Four Tips to Building a Great Team
‘It would just be so much easier if I could just do it myself!’
Let’s face it, all of us will had moments like this. Moments where we’ve thought that leadership would be much easier if we could just do it all on our own. There’d be no-one to disagree with, no-one who works differently to us and no-one to convince that our idea is the best!
But anyone who has been part of a great team will also know the amazing experience of getting to lead alongside others. Leading in a team allows us to learn from one another as we each bring our own gifts, passions, perspectives, and ideas – helping us to go further than we could ever go on our own and having loads of fun along the way!
Here’s four tips to help kickstart the journey of building a great team.
1. It all starts with story
Stories are a powerful tool to help share the vision for any team. What’s your story – why do you do what you do? How did God lead you to where you are today? These questions are helpful to understand our ‘why’.
Whether you’re inviting volunteers to join your youth team at church, leading a group project at school, or starting a business, sharing your ‘why’ by telling stories is the key first step to help you bring people along on the journey and inspire them to find their place within the wider vision of what you are doing.
Stories also help to build trust and connection between you and your team. Share your story and listen to others’. Find out what makes them tick, what they’re passionate about and how they ended up doing what they do.
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate
This might sound obvious, but good communication is the bedrock of any great team. And any issue in a team is probably caused by some kind of breakdown in communication.
When building great teams, thinking through how you communicate well with each other will help to build trust, establish clear expectations, and help everyone on the team feel unified and bought into what you’re seeking to achieve.
Who needs to be told about this? What information do they need? Is there anyone I’m asking to be a mind-reader? Is there something that is bothering me that I need to bring up with my team? What questions do I need to ask to get the information I need?
All these are great questions to ask to build open and clear communication in teams.
3. Make space for mistakes
When I was first learning to drive, my instructor had dual controls and would put his foot on the clutch to help me find the biting point. What I didn’t realise is that he carried on doing this in all of my lessons. I arrived at the test centre on the morning of my test, got into the car and stalled five times before leaving the car park… It’s safe to say I didn’t get the result I was looking for!
What my instructor didn’t know was that mistakes are necessary for people to grow. We need these moments where things can go wrong so that we can learn what not to do and how to do it better next time.
When you’re building your team, think about how you can release opportunities where mistakes are possible – and work hard to build in support and encouragement so that when things do go wrong, people won’t feel let down or crushed, but can get back up and try it again.
4. Let feedback become your friend
When I first started learning to speak in public, I’d been asked to share at an event that was happening at church. It definitely wasn’t the best talk anyone had ever given and straight after the session, the person who was running the evening kept me back and said this: ‘I’m not sure that teaching is your gifting. Maybe there are other ways that you serve in church.’
Ouch…
We might have had experiences like this – where feedback is given badly – and so we avoid giving feedback altogether. Out of good intention, we don’t want to offend or upset people.
But we are doing a disservice to the people in our teams if we don’t create structures where feedback can be delivered effectively and within the context of trust and relationship. Good, specific and honest feedback is crucially important if people are going to grow and our teams are going to achieve all that we want them to.
Want to learn more? The Onelife Certificate in Leadership brings together the best of Onelife’s material and is designed for those who want to invest in their own leadership and grow in their capacity to develop young leaders around them.
Our next cohort starts in January and we’d love you to join!