their ideas
- appreciating their uniqueness
- commending their efforts
- praising their loyalty
M—Management of Mistakes
The Bible teaches: “Even though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again” (Proverbs 24:16, NIV). I love that saying because it points out that even righteous people make mistakes and stumble occasionally. Mistakes are not failures, because you’re never a failure until you give up. Mistakes teach us what doesn’t work. If you’re not making any mistakes, it means you’re playing it safe and not trying anything new. I tell my staff that I want every one of them making at least one new mistake a week—as long as it isn’t the same old one! Mistakes are how we learn and get better.