So you wanna build a team? just a couple of principles to help really engage you as their leader and other team members.

* Always talk about the “why”.

You have to give people the big picture, the “why”.  Why are they doing what they are doing?  How is what they are doing making a larger impact for the company, church?  For the kingdom of God?  If you fail to explain the “why”, your people will burn out quickly.  They will feel used rather than prized.

* Know the people that are around you.

As you lead people, regardless of how many, you have to be a “scanner”.  You must be constantly scanning what gifts people are bringing to the team.  Your inability to do this will discourage people.  Why?  Because you will combine people with tasks that are more likely to deplete them than to energize them.  Assess their skills, their strengths and their weaknesses.  Then assemble the team.  Once you have assessed the team, create a few easy goals for the them to meet. People positioned to contribute will feel energized, this will also help build momentum.

“Wins” for the team create momentum.  Momentum turns into confidence.  Confidence produces a stronger team… a team that will reach bigger goals and  fulfill more difficult tasks.  And, it all starts with your ability to assess your team.

* Debrief after a task is complete.

Leadership always takes a healthy look at the past.  Get with your team after a task and ask some simple questions that will help take a look at what just happened.

(just some questions to ask)

1. Did we meet the goal?  (Of course, this assumes that you defined what the goal of your task was prior to beginning.)

2. What could have been done better?

3. What could we have done without and still met the goal?

Leadership always has a global look at the members of their team.  Make sure, when you debrief, you know what asset was brought by each member of the team.  Affirmation is a powerful force.  Affirmation shows that you notice how people are forging toward the goal and that you value their gifts and talents and them as people not just an instrument to get the job done.

Genesis 23:23-35

“…they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern.  Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.  25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.  Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.  26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?  27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.”  His brothers agreed.  28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.  29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.  30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”  31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.  32 They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, “We found this.  Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.  33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him.  Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”  34 Then, Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.  35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.  “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.”  So his father wept for him.

* Jacob took what he saw, the blood covered robe, and he assumed the rest.  This is a key point of the story.

Because of his assumption, Joseph’s father lived believing the lie that his son was dead.  He was robbed of an opportunity to look for his son, to rescue his son. Jacob lived as though his assumption were true.  Good leaders find out all of the facts.  Good leaders investigate before the come to a conclusion.

Sound decision making is based more on facts, than assumptions.

When you’re leading people, eliminate as much assumption as possible.  The less you assume about members of your team, the better you will utilize them and the more effective their gifts will be.  Like Jacob, you will lose opportunities for leadership and development if you operate from a position of assumption.

Simple assumptions you can make that can hurt:

* People have a personel relationship with Christ
* People are connected.
* People know where they are going.
* People don’t need prayer.
* People do not need YOUR leadership.
* People know what they are doing.  (If you say I think they know, then you’re not sure.)
* People know the WHY of something being done.
* People know their strengths and weaknesses.

The more I experience in life, the more I realize I have a lot to learn.  But, knowing how much I still have to learn solidifies, in some weird, way what I do know.  For instance:

1. Our community changed life for another community on the other side of the globe!  This last weekend at GFCeastlake was one of the most memorable in our short 23 months of existence.  Providing purified water for an entire village through One City Ministries, our missionaries in Uganda, Mike and Deb Gilbert… what a highlight for us as a church!

2. ”We give cause God showed us how.”  The amount of toys and gifts that have been pouring in since our “Make it Great” Christmas outreach started has been overwhelming.  Bicycles and bags of toys have filled up offices and hallways.  Last year we were able to bring Christmas to over 100 kids.  This year we more than doubled that amount!  Yes, that’s right more than doubled!  We were able to place Bibles in the hands of all the kids who received gifts.  Now they can experience the tangible love of Christ and know why.

The idea that Jesus was presenting to his disciples when he commissioned them in Matthew 10 was about effort.  When you give a cup of cold water (or in some translations drink)… not just water, but cold water, some sort of effort has to made to serve or give cold  water . We receive the same blessings as the disciples received when we put forth the effort to come along side them.  This is one of the greatest promises we’re made as a believer in Christ.

This past weekend was total controlled chaos!  People coming and going everywhere.  Our Uganda missions team handing out water.  One City Ministries selling the crafts of the Ugandan people.  The kids (man, the kids & students!!) walking out with blankets ready for their “cover me” outreach for the homeless.  Toys being unloaded out of cars and carried into the foyer for the foster kids.  Then, Sunday evening some of our student small groups gathering to feed and blanket the homeless.  Goes to show you, when united for a common purpose, there is no greater force than the church!

I’m humbled frequently that in such a short time our church community has made such a huge impact.   It blows my mimd, the lives that have been changed.  The lives that are realizing their purpose for the God’s kingdom.  The lives that have found fulfillment in just being a child of God… and then realizing how they can be used by God despite being fractured and flawed.

I can’t help but wonder if this is what the church was like in the 2nd chapter of Acts?  The disciples living outside themselves for the betterment of individuals and the community… giving so that all would have and doing it all in the name of Jesus.

Good leaders need to posses the ability to think quickly on their feet, move with the pace of business and have agility in their leadership that allows them to offer a variety of responses to any situation.  The times that I have been discouraged and deflated by leadership are when I felt like I was not being dealt with personally, but in a cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all fashion.  When I am handled by leadership without any individuality, I’m made to feel like just another cog in the wheel.  However, when I am lead by someone who is applying specific insight to my situation, I feel empowered.  I feel as though time, effort and thought were put into what was happening.  It makes me want to charge the hill and plant a flag.

Recently, I tried to stress the point that every leadership situation has specific characteristics.  Speaking to those specifics will make you more effective leaders. Here are some brief bullet points. Put your own skin on situations and how you used a variety of  leadership responses to deal with specific situations

Exodus Chapter 2 verse 11-14

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” 

Exodus Chapter 2 verse 16-17

16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

Notice flexibility in Moses’ responses to situations:

1st instance  - Moses observes the situation and realizes this situation requires force  (v:11)

2nd instance – Moses observes handles this situation through reconciling the argument  through words (v:13)

3rd instance – No words he just takes a stand (v:17)

Key Observations:

* A good leader understands  NOT every situation is handled the same.

* A good leader has a variety of responses available to situations

* Good Leadership first asks What is the most effective way to handle things ? Not, what is the the way I’m most comfortable with

” When the only tool you have available is a hammer every problem presents itself as a nail”      RD Laing