CALIBRATING THE RIGHT-SIZED TEAM

With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. – PSALM 78:72

Each person on your team has been created in the image of God and is therefore eternally, beautifully, and intricately made. This simple, yet profound reality makes leadership very difficult because it clearly means there cannot be a one-size fits all approach to leading people. As much as we wish there was a formula for developing our people, there just isn’t.

But if we are honest, it is easier to manage a team member’s performance around clearly set expectations than it is to actually know them enough to help them become all God created them to be. Even harder is doing this when you have upwards of 15+ people reporting directly to you.

The primary reason God sovereignly ordained each of your employees to be on your team (and might be the reason you are reading this blog) is to help them become all they were created to be. At Betenbough Homes (one of our sister companies), leaders are told, “You’re not in the homebuilding business. You’re in the people building business.” The same is true for you.

Think honestly about this question: Can you accomplish your mission as a developer of people with more than 6-7 direct reports?

If you are anything like most leaders, the answer is a hard no.

In the Kingdom, love is spelled T-I-M-E. If you want to know someone and develop them to their full potential in Christ, you must spend intentional time with them (both quantity and quality). Think about it this way; Jesus had 12 followers but he spent his most sacred moments with 3 (for example, the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John). If Jesus, the one who came to earth to establish an everlasting Kingdom, focused His time with 3 people, don’t you think it will be okay for you to intentionally focus on a few?

Here are some action steps you can consider taking:

• Plan weekly one-on-one meetings with every person on your team. If it is impossible to maintain this schedule, you may need to strongly consider the next recommendation.
• Restructure. Give away your authority to rising leaders and entrust people to their care. This would reduce the number of people reporting to you, thus providing more time for you to know and grow the people you have.
• Practice surrendering your business to God. Daily. Remember, this is God’s ministry, formerly known as your business. Watch as your leadership is transformed the more you surrender your business and your people to Jesus’ Kingship.

We understand, this is not easy. Very few things required of you as a follower of Jesus are easy. But the beauty of this is that as you surrender to God’s will for you and the people He has entrusted to you, fruit will come with time.

Think and Pray
Are you using people to do tasks, or are you using tasks to develop your people?

Heavenly Father, help me to be intentional about helping the people around me become all that You are calling them to become. In Jesus’ name, amen!

Kingdom At Work is a movement that seeks to inspire, equip, and ignite leaders to advance God's Kingdom through their influence in the marketplace. Their mission is to reveal God and His Kingdom through our work in the marketplace. Learn more about Kingdom At Work at https://kingdomatwork.com.