[Course 3 Index] [Prayer-School Index] [Prayer Mini-Series Index ] [Prev Lesson] [Next Lesson]
Team Ministry
Cultivating Effective Communication on A Team
Seconds before the opening of the crucial Green Bay Packer / 49er football game in 1996, one of the cameras focused on defensive end Reggie White, well known for his solid and vocal Christian commitment. He had gathered all the non starting players, those who normally spend most of the game on the bench, and above the noise of the crowd shouted at them "Keep focused on the game. Don't you think about nothing else. Be ready to play. Be ready to come in when we need you." As the camera panned the faces of his hearers, one could see how clearly the basic message had penetrated their understanding.
Communication describes the transmission of ideas and is absolutely a basic ingredient of sound team ministry/work.
Donald Ely wrote in 'Are we getting through to each other': "There is nothing quite so wonderful as a good idea; there is nothing so tragic as a good idea which cannot be communicated."
This is vital. When you see a slam dunk, what you do not always see is the communication between the players (nod, hand move, vocal). Hours of practice and working together.
Effective communication does not happen by chance.
Here is an example:
As I was preparing for our team meeting this week I was considering the scripture in 1 Cor. 12 as it relates to team work. I thought it would be a good idea to systematize the Ecclesiastical Dogma of this passage. It seemed to me this would be the patristic thing to do since team work is so important to each of us. In going through this process it became a lot more integrated than I thought it would be, so I decided to balance the theoretical concept with the veracious sacerdotal piety and it all of a sudden became very clear.So this week as each of you carries out their team function I believe you will find that your actions will be much less transitional and that you will experience greater fulfillment in your incorporeal perception. The problem you will face is the transitional intangible credence, but if you can get past that, we can reach our team goals and your canonical perception will be as solid as a rock. This will allow us as a team to have a balanced, systematized and ingenuous level of gratuity along with our deep concept of reverential and veracious fear. So team lets go for it!!
Was that (the above two paragraphs) clear?? Are you sufficiently motivated? Or are you scratching your head and wondering what I just tried to communicate.
The point is this: communication is not just talking to someone, it is talking to them in a manner where they can understand what you are really trying to say. Effective communication only takes place if it is on "both sides". The speaker needs to share his/her ideas and the hearer needs to understand what that speaker is saying. Speaking clearly and without confusing signals is important, and feedback is also a key to effective communication. After you share, you might get the person to reiterate in their own words the concept you were trying to share. If there are points of confusion, you can clarify them.
We see that communication is important in the Bible. It is active in the corporate body, demonstrated in both the Old and New Testaments. Communication is important. Not just among the leadership team, but to the larger body as well (see Neh. 2:16-18). Note that the early church was a communicating church. Act. 14:27; 15:3, 12, 22, 30.
It is very dangerous to assume that everyone knows everything. Instead of assuming, simply communicate to assure that they do know!
Here is an example:
Yellowstone Park was on fire in 1989 and the private company that runs the concessions became worried for their lives during the height of the fires that threatened to ravage the entire park that summer. Rumors circulated that the executives of the company had a secret escape plan to get out of danger if the fires got too close. It wasn't long before the company had a near mutiny on their hands.A lack of a good communicated plan and the unfounded rumor destroyed the confidence of the employees in the company's good will. When the company heard of this they hired a forest service spokesman who brought daily updates, including a detailed explanation of evacuation plans for all employees who were part of the company.
Rumors can spread like forest fires.
Communication is a must. It is like the blood rushing through our bodies to keep us alive. People can't read our minds, so communicate and share what is in your mind.
Everybody on the team needs to communicate. Of primary importance however is the communication from the team leader to everyone. That involves listening as well as talking. It is always a two way street. Anyone can bark orders.
Hans Finzel in his book, The Top Ten Mistake Leaders Make gives some reasons why it is hard for leaders to listen to everyone on the team.
Nothing stops the progress of a team more quickly than leaders failing to listen. Hans Finzel gives a graphic example of this in his book "The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make." A college student accepts a position as youth director in a local church. He worked 20-30 hours a week for two years with the senior and junior highers. He is called into an elders meeting. One of the elders, who had three children growing in his ministry, took out a list of all the things he had done wrong in the past two years. Most of it was true for he was brand new in this work. The next thing he knew was that they were calling for his resignation in the heated emotions of the meeting. It came as a complete surprise. What were the dynamics of ineffective communication in his situation?
The sad part is that this situation (and others like it) could probably have been prevented with effective communication. The time to talk to the youth pastor was when he was making the mistakes, preferably in a non threatening way. If someone had called these to his attention and suggested alternative ways of dealing with the situation, then perhaps he would have grown effective instead of repeating mistakes he did not know he was making.
In a psychology class one time, the instructor did an experiment. He had 4 students come up to the board (each not allowed to look at the other's work) and told each to draw a line precisely 12 centimeters long. None of the students had a ruler or measuring stick to judge the work by. The instructor went to the first student, looked at his work, and said nothing. He went to the second student and said "that is not correct." He went to the third student and said "This is too short." He went to the fourth student and said "this is precisely 2 centimeters too short." Then he told each of the students to redraw their line. The first (who received absolutely no feedback) drew it precisely as he had before. The second had actually been quite close on his first attempt, (off by only 3/4 centimeter). But because he had been told it was wrong, he made his line a lot longer and as a result, his second attempt was much worse than his first. The third student (who had been told his was too short) made his line longer. A lot longer. As a result, he was as far off on the other side (too long) as he had been on the "too short" side. But the one who had been given the precise feedback drew a line that was very close to 12 centimeters long. Then the instructor went back again to each student. Again the first received no feedback, the second was told he was wrong, the third was told it was too long and the fourth was told it was too long by precisely 1/2 centimeter. The students were then instructed to redraw the line a 3 third time. Again student 1 made an identical line, student two refused to participate, student 3 drew a line that was precisely half way between the difference of the lengths of lines 1 and 2 and student 4 drew his precisely right.
At the end of this experiment, the students were interviewed regarding their frustration level. Student 1 (who was totally off on his length the whole time but never knew it) experienced no frustration and was very surprised to find out how off his line was. Student two was extremely frustrated, having been told that he was doing it wrong, but not offered any suggestions on how to correct his behavior. Student three was only mildly frustrated, having had reasonable but not precise feedback. Student four was actually quite pleased. He had received precise and helpful feedback and ended up accomplishing his task successfully.
This experiment made a strong impact in my mind about how important honest and constructive feedback is. Do not be afraid of hurting someone's feelings by giving gentle/constructive feedback. You will hurt them much more if you withhold the feedback and let them fail.
All leaders make mistakes. The good ones admit their mistakes and accept the consequences rather than trying to blame others.
People today want to blame everyone for their actions. They want to blame it all on something or someone in the past.
If you are not making mistakes then you are not doing anything of real value.
At precisely 8:01 P.M. on Sept. 11, 1985, baseball star Pete Rose smacked his 4,192nd career hit. That was good enough to surpass Ty Cobb and put Rose in the record books for most career hits. But Rose also deserves another baseball record: Most outs. 9,518 of them.
There should be clearly defined goals and objectives.
The terms mission, vision, goals and objectives can be used to mean different things according to who is using them.
The Mission, Vision or Purpose statement is why we exist as a team. This should be simple and short. It should state 'how' we plan to carry this out. In other terms: goals, objectives. These can be called Action steps: defining how we are going to reach and fulfill our Mission/Vision/Purpose.
Here is an example of a Mission/vision/purpose statement:
Our vision at Faith Christian Center is to develop fully devoted and fruitful disciples who know how to glorify God in Worship, reach out to the lost and minister to each other.We will do this by special classes, small group network, outreach programs, intercessory prayer teams, men's and women's ministries and ministry to different age groups and to different needs within the local body.
A football team starts out the year with a Vision of reaching and winning the Super bowl. Their goals and objectives are to win the division, get home field advantage. To do this, their goal will be to win each game. They will have a plan on how to win each game. These are called plays that make yardage towards the end zone to score touchdowns. They may change their methods, actions, steps along the way, but not the goal or vision. Some actions/steps may be to get a backup QB, a defensive back and a new line coach. Within that team are smaller teams that would have their own goals and mission. (Defensive unit; Special teams unit, Offensive line).
Philip Van Auken, author of "The Well-Managed Ministry" states, "When managed effectively, goal-setting can be a strong motivating force within the Christian organization. This is because goals give people a sense of united purpose, channeling their energy in productive directions. Goals serve as performance standards, providing ministry team members with a rudder to guide daily job activities."
In the absence of strategic goals, ministries must pay the price of slackened motivation, wasted energy, and inferior productivity.
Keeping the Vision, Mission, Purpose, Goals, objectives before the team is making sure the main thing is the main thing.
Pastor who had a large glass container on a table and filled with several large rocks. He asked if it was full and they said yes. He then poured small gravel into it and it worked its way down and around the large rocks and he asked again if it was full? They said yes. He then took small grains of sand and poured them in and they filled up open areas. He asked again and this time they were not so sure. It looked full. He then poured a pitcher of water in. The point to this illustration is to keep the main thing the main thing. If you try and fill up your life with sand, gravel first there will be no room for the large rocks at all.
Of course Jesus is the main thing to each of us. To a team the vision is the main thing. If you don't you have a tendency to stray from priorities.
A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. Using a process developed by Helice Bridges of Del Mar, California, she called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First, she told them how the student made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with white letters which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference." Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week.
One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons, and said, "we're doing a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened."
Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said, "Well, sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said, "Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people."
That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine, he thinks I'm a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says 'Who I Am Makes A difference' on my jacket above my heart. He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you. "My days are really hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!"
The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "I was planning on committing suicide, Dad, because I didn't think you loved me. Now I don't need to."
People need to feel significant. Woody Allen said, "My only regret in life is that I am not someone else!" (probably said to get a laugh, but there could be some truth there).
People must realize they they are valued, that they matter to you and others.
Listening to your team adds to your success and to their development.
When you listen to their ideas, they feel valued and encouraged. The key here is to genuinely seek their advice by listening. Do not simply go through the motions.
John Maxwell's definition: Empowering is giving your influence to others for the purpose of personal and organizational growth. It's sharing yourself, your influence, position, power and opportunities with others with the purpose of investing in their lives so that they can function at their best. It's seeing peoples potential, sharing your resources with them, and showing them that you believe in them completely.
This is a two way street. Team members need to be able to trust those over them. Trust has been called the glue that holds team members together. They need to be able to say, I want to be like him or her.
Every fall Charlie Brown will try to kick the football held by Lucy and he will end up on his back or face. Lucy always jerks the ball away at the last moment. Once she told him, "I am trying to teach you not to be so trusting." But year after year Charlie keeps trying. Why? He wants to trust her.
We must keep the team members growing:
Growth is not automatic. You have to have a plan. You have to be consistent with that plan.
In John Maxwell's book, "Developing the Leaders Around You" he notes that John Wooden, one of the most successful basketball coaches of all time, focused on the growing process. In "Six Timeless Marketing Blunders," William Shanklin writes about Wooden's approach to coaching. Shanklin tells that while Wooden coached UCLA, he did not stress winning. He emphasized preparation, teamwork, a willingness to change, and the desire for each person to perform at peak potential. His focus was on the process, not the end product. (This is NOT one of the blunders!)
Quote from a Quality Control expert. In quality control, we are not concerned about the product. We are concerned about the process. If the process is right, the product is guaranteed.
The same is true when it comes to personal growth.
In some games we have what we call a do-over, so to speak. For example, take the game of golf. You hit the ball off the tee and it goes 20 feet. Time for a "do-over". Put the ball back on the tee and pretend you never took that poor stroke.
It sure would be great if we could apply the do -- over principle to life-we say something dumb, and we could proclaim, "do-over!" Or we do something foolish and someone says -- "That's o.k. You can take it over."
A few years ago, a movie named Groundhog Day came out that underlined the desire of having what I call a "do-over" in life. The movie stars Bill Murray as a crotchety weatherman who, in the course of the film, lives the same day over and over again until he gets things right. He actually gets to do what all of us wish we could do! He turns from a selfish and proud person into a wonderful, helpful and nice guy.
We all suffer failures. We need to know that we are not disqualified because of a mistake; that there are second and third and fourth chances out there for us. Jesus offers us far more than any fantasy from Hollywood -- Jesus offers us chance after chance after chance -- in spite of who we are, God gives us opportunity to start over and over again!
We need that same assurance from team members and leaders.
Giving encouragement is one of the best ways to provide this. Not everyone can encourage themselves. David did and we should be able to, but everyone is not there.
Someone has called encouragement the oxygen to the soul. Use positive reinforcement. Don't take acceptable work for granted. Instead, thank people for their efforts, praise their improvement. Find out what works with each person and use it. Be sure to spend time with them and really love and care for them.
John Wooden told players who scored to give a smile, wink, or nod to the player who gave them a good pass. "What if he's not looking?" asked a team member. Wooden replied, "I guarantee he'll look."
Everyone values encouragement and looks for it.
People in our society are under encouraged.
Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove, and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry the burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy's name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball, and history, that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend. They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was invited in for a coke and to watch some TV. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice. They ended up at the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came, and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. "Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things from school that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mothers pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together I realized that if I had, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books for me that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life."
Have you been helping anyone with their books lately????