Greetings,
I have been writing this month on covenant team leadership. I have presented that the glue of any team is that of friendship. Jesus didn’t come to make us mere servants or employees of His kingdom. He came to make us part of the family and the true element of family is not found in flesh and blood. It is found in flesh and spirit. It is a matter of relationship connection. It is a matter of friendship.
Today I am going to present some essential ingredients to a leadership team. I believe that in order to have a strong leadership team, every member on the team must increasingly grow in knowing who they are. I am not merely talking about their gifting and talents. I am talking about their character qualities, including their strengths and their weaknesses. The last thing any team needs is for the members of the team to try to be someone they are not. When each member fulfills his or her role there is the strength of harmony in a spirit of unity.
It is not just our successes that define us, but it is very often our failures. If you are a mercy gifted person than mercy is you downfall. It is also a part of your significance to the team. If you are a strong leader, than being a strong leader is your downfall, but it is also your measure of grace. If you see things in the details, then you can get lost in the details. You can also save others by the details. If you are a headliner in nature, than you may miss the details of a matter due to your intense focus on the headlines. I like to think of a team like a city. In the city there should be a great hospital. There should be a great library. A city should include business, education, training, recreation, and anything that you find in a community. Each member of a team will carry a strength for certain attributes in the city, but not every member of the team will have the grace to see the big picture of the city. Every team should be led by someone who has a strong grace to see the big picture of the team, like the big picture for the city. If every member of a team can know their strengths then they can also be aware of their own weaknesses that come from those strengths. Every member of a team has equal value, but not every member of a team has equal authority. Authority comes out of responsibility and with authority comes an anointing for that responsibility. Anointing doesn’t always equate to authority, but authority will release anointing. There are various degrees and measures of responsibility within a team and each member must know who they are. They must know who they are in their gifting and in their character.
Each member of a team must be dependant upon God and upon others to know who they are. It is never about individual members of the team, but rather about how each individual contributes to the full expression of the team. God is first and foremost at the core of any leadership team. The objective of the team is the will of God, not the will of members nor a leader of a team. When each member of the team is dependant upon God and dependant upon one another they find greater definition to who they are in the team.
It is essential that team members must increasingly know who God is and who the others are in the team. It is paramount that team members seek to know who one another are. Team members should draw the strength of the other team members into the team. All the members of a team must learn to depend upon the strengths of one another. This includes each member’s discernment of who God is. Together the members of a team can bring greater clarity and definition to who God is and how is guiding the team.
Every team member has a unique strength. It is the uniqueness of team members that makes a team strong. Unity is not found in conformity. You don’t want every member of the team to be the same nor think the same. It is through diversity that true unity is attained. This means that team leadership has within it healthy differences in view points. Each member sees things from a different angle. It is an iron sharpening iron dynamic that makes a team more ready for direction. There can never be a disagreeable spirit in a team, but there must be expression of different views. Those views should never be based upon the mere opinion of team members. Their hearing of God in any matter, not human preferences, should inspire the diversity of viewpoints.
Every team must understand the importance of team and corporate effectiveness. An understanding of being better off together than they are apart should be a prevailing attitude in the team. Every team must know that there is equal value of membership in a team, but not equal responsibility of authority. The authority of the team as a whole is an equal measure, but the individual contribution to that aim varies with measures within the team. Someone has the responsibility of leading the team. This is a greater measure of specific authority, but an equal measure of authority in the corporate purpose of the team. Remember, authority doesn’t equal someone’s value. It is just a measure of their responsibility. It is important that team members know their own measures of rule and the measures of rule of others in the team.
Team members must be confidant in who they are. There is no room for false humility on a team. False humility is just another form of pride. No one can think more highly of themselves than they should nor can they shrink back from accepting their God-given grace for the team. Be confidant in who you are.
Healthy team members make healthy teams. Every team member must seek to be filled with joy. In the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy and when team members come together it should be a joyful thing. Team member need to enjoy being with one another. This is a spiritual secret of life and it will create a healthy team. Be filled with joy.
Each team member must have a generational focus. They must see the team and their part in the team as something that brings life to the future generations. Team members must live for the present in a way that inspires the destiny of generations. Their leadership should have a generational focus and not a mere lifetime hope of good things. It is an awesome responsibility being a leader in the kingdom of God! It is about the children and the children’s children. With this in mind, team members must live to replace themselves in the generations they lead.
The actions of a kingdom team must be for the future of others. No team or its members should live for themselves. This includes their motives and agendas. They must see leadership as a gift to people, not a gift that people serve. Like a pitcher filled with water they must tip in the direction of the empty glass. Their purpose is to lead, not to be followed.
Teams must look for divine connections for covenant relationships. This is how teams grow and this is how teams connect to other teams that create a greater purpose and destiny. God knows what He is doing when he puts people together. He doesn’t just put people together for purpose; He puts people together to live in the fullness of life.
My final word of encouragement to any team is to know that there is an open heaven over your life. There is an open heaven over each individual on the team and there is an open heaven over the team. God likes you! He wants to give you wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. He will anoint you for every purpose and every task. He is good and He loves you and the purpose of the team.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
Leader7 Audio Teach For October
Leader7 PDF file for October
Love it Ted especially; Team members must be confidant in who they are. There is no room for false humility on a team. False humility is just another form of pride. No one can think more highly of themselves than they should nor can they shrink back from accepting their God-given grace for the team. Be confidant in who you are.
Healthy team members make healthy teams. Every team member must seek to be filled with joy. In the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy and when team members come together it should be a joyful thing. Team member need to enjoy being with one another. This is a spiritual secret of life and it will create a healthy team. Be filled with joy. Blessings John