One of the primary tasks of a leader is to create a healthy culture with healthy teams. For Christian leaders, this task is even more demanding because the kind of culture and teams we create are to be radically different than those of the world.
In this podcast, I build on the four characteristics of emotionally healthy culture and team building from The Emotionally Healthy Leader, expanding on each with personal examples and specific ways we have integrated them into our work over the last 23 years. They are:
- Work Performance and Personal Spiritual Formation are Inseparable. We are not simply concerned with our team’s ability to do their tasks well and fulfill their job description – be it paid of unpaid. We are deeply concerned if they are maturing in Jesus. It is the first question we ask when we meet with them.
- The Elephants in the Room are Acknowledged and Confronted. An “elephant in the room” refers to an inappropriate or immature behavior that remains unacknowledged. Rather than shrink away in fear of addressing them, we receive them as mentoring moments to raise the spiritual maturity level of the person, our team, and our ministry.
- Time and Energy are Invested in the Team’s Personal Spiritual Development. We take time in our meetings to feed and mentor our teams. We may not be able to pay marketplace salaries, but we offer something much more valuable: personal development to become more like Jesus.
- The Quality of People’s Marriages and Singleness is Foundational. Because we really believe that Christian marriage and singleness are meant to be living signs of God’s love for the world, and that this aspect of our lives is the loudest gospel message we preach, we purposefully engage our teams about their singleness or marriage. We invest resources and time to encourage and equip them, knowing the health in our ministry is inseparable from the health level of their marriages and singleness.
This may be new territory that will feel uncomfortable – at least initially. But one thing is sure: you will meet God in unexpected ways and unleash new beginnings that will bless you, your team, your ministry, and the world you seek to serve for Christ.
Along with the podcast, let me encourage you to read this free e-book, 6 Marks of a Church Culture that Deeply Changes Lives, and get a larger, more expanded vision of what that healthy culture looks like.
Click here for our excellent, free discussion guide on The Emotionally Healthy Leader, so you can talk about this with your team about the leadership themes that I mention in this podcast
Enjoy.
Pete
