Andy Stanley on Teams
Andy Stanley ends the conference with a very practical talk about church staff teams. Some highlights:
- No senior pastor intends to be a dictator, but most staff members feel more like employees than team members.
- Andy hears this alot from staff members: "I love my senior pastor but I feel like I'm going 80 mph and he's going 40 mph and we keep colliding."
- Those of you who need this most are probably those who think you've got this wired, cause you can't see this in the mirror.
- A high performance team is a group of competent individuals engaged in the execution of a plan designed to solve a specific problem.
- A good team experiences synergy as opposed to individual energy.
- A good team is centered on a clearly-defined problem.
- Teams dissolve when the problems are all solved.
- Andy confesses: "Sometimes I don't want to process stuff...I already have the answer, I don't want to discuss it, I just want to tell them what direction we are going."
- It's not good enough to have the right solution--it must be an agreed-upon solution.
- Everyone must own the decision. I can't concede my point until I know you have heard me out.
- Every team member must buy in before they can wholeheartedly pitch in.
- People will commit their hearts to a cause, not a task. They need buy in.
- Every team member needs to know exactly what is expected of them.
- Several years ago, Andy wrote a one-sentence job description for each of his direct reports. Example for Jill: "To create an unforgettable job experience for our attenders."
- One of the best gifts you can give to your staff is clarifying their role.
- A lack of clarity always results in poor execution.
- Every staff member needs to feel their inter-dependency with the rest of the team.
- On a real team (i.e. sports), when one person drops the ball, the entire team feels it. If that's not true on your staff team, you've got a problem.
- What without Why feels like a task. What combined with Why has the potential to ignite passion.