Coordinators — Want To Be a Successful Team Leader? Build a Strong Team!
(Together Everyone Accomplishes More)
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel. …Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Philippians 1:27, 2:2 (NIV)
At this point in the club calendar, it’s a great time to ask, “How is the leadership team doing? What are their successes? Where are the frustrations?” As a club coordinator you are a team leader and a key part of building a strong team. So it’s important to know your role in that process. Here are ideas to start with.
- Be a team member. Even if you are the team leader, you’re also a part of the team and should carry your full load of the work when necessary.
- Have a clearly articulated vision. Does your Pioneer Clubs ministry have a vision that the team understands? Set a vision for your ministry, realizing that true vision comes from God. Share it with your team or build one together.
- Champion your vision. Always! And encourage your team to do likewise. Remind your team during meetings of how they’re specifically fulfilling the ministry’s Pioneer Clubs vision. Keep the vision in front of them at all times.
- Become a servant. Serve your team members by helping them succeed. Listen to their concerns, take action, follow through and help them grow.
- Facilitate or improve communication. Provide venues and opportunities for team members to communicate with each other and with you. Share email addresses. Start a Facebook group. Visit different rooms on club day. Good communication heads off misunderstandings and conflict and will keep the team motivated and energized because they will be able to fully focus on their ministry service.
- Provide training opportunities. Serving in any ministry like Pioneer Clubs should provide opportunities to learn and grow. Have special team training sessions on topics like discipline, teaching parts of the lesson, presenting salvation to children and so on. Pioneer Clubs offers several training resources like the Basic Training Workbook for Pioneer Clubs Leaders (item #2799).
- Have fun team-building events. Ministering together should be fun! This will help create an atmosphere of ministry “service” rather than “work” and encourage informal relationship-building and communication. How about going for dessert after club?
- Be someone your team likes to be around. Be encouraging and positive, not negative, sarcastic or too critical.
- Be sure everyone knows what’s expected. It’s de-motivating to a team to not know the “game rules.” Make it clear what their responsibilities are and what you expect of them.
- Encourage team spirit. Everyone on your team should feel they’re committed to each other’s success. Let your team celebrate each other’s successes in tangible and fun ways. Share leaders’ successes via email and encourage everyone to send congratulations. Provide Pioneer Clubs postcards (item #6724) for leaders to write notes to each other.
- Finally…pray together! Allow specific times before or after your Pioneer Clubs meetings for your team to lift up each other, club members and families in prayer.
