Fellow team builders,
I love collecting children's story books. I love children's books because they remind me of a simpler time when the ability to laugh and believe in someone's endeavors with high sincerity was so easy. As a child I remember sitting at the edge of my seat listening in anticipation to see if the story of a certain little engine with some life difficulties would succeed. We remember hearing "I think I can, I think I can," but I remember believing "I know you can, I know you can!" I had become bonded to the little engine's story as if I had some stake in his success or failure on the horizon. These attachments do not come as easily now as an adult leader who belongs to a team family. It should because we are bonded as a team family to the same stake in success or failure in our unique ministry. I ask myself everyday, and I now ask you, when was the last time you allowed the story of someone on your team to bring you to the edge of your seat? As a leader the stories of our team can bring us to a lot of places. Here are a few: Jealousy, envy, power struggle, emotional shut down broken trust, etc. I am suggesting that we re-train ourselves to seek the stories of our team to find ourselves at the edge of celebration and collaboration. There are many more good places the stories of your team can take the group as a whole, but the key here is to simply get in the habit of engaging story once again with the sincerity of a child. When we do this we remember that our team is in need of a leader that believes in its uniting stories. Your team needs to hear and see you at the edge of your seat communicating: "I know you can, I know you can," everyday as you share ministry with them. If you fail to believe in the stories of your team, you will begin to see a couple of things happen: faster burnout, competition, interior retreat, and engagement at its lowest levels. A team with a leader that communicates they believe in the story of its individuals will experience boundary expansion. All teams are very diverse naturally. Without the connection found in story, teams will get burned by diversity. The team trying to work together will get smothered by the overwhelming differences of the individuals on the team, and soon the team's interpersonal relations will become toxic in nature. A diverse team in the hands of a leader who has not mastered the art of story weaving (defined: the discipline of connecting a team's story as one while honoring the uniqueness of each story at the table) will find its differences to overwhelming to overcome and eventually team members will walk away in frustration. We can't afford to loose team members! Another reason to become a story weaver includes the perk of bringing your team to a whole new level in terms of collaboration. A leader must connect the stories of its team to the vision of the organization, but also remember that we must connect that story to the greater story of what God is up to. A leader who can keep telling this story to his team will find their team to be more collaborative, imaginative (creative), passionate, but most importantly fulfilled. As a leader we must communicate to our team that we believe in their role in this greater story. You will see a happier more content team. I guarantee it.
In closing, as a leader you must not just learn to hear stories you must learn to story weave. It's our job to become, like God, a great knitter in our team's story quilt. Your team needs to hear, at the individual level, "I know you can, I know you can" so they can say "I know we can, I know we can" at the team level.
I will soon post some practical ways to story weave on a day to day office basis.
Blessings and good team ministry!
Renata
