I have written all week about team idleness. Check out more of the posts on the home page of this blog.  I thought it was equally important to share some thoughts about what makes up a healthy team. Obviously that is our goal. Here are some quick elements of healthy teams:

Agreed upon mission: everyone knows where the organization wants to go and what a win looks like.

Right people: The people on the team are the correct fit for the role they have been assigned and have the proper training to complete their assignment.

Ample resources: Regardless of the awesomeness of a team, if the team lacks adequate resources it will never achieve its full potential. (Take it from a former small business owner…no matter how good your employees are cash is king!)

Consistent pace: Healthy teams can’t move too fast or they burnout. If they move to slow they stagnate. There will always be highs and lows with any team, but healthy teams find the right balance for the team and find ways to continue to grow.

Accountability: Teams fail when no one holds the members accountable for success. There are very few people who can continue to function well without a structure in place to insure consistent progress.

Healthy teams reach their full potential and guard against team idleness. Here’s my challenge for you and I to build healthy teams.

What suggestions do you have for building healthy teams?

I am writing some posts this week on the concept of team idleness. Check out other posts on the blog.

I believe and practice the concept of team leadership.  I want people in our organization that will assume ownership of an individual task and follow through with the responsibility of seeing projects completed well.  We have a shared leadership philosophy at Grace Community Church and I have posted about the need for a leader to “give their vision away” to people he or she trust to make it better.

That being said, there is usually a balancing statement needed for most principles to work in the real world.  When considering team leadership, for example, one thing that must be equally understood is that there comes a time when one person has to stand up and assume responsibility for the project or task. Someone has to lead.    The leader doesn’t always have to be the same person, depending on the task, but one person needs to be accountable for completion and success of the project.  If not, team members are left staring at each other and nothing moves forward.

Does your organization practice team leadership?  How do you assign ultimate responsibility for successful completion?

Marissa Mayer explains how Google succeeds by encouraging employees to think outside the box.

Can your organization learn from Google?  How do you encourage your team to think outside the box?

Yesterday I began some thoughts about the term team idleness.  To understand the term fully read that post HERE.

What causes team idleness?  What causes a team to stagnate and fail to move forward towards reaching its goals and objectives?  Here are a few of my thoughts:

• No fresh ideas: If new ideas are not coming to the table frequently the team becomes stale and progress slows.
• Burnout: If team members are overworked or in need of a break their energy level will slow.
• Lost vision: If a team loses sight of the big picture goals and objectives of the team they will lose interest or get off course.
• Wrong team members: Sometimes a vision outgrows members of the team and other times team members outgrow the vision.
• Lack of Resources: If there are not adequate resources to complete the task the team stalls.
• Poor training: Sometimes teams are asked to perform beyond their level of understanding.
• No accountability:  I will write more about this tomorrow, but all teams need someone to assume ultimate responsibility.

Feel free to add your own thoughts.  What are reasons you have seen for team idleness to occur?

I have been thinking a lot about teams lately, which led my thoughts to some of the negative parts of team leadership. I will share some of those thoughts here this week.  My goal as a leader of a team is to make sure we avoid many of the traps teams experience without good leadership.

One term that popped in my head that I will play off of is the term “team idleness”.  I am using that term to represent when a team is failing to move forward towards meeting its desired goals and objectives. Team idleness does not necessarily mean the wrong people are on the team or that it has the wrong goals and objectives or that the goals and objectives are unrealistic.  Every team, regardless of their health, can go through times of team idleness.  The term simply means that at any given time there is no forward progress for the team.  Thankfully my team is not currently experiencing this, at least as a whole, so it is a good time for me to think through this issue.  I have witnessed this many times in organizations with which I have been associated and I  can assure you that most teams will deal with team idleness at various times through the life of the team.

Think with me this week about team functions.  Are you part of a team?  Are you currently facing team idleness?  Do you know what caused you to stagnate?  Do you have a solution to get your team started again? Have you been through team idleness before and have some answers for the rest of us?

The best life, community and spiritual growth happens at Grace Community Church within the context of our small group ministry.  We have some amazing leaders of our small groups.  I’m always encouraged by their willingness to sacrifice part of them to invest in other people.  I know each of them would say, however, that they receive far more in return than they give up.   Serving others is like that.

Group life helps relationships become more authentic.  It connects people who would otherwise never meet.  It builds friendships for life.  In the three groups we have led since the church started we have found people we now consider family. I cannot imagine our life without them now.  In all my years working in ministry, as a layperson and as a pastor, there is no place where the Acts 2 model of church is displayed any better than within the small group settings that meet in people’s homes.

Group leaders thank you for investing in, leading, loving, encouraging, shaping people to become growing disciples of Jesus Christ.  You are true Kingdom-builders!  Your time and energy helps to make us a better church. Grace Community Church would not be the church we are without you!

If you are like me you want to see consistent improvement in your organization.  Sometimes I can be overly critical because I have such high hopes and expectations for us as a church.  At times I can become a bit overwhelmed with all the things I think need to be tweaked, completely overhauled or killed altogether.

When those times occur, if a leader is not careful, the burden of trying to change too much at once can actually have the reverse impact. Nothing gets changed, everything stays the same, and the organization suffers.  The leader cannot get everything accomplished so nothing gets accomplished.

Here is an easy solution to the sense of overwhelming need for improvement  in an organization:

Concentrate on one needed change, work to get that change implemented, then move to another change.

Sounds simple, but it will dramatically improve your success rate…and your organization.

What is the ONE change for improvement you need to get started on today?

Leadership these days is tougher than ever.  Times are hard and organizations are stressed.  Employees are stretched and budgets are tight.  One job of a successful leader is to encourage those who look to him or her for leadership, to “rally the troops” so to speak. During difficult times in an organization this becomes even more important.  One great example of that comes from the Psalmist David in Psalm 3.  At the time of this writing it is believed that David was hiding out from his son Absalom.  His encouragement kept his troops focused and gave them strength they needed in desperate times.

If you don’t know the story, you can read the full context in 2 Samuel Chapters 11 through 19, but in short, David’s sin led to a family turmoil, which led to David’s son attempting to take over the kingdom. David flees for his safety, but an army goes with him.  In spite of being outnumbered, David keeps his troops encouraged and they eventually return to power.  If you are a leader struggling to gain victory or you feel overwhelmed in your current situation, his story may motivate you. (It did me.)  By the way, this is also good encouragement for you if you are leading a family!

Walk with me through this great passage from The Message Version:

1-2 God! Look! Enemies past counting! Enemies sprouting like mushrooms, Mobs of them all around me, roaring their mockery: “Hah! No help for him from God!”

There will be times in any organization (or family) where the odds seem to be against you. In those times a leader may feel there are more negative voices than positive outside and even inside the organization.

3-4 But you, God, shield me on all sides; You ground my feet, you lift my head high; With all my might I shout up to God, His answers thunder from the holy mountain.

The leader, regardless of the naysayers, must remember the vision and the resolve of his role within the organization. In this case, of course, David wasn’t unrealistic. He knew the situation was gruesome, but he also knew he had a testimony with God and that God had placed a special calling on his life.  Great leaders know their calling.

5-6 I stretch myself out. I sleep. Then I’m up again—rested, tall and steady, Fearless before the enemy mobs Coming at me from all sides.

David took action.  He went to sleep, placing everything in God’s hands.  It was as if he said, “God, when I get up…it’s all you again!” Leaders must know their limits, their strengths and be willing to rely on help from others.  Christian leaders ultimately rely on the power of God.

7 Up, God! My God, help me! Slap their faces, First this cheek, then the other, Your fist hard in their teeth!

David woke up with a passion that exploded inside of him.  He had a new resolve. He had experienced a revival in his heart.  He was ready to move forward with God’s plan.  I can almost imagine those around David thinking, “What got into him last night?” Great leaders, in spite of their challenges, have a contagious enthusiasm about moving the vision of the organization forward.  A team will rally around a leader with conviction.

8 Real help comes from God. Your blessing clothes your people!

David assumed his rightful place as a leader and began to invest in others.  As David looked to God for his strength, his people could look to him.  Leaders find the strength they need to remain positive, instill vision and values, and encourage others to move forward, even during dark days.

Fellow leader, are you in a tough situation right now? Maybe you lead a church, a business, a non-profit or even a family, but if the organization you lead has fallen on hard times, follow the example of David and lead your organization to victory!  With God on your side, who can be against you?

I am asked frequently about Twitter, what it is, why I do it, what the value in Twitter is to me.  I have answered this in previous posts. You can read one of those posts HERE.

The number one reason I Twitter however, is because of my personality.

Most people who see me on stage or even in the halls after church have a hard time believing that I am an Introvert, but I am.  In fact, the older I get the more introverted I seem to become. (Introversion is basically a person who gains more energy for life from their time alone, rather than their time with people.)  It is not that I don’t like people (even though I joke that I don’t), I am just more comfortable interacting with people when I have had personal time to reflect on the interaction.  Introverts reading this will understand. That’s also why I prefer email to phone calls and why I would rather know what our conversation is going to be about before we have it.

Twitter works well for me because it allows me to express my thoughts as they occur, which I may never express around people, but that is also why they appear so random at times.  Extroverts need to understand that even though an Introvert may not say anything, it doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to say.  (That’s very important to understand in a team environment. Otherwise the Introvert is left out of the discussion and valuable insight goes unheard.)  When I have a thought, I can quickly express it in a 140 characters or less through Twitter, which automatically updates my Facebook page.  Longer thoughts can be expressed on my blog.  Twitter gives me an outlet I didn’t previously have to express myself, without invading my need for introversion.  Feel free to connect with me on Twitter today.

By the way, why do you Twitter or why don’t you Twitter?

How often do you repeat your vision to people within your organization?

The vision needs to be part of the organization’s DNA.  In my experience, it appears easier for people to naturally live the vision of an organization when they were in the organization from the beginning.  Something about the birthing process tends to embed the vision into each person in the organization who is present from the start. As the organization grows and new people are added the vision can often get lost in carrying out the work of the organization.  If the vision is important enough to the integrity of the organization, then it must be continually repeated.

At Grace Community Church our stated vision is to make growing disciples of Jesus Christ.  It is also understood that we will carry out that vision by being a church where authentic relationships are encouraged, God’s grace is abundant, there is a welcoming spirit and visitors leave with a message of hope and sensing God’s love in a casual atmosphere that strives for excellence in all that we do.  We even have a motto, which states, “Everyone needs a place to start over, that place is Grace.”  As much as we live this vision each week, if people are not directly reminded of the vision, the busyness of ministry and life may distract them from completely understanding it.  People do have other lives outside of our church.  If we are not careful, in years to come we will have large percentages of our church that really do not understand who Grace Community Church is designed to be.

Recently as I have thought about our sustainability as a church, I’ve been reminded of the hundreds of people who are in our church today that never experienced our first year as a church plant.  We have new people coming every week.  They need the benefit of fully understanding the vision we have set from the beginning of who we really are as a church.  To instill this vision into them we must continually find new ways to repeat our vision.

So again, how often do you repeat your vision to people within your organization?