How Close Knit is Your Leadership Team?

Not too long ago, I was talking with a pastor who was having some difficulties with his leadership team (various ministry leaders). It quickly became apparent that his team was not all "on the same page." While reading today, I thought of this pastor's situation, and also reflected on our teams in Eastern Europe.

Lencioni contends that the cohesiveness of the leadership team is more important than strategies and plans. But how do you know if your leadership team is really cohesive? He suggest that each leader to ask himself/herself the following questions:

• Are meetings compelling? Are the important issues being discussed during meetings? A lack of interest during meetings is a pretty good indication that the team may be avoiding issues because they are uncomfortable with one another. And there is no excuse for continually holding boring meetings.
  
  
• Do team members engage in unguarded debate? Do they honestly confront one another? If not, it is likely that there is a lack of trust.
  
  
• Do team members apologize if they get out of line? Do they ever get out of line? Teams that can genuinely forgive and ask forgiveness develop powerful trust.
  
  
• Do team members understand one another? Members of cohesive teams know one another's strengths and weaknesses and don't hesitate to point them out. They also know each others backgrounds, giving them insight to their behaviors and thinking patterns.
  
  
• Do team members avoid gossiping about one another? This is not to be confused with talk about others that is intended to be harmful. Ironically, members of cohesive teams are not overly concerned about the prospect of their colleagues' discussing them in their absence if it is in the best interest of the team.