Team leaders set the tone for the entire organization
Team Leaders set the pace for every organization or ministry. They can make the environment toxic or positive. They can raise up the next generation of leaders or force them out the door to work for someone else. This is why so much success in ministry rises or falls on Team Leaders doing their job well. In the last chapter, we looked at the role of Self-Leaders, those who do the tasks that need to be done. We saw what these leaders need and how to develop them. And that work of development is the work of the Team Leader.
What a team leader is in a ministry context
Here is a simple definition of a Team Leader from a ministry context: a Team Leader is a volunteer who leads a team of people to accomplish multiple ministry tasks. Your church or ministry is filled with Team Leaders. They lead a small group, a prayer team, or a team to set up or tear down after an event. They run the worship rehearsal or direct the Communion team. They are the greeter captains, the band leaders, technology leaders, home team leaders, the missions team leaders, or even the head deacons. Your church is full of Team Leaders. They are usually volunteers, meaning they are not paid staff, and their primary role is to lead the team to be successful in doing the work at hand.
The size of the team may vary, but the role remains the same
The size of these teams may vary depending on the specific ministry tasks, but they could be anywhere from two to fifty people. But the important, big shift is from doing the work themselves to accomplishing the work through a team. Team Leaders focus on the teams they lead, not just what needs to be done. Prior to this, they were Self-Leaders. They were proficient at accomplishing tasks. Now Team Leaders lead others to do the work.
The difficult transition from doing to leading
This is a very different skill, and not everyone can make that transition. One young man in our ministry was particularly gifted at community engagement and sharing his faith. He was likeable and skilled at moving conversations toward the gospel. He became so proficient at it that we asked him to lead a team doing what he did. However, over time it became clear that while this young man was a great volunteer, he was not a great leader. He was often unclear of what his team needed to know because what came instinctively to him was not instinctive to others. He struggled to train and organize. Instead of coaching others and identifying emerging leaders, he did everything himself.
True team leaders find joy in the team’s success, not their own output
Thus, this shift from doing to leading is a big one. Not everyone can make it. The Team Leader must derive their joy and satisfaction from the team accomplishing the work, not the leader doing it.
This blog features an excerpt from one of our books, The Disciple-Making Leader.
