Creativity Gift

The Team Leader

Highlights

· Influencers of people, particularly within ministry team structures

· Able to perceive and value a vision, and appreciate the tasks at hand to accomplish the vision, while demonstrating emotional and spiritual support for the team members

· Quickly earns the trust and allegiance of team members

· Brings to the team leadership, motivation and affirmation

· If pride takes root, the team leader can be very dangerous to the unity and organizational integrity of the ministry

Report

Team Leaders influence groups, whether they have a formal leadership role in the group or not. For the church as 'the body' (1 Corinthians 12), working together is clearly important. The key strengths of Team Leaders are a desire to work with others and an ability to trust them. Healthy Team Leaders generally exhibit humility and a servant spirit - their sole aim is that the team achieves its goals. What they as individuals achieve is secondary. The greatest contribution Silas made to the church was probably training and equipping Paul so that he could go on to achieve greater things.

Team Leaders are invaluable. If the church is truly to function as a body, Team Leaders are needed to ensure harmony and effectiveness in the way the team works. Team Leaders are the glue between those who implement and complete the mission, and those who resource and support the team. Effective Team Leaders are able to demonstrate a unique balance between caring about the mission objectives while at the same time communicating to the team members that they are crucial to the mission, and more important than the mission. Team Leaders are able to really listen to their team members and to “hear their hearts”, affirm their feelings, value their perspectives and affirm who they are in Christ. This unique ability to listen and affirm enables the Team Leader to quickly earn the trust and allegiance of the various team members. When the Team Leader applies the trust and allegiance he or she has earned in a positive manner, the team can become highly effective and serve for extended periods of time with limited stress or conflict.

However, the Team Leader, more than any other leadership category, has great potential for doing significant damage to a ministry organization. Because of the unique influential capabilities the Team Leader possesses, the Team Leader is positioned to inspire church splits. As skilled as the Team Leader is at pulling a cohesive team together, they can also rip an organization apart. Two dynamics working in concert with one another generally lead a Team Leader to become a source for organizational division: 1) Pride, 2) Lack of Accountability.

It is not difficult to perceive how a Team Leader can become prideful. Team members generally respect and love effective Team Leaders. Team Leaders not only empower team members to accomplish significant ministry service, but in the process are able to truly affirm and support each member of the team. Over time, respect, loyalty and even familial love can develop between a team member and his or her Team Leader. In such cases, the Team Leader will often receive words of high praise from their team members. The more this cycle repeats itself, the easier it becomes for the Team Leader to lose sight of their spiritual poverty before God. The seed of pride begins to grow. Pride, if it is not pruned back through healthy accountability and repentance, will soon give life to arrogance, and arrogance will lead to disrespect for those in authority over Team Leader…after all, the prideful Team Leader may rationalize, look at all I and my teams have accomplished for this ministry! As such attitudes become prevalent in the Team Leader’s prideful heart, the Team Leader may begin to imagine what the ministry would be like if it was entirely under their influence. Similarly, they may begin to feel that if they had complete free-reign, they could be “so much more effective in ministry”. In the end, if these prideful attitudes are not properly addressed, the Team Leader may attempt a take-over of the church, or lead a break-away group to start their own church.

It is very likely that the negative aspects of the Team Leader could be avoided if true accountability is nurtured between the ministry leadership and the Team Leader. However, often ministry leaders who naturally desire to see great ministry occurring within the church, will over time allow the Team Leader greater levels of influence over the entirety of the ministry. With greater influence levels there should also be a corresponding greater level of practical and spiritual accountability. When healthy accountability is limited or lacking, then the sin of pride cannot be checked nor addressed. Providing Team Leaders “free reign” may also allow the sin of pride to have a “free reign”.

Team Leaders are both task and people oriented. Team Leaders care about people…and will likely cite how they have empowered people to do the work of ministry as well as specific stories of life transformation that their team members have experienced. Team Leaders are typically viewed by people to be warm, inspiring, considerate and motivational. Team Leaders are typically aware of how other people feel about them, for they are able to be in-tune with the feelings of others. Their passion is simply to help others be successful in ministry! They are convinced that if people adhere to their direction and oversight, everyone will benefit in the end. When people do not affirm their leadership efforts, the Team Leader may respond by trying to better understand the person and seek to nurture their various needs. In so doing, the Team Leader is able to earn trust and allegiance over time. If those in authority do not affirm the leadership of the Team Leader, the Team Leader may become embittered and seek affirmation from the team members closest to them…this is a dangerous and potentially divisive step on the part of a Team Leader and may portray their immaturity and prideful nature.

In a team context, the Team Leader will bring to the team leadership, motivation and affirmation. The Team Leader should be given responsibility for supporting the team members associated with completing a project or running the organization. The Team Leader will likely require resourcing and support from an Administrative Leader since most Team Leaders would prefer to spend their time with the people on their team(s), rather than addressing the detailed administrative tasks that may be required. Team Leaders may find it difficult to subordinate themselves to “administrative-types” since the Team Leader and his or her team members are the ones “in the trenches,” they may begin to feel that they know best how to do the work of ministry. If such an attitude begins to display itself, this may be a sign that pride has taken root and that appropriate accountability measures should be taken. Conversely, leadership should listen carefully to the perspectives of the Team Leader since they indeed are in the trenches and are best in touch with the team member’s feelings and needs.

Because of the relational challenges typically experienced within with in a team environment, Team Leaders should have responsibility over the team members and the practical implementation of a project. The Team Leader will likely find that managing data and tasks is far less fulfilling for them than managing people. While they may have some administrative skills, care should be taken to protect the Team Leader from overwhelming stress caused by relational isolation in an office. The Team Leader is likely equipped to pastor and encourage the team. An effective Team Leader will not only help team members accomplish a noble task, but also help them feel supported emotionally, spiritually, and relationally in the process.

It is important that the Team Leader realizes that they cannot accomplish the mission alone…they need their team members and the team members need the Team Leader. 1 Corinthians 12 affirms that the Body of Christ is comprised of many different members who all need one another. The passage also affirms that God positions the members of the body, just as he has determined. God created the Team Leader and positioned him or her strategically in this world, at this particular time, and within specific churches because God intends for them to empower people to accomplish the work of ministry. With the support of the Team Leader, the Kingdom of Christ will be propelled forward within a world that desperately needs to know the power and love of the God who himself sent us His Spirit to empower, support and guide God’s people as they seek to be faithful to his calling and direction within their lives.

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