Create a Team
before you have the members
Too often we start recruiting team members before we have a team structure in mind.
I believe this was an error I made when I led a women’s ministry team. I was starting from scratch to build a ministry team that would encourage women to gather together to learn, love, and serve in community. While I had worked out the vision and mission of the ministry, I didn’t quite have a handle on our values and how we would function.
Since then, I have learned more about working with teams from other leaders, trainers, books, and my own experiences (successes & challenges). Over the next few months, I plan to write about what I’ve learned about creating a team, building that team, bonding as a team, and growing as a team.
I was so eager to get a team together to help me, that I failed to first decide what the team was going to do and how each member could contribute. Before you start recruiting team members, let’s back up a bit. My advice for these first steps would be:
Know your vision, mission and values. Clearly state them so you can share them with others.
Decide upon a structure that would best serve that mission.
Set out the basic roles for your team and recruit accordingly.
If you do not yet have a clear statement of your vision, mission, and values for your organization, you can get started by reading my newsletters on those topics here and here. Do not skip this important step as it will inform your decisions about forming and leading your team. The very first qualifications for a member of your team are to be passionate about the vision and mission of your organization and to be in alignment with its values.
For teams in small organizations, there are basically two ways to structure them: either around program or function.
If your organization runs different programs year-round, you may want someone responsible for all aspects of each particular program area. An example of this might be the discipleship team at a church. Team members are staff or volunteer leaders who are responsible for different segments of the population: children, students, young adults, adults, seniors, etc. Each leader would be responsible for all aspects of their program: events, curriculum, promotion, etc. and would serve on your team to coordinate all aspects of discipleship for your church.
If your team runs a number of projects or events that all require similar functions (e.g. registration, refreshments, promotion, etc.), it may be wise to organize along functional categories. Many small organizations focus on a single program offered repeatedly including community choirs, animal shelters, food banks, church ministry teams, etc.
For example, the women’s ministry team I led would have an event for women that required promotion, registration, refreshments, and follow-up every month or so. If we had assigned areas of responsibility that would be consistent for every event, we could have streamlined our meetings. Instead of focusing on who would be responsible this time for decorating, registering, greeting, etc., we could have spent more time working out broader program strategies. This would also allow team members to specialize in an area of their capabilities, and to grow in the role as they learn from their experiences each month/quarter. Roles do not have to be set in stone for the whole term of service. They could be assigned for one year and reviewed annually.
Deciding on your team roles focuses your recruitment efforts. Now you have a better idea of the type of people you want to recruit and the skills needed (at least initially). You may want to create a list of roles with a brief description of the responsibilities. If you are looking for people who can handle particular functions, find the doers. If you have a team of program directors, you are looking for people who are passionate about and experienced in a particular program area.
Looking for team members will also require flexibility. Don’t go around with a solid, “I shall not be moved” attitude but don’t let others sweet-talk you out of your carefully considered plan either.
My next newsletter will go into more depth about who and how to invite people to a seat around the table.
A FINAL THOUGHT: As a person of faith, I have found that prayer is critical to the process of creating a team and will lead to the very best results even when you make mistakes. This is not a step in the process, but a practice throughout the process.
The team we ended up having for our women’s ministry was not the first iteration and we never did end up having a structure with functional responsibility areas. But I believe that because we asked for God’s guidance in forming our team, including the addition of new members, we worked well together in unity and love for one another and the women we served.
At one point when we were looking to expand the team, I felt the urging of the Holy Spirit to approach a young woman I didn’t know to ask her if she would be interested in joining our team. What I came to realize was that she had a passion for women’s ministry as well as some experience serving in that capacity. She is still on that team as the longest serving member.
When we pray and respond to God’s leading, He will provide the people He has prepared and chosen for this work. Prayer is not just something we do to consult with God when we’re forming a team, but we continue to pray both with and for our team throughout our leadership.
What about you? Have you led or been on a team that had a clear structure? Did you find it helpful or confining? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment so others can learn from your experience as well.