I had the privilege of sitting down this past Monday with all of our worship leaders here at NewSpring Church for two hours…it was seriously an amazing series of conversations.
At one point, Lee McDerment, our worship leader at the Anderson campus asked me, “What are some things all of us need to keep in mind as we lead teams.” I gave a decent answer…but after I got back to my office I began to write my thoughts down…and here are seven things I believe that every leader needs to keep in mind when leading a team.
#1 - You Will Never Effectively Motivate Someone With Feelings Of Guilt - I’ve made that mistake as a leader before, thinking if I could just get someone to feel bad that they would do a better job…WRONG! No one has ever brought about significant change in the world because guilt propelled them to do so. AND…if a leader finds himself always motivating by guilt…he will also soon find himself without anyone to lead. NO ONE likes going on a guilt trip.
#2 - People Don’t Respond To Need—They Respond To Vision - When a leader talks about a need SOME people will respond. BUT…when a leader can cast a compelling vision about what SHOULD BE…and with God’s grace and our participation WOULD BE…CHANGE HAPPENS! Many times a team leader will drift off course…NOT because they are lazy and/or pathetic…but because maybe they have forgotten why they do what they do…and a shot of vision will cure that every time.
#3 - A Person Cannot Be Held Accountable For Unspoken Expectations - Another mistake I’ve made in the past as a leader is assuming people could read my mind…and so when they didn’t do what I thought should have been done I would get angry with them. After some very confusing looks and some really tough conversations I began to realize that I was expecting things out of people that I hadn’t clearly explained! Our job as leaders is to give clear, realistic expectations and then resource the people to make those things happen.
#4 - Keep Short Accounts - The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26-27 that we are to not let the sun go down on us while we are angry…in other words, we should act with URGENCY when it comes to conflict among the teams we lead. Unresolved conflict is like cancer that begins to eat away at the body…it must be dealt with OR its destruction will bring about death. Many leaders RUN FROM conflict because it is uncomfortable…but I’ve learned the hard way that we must embrace a little discomfort now…or A LOT of it in the future!