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What kind of team do you have?
Do you know what game you’re playing? Like different sports have different team structures and strategies, you need to consider how your team make-up affects how you function effectively.
Below are three types of leadership teams and the transitions between them that a leadership team can go through.
Running Track
Track, for the most part, is an individual sport. You train. You run. You do well or you don’t. There aren’t a whole lot of people involved in the process of decision making. You win, you get the glory, and you know what happened. If something goes horribly wrong, you are the first one to know. Starting a chapter alone can be a lot like running track. You pick the hours, your leadership meetings happen in your head and you make the decisions. You know what’s going on in every aspect of your chapter because you ARE your chapter, at this point. You know you are running track when you are doing everything, all the time for every event your chapter does.
Golf Buddies
God willing, as your chapter grows, you have 3-4 join you. You’ve transitioned into a group effort, but it’s like playing golf with your buddies. It’s more about the fun and the friendship than it is about the game. Everybody knows everybody and is on the same page because everybody weighs in on every decision. You don’t really need to have leadership meetings because everybody sees everybody all the time and is at everything because it takes everybody to pull off whatever it is you are doing. You know each other inside and out. You are golf buddies. Transitioning from track to golf buddies is fairly smooth. You and the team are all together, working together, to put on everything your chapter is doing. But eventually your team may grow, and it’s harder to be best buds and keep everyone involved with around 7-20 people.
Basketball
Basketball is a great sport. Everybody on the court can do the basics, but we see some are better at others so they have specialized roles. There are people who start. There are those that shoot better and those that are better at defense. There are some players who everybody knows they are the go-to-person when the game is on the line. Eventually, your team may grow to where you have certain people on your team leading out in specific areas. Everybody may be at your outreach table, but one person may be in charge of the vision for it.
This is very different than golf. Everybody plays all the time in golf and everybody sees what is going on. In basketball, everybody sees what is going on, but not everybody plays or even plays the same role. In your chapter now, you have people you know better than others, their strengths are apparent as well as their weaknesses. When you transition from golf to basketball, you will need to be aware of your former golf buddies. Chances are some of them may feel abandoned because of the lack of time they’re spending with the team or upset by the lack of influence they have.
If you find yourself struggling to make decisions because of too many “chefs in the kitchen,” chances are, you are trying to play golf with a basketball team. You are going to need to delegate and may limit the seats at the table, BUT be sure to help explain this to your team and be very, very sensitive to those who will struggle with the transition. This is something you talk about it before it happens, talk about it while it is happening, and debrief those affected by it after it happened.
Adapted from:
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