Team Building
Lesson 1: Knowledge
Introduction
As an i100 participant, you most likely lead or oversee several teams and/or have been part of several teams throughout your time in Young Life! And have led those teams very successfully. In these lessons, you will hear from some other i100 participants on their experiences leading teams. The goal is that we all learn from each other - in these lessons, but also in your cohort and divisional calls. These are just extra tools for your toolbox! So please know that in all these lessons you are not only learning but also teaching as you share with others!
Overall Objectives
- Lead and Build High Functioning Teams towards common goals
- Oversee multiple teams at a time
- Be a good teammate
Before you Begin... Pause and Reflect
- Think about a team you have been on (led or were on) that you enjoyed being part of and thought was a driven team working toward a common goal well. Write down 3-6 characteristics of that team.
- Now think of a team you did not enjoy being a part of or did not accomplish your common goal. Write down 3-6 characteristics of that team
As you go through these lessons, consider the similarities between these teams and what you learn.
Jesus Model of a Team
Team is the Lord’s plan - To have people be involved in bringing about the Kingdom of God. His mission is his team.
- To be with Jesus
- Go to proclaim the good news
- To go and make disciples - Matthew 28:19-20
Chapter two of the Master Plan of Evangelism of Association outlines Jesus’ plan for his team very well. If you have the book, we suggest reading it!
In these lessons, we will explore some executive-level discussions on team building. But as you work through these lessons, remember what is different about us being followers of Christ and working in teams compared to the secular world.
Love and Joy
John 13:35- By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.
1 Thessalonians 2:8- Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God with you, but our very lives as well.
In our mission together to introduce adolescents to Jesus and help them grow in their faith, we get to show the love of Christ to others and each other. The love we have for one another and the joy we share separates us from the secular world. Hold onto this truth as you go through these lessons.
Lesson Objectves
- Biblical Understanding of Jesus’ model of a team.
- Provide clarity on why a team exists, what is the focus and what is the objective of the team
- As a leader, you are self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses and those of your team
Story of a Success Team:
A Leaders role in casting vision for a team:
A solid leadership approach to team building revolves around asking key questions. These questions are helpful in both the direction and ongoing development processes of a team.
The team's core direction and vision can be discovered through questions such as these:
- Why does our team exist?
- How would we define success?
- What are our core values?
- Is our goal big enough, that we cannot accomplish it ourselves?
These questions help to identify purpose and clarity for the team. Leading the team with questions like these from the start helps shape not only the posture and focus of the team but also encourages important buy-in from team members. These core understandings for a team are essential to revisit and refresh throughout the life of the team. Lastly, our goal needs to be big enough that we are dependent upon the Lord to lead our team.
With a clear purpose and direction guiding the team, the next step is to engage with the following set of questions:
- What is our "next step"?
- What resources or materials do we need to develop our "next step"?
- How will we engage - both individually and collectively - to move this "next step" forward?
These “next step” questions help teams work toward their overall vision. Some first “next steps” could include:
- Identifying strengths and weaknesses of team members
- Determining how a team should be organized.
- Creating a shared plan that everyone can embrace and see themselves in.
Later “next step” often include
- Eventually, the next steps will include executing the actual plan
- Making a plan so the team’s success can be replicated at other levels of leadership
Leaders who help their team stay focused and identify practical “next steps” move their team toward their vision.
Lastly, effective team leaders help their teams have a learning posture by creating a culture of evaluation - evaluation for the individual and the whole team. Evaluation and processing leads a team towards celebration, growth, and learning opportunities all while staying focused on the team’s vision. Team leaders find what is the best way for his/her team to engage in evaluation together but embed it into their regular leadership and posture. Developing a culture of learning helps keep your team in a growth mindset and collaboration.
Pause and Reflect
Using the table below, reflect on all the teams you lead and are on.
- Can you answer the three questions for each of your teams? If not, what needs to happen in order to do that?
- What are your next steps as a team?
In the video below Sasha Utkin shares with us the role of a leader to develop your team not only for the current task at hand but for future generations of a team. Our roles as leaders are to help our team thinking of the next practical step while also holding onto the big vision.
Pause and Reflect
- What did you hear from Sasha that encouraged or challenged you as you think about the team(s) you lead?
Overcoming the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team:
Overcoming the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team:
One of the most used materials on team building is The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. He outlines the five dysfunctions of a team are:
- Lack of Trust
- Fear of Conflict
- Lack of Commitment
- Avoidance of Accountability
- Lack of Results
Below are what you need to do to counteract the dysfunctions:
Overcoming the five dysfunctions requires:
- Building trust
- Resolving Conflict
- Commitment as a team
- Hold each other accountable
- Focus on results
If you would like to read more, here is a resource on Overcoming the Dysfunctions of a Team
Overcoming the 5 Dysfunction of a Team revolves around trust. All the good things you implement on your team and all the great ways you lead will live and die with how much your team trusts each other. We as leaders can lead in this area by being willing to be the first to be vulnerable on a team. It has to start with us. This means freely admitting mistakes, admitting when you don’t know something or the best course of action, asking for forgiveness quickly and owning up to your strengths and weaknesses.
Something else that can help is using tools to understand each other better (Strengthsfinder, Meyers-Briggs, Judgement Index). This gives everyone language to describe what they do well, and areas where they struggle. Last year in the i100, we used the StrengthFinder test. If you have not shared this resource with some of the teams you lead, now would be a good time to share your results and even pursue getting them to take the test as well. Taking the test allows for common language and identifying everyone’s strengths. The hard work comes when you work as a team for everyone to use their strengths as much as possible. You and your teams can discuss how do do this. The gallup website has several team exercises you can use if you want to do this with your team.
Once trust is established (although that’s a never-ending process), we need to encourage and model very honest conversations. You want every single doubt and differing opinion to be brought out into the open in your meetings. Practice and encourage disagreeing respectfully. This builds on trust, but you can also help get all the opinions on the table by working more creatively. Even with trust established, research shows that groups will lean towards the ideas of the loudest or highest-ranked people in the group. Avoid this by using techniques like Brainwriting in your teams.
After you’ve discussed all the options, you need to reach buy-in, not necessarily consensus. After the agreed-upon amount of conversation on a topic, make the decision and make sure it’s communicated clearly. People will commit even if the decision goes against their preference, as long as they feel like their perspective was heard, considered, and explained. Commitment clarification is crucial. Always ask the group and individuals, “What exactly have we decided today?” Include the exact metrics you’ll use to measure, and keep those in front of your team consistently in order to hold everyone accountable. Create a culture where everyone is bought in enough to call each other out if they’re not holding up their end of the bargain!
Emily Sandefur- Personal Story of Overcoming the 5 Dysfunctions of Team
Pause and Reflect
Using the table below, reflect on all the teams you lead and are on.
- For each column consider how your team builds or has the characteristics to overcome the dysfunctions of a team.
- Consider what you need to do in order to change any weaknesses
Action Steps
- Complete the charts in this lessons to consider where each of your teams are at and what action steps you need to take.
- Think back to your StrengthFinder test results. Share your results with your team. Consider a way for your team to identify everyone’s strengths and how to use those strengths.
