Help Your Team To Thrive

Leaders have a really cool opportunity to help their team members in a way many other people cannot. Leaders are able to help their team members realize and thrive in their zones of brilliance.

I was reminded of this because of something our church does. The Assemblies Of God have a program called Fine Arts.

Man riding a black Harley Davidson motorcycle

Photo from Unsplash

Fine Arts is a program to help students discover, develop, and deploy their talents. It’s an amazing program that has helped launch students on a course they never thought possible.

Fine Arts allows students to perform in multiple areas of interest. Some of the areas students can perform are:

It is amazing to see our students get excited and perform in the categories that bring them alive. I’ve seen shy students crush a short sermon or come alive singing a vocal solo. This year, we saw students in our youth group perform comedy, exhibit photography and videos, and worship together as a worship group.

Fine Arts is an excellent way for our church to grow and stretch our students. Leaders can use the example of Fine Arts to grow and stretch their team members as well. Let’s look at how you can help your team to thrive through discovering what they can do well.

Discover

The first thing a leader has to do to help their team to thrive is to discover the talents and passions of their team members. You can do this by talking with your team. Ask them what brings them alive. Or ask them what they believe their top talents are.

We give our students a list of the categories they can perform in. They check off the ones they want to attempt. And then they begin to work on their skills in these areas.

Your questions can help discover the talents of your team. Don’t be afraid to ask them what they love or want to do.

Develop

The next step in Fine Arts is to develop the skills and talents of our students. We do this through regular practice and role-playing.

We have students come in regularly to practice their piano solos, vocal solos, or group performances. They also come in to practice and hone their speaking skills.

All of this is done with the help of a coach. These are the people who are working closely with them to help them improve in areas they may struggle.

A solo coach will listen to the student sing. They will then critique their vocal range, tone, movements, etc… Everything is looked at and evaluated.

We can do the same thing for our team members. We can help them first discover what they’re passionate about. Then we can help them develop these skills.

It will take hard work and effort on your part. You will have to go above and beyond your normal activities. But, in the end, it will be worth it.

Here’s an example of what you could do to help your team develop their skills. We’ll use Bill for this example.

Bill tells you he wants to learn more about the quality department. You may lack the skills in this area but Don knows quality like the back of his hand. You go and talk to Don.

Don agrees this would be a great area for Bill to learn. He agrees to coach Bill 2 days a week for 2 hours at a time.

Bill sits under the wisdom of Don and grows exponentially. He learns the ins and the outs of quality. Bill feels more confident and alive than he ever has at his job.

Deploy

Now comes the hard part. You’ve helped equip Bill to work in a quality position but he’s your systems administrator. He’s now told you he would like to move into a quality position.

What do you do?

A selfish leader would say “Oh no no no… You cannot change your position. You’re a systems administrator. We need you here.”

The selfish leader squashes Bill’s passions and desire to deploy his skills. Bill languishes in mediocrity because he is unable to step into a role he really enjoys.

The wise leader listens to Bill. He hears what Bill has to say and then tells Bill “Bill, I’m excited you’ve found something you love to do. We know your current role is in systems administration. Quality is a different area but I think we can work with you. Let’s sit down and figure out how we can make this work for you and the organization.”

The selfish leader thinks only of himself and his department. The wise leader realizes Bill has discovered a passion. he has developed his passion. And, now, he wants to deploy his passion.

You can help your team members deploy their passions by being open to moving them between departments and growing in the areas that fulfill their innermost desires.

In doing all of this, you will help your team members thrive. They will begin to realize they were created for something more. They will realize they can do more.

Help your team members discover their passions. Help your team members to develop their passions. And help your team members to deploy their passions.

This is how your team will thrive.

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