Finding the Best People by Kirbyjon Caldwell and Walt Kallestad

As we noted earlier, without a vision the people will perish. But likewise, without the right people, the vision will perish. Having the right people around you is the fifth key component to the execution of your vision. On any given day, the people you surround yourself with can be your greatest assets or your biggest liabilities.

First, you need to stop thinking in terms of employees and begin thinking of teams. You are building a team, aren't you? Not just employees who report to you or volunteers who shuffle papers, but a team of passionate workers who have a common goal: to see the vision become reality.

The primary quality of any successful team is commitment to a common goal. Without this commitment, each person simply performs as an individual. But when individuals share a common commitment to the same goal, the team develops synergy — becoming much stronger than the sum of its parts. As Joe Paterno, Penn State's legendary football coach, would say, "When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality."1

PYRAMID OR FLAT LINE?

The typical organizational chart — be it of a for-profit organization, nonprofit corporation, school, or church — is shaped more or less like a pyramid. The CEO/president/pastor sits at the top, with descending levels of managers and workers making up the lower levels. In this model, the person at the top makes a decision, and the work is carried out by those at various levels below. Ideas generated by someone at the very bottom of the pyramid rarely are heard by those at the top, no matter how good the idea is.

Teamwork is more like a flat line. There is still a leader — the person with the vision — but the entire team is empowered to help execute the vision. In the typical structure, each person is individually accountable for his or her tasks. But in a team structure, each person is accountable to one another. Synergy develops, allowing the group to accomplish more than the individuals can when operating independently. In a team, anyone can share an idea-which, in turn, often sparks additional ideas.

The first step you must take as the visionary is to stop thinking like an old-fashioned boss. Instead of issuing orders to be carried out by those below you, you need to coordinate a team of thinking teammates, working together to solve problems and advance your vision. The team leader is a motivator, continually casting the vision before those who will help bring it to pass. Some of the ways a team leader successfully leads the team include:

• clearly articulating the organization's mission;
• clearly articulating the team's mission as it relates to the overall organization;
• assuring that communication flows freely in all directions;
• assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each team member (the wise leader then uses the strength of each team member while avoiding assigning him or her tasks that will play to his or her weaknesses); and
• continually motivating the team to keep moving toward their goal, especially through the inevitable tough times.

GOOFUS OR GALLANT?

You do not have a team if you are still looking over every shoulder, approving every purchase order, editing every memo, and dissecting every discussion. Team leaders are not micromanagers — they must learn to let go, even knowing that mistakes will be made. If your teammates are not given the latitude to make mistakes, they will never accomplish great things.

Remember the characters Goofus and Gallant, two very opposite boys in the old Highlights magazines you read at the doctor's office when you were young? Think of Goofus as a traditional boss and Gallant as an enlightened team leader.

• Goofus tells his employees: "Do this." Gallant says: "Let's work on this together."
• Goofus threatens. Gallant encourages.
• Goofus thinks work should be hard. Gallant thinks work should be fun.
• Goofus says: "Do it because I'm the boss and I said so." Gallant says: "Perhaps there is a better way to do this. Do you have any ideas?"
• Goofus says: "That's not the way we do it here." Gallant says: "I never would have thought of that. Great) job!"
• Teams are led by Gallant, not Goofus. So don't be a Goofus.

DO YOU WANT THREES OR EIGHTS FOLLOWING YOU?

One of the most common complaints we hear from pastors and business leaders is the inability to hire and retain a great staff. This problem goes far beyond offering comparable pay and a fun environment to work in. The problem is not with the staff. The problem is with the leader.

Wait! Don't stop reading yet. Hear us out.

Before you point your finger at "disloyal" staff members, take a good look in the mirror. On a scale of ten, where do you land as a leader? If you are a six, be assured that an eight is not going to follow you, at least not for very long. Threes will follow you, but there is only so much a three can give you. Before you try to staff your team with eights, nines, and tens, you may have to work to raise your own level on the scale.

Not everyone wants to be a leader. Many very good and valuable workers simply want to be team players. But they know what they want in the way of a leader. We spell it out as ASH.

Authenticity

A stands for authentic. Your outside must match your inside. Your walk must line up with your talk. You can call this authenticity or integrity or transparency. The deeper we go into the twenty-first century, the more important authenticity becomes. Cynicism among the "followers" both in the church and corporate America is at an all-time high. Sex scandals, financial improprieties, ethical illusions, and misuse of power — to name a few — have given leaders a bad name inside and outside the church.

One of the biggest enemies of authenticity is arrogance — the attitude that you have arrived. None of us knows everything. We all can still learn from others. When you stop learning, you stop becoming a leader that the best people want to follow. In order to become and then remain authentic toward those you work with, as a leader you'll need three people in your life:

• a coach to tell you what you are supposed to be doing
• a counselor with whom you can discuss your feelings
• a choreographer who can show you how what you are doing is being perceived by your stakeholders

Self-Awareness

S stands for self-awareness. You need to have a clear understanding of what makes you the person you are. This is "standing naked in front of the mirror" time. What are your strengths? (We all like this part.) What are your weak areas? (We like to skip this part.) Then develop a plan that helps you relate to your teammates in light of your strengths and weaknesses.

This is a difficult, but necessary, assessment. None of us likes to have our weaknesses exposed. My (Kirbyjon) wife had one of "those" talks with me several years ago. Usually she calls me "honey" or "baby." This time she called me "Kirbyjon."

She said, "Kirbyjon, you are a workaholic." Now, I didn't take that well at all. Me? A workaholic?

There was a reason my wife's comment stuck on me. It's the same reason a coat sticks on a hook that protrudes from the wall. If there is no hook, and you throw your coat against the wall, it falls freely to the floor. But if there's a hook sticking out from the wall and your coat hits that wall, it will hang there. When someone close to you — maybe even yourself — reveals a flaw or weakness in you, and it sticks, be assured there is a hook.

Find a way to address the weakness in order to be a stronger leader.

Humility

H is for humility. When your authenticity and self-awareness are out of alignment, you can't walk in humility. Humility is seeing yourself as you truly are-not more, not less. It is the realization that there is a God, and you are not Him.

If you don't walk humbly before your teammates, the best ones will leave you. The worst ones will follow you. And the rest will simply play the system as a way to draw a paycheck. That's not a team, it's just a way for unmotivated people to spend their working hours.

No one person has it all. Some of us are visionaries. Others are strategists. It is vital that visionaries surround themselves with those who can implement the vision. (For a detailed discussion of building your dream team, see chapter 20.)

Remember, without the best people around you, your vision will remain simply an unfulfilled dream. If you want your vision to become reality, surround yourself with the best.

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Excerpted from Entreprenurial Faith by Kirbyjon Caldwell and Walt Kallestad with Paul Sorensen, ©2004. Reprinted with permission from WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs, CO.

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1. Arthur Pell, The Complete Idiot's GUide to Team Building (Indianapolis, IN: Alpha, 1999).

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Kirbyjon Caldwell is pastor of Windsor United Methodist Church in Houston, TX.

Walt Kallestad is senior pastor of Community Church of Joy in suburband Phoenix, AZ.