Building Teams - A lens to view your team by

Lay Pastors of New Hope,

Thank you for a vibrant discussion over ways we can build healthy teams.   I wanted to follow up with some resources for your future use.   Of note, I was convicted by our discussion to look into The author's background, and was excited to see he is a Christian.  My belief is that is just a bonus. We ought to be able to mine God's principles, or dispute the world's thinking through our knowledge of God's word, and discernment of God's spirit in us.   Please do so as you read below.   I challenge each of us to blog on a scripture that validates or disputes any of the principles listed below.

The Model

Note: The book models the dysfunctions.  Described below is the positive of these, the functions, as shown in Figure 1.

 

 Figure 1. The five functions of a team.

Description of each component of the model 

Trust 

Trust is the foundation.  

One type of trust is credibility, the trust that one will meet her commitments.  

Another type of trust, the type at the foundation of this model, is for one to trust the team enough that he feels he can say what he really thinks in difficult conversations. He feels he can be vulnerable to the team without undue concern for ramifications or perceptions to others or to himself.  This type of trust is important because it enables constructive conflict to thrive.   

Constructive conflict  

Constructive conflict is the passionate and unfiltered debate of ideas.  Constructive conflict is important because it enables the team to come to a good solution more quickly. This is especially true for difficult problems.  If trust isn’t there and people hold back, then certain critical information and perspectives may not be included. 

Constructive conflict is also needed to build commitment within the team.  Until each team member has had a chance to be heard, and issues considered, she will not make a deep commitment. She may give passive commitment, but that commitment will dwindle when the going gets tough.

Commitment 

Commitment is important because it drives accountability. If there is a deep commitment, team members will tend to hold each other accountable. Also, team members will tend not to dodge individual or team accountability.  

Accountability 

Accountability is important because it drives attention to results. Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where inattention to results can thrive. 

Attention to results 

Attention to results drives attainment of the team’s goals. The morale of the team members will tend to rise or fall with the results, which is healthy for the team. The morale of the team members will tend to be less affected by needs that aren’t connected to success of the team (such as individual ego.) 

The leader’s role  

The leader’s role in each of these functions is two fold; to model the behavior, and to set up a structure to facilitate the behavior. An example of modeling a behavior would be to show one’s willingness to be vulnerable, to model Trust. An example of setting up a structure to facilitate a behavior would be to go around the table in a meeting to give each person a chance to state concerns, to facilitate Commitment. 

Priorities in the hierarchy of teams  

If you are a manager, you have a role in at least two teams. You lead a team of your staff (level 1 team), and you are a member of a team of your peers in your boss’s staff (level 2 team).  There can be a tendency to have a higher allegiance to your level 1 team than to your level 2 team. In cases where you must prioritize between the needs of the level 2 team and the needs of the level 1 team, you should chose the priorities of the level 2 team, and conform the priorities of the level 1 team to meet those higher needs. 

  

Resource links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team

http://www.tablegroup.com/books/dysfunctions/

Correction back to the heart of our first love

S - Rev 2:2-5 (NASB)

2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance , and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.5 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

O -  This portion of the Revelations letter was to the church at Ephesus. It was Christ, via John, sending message of correction. The correction was one of recognition of their hard work,  affirmation of what they were doing correctly, and correction of that which they were not.   What Christ points out that they are doing correctly was not tolerating evil men.  They were testing so called apostles in their midst to ensuring they didn't have false leaders among them.  This is critical in a young immature church as well as a established and thriving church.   False teachers are rarely obvious, they are subtle in the way they infiltrate the congregation and lead people astray.   The correction is one of a "heart check" or pruning back to the heart of Christ.   Christ is telling the church to remember their first love, and passion as they received their salvation and calling to be a beacon to the community,  to spread the Gospel,  to be examples of God's love in how they love one another and their passion for the lost.  The warning comes along with the correction, failure to correct will cause the lamp stand (the church itself)  to be removed.  

A -   The application is for  me to understand and live God's heart for his local church's to always remember who they are and to be continually pruning back to the heart of the calling of the local church, to be a place where people can come broken and separated from God, and to find Him, worship Him, and be healed by Him.   This is done by following two basic principles pointed out here in the scripture:

1.   Put to test those who are leading the disciples -    This is a critical thing to understand and do continuously in being the church.  Often times people are allowed to lead before they are ready  ("under developed leaders") .  These you can correct and equip when they begin to stray off the core values of the church.   The scripture is not speaking of these, but rather leaders who have false doctrine in which they operate under that, subtly they are  "selling" to the congregation.  The key for the shepherd leaders in the congregation is to collectively confront, and challenge those who directly or indirectly are violating kingdom principles and/or core values of the church.

2.  Correct/prune back to the heart -  The outgrowing the original heart seems to be a natural tendency of either growing  church's or long standing stagnant church's.   Over time, we are making subtle adjustments to deal with our changing circumstances, or even out of a heart to improve we are making many changes over time.  If we stepped back periodically at took a look we might see things as Christ see's things,  we have lost our first love.  For the local church, that might look like when we begin to worry more about our church service problems, and less about the problems of the people in the community in which we serve.   Pruning back to our first love, the call, the vision and the mission of the church periodically helps us keep our calling, before Christ removes His anointing on the church.

P - Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, through your apostle John.   I pray Lord that you would help me to apply in my life, wherever you would send me, so that I may remember your calling on my life, and help the local church remember who she is.   I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.

 

Dealing with wounds and danger in the flock

S - 3 John 1:9-13 (NASB)⁹ I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. ¹⁰ For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.
 ¹¹ Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. ¹²Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself; and we add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

 ¹³ I had many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink; ¹⁴ but I hope to see you shortly, and we will speak face to face. 

O - Wow, John almost sounds like Paul in this letter, which is definitely a letter of encouragement and a letter of rebuke.  I say he sounds like Paul because in many of Paul's letter to the church's he planted there was a hint of a strong correction, coupled with words of encouragement, and guidance on how to navigate the circumstances, followed by the promise (threat even) of an in person appearance.  There are great leadership and shepherding gems to be mined from these verses.  First off we can see examples of whom we might see in our own church or ministry.  The Diotrephes' are present in our church today, those who love to be first, and are not teachable or correctable.  John points out these deeds are to be called attention to by leaders, and the rest of the sheep are to be reminded not to imitate such behavior.   John points all of this out in a short letter, and doesn't get into the details of the situation, either because the recipients of letter will know what and whom he is speaking of, but I believe it is also because John is a wise leader, in that he knows some matters need to be handled face to face, a letter (or email) will not be effective.

A -  The application for me is as a shepherd leader I can pick up some good tools for my shepherding tool bag to be carried around and used when appropriate.   First off as shepherds we must realize that among the sheep their may be those sheep who are sick and wounded and as a result they affect the rest of the sheep.    As shepherds we are to know our flock and when we see someone who may be wounded and out of this woundedness, wounds others in their path.   We should do what all good shepherds would do,  protect the sheep, and go after the one who is wounded with love, kindness, and correction if necessary.  The correlary to this is that at times their may be wolves in sheep clothing among your flock, these are even more dangerous and need to be dealt with swiftly and appropriately.   Secondly, John gives us a great shepherding gem,  we are to use discernment to the situation and in cases where the flock is at risk you must deal with situations face to face,  an email, or a subtle comment in a group meeting just won't do.  In face to face, we can directly address issues, bring them to forefront, and often time the corrections neccesary will be more effective when a person to person contact is made.  In a time when email, text, and Facebook communications are available, we must be careful to handle communications and correction in an appropriate forum for the situation,  as shepherds our job is to use the correct tools for the job.  

P -  Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, may it be sealed to my heart.  I pray Lord that you would teach me and give me wise discernment of when to apply these new shepherding tools that you have revealed through scripture.  I  pray that my eyes would be open to see those wounded and in need of care, and I would be able to see the wolves amongst the flock.  I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.