Engaged Leadership - Lesson 8

Welcome back to session eight. We're glad to have you back, but we're getting ready to transition into a whole different section. You remember in section 1, we focused on you as both a leader and a manager. In section 2, we talked about bringing others in by developing trust, showing them how to make something good out of conflict and how to coach them towards being the people God created them to be.

Our last section was instilling in them the principles that God expects us to carry into our ministry organization with integrity and charisma. So now, in stage 4 of the Engaged Leadership Process, we're going to be focusing on engagement that leads to ministry wellness. Now, you can say, well, that ministries are well because Jesus is a part of it.

But the surveys and the work that I've done in megachurches, church organizations, seminaries, and parachurch organizations show that up to 56% of staffs can actually be dysfunctional. So how do we move into a state where we are bringing the people together, engaging them as a group, but also then in our next session, how to engage them as an organization? So let's focus on how to bring people together as a team. You see, after learning to approach and communicate with teams as individuals, the next step is to foster an environment where the group collaborates efficiently and actually strives to succeed.

So what we're going to talk about in this particular session is the whole concept of collaboration. Now, if you will refer back to our session number five, you'll remember that we talked about the whole conflict concept and how collaboration will actually help us towards achieving our objectives 80% of the time. So we're going to return to that concept and more as a part of conflict, we're going to actually see how to bring a team together, energize them, and engage them in a way that will benefit the culture of your ministry.

Here's a quote from a guy that was around a number of years ago in the sports field. His name was Casey Stengel, "Getting good players is easy. Getting them to play together is a hard part." And if you look at the New York Yankees as an organization, even today, they've got a lot of high-powered players, but they haven't won a World Series in over a decade. Having good people isn't always the answer.

The thing that I've learned over the past 30 years in working with organizations such as yours is the fact that you can hire the very best person possible with the most experience and bring them in. But if they do not fit the culture, they will not last, nor will they bring the knowledge that is needed to the group of people that they're working with. So our focus should be what is collaboration and what are the reasons that it's actually missing in the workplace today.

So most of us tend to think that collaboration is just working together. Not necessarily true. When we actually get down to the brass tacks, many people have misconceptions of what collaboration actually looks like.

So what I want to do now is I want to actually put together some concepts that will dispel some of the myths that we have about collaboration, because there are many of them out there. And what we want to do is make sure that as we focus on them, we're thinking the way that we need to think to build the collaborative process that's going to solve our problems 80% of the time. The first myth that I find very common is that harmony is the most important thing.

Not necessarily true. You can have a lot of people that think the same way and work the same way together, and they really like each other. But how well do they manage conflict every single time? You see, just having harmony is something that high IS people and high social people are going to do naturally.

Nobody wants to argue. They're non-confrontational people. But the point is, as we learned earlier in our conflict session, that conflict is good.

It helps us identify what's wrong so that we can actually focus on the problem and issue at hand. So just because a group gets along well does not mean that they are necessarily going to achieve their task. You know that ambivert high IS with subjective mindsets is great at building teams, but they struggle completing tasks.

So myth number one is not correct. Myth number two is the fact that permanency actually builds complacency. In other words, we get comfortable with the people that we're working with and thereby we're able to work together more smoothly.

Well, most people understand that the longer a person stays within an organization, the more adept they are at their job. Bureau of Labor Statistics show today that a person really doesn't become well-seated and proficient in their job until they've been there two years. Now you may have the desire, the burn, the enthusiasm, that first love that it talks about when the Church of Ephesus is addressed.

But the longer groups work together, the better they tend to make decisions because the forming and storming phases are already past. They move into that norming and performing stage and they are able to work together more freely, more openly. Why? Because people understand the roles within the team.

The fact is that teams that stay together longer play together better. And they work more effectively and efficiently. Now let's move on to myth number three: bigger teams are more productive. And I don't know if any of you have been involved in team sessions, but the larger the team, the wider variety of opinions that are going to arise. And so many times, so often, I have seen groups get into discussions that chase rabbits rather than end up addressing the core issue.

So small teams can actually be more efficient and manageable because there's less opinions, there's less argument, shall we say, and oftentimes much can be accomplished much quicker. Our fourth myth is that face-to-face interaction is passé. And after COVID, we discovered that there were a lot of people that had to work remotely.

And now that companies are calling them back to work, there's this big pushback and people quitting their jobs. The fact is, is that a good portion of the people, as we've discussed in the past, 66% of the population is people oriented. They need that interaction between people.

And when they don't have that stimulation, they tend to be distractible. The more objective a person is, the more they can work independently without those distractions. As a matter of fact, the more objective they are, the less they like to be distracted because they have a tendency to focus and get in the zone.

You see, teams that work remotely are at a disadvantage simply because of the fact that osmosis is not occurring. Culture can actually be absorbed by employees and ministry workers. And that is one of the most important things that we forget is disseminating the culture of your ministry.

I know the church that I attend has a minister of culture and one of his roles is giving that cultural perspective to new employees. And the larger the organization is ministerially, the more that culture needs to be displayed because culture is something that tends to be dissolved into the background the larger an organization gets. And as a ministry, we can't afford to let that happen.

It's like diluting the message. We have to make sure that that message continues to be what it was designed to be. Now, another myth that is so very common is the fact that everybody should depend on the leader.

And let's understand something here. Leaders are normally visionaries. And I'll use an example that every one of you should probably know and understand.

Because when I say I have a dream, very few people are not going to know that that was Martin Luther King. But Martin Luther King did not bring that dream to reality. He gave the speeches that rallied people around.

But it was Ralph Abernathy that made the dream come true. They became the implementers that took the dream and put legs on it and carried it across the nation and built a whole new perspective of what the culture of what they were trying to achieve actually brought to bear. You see, great leaders create an environment of independency and empower for those people.

This goes back to our trust section. We're trying to build that independency and empowerment. And oftentimes, that's by letting people make mistakes.

But they grow. And the quicker they learn from those mistakes, that's less burden off of the leader. Because the leader carries a vision to the organization.

And without that vision, there can never be a next step. And there's always a next step. God is in the process of improving us and developing us.

Otherwise, we wouldn't be here. Now, let's move on to our next myth, which is gather a talented group of people and they'll do everything that needs to be done. Well, you can have a lot of talented people.

But here's something I want you to think about. How many of the great bands that came up during the 60s, the 70s, the 80s and 90s actually stayed together? Very few. Why? Because "I'm so talented, nobody appreciates my talent. I have so many resources that other people don't have. I'm the songwriter, you're just the singer." Now, these may be secular examples.

But this happens in the church, too. You have some people that are going to be the defenders of the faith. They're going to be challenging doctrinal principles, even from the pastor at times if they don't agree.

And during that process, they may damage relationships because they've been to seminary and perhaps the pastor hasn't. But the point is, is just because someone is talented and they're brought on to a talented team does not mean that they are going to accomplish the mission, vision and values of the organization. You see, the success of a team requires goals, resources, support and organization, not just people that are talented.

If you go back to our initial covering of the behavioral types, 40 percent, two out of every five people was that highest personality. These are support systems in the organization. They're the glue that keeps an organization together.

They are the people that support and carry out the direction of the organization. Do they have challenges? Yes, we all have challenges in developing an organization. But here's the good thing, that teams that struggle together also succeed together.

That's why we've said over and over again, good leaders use constructive conflict to identify different perspectives. They'll draw those perspectives out of people. And guess what? It ends up helping them solve issues much more efficiently and effectively.

So, we've learned to understand that our team members have very unique approaches. We talked about the high DC, the objectives that are very task oriented. We've talked about the high IS and subjective people that are very emotional and people oriented and make up two-thirds of the population.

But each group, no matter how different, can contribute to the collaborative process. If we have a team that we're trying to build together and you notice that someone is not speaking, as a leader, you have to stop that process right away and say, "Joe, I know you have a lot of expertise in the financial arena and yet you haven't said much. What have we missed?" Give the person an opportunity to contribute and build the respect level of that individual in the group so that the group has mutual respect because we're all gifted differently.

And without understanding what the individual brings to the process, you'll never get the full depth and magnitude out of a group. And remember too, the people that are the quietest are introverts and these are the people that value competence over confidence. They may be your secret repository of information that you've been waiting to find out.

So, think about it this way. Let's look at the graphics that we have on the screen. People-oriented, subjective people are very good at communicating feelings and ideas, but they have trouble turning them into actions.

So, what do we want to do? We want them to be the kind of team members that jump in, help organize, encourage, and build up the self-esteem of the team as a whole. Because teams have personalities just like individuals. And if you decide to move on to the Transformational Teams course that we have available to you, you're going to see exactly how to determine the personality of the teams.

But then there's also those task-oriented, objective people that are great at building projects and using ideas, but they have trouble expressing their feelings. So, when you build a team, there are places and positions for the objective people. Maybe it's making the agenda, keeping people on schedule, on time.

But the subjective people are the ones that are going to bring in the concept of how is this impacting the people? Are we going to engage people with these processes, or are we going to deter them during the process? So, here are some things I want you to dig into and think about as we identify six cognitive conditions that will help you build collaboration with your team. You see, with the right environment, we can use our differences to build on each other's strengths and work collaboratively. So, I'm going to go through these six conditions and help you build an environment of sharing.

The first one is relatedness. Now, we've heard that word before, all the way back in session number five on trust. But being relatable to the people in your ministry or your employees not only earns them trust, but in the process allows you to learn about the personality and improve the team members.

And as you improve the team members, you improve the employee. And what happens when you elevate the esteem of an employee? Guess what? You get a better team. You get a better employee.

So, here's an example. You notice that an employee has an interest in baseball simulators, for example, indicating that they're very objective minded. So, what do you do? You could probably start involving them more during the planning stages because they see processes that are involved.

Give them a place on a team where they can actually function in a way that they have the mental aptitudes. So, number one is being relatable. And that relatedness helps each team member see that there's something in common with you as the leader.

So, second, you have to be expressive. Now, if you're a highly objective person, that may be hard, but we can't afford to mask our thoughts and feelings. When you do, you are actually absorbing 50-75% of your brain power.

Don't use it up. Find a way to encourage opportunities to express ideas, even though some of them may seem a little incomplete or imperfect. Now, let's give you an example of that.

Joe is a strategic thinker, but his co-workers are people oriented. So, he actually avoids expressing his ideas because he does not want to rock the boat. What happens? The team never really hears his ideas on how to improve the workflow. And without that idea, how can they possibly improve their productivity and performance? 

Third, recognition is a key to helping people want to collaborate. 37% of employees say that receiving recognition is the biggest factor in their professional happiness. A number of years ago, I was involved in a massive survey that literally included thousands of companies.

And as we looked at that, recognition became the key factor. And what companies learned from that process was that when you recognize areas where the company needs to perform, they become more profitable, the people become more engaged, and much more is achieved performance wise. But here's the thing.

Recognition is a very unique thing and a very individual thing. When we gave you that statistic that 37% of employees want to receive recognition and it provides them personal happiness, we have to look not just at their behaviors, but especially at their mindsets. Because a highly social person wants to be recognized publicly.

A highly objective person may much more want a paycheck. A belief system individual may be highly focused on recognized for the thought, their love of God, their commitment to biblical principles, etc. So what you have to focus on is where are the mindsets, what's important to that individual when you begin to formulate a recognition program.

Because recognition doesn't work the same way for one person that it does another person. Make sure you support your workers in a way that makes sense to them. This will improve your morale quicker than just about anything.

Don't fail to make a hero. Try to catch somebody doing something right and you will achieve that aspect of recognition. Next, interpersonal connection is critical.

This is one of the reasons why people quit their jobs because of their bosses. We said very early in this process that statistics show that 70% of people have left their job because of their boss. Building deeper relationships with your staff allows them to see their role in achieving the goals and objectives that you've set forth for your ministry.

These kind of opportunities have to have clear direction and be guided in order to be efficient and productive. So what have you got to do as a leader in a ministry or in an organization that espouses Christian principles? You have to communicate it individually, in a group, through written correspondence, through emails, and possibly even newsletters. If you do that, you reinforce the whole perspective that you're trying to accomplish.

And if you don't reinforce it over and over and over again, it'll get lost in a shuffle. Psychologists tell us that a person does not really accept a principle until they've heard it six times. The more that you're able to do that, the greater the response is going to be.

Now let's move on to our next condition for collaboration. People need to see the facts. They need to be able to identify the feasibility of the team goals and be honest regarding the organizational performance.

In other words, the executive branch can't hold on to all of the information. It needs to be shared. And the more the individuals within the ministry understand the place, the position, and the needs of the organization, the more quickly they are to respond.

That's why we say that we want each person to understand how their role impacts the ministry and how it produces a higher level of productivity, performance, and in some cases, profitability. People want to know something. Am I learning the things that I need to learn that will help the organization to grow? Am I moving forward? Are we actually winning at what we're trying to do? Are we accomplishing what God called us to do? Obviously, one of the most important facts.

And when we see those facts, when we understand the fact that we are touching people, we are doing the things that are necessary. There's a much stronger involvement by the individual to engage and go the extra mile to get them to where they need to be. Last and definitely not last, hope for the future.

You know, it's funny, in Romans 5:3-4, we see the universal process. Everybody must suffer. But if we persevere, we become people of character that have hope.

And hope doesn't mean, "I hope something will happen." Biblical hope means hope with expectation. "I expect this to happen."

And that's the attitude we have to move into when we think about things that are the objectives, our mission, vision, and values of our ministry. Because without those concepts, we can be discouraged. The spirit of fear is real. We talked about that in the last lesson. It's a spirit that will oppress the best of people. Because most people think fear is an emotion. It's not. It's a spirit. And it will work against us.

As a leader, you need to communicate to your employees about the road ahead. Telling them what's coming, giving them part of the strategic plan, telling them what we need to do as a group to grow and develop will give them a feeling of order and stability. And remember, 40% of our population, that's what they want, order and stability.

In other words, they're not encouraged to do their part. So let's begin to pull this together with some best practices that you can use to build engagement in the team that you're actually working with. First of all, identify long-term issues and objectives.

And the way that you can do that is through training, documentation, and constant communication with your people. Number two, create two-person teams. Why two? Make sure that there's diversity.

Put that people-oriented person with an objective person so that they can begin to learn from each other and learn to respect each person's individuality because that diversity will allow you to solve objectives that one person may not be able to. Third, create regular meetings with the purpose to address the issues and potential situations. And you may not solve it in that particular meeting, but give people time to think, give people time to reason.

You're going to have a larger portion of your population, 54%, that are introverted. They're going to need time to think and process. And so in that process, by giving them a heads up, maybe even sending out an email with an agenda and things that we're going to cover, you'll give them that time to think for potential solutions.

But then I want you to go to a next step, and that's have weekly meetings. Have a question and answer time, progress reports, and engagement for the entire team. I encourage most organizations to build a spreadsheet of what are the tasks that they have and then next to them, "What's an update to that?" So that those weekly things can be fed into leadership so that you don't spend the whole meeting on what are you doing and how are you doing it? When some people are going to say, "I'm where I was last week." If the leader knows that, it's much easier to ask specific questions about what's holding you up. "Do you need other resources?"

Number five, ask about each pair's process in larger meetings so that we can bring collaborative engagement to the individual, not just perfect answers that make everybody happy. In the end, the pair of people, the more experienced, the less experienced.

They're being trained, knowledge is being transferred, and their presentation format should depend entirely on themselves. But make sure they get you as a leader that advanced copy so that you can move ahead and grow and develop your team into the type of individuals that are going to make your role as a leader something that they want to emulate. Now I'm sure you probably have some questions. What might that be? 

Student: So when you're talking about the spreadsheet of different tasks and keeping track of those kinds of things, would that also be something that you might do for somebody you're bringing on to a staff at some point to be specific about their 90-day time frame that you mentioned before to actually have something set up, not only their job description, but something specific for them to do so that you could evaluate how they were fitting into the team? 

Dr. Coker: Yes, absolutely. Because the more objective the process, the less emotion is involved. And that's why most job descriptions just are comprised of tasks rather than key performance indicators, the way a person must think and reason through the process.

When you provide this type of passing on information as to progress with specific tasks, what you do is you build that security blanket around the employee. Number one, they understand where they're going. They understand what they need to do specifically.

They understand time frames, the resources they have available, and what potential problems they might be facing. When they understand that, there's very few questions left. And therefore, when you know that 75-80% of people need that structure, you are making their job much more predictable.

And that is what a huge part of the population, even the high I's, the more structured they are, the more comfortable they can be to be themselves. But when you think about 28% I's, 40% S's, and 14% C's, you're looking at 72% of the population. You've built that security blanket for them.

You've given them direction where the high D is always thinking ahead. And it's always creative. It's always strategic.

It may not work as well for them. But giving that structure to the people that like that predictability and that safety is going to build a great sense of security and a much greater willingness to collaborate with the people that they work with.