The Best Leaders Create a Team with the Necessary Gifts to Tackle the Challenge (by Dr. John Derry)

Whenever you have the privilege of working with a team where everything just clicks, you need to be very grateful. It can be an invigorating and positive experience when there is synergy, and the group dynamic is such that goals are achieved and your ministry moves forward. Unfortunately, you sometimes have interpersonal conflict that goes beyond differences of opinion, and it becomes so intense that every time you have a meeting there is a storm cloud in the room. I had the good fortune when I was president at Hope International University to have the same team of vice presidents together for almost 10 years. That is very rare in higher education and probably in church ministry as well. We enjoyed working together, had a sense of humor with one another, prayed for each other, disagreed gracefully, were committed to the same mission, supported each other, and shared a genuine friendship.

There are some helpful resources in identifying characteristics that reveal how teams work together such as Myers Briggs Type Indicator, DISC Profile, Strengths Finder, Enneagram, etc.  Maybe you’ve used these in the past and then discovered the test wasn’t as accurate as you had hoped. Or you’ve possibly turned to Patrick Lencioni’s excellent work on team dysfunction and cohesiveness that looks at trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results. Building a great team doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intentionality and emotional intelligence that can spot complimentary skills while at the same time recognizing it takes different personalities and ways of analyzing a problem to make the best decisions. Your chief finance officer will have a very different way of looking at a challenge than those who may be directly engaged in a specific ministry. It’s the leader’s task to solicit transparent input and encourage open communication so you can give a voice to those directly impacted. So how do you establish a dream team?

• If you are the person responsible for putting it together, you first have to know yourself. An honest assessment of your strengths, weaknesses, personality, blind spots, and hot buttons will help you know when a problem may be the way you are reacting to a situation rather than the way the team member is managing it.
• Choose each team member carefully. Chances are you are the final decision maker on who gets added to the team, but you will be wise to introduce the candidate to the team before making an offer. This doesn’t mean you are abdicating your responsibility. It sends a message that the team dynamic is important to you.
• Don’t be afraid to make a change. Henry Cloud’s book, Necessary Endings, reminds leaders that sometimes when a program isn’t producing the desired results, even though it’s popular, you have to bring it to a close. When you have a team member who doesn’t respond to coaching feedback and is creating a toxic atmosphere, a change is required. It may be an unpleasant experience to confront the obvious, but the longer you avoid taking action, the more you delay progress.
• Involve the team in strategic planning. Shared vision is the most powerful because everyone buys into and supports it. Allowing team members to participate in discussions about the future taps into their creativity and sparks innovative thinking.
• Invest in team members’ professional and spiritual development. Don’t let someone who has been in a position for a long time (including yourself) get stagnate. Encourage life-long learning and periodic reflection on spiritual gifts. Diversity on the team is valuable but even veteran leaders need refreshers from time to time. It may have been a long time since they took a college course or a sabbatical to focus on honing skills.

When the team comes together, each day can be exciting, stimulating, rewarding, and a blessing to your ministry. Life is too short not to love what you do and those with whom you serve.  When something is not quite right, rather than ignore it and hope for improvement, take steps to get it on the right track.

Dr. John Derry has over 40 years of experience in Christian higher education and service on the boards of numerous faith-based nonprofit organizations. Upon his retirement, he was named President Emeritus of Hope International University in California where he had served for sixteen years as president. He also has served as president at Dallas Christian College in Texas and vice-president at Milligan University in Tennessee. He holds a B.A. and M.A in ministry and theology from Lincoln Christian University, M.S. in educational foundations from Western Illinois University, and Ed.D. in higher education administration from East Tennessee State University. In addition to serving with the CCLNetwork, he currently is assisting the Association for Biblical Higher Education as a board governance coach and Dallas Christian College as interim VP for Academic Affairs.