No leader can easily fail if securely knit together with a solid group of brothers and sisters. Many successful leaders are able to link their success and failures to the people in their lives. That is, the relationships they developed with friends and family. My success in school is in part due to a great relationship with my very supportive and encouraging mom, along with my relationship with friends on and off campus. Any success I have as a pastor is due to my relationship with the Lord, and my relationships with strong leaders and fellow believers to keep me accountable, encourage me, edify me, and walk beside me. As a leader, we cannot afford to be alone.
As Christian team leaders, the success of our teams is not for self-praise. Nor is the success of our teams a means to prove we are good leaders. Rather, the success of our teams is the fruit of a solid relationship with the Lord and obedience to God’s direction. We work in order to serve the Lord. We want to be successful in order to bring glory to God. We are only good leaders by first being servants of the Lord and servants of others.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul states that our attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus. After all, if Jesus is truly our Lord, should we not strive to be like him? Paul says:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
-Philippians 2:5-8
Attitudes of insolence, arrogance, and severance discourage team members. Rather than building up our team members, recognizing their value, we are pushing them out. If we do not learn to value and serve our team members, the team(s) they serve will fall.
Below are 5 ways to VALUE your people. In valuing your team members, you are serving them. In serving them, you are embracing the same attitude as Christ Jesus.
Validate your people. Each time you communicate with a member of your team, they should feel needed NOT defeated. Every person wants to feel significant and contribute something positive to the team. If they are doing their job well, let them know and do not overlook the little things in your communication. Many leaders overlook the small things like emails. Think about the emails you send out to team members. Do you rush through them in order to spit out the “need to know” of what you have to say? Do you take the time to appreciate your people or do you skip to dealing with the “important” or “urgent” issue at hand? If so, you are putting the work above the worker. Below are two different examples of emails. The first is a poor example. It is direct, to the point and has no regard for the team member as a person. The second is a good example. It is direct, to the point but has regard for the team member as a person.
Email 1
Coming up is the big event
Your responsibility will be to set up the tables and make sure there are enough drinks for the people who will be attending. It will last about 2 hours and then clean up can begin. I will email again if anything new comes up.
Leader
Email 2
Hi Jane,
Thank you so much for all you do for the team. You have been doing some great things and have blessed me.
This week is the big event. Please note the following: Your responsibility will be to set up the tables and make sure there are enough drinks for the people who will be attending. It will last about 2 hours and then clean up can begin. I will email again if anything new comes up.
If you have any questions please email me. Thank you for your help
Leader
Notice in the first email there is no acknowledgement of the person to whom the email is written. This email does not make a person feel valued or appreciated. Also notice the tone of the first email. It comes across as though the reader is insignificant, subordinate, and expendable. No “please” or “thank you” is even hinted. In essence, this email communicates, “You exist to work so here is your work, get it done!”
The second email acknowledges the person, Jane. Furthermore, the email begins and ends with thanksgiving. The leader thanks the team member for being a part of the team. It gives a short acknowledgement of something they have done recently that was noticed and invites the person to contact the leader. In essence, the second email communicates, “You are doing great work. I notice it. I am here for you. Thank you for all you do.”
The second email took about an extra 10 seconds to write. It does not take long to add a few lines of appreciation, but the few lines of appreciation will go a long way. If you do not have time to make your team feel valued, you do not have time to be a leader.
Assign tasks to team members. As mentioned above, team members want to feel like they are making a significant contribution to the team. They want to feel important, useful and purposeful. Invite people into the vision and allow them to participate in making the vision a reality. Show team members how their efforts are a big part of moving forward the vision. As team members grow in their leadership, assign them greater things, give them greater responsibilities and prepare them for greater work.
I have listened to some great teachings about developing team members. As a leader, we are developers. Goethe says, “Treat a [person] as [they] appear to be and you make [them] worse. But treat a [person] as if [they] already were what [they] potentially could be, and you make [them] what they should be.”
Listen to your team members. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger – James 1:19
Are we doing all the talking? If so, we are not leading well. Someone once told me we have two ears and one mouth, meaning we should listen twice as much as we speak. Get to know the people on your team. Ask questions in order to unveil their passions. Get to know their values, strengths, ideas and desires. Accept and appreciate that every individual is unique with his or her own creative input. Thus, create a canvas of common ground for each person to share their creative colors and together produce a masterpiece.
Members of a team will recognize a leader that talks more than he or she listens. That team member is likely to be discouraged from sharing anything or speaking up. This is detrimental to the team. It does not do anything for the development of that team member. It keeps a team member from sharing potentially great ideas that could be used in a powerful way for the Kingdom. It makes for poor communication. Finally, it causes more stress, both on the person taking all the work upon him or herself and the people who can see how to make things run more smoothly but do not feel invited to share.
When Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth, he states the Body of Christ, a metaphor for the Church, is like a physical body with all its parts (cf. 1 Corinthians 12).
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:17, 21-27)
We cannot neglect the eyes of our team lest we march blindly ahead.
Uproot the weeds. Jesus said to his disciples:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:1-4)
I am not a gardener, nor do I claim to have botany skills of any kind. However, it does not take a skillful botanist to know bad seed will produce a bad crop, and a bad plant will not survive without being nurtured back to health.
Jesus says his disciples must be connected to him in order to bear good fruit. Thus we as leaders along with our team members must be securely connected to the Lord. As leaders we need to take note of people who are not walking strongly with the Lord, come along side them and encourage them in their trajectory toward fullness in Jesus Christ. If they need to be relieved from responsibilities for a while, have them take time to do what they need in order to get back on track and be securely connected to the Lord.
Fruit is character. Thus, good fruit is good character that matches the character of Jesus. We can tell if our team members do not have good attitudes, just like we can tell if one of our plants is dying. This is a manifestation of a life apart from Jesus. As a leader, we need to find out what we can do to help our team members stay connected to the Lord. Otherwise, bad character will spread. There are times in which we must uproot the weeds for the sake of the garden. This is valuing those who are connected to the Lord and bearing good fruit because it is getting rid of bad seed. However, this is also valuing those who have fallen away from a strong connection to the Lord because it is causing them to realize they need to get back on track. Do not be afraid, as a leader, to make hard choices and remove people from the team, for a season, while they get right with the Lord. They will do more damage than good if they are not connected to Jesus but still a part of the team. Be sure to prune your garden! Get rid of negativity. Naturally, this should be done with gentleness and prayer (cf. Galatians 6:1-2).
Evaluate your team individually and corporately. Let each member of your team know how he or she is doing from time to time. Praise them in their strengths. Encourage them in the growth areas. Call out any negative behavior in firm love. Invite team members to the next level of responsibility when they are ready. Above all, let them know examples how they are living in such a way that matches the character of Jesus.
Corporately, let your team know how the ministry is doing. Celebrate victories with them. Provide examples to let the team know how much land they have occupied for the Kingdom by means of their efforts, prayers, and good works. Lastly, have them evaluate you as a leader and grow together for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
VALUE your team and in doing so, create solid relationships between you and team members and team members and themselves. We cannot do Kingdom work alone! May your team be an image of the church working together as partners in the Kingdom of God. May you serve your team and the Lord as Christ serves his Church.
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