by Stan Rodda: This past week has been a great week of learning for me. From staffing conversations all the way down to volunteer roles at my campus. I have learned a lot this past week.
Over time I think we all let up on the gas pedal a little bit. We delegate away influence that we really need to maintain. Maybe it’s just that we’re tired and need to be more intentional about resting. Maybe it’s that we need to take next steps and develop our own leadership.
Regardless of the reason, there are some non-negotiables when it comes to building a strong and healthy team culture. I am learning and relearning multiple lessons when it comes to this conversation. Here are a few I have been reminded of recently.
There is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting!
Once again, email is not your friend. Stop using it to send communications that would be best handled face-to-face. I sent what in my opinion was a really strong, vision casting email recently. What I intended to communicate was not heard. What was heard was that maybe this person wasn’t the right person for the role.
While that may be true, the reality is that email did not accurately convey what I intended to come across. As a result, I will have to slow down, go back and retrace those steps with this person. Do the hard work of sitting across a table with the people who are working closest with you to pour vision into them. You will save yourself time and energy.
There are some things only you can do – do those things!
Don’t delegate away your influence. There are certain elements of developing the team culture you envision that only you can communicate to your teams. It doesn’t work to hope they catch it by osmosis, through a sermon or by breathing the air in your church or ministry. There are some things only you can do as the leader and you need to prioritize those things for the health of your team and ministry.
There is no shortcut to developing your team’s culture!
No one at my campus has developed a deep understanding of the team culture we are trying to create without the hard work of digging in and getting their hands dirty. They have to wrestle with priorities of time and financial resources. They have to be willing to dive into prayer, Scripture reading, sacrifice and availability.
If you are looking for a silver bullet your to your culture questions at your church or ministry…STOP! It doesn’t exist. You hav etc do the hard work of developing people. Helping them to discover what specific purposes and plans God has designed them for. Then help them live them out at a high level. There is no shortcut around this intense personal and spiritual development.
There are many lessons for me yet to be learned when it comes to developing a healthy team culture at my campus. What are some of the lessons you have learned about developing a healthy/strong team culture in your church or ministry?