Who's on Your Team?

If I may coin a line, "Every successful team has a strong leader, and every strong leader has a successful team." In other words, it is my observation teams that experience success have someone at the helm, setting the course, casting a vision and inspiring team members to give their best efforts. It is also my observation successful leaders surround themselves with a trusted team of advisors, who can provide feedback, opinions and support for the leader.

Men, I would propose that as a leader in your family, your church, or your occupation, you, too, should have a trusted team of advisors, who can play a crucial role in your leadership. I would suggest your team needs an Encourager, an Admonisher, an Intercessor, a Confessor and a Mentor.

Your Encourager is the person who can watch you, listen to your dreams and then encourage you. Without encouragement, the temptation to resign at the first sign of difficulty is pretty strong.

The Admonisher is the truth-teller. Without someone who can speak bluntly and tell it like it is, a leader receives a false sense of security concerning the obstacles that are ahead.

An Intercessor is a person who is praying for you, asking God to provide you the tools you need for leadership.

Your Confessor is the person who hears your faults and will not repeat them.

Your Mentor provides you with wisdom and instruction, so you constantly improve.

Men, who is on your team? Do you find there is one person who fills more than one role? Is there a position that needs filling? I would encourage each of you to build a strong team. I would also encourage you to be a good team member for another leader, if called upon.

I leave you with three tried-and-true thoughts about teamwork:

1) None of us is as smart as all of us.

2) Teamwork means not having to take all the blame.

3) There is no limit to what you can accomplish, when nobody cares who gets the credit.