Never Underestimate the Power of a Team
Today I had the privilege of facilitating a discussion on the subject of teams with the staff of Workplace Chaplains, U.S. during their annual retreat at Young Life’s Timberwolf Lodge in northern Michigan.
This diverse and committed team of professionals provided such a lively and inspiring discussion about teams that I thought you’d appreciate some of their insights.
To the question “What’s the advantages of being a team?”
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
“It refines you as a person – ‘iron sharpens iron'”
“Provides discipline and accountability”
“Teams are better image bearers of God than individuals”
To the question “What’s the qualities of a great team?”
“Raise people up to another level”
“Teammates trust each other”
“Unselfish teammates”
“Share a common goal”
“Win”
This team described “the types of people who make up great teams”
“Dedicated to the team”
“Committed to a shared goal and mission”
“Loyal, love and respect each other”
“Elevate people around them”
“Prepared to perform and ever improving”
“Intensity and strong work ethic”
“Self aware and coachable”
Finally we discussed the work of Patrick Lencioni found in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team which provides the following outline for creating a great team:
- Trust
- Constructive conflict
- Commitment
- Accountability
- Attention to Results
As you can see from our notes we had a great time together and one I pray will make a difference in their work and in the lives of the people they serve.
By the way if you’re responsible for the care and development of people in an organization you need to consider Workplace Chaplains whose mission is to “partner with client companies to provide care, counsel, and crisis management services for their employees from a Christian perspective.” You will be providing a great service to your people and helping to improve the performance of your organization.
The Moses Temptation in Creating Vision
There’s nothing more heroic than the leader who goes off to some lonely place and comes back after an extended period of time with a clear vision for the organization and people they lead.
It’s what I call the Moses temptation of vision creation. In the Moses temptation the leader believes he or she’s to go off to the mountain, meet God, receive divine direction and return to the people with a vision so solid and unmovable that it’s written on tablets of stone.
When God used this process with Moses the results were stunning – a set of 10 “laws” which are still the basis of much of the today’s legal system. Yet it’s also the root of the Moses temptation – believing we’re Moses and our vision’s equal to the Ten Commandments.
But the issue for lesser yet important visions and their creation is that the process doesn’t allow for dialogue and debate necessary for building a committed team of stake holders. How can you debate a message from God “engraved in stone”?
Transparent, honest and humble dialogue’s necessary if stake holders are to have true buy-in and a long-term commitment to a vision. It’s not enough for an organization to have a charismatic leader who can inspire followers for a season; sustainable vision requires a sustainable community of people whose commitment’s built on their involvement in a vision’s creation.
And one last thought. Doesn’t a truly inspiring vision, one that compels us to long-term sacrifice, need to be significantly larger than a single person? I know I want to be a part of and lead an organization with a vision bigger than any single person, including me.
What about you? What’s your take on the Moses temptation? What kind of vision inspires you to a long-term commitment to seeing it through to reality?
The Rule of “Last”
David Lynema (left) and Randy Boike “Just one last fish and we’ve caught our limit.” Randy Boike, David Lynema and I knew we were pushing the edge of getting back to the lodge in day light. If we stayed too much longer we’d be in the dark for part of our 2.5 hour return trip which included crossing 5 lakes, shooting 2 narrow rapids and making 2 long walks through the woods.
But we wanted to catch “just one last fish.”
Maybe not the safest decision when you’re in the northern Ontario bush.
And it’s especially not good when catching that last fish leads to an unplanned swim in a very cold Canadian lake, at the end of a very long day, at the end of September.
But that’s what happened on the last day of the SpringHill fishing trip. I caught the last fish, a big one (and it gets bigger every day). As I was lifting it into the canoe (I was solo) it tipped and I ended up in a very cold lake wearing way to much cotton.
Thanks to the cool heads of Randy and Dave and the inflatable vest Denise has sworn me to wear when I’m fishing in a canoe I ended up rescued, dried and warm before anything serious happened.
The whole thing turned out to be a humorous adventure rather than a disastrous event, for which I’m grateful.
But I couldn’t help recalling the rule my friend John McAuley instituted at his camp, Muskoka Woods, called “the rule of last.”
Whenever his staff hears “just one last time?” or something similar, they’re to make sure that the “last time” doesn’t happen. Why? Because their experience tells them it’s that “last time” when many accidents occur.
And I now know this rule’s universal and should apply to fishermen as well especially when they say “just one last fish”.
The Underappreciated Work of Making Vision a Reality
We’re enamored with strategic thinking and vision casting. Most leaders want to be seen as strategic and visionary thinkers who cruise around at 30,000 feet. We value this skill set so much that we make heroes out of these same leaders.
But I’m convinced that being just a visionary leader isn’t nearly enough. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not minimizing the importance of these skills – creating strategy and vision need to be a part of any leaders work. Too often, though, leaders spend too much energy on vision and strategy and too little energy on tactics and execution.
We often look down on tactical work and the execution of strategy because we misread people like Steve Jobs and credit Apple’s success to his vision and strategic thinking.
But if you’ve read any of the 100’s of recent articles and blogs about Jobs after the announcement of his retirement as CEO you see a different picture. What you find is a leader who spent much of his time in the “trenches” working on the details of new products – in other words doing the tactical work. This is what made Jobs truly visionary. It was his willingness to do the hard, everyday work required to assure that his vision and strategy succeeded.
So as a leader my goal’s to spend only a small percentage of my time on vision while spending most of my time working side by side with our staff, board, supporters and volunteers in the hard work of making our vision reality. Because at the end of my time at SpringHill, if anything’s written about me, I want it to be said, not that I was just a visionary, but that I led an organization that turned its vision into a world transforming reality.
Be Careful What You Say About Yourself
“The whale that spouts first gets harpooned first” was one of the first things I learned in 1984 as I started in the management training program at Steelcase, Inc. A quote attributed to its then CEO and chairman, Bob Pew.
The message was clear – we shouldn’t talk about how good we are as a company. We just needed to demonstrate it through our superior products, service and value. The need to “spout” indicated more serious issues, issues that would eventually lead to being “harpooned”.
Being understated was a strong value of Steelcase’s and it permeated the entire company’s culture. It’s a value that continues to influence my career and as a result influences SpringHill.
It’s so integrated into my own values that I hadn’t thought much about the quote until one day, late in July, I drove by this sports bar in a small town near Marion, Indiana.
The sign on the side of the building read “Best Damn Sportsbar Period”.
As I went by the front of the bar I said to myself “it doesn’t look like the best one – period” and then noticed the “for sale” sign in the window which confirmed my assessment of the place.
The owners surely hadn’t gone through Steelcase’s management training program. Because if they had, they’d had known not to spend money spouting off on signs. But instead they would have invested that money and energy into the service and experience they provided their customers with the result being that they wouldn’t have needed that final sign I saw in the window.
Great Organizations are Built on Strong Foundations
“Thank you for continuing to keep the mission of SpringHill alive and moving forward” were the words of one former board member who attended our 3rd annual SpringHill board member reunion.His words, along with all the other conversations were truly encouraging. Their presence blessed us greatly and spoke volumes about their commitment to and love for what God’s continuing to do through SpringHill. It’s this ongoing commitment from folks like these that allow organizations like SpringHill to thrive for decades.
Our day together occurred at our Michigan overnight camp. It started out with summer staff worship, joining pre-opening day staff meeting and then watching our the entire summer staff take their annual photo leading one board member to comment “there are more staff than we had campers in any given week when I was on the board”.
We then enjoyed a meal together in the Founders’ House (or what folks called back in the day…”The Big House”) where we listened to some old stories followed by a “state of SpringHill” discussion. The questions asked and the comments made demonstrated that our board alumnae continue to be committed to the mission of SpringHill and their desire to see it succeed.
But the following two benefits made this day so important for all of us.
First, the reunion allows us to bless our board alumni by letting them see the ministry that’s been built on the foundation of their sacrifice and hard work while acknowledging their contributions and thanking them for what they’ve done and still do to help SpringHill fulfill its mission.
And secondly, it’s a great reminder to our current staff and board of where we’ve come from which helps us to become all God has called us to be and to do all that God has called us to do.
One More Thought About Being Pretty in Pink
As I’ve reflected on yesterday’s pretty in pink celebration (click to see my post on 8/09/11) there’s one other part of the story that’s continued to encourage me. It’s simply witnessing the great enthusiasm of a team who could have found reasons for not being excited about achieving this particular goal.It would have been easy for our Michigan Site and Operations team to bemoan having significantly more campers than planned. Having 10% additional campers, most of who registered later in the process, creates enormous challenges for departments like Site and Operations. But they, as did the rest of our Michigan team, not only rose to the occasion of serving more campers, they strove to beat our stretch goal and then celebrated wholeheartedly when we did.
When every part of a team not only embraces shared goals but more importantly works diligently to achieve them, even at great personal and professional cost, winning becomes reality and for our Site Team a reason to go pink.
So at the end of a great day not only did I love the celebration I’m even more proud of the team who led it.
Pretty In Pink Because We Made Our “A” Plan
Even though my wife Denise’s a breast cancer survivor I typically don’t wear pink. And for the record I wouldn’t dye what little hair I have left any color – especially pink.We also have a policy that asks staff not to significantly alter their appearance during summer camp by adding such things as tattoos or God forbid, dyeing one’s hair an unnatural color.
But when our Michigan Site team asked me at the beginning of the summer to join them in coloring their hair pink if we reach our “A” plan (“A” plan’s our stretch goal) what could I say? To celebrate 7600+ kids attending our Michigan overnight camp would be a great reason to be “pretty in pink”.
Also, frankly, at the beginning of the summer, I wasn’t so sure we’d hit our “A” plan so committing to go pink didn’t seem like such huge risk.
But as we grew closer to the goal and it was apparent we’d reach 7600 campers the Site team made sure I didn’t forget my commitment to join them in being “pretty in pink”.
So today I, along with my wife Denise, joined the Site team in celebrating, in pink, the privilege of serving nearly 7700 campers this summer.
Our t-shirts say “God always has “A” plan. Jeremiah 29:11″.
It’s not just a fitting quote for our Michigan overnight camp but it also applies to what’s turned out to be the largest summer in SpringHill’s history. We’ll provide 17,500 campers a SpringHill Experience – a reason for which I’d have dyed my hair any color.
Wednesday Night Live and Great Staff
Last night I had the opportunity to enjoy our Copper Country leadership staff’s program called “Wednesday Night Live”. The team did an incredible job planning, rehearsing and then providing a fun, purposeful and engaging program for our 4th thru 6th grade Michigan campers.Wednesday Night Live is a series of funny skits and songs perform in our outdoor Copper Country amphitheater – a setting which is just incredibly beautiful and so classic camp like.
The show’s kicked off by singing led by the band performing at our middle school camp and ends with a drama that depicts Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross with the humor sandwiched in between.
As I stood in the back watching and laughing with some of our staff and volunteers I couldn’t help but reflect on the truth that the most important ingredient to any successful team, be it a summer camp, church or business is the quality of people on that team.
We had an incredible show and evening and frankly we’re having an incredible summer in Copper Country and throughout all of SpringHill because of our quality summer staff.
There’s no more significant and important part of a SpringHill Experience than these great people, working for the right reasons, creating and delivering these great experiences that Christ uses to transform the lives of kids.
They make summer camp a SpringHill Experience.
Click here to see other photo’s from Wednesday Night Live.
Onward – How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul
If you’re a coffee aficionado, student of leadership or intrigued by the workings of large corporations then I recommend the book Onward by Howard Schultz the Chairman, President and CEO of Starbucks.My interest falls primarily into the first two categories – coffee and leadership – though I’m not a true aficionado I do enjoy a good cup of coffee. But the second category – leadership – is what put the book on top of my summer reading list.
In particular I wanted to understand how Schultz led Starbucks through difficult economic times and organizational change while maintaining and even strengthened their values, culture and brand.
Because Schultz is an articulate and passionate leader the book turned out to be practical. It’s full of quotable statements about business, leadership and of course coffee, making it a great case study and enjoyable read.
In reality Starbucks represents a number of the qualities we envision for SpringHill including having passionate & loyal fans, strong organizational culture built on their values and industry changing innovation that makes a difference in the world.
So reading a firsthand account of Starbuck’s transformation provided some helpful lessons for both SpringHill and my leadership as we continue to reach more kids, more effectively for Christ in a changing world.
By the end of the book I filled four pages with concepts I could adapt to my leadership as well as ideas that we can possibly try at SpringHill – a number of which I’ve already applied to myself and introduced to the organization.
There’s one other change I made as a result of reading Onward – inspired I found our old French press at the back of our cupboard and now use it to brew my morning coffee.
