Team Work

I've been finding myself laying in bed at night thinking of my next blog.  That is not good.  I used to be able to go right to sleep when hitting the pillow.

Because I can appear to be opinionated I have been accused of not wanting to work on a team.  It's just that I usually do my homework and I don't accept lame excuses and quick fixes for a problem when people haven't done their homework.  I don't use that language with the persons I am on a team with.  I have to coax them to engage and offer their best to the solution.  I want to be on a team that is as engaged as I am trying to be.  I need a team around me because I am not the smartest guy in the world.  In fact, I don't know anyone who can go solo.

If I remember correctly, Henry Ford once said that every leader needs a team around him composed of smarter people than he is.  He recognized that he didn't know everything about everything and needed to depend on some others to bring knowledge to the table that he didn't possess.

That principle seems to be echoed in the scriptures where it tells us that we need all the gifts and parts in order to function ably as the Body of Christ.  No gifts are too small or unable to contribute.

I have seen this principle work time and again in business.  When writing a Policy and Procedures Manual for a company I once worked for I found that there were many others who saw things I missed and helped to make the policies better than I was able to do in rough draft.  There was one person in particular that I always wanted to see the policy before it went to press.  She was able to point out questions that would arise and help us to define the policy so that it didn't need to be rehashed later when we were trying to make a decision about something.

I also enjoyed this when I was pastoring.  There were others who were as committed to their part of the worship service as I was in bringing a message.  In fact, because of the others, I was able to relax and greet the people at the door and help to assess the mood of the congregation before I stood up to speak to them.  One group were on their faces weekly to hear from God about where the worship should go.  Another person took the burden of the flow of the service off my shoulders and listened to God for his direction in how it should go.  We flowed together without a formal meeting because we were listening to the same source.

But just because some one is on your team doesn't mean you can take everything they say as gospel.  Henry Ford asked his engineers to design a V8 engine to supplement the offerings of a straight four and six in his engine compliment.  His engineers went away and came back saying they couldn't do it.  Ford knew it needed to happen so he sent them back again saying that if they couldn't do it he would hire engineers who could.  They were strangely able to design the V8 he had envisioned.

And as a leader you can't always be right.  There are times you need to hold your ground and there are others when you need to be quick to applaud a better suggestion.  There are times when you need to admit that you were wrong, ask for forgiveness and commit to leading better the next time.

Unfortunately, there is a thing called the "ego" that seems to keep many leaders from achieving their best surrounded by an able team.  An insecure leader won't want a team around them.  They will want to control the whole process.  I've seen small business owners who jeopardized their business because they were too proud to accept the assessment of another about their business practices.  If I don't know something I want to have someone who does tell me how to do it right.  It is not righteous for me to do it wrong just to protect my own ego.

We need team work in order to solve many of the problems we are facing today in the business world and in the church.  I hope you have the opportunity where you are planted to enjoy the benefits of a team.  It is my hope to experience that again soon.