You’ve spent a good deal of time raising your self-awareness. This is the result of now better understanding your perspective of yourself and, just as importantly, others’ perspective of you. Personality testing and 360 feedback have served as the foundation of this.
It was then recommended that you create a self-development plan utilizing this information and that you focus on one or two areas. Even with this important effort and dedication none of us can be strong in all areas. As we start to recognize talents that are not necessarily comfortable or easy for us as individuals but required to successfully lead our parishes, we begin to realize that we need to complement our efforts with a strong team.
I would strongly suggest that as you begin this journey you look at a 15-minute video by Patrick Lencioni of Amazing Parish entitled, “The 5 Misconceptions of a Parish Team.” https://vimeo.com/254699777 Mr. Lencioni does an excellent job of concisely dealing with common issues encountered.
We also need to remember that because of the many areas of parish life and responsibilities, most organizations will have several teams in place. These teams can include clergy, leadership, staff, advisory board/parish council, ministry heads, individual ministries and business operations. This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list, as some parishes may have these, while most will have fewer or different types of teams.
Having said that, no matter how many teams you have, you can be assured that each team will have a different personality and style of working. Often, these teams have been in place for extended periods of time and may function at different levels of effectiveness and efficiency.
One of the more difficult jobs you will encounter as a leader is to inherit a standing team. While the transition to you as a new leader can be uneventful, that is often not the case. Your authority and leadership may be challenged as you begin the process of interacting with the group and seek to implement changes or a vision that are different then what they have experienced in the past.
This obviously needs to be managed with care and respect. It is important to understand the team, their dynamics and their interactions before you begin to make wholesale changes. It is often best to start with listening sessions with both the entire team and the leaders of the team to learn as much as you can. A common mistake is to develop a relationship with one or two people on the team before developing your own broader perspective of the group. You may then start to make assumptions/decisions based on that individual’s position rather than the position of the larger team. This can unintentionally lead to ill will between you and other team members.
Teams are essential for any leader to be effective and successful. In the next series of posts, we will begin to look at team building and management in greater detail to assist you in this critical task.