Relating to Your Leadership Team

1. Endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit (Ephesians 4:2). It starts with interaction and good communication. Your availability is essential. Leaders should cross paths once a week in different kinds of meetings: fun times, scheduled times, retreats, etc. You must have a desire to be friends. It’s not possible to put a team together without spending time together.

2. Lovingly confront one another. Your relationship must be strong enough and your team mature enough to be able to speak into one another’s lives. If you don't, can’t, or won’t correct you will reject. I call it correction or rejection!

3. Be interested in (and sensitive to) needs. We are all servants one to another. A servant’s desire is to see that the one leading them is successful. It’s our job to help them to reach their goals. It is a two-way street—all the time. It’s not “my flock.” Rather, “we together are pastoring this flock.” You must impart the vision of the body and then labor together for it to become a reality.

4. You must be a good listener. Your leaders also hear from God and very often they will have just the key for the hour. The senior man must be the instigator of the vision, but in the implementation, hundreds of decisions are made and if you’re not a good listener, you’ll miss out on solutions and key ideas.

5. Don’t ever belittle suggestions. This is how you quench ingenuity. A withering look or a snide remark can prevent open honest discussion.

6. You’re not a dictator. Instead be co-leaders together. Leadership must be able to express their opinions—that’s the nature of leaders. If the services are too long, I want them to tell me. If they don’t feel free to share their perspective, they will be frustrated, and eventually everyone in the church will see it.

7. Encourage creativity. Have clear job descriptions and make them as flexible as possible and review them every so often. Accountability and flexibility encourage creativity. If they are always coming to you for direction, it is possible that you are too controlling. This causes people to be afraid to step out and try new things thereby stunting creativity.

8. The leader must feel part of the decision. It’s usually not important that it is not their idea but they want to plug into it. They should never hear from the pulpit about some major change without it first being confirmed with the leadership, like “next week we will be going to two morning services.”

9. Loyalty is an absolute must. After open discussion, then it is “we have decided…” not “they have decided.”

10. Look for the good. Believe the best and be willing to take a risk on individuals. It is important that people believe in the leader, but it’s more important that the leader believes in the people. A person tends to rise to the level of what someone they respect believes about them.

You must give honor to your leaders if you want them to function effectively. This will always bring out the best in them, and end up producing solid, healthy team ministry.

Yours for the Miracle of Teamwork,

Dr George Hill
President and founder of Victory Churches International