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Next, leadership communicates that vision to its people and secures their commitment to move in that direction, which Kotter calls alignment.
Finally, leadership energizes people so they will be able to overcome the various obstacles that are sure to surface along the way.
In contrast to leadership, Kotter writes that management copes with complexity in three ways. The first is planning and budgeting, which establish goals and the steps necessary to reach those goals and include allocating the funds to make it happen. The second is organizing and staffing, which mean establishing a structure and a set of jobs to accomplish the plan. The third is controlling or monitoring the progress of the plan and solving problems as they surface.3
The first agenda is to acquire a commitment from potential players with different interests, backgrounds, ideas, needs, gifts, and abilities to join others who are already on the field and to move together as a team toward the same goal.
The second agenda is to help these same people, once they are moving down the field toward the same goal, to overcome various obstacles that are sure to surface as the game progresses.
Leaders must not pattern themselves after the Lone Ranger.
The team concept is not new to any student of the Scriptures—New Testament ministry is team ministry.
It could have been a sacred solo performance. Yet instead of doing it alone, he chose to work through them.
In light of the ministries of Jesus and Paul, there can be little doubt that New Testament ministry was team ministry.
Whenever leaders decide to recruit a team to implement the dream, they must ask and answer two questions: Who will make up the team? How will we enlist these people?
How will they be recruited? The primary recruitment tool is the vision or dream itself.
Most people find it hard to resist a vision that proposes to deliver in these areas of their lives.
This recruitment tool can be used in both planted and established ministries.
In established ministries where there may not be a vision, dream casting will bring to the surface those who are thirsty and those who are not.
Once visionary leaders recognize the importance of the team to their ministry and then recruit the best team possible, they are finally ready to craft their team into a unit that can accomplish the first agenda.
Team building cannot be accomplished without two key ingredients: commitment and cooperation.
Any good coach will affirm the fact that it takes commitment, lots of commitment, to play the game of football.
In most cases the amount of success athletes experience on the field can be measured by the degree of their commitment to the total process both on and off the field.
Any good football coach will agree that in addition to commitment, it takes lots of cooperation to win at the game of football.
At the same time most people acknowledge that cooperation is not easy. However, people who work together under the same dream are more inclined toward ensuring one another’s success.
Leaders realize that the key to doing well is not in competition or in overcoming others but in gaining their cooperation.5
When a well-designed vision articulates an exciting, dynamic picture of the future and addresses people’s spiritual needs, then, when people are recruited for the team, they are willing to commit themselves to implement that team.
However, when all share a deep commitment to the same dream, they begin to realize that it takes people with different but complementary gifts, talents, and abilities to accomplish that dream.
People who implicitly trust one another work well together. They foster mutual cooperation toward reaching group goals. Those who do not trust one another accomplish little, which signals an early funeral for most teams.
There are several ways to cultivate a climate of trust. To begin, the leader must set the example.
A good rule of thumb is to trust people until they give you a reason not to. This
Another way to model and cultivate trust is to delegate responsibilities.
A leader cultivates trust when he is open and thus vulnerable to people on the team.
Leaders also develop trust when they encourage others to participate in decision making, especially when it relates to their areas of expertise.
To encourage commitment to a team, it is essential to develop a sense that all on the team are part of the same community, imparting a sense of togetherness.
Always say we. When thinking and talking about what you plan to accomplish and have accomplished, it is essential that you think and talk in terms of our goals.
Another way to develop a sense of community or team spirit is by spending time together.
If people ever begin to suspect that the leader is hiding something from them, he will lose considerable credibility.
It is best to communicate face-to-face.
Good communication that builds commitment includes the resolution of any conflicts between people who are on the same team.
Both Matthew 5:23–24 and Matthew 18:15 urge that conflicts be resolved quickly at the initiative of either the offending or the offended party.
Visionary leaders who work hard at building commitment and cooperation in their people will empower teams that work together toward a positive, significant dream for the future.
It would be a mistake for a pastor to assume that because a number of people are committed to the church’s vision, it is certain to be implemented. The problem is that certain obstacles are sure to surface that have the potential to discourage the team or divert its attention from the dream.
This is accomplished in the fourth and fifth steps of the team building process covered in this chapter: empowering the team and encouraging the team.
Jay Conger writes, “Empowerment, then, is essentially a process of strengthening subordinates’ convictions in their own self-efficacy.”1
I would redefine the term in the Christian context: empowerment is the process of strengthening the team members’ beliefs in their ability to overcome potential vision-blocking obstacles through their resources in Christ.
Conger further explains the importance of empowerment when he writes, “These beliefs are critical because they determine the extent to which people will initiate and persist in attempts to master difficult experiences.”
Whereas some people will avoid situations they mistakenly believe are beyond their abilities, others will attempt the impossible.
In essence, then, empowerment heightens a person’s willingness to attempt difficult tasks and to make sustained efforts without necessarily a concern for positive outcomes.
Thus, through empowerment, team members will take a more positive approach toward overcoming vision obstacles whether they think they will succeed or not.
Visionary leaders empower their teams by helping them recognize their true value and significance in light of the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
The answer to this problem is for visionary leaders first to understand for themselves and then to teach their people the doctrine of God’s grace and how it affects the Christian’s daily life.
Whether labeled “self-esteem” or “self-worth,” the feeling of significance is crucial to man’s emotional, spiritual, and social stability, and is the driving element within the human spirit.
He further points out that our hunger for self-worth is God given and only can be satisfied through a relationship with him.
The first obstacle to a sense of significance is the belief that we must perform and meet certain standards to feel good about ourselves.
