Table of Contents
Teaming
Mission Teams in SEND International
- Four different types of teams in SEND
- Not Every Team is the Same > this document describes the 4 teams above in point form
- FER Teaming statement.pdf developed by SEND in Far East Russia
Books on Teaming
TECHnically Connected: Navigating Distance on Virtual Teams by Warren Janzen, SEND's International Director.
TECHnically Connected draws from research, interviews of those in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, and over 15 years of personal leadership experience to bring you practical insights that will help your team thrive without the drive. The virtual environment creates new challenges to the typical elements of teaming. Warren reflects on what it means to work virtually and unpacks the critical insight that when you are separated, “how” you work as a team is even more important than “who” is on the team. With practical examples from his experience leading a Christian non-profit agency, Warren shows you how to build trust, work through conflict, lead meetings, and bridge cultures while working from a distance.
- Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page by Larry Osborne. Larry Thiessen recommends this book and says, “This book focuses on how to keep your leadership team and staff on the same page. It gives very practical advice to church boards or leadership teams on how to build and maintain unity as well as explaining some of the growing pains of a leadership team that can cause disunity.”
- The Performance Factor: Unlocking the Secrets of Teamwork by Pat MacMillan It's a great book on teamwork that could greatly impact your ability to lead a team.
- The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni > Team Building, Leadership, Communication Skills, Good Recruiting.
- Moving from I to We by Paul Ford >Team building, Leadership, Discipleship
- Sacred Siblings: Valuing One Another for the Great Commission by Sue Eenigenburg and Suzy Grumelot. Recommended by Donna Macomber and Dorothy Janzen. Dorothy says, “Single men and women continue to make significant contributions to global missions. Sacred Siblings addresses the importance of understanding one another as singles and marrieds working together for the sake of the Kingdom. Through careful research, Sue and Suzy provide practical suggestions for healthy working relationships, bringing greater value to our single colleagues!”
Building healthy teams
Tools for building healthy teams
Team Launch Toolkit
SEND U has developed a Team Launch Toolkit. This toolkit is comprised of a set of training modules that a field leader or a regional director could take to a new team to help them work through the questions that are important for the formation of any ministry team. The toolkit could also be used in a relaunch of a team – where an existing team is adding members or wanting to reevaluate their vision or deal with some areas of dysfunctionality on the team. Our desire is to see SEND teams worldwide become more effective in MEE, and for this purpose, the toolkit was envisioned. This toolkit is meant to be used with teams who are working together in a common ministry and is currently comprised of 6 modules:
- Why are we a team? Developing a team vision and mission statement
- What will we do? Creating a Team Annual Ministry Plan
- How are we different from each other? Building self-awareness on personalities
- How will we become an effective team? Understanding stages of team formation and overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team
- How will we communicate with each other? Pitfalls in communication, developing communication norms for the team, security concerns
- How will we resolve conflicts? Causes of conflict, resolving conflict, developing a team commitment.
The toolkit can be found at this link. If you are interested in having your team work through these modules, please contact your field and/or regional director.
David Sedlacek's "Building Healthy Teams" training material
Some practical help for cross-cultural teams designed by David Sedlacek, a missionary with TEAM.
- Six questions for healthy teams
- Mission: Why are we a team?
- Goals: What will we do?
- Roles: What do I do? What do my teammates do?
- Communication: How do we relate to each other?
- Decision-making: How do we make decisions?
- Conflict: How do we handle conflict?
- Profile of a Healthy Team * Trust > mutual vulnerability
- Communication > healthy conflict
- Commitment > mutual accountability
- Purpose > Operational goals
Other articles and training materials for teams
- Keys to Strong Teams> PowerPoint by Ken Guenther adapted from PP by Frank Severns. See also Keys to Strong Teams in Russian.
- Good Teams, Bad Teams: Under What Conditions Do Missionary Teams Function Effectively? > article by David R. Dunaetz
- Kinlaw's BROKEN-LINK:Pillars of Commitment LINK-BROKEN
- What strong teams have in common (Gallup Management Journal)
- BROKEN-LINK:Belbin Team Roles LINK-BROKEN > an assessment tool that looks at team roles. We have used it with the International Leadership Team. It is a little pricey but gives great insight into the different roles that team members play.
- Understanding Yourself > links to a variety of self-assessment tools
Team Covenants
- A book by Patrick Lai that talks about the importance of team covenants - Tentmaking: The Life and Work of Business as Missions
Team building activities
- A Tale of Three Team Leaders (simulation game) (created by Ted & Wendy Szymczak) - used at 2013 Ukraine annual conference by Alfie Mosse.
Cautions about teaming
- Building Teams, building walls > an article in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly arguing that teams are the new missionary compounds.
- Are we a team? > a blog article by Ken Guenther.
- Can we put too much emphasis on healthy teams? > a blog article by Ken Guenther.
Team Development Stages
- See this wiki page
Multi-cultural teaming
See wiki page on this topic.
Trust in Teaming
- Building Trust on a Team > list of discussion questions, activities and resources put together by Ken Guenther. References many of the articles below.
- The #1 Essential for your ministry team > article by Robert Crosby
- The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything a book by Stephen M. R. Covey. Summarized by David Mays on his web site.
- Discussion guide from FER > on the topic of building trust on a ministry team, with a comparison of teams that have trust and those that don't.
- Team-building activities that build trust and interdependence > from MindTools
- A trust survey which has been used by our Macedonia field in 3 successive years. This survey was adapted from Covey's book, The Speed of Trust. The two survey files are pretty much the same, with one being for self and the other being for the team or the Ministry Leadership Team for the area. The Macedonia area did both of these the first year, and then each year after that they just did the team survey.
- The Currency of Trust: the difference between flourishing and floundering.
- Understanding the Trust Equation > (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) / Self-orientation = Trustworthiness. See also The Trust Quotient and the Science Behind It, explaining the implications of this equation
- The Four Trust Principles > A focus on the other, a collaborative approach, medium-to-long-term relationship perspective, and a habit of being transparent
- Trust on multi-cultural teams - see page on multi-cultural teams
Five Dysfunctions of a Team
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
- Kindle highlights of Five Dysfunctions by Dave Brubacher.
- Diagram explaining the 5 dysfunctions
- Ministry Team Diagnostics > How to avoid the 5 most common dysfunctions of a ministry team an article by Nancy Ortberg
- Other products from Pat Lencioni and the Table group to be used in training and assessing your team regarding the five dysfunctions