Team Development

So far things have been moving along well with our launch team. I was reflecting with someone how no major conflicts or issues have come up...yet. I'm not a pessimist, but I do live in reality and work with people- conflict will come.

Conflict is necessary, and it can be good. You can't engage a mission, bring people on board, work collaboratively, and hand over ownership without there being differences of opinion and disagreement. This issue in not avoidance- it' s how to you press through.

I've found the following model a very helpful rubric through which to view team development. We are still in the "Forming" stage, but more and more we'll enter the "Storming" stage. With a good foundation we'll see it all the way to "Performing."

Bruce Tuckman's "Forming- Storming- Norming- Performing" model, circa 1965.

Forming - stage 1

High dependence on leader for guidance and direction. Little agreement on team aims other than received from leader. Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear. Leader must be prepared to answer lots of questions about the team's purpose, objectives and external relationships. Processes are often ignored. Members test tolerance of system and leader. Leader directs (similar to Situational Leadership® 'Telling' mode).

Storming - stage 2

Decisions don't come easily within group. Team members vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members and the leader, who might receive challenges from team members. Clarity of purpose increases but plenty of uncertainties persist. Cliques and factions form and there may be power struggles. The team needs to be focused on its goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues. Compromises may be required to enable progress. Leader coaches (similar to Situational Leadership® 'Selling' mode).

Norming - stage 3

Agreement and consensus is largely forms among team, who respond well to facilitation by leader. Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted. Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller decisions may be delegated to individuals or small teams within group. Commitment and unity is strong. The team may engage in fun and social activities. The team discusses and develops its processes and working style. There is general respect for the leader and some of leadership is more shared by the team. Leader facilitates and enables (similar to the Situational Leadership® 'Participating' mode).

Performing - stage 4

The team is more strategically aware; the team knows clearly why it is doing what it is doing. The team has a shared vision and is able to stand on its own feet with no interference or participation from the leader. There is a focus on over-achieving goals, and the team makes most of the decisions against criteria agreed with the leader. The team has a high degree of autonomy. Disagreements occur but now they are resolved within the team positively and necessary changes to processes and structure are made by the team. The team is able to work towards achieving the goal, and also to attend to relationship, style and process issues along the way. team members look after each other. The team requires delegated tasks and projects from the leader. The team does not need to be instructed or assisted. Team members might ask for assistance from the leader with personal and interpersonal development. Leader delegates and oversees (similar to the Situational Leadership® 'Delegating' mode).

We're glad you're here...really!

I've been reading through our communication cards from our services and have found one consistent remark. I wish I could say it was, "The message was the best I've ever heard!' or even, "That's the best band I've ever heard." And while many did compliment the music and the message, nearly every card had a comment like, "Loved the friendly atmosphere," or "Very welcoming."

I think the dynamic of a good worship experience works like this- you might do a great job welcoming people, but if you don't give them anything else, you're only setting them up for disappointment. On the other hand, you might actually have the best band and best speaker around, but if people don't feel welcomed, forget about it. But I would also venture this guess- if you do a really great job welcoming people, helping them feel accepted and comfortable, letting them know that you really are glad they came- that can cover a multitude of mistakes. People don't sweat the little mistakes in the media presentation, the little buzz in the sound system, the lighting that wasn't quite perfect. Now this is not an excuse for a poor program and presentation, but if you do hospitality well, the other parts come into better perspective.

I've tried to come up with a better word for this, a more contemporary word. But some words just can't be replaced, and hospitality is one of them. You need the word, but more importantly, you need the reality. You need to have a culture of hospitality. I don't mean to slam any churches, but I recently visited a very new church with great facilities and a great program. But I ended up parking in the wrong lot, entering a door without any greeters, walking past people in lobby having conversations, finding a bulletin and seat for myself. I did happen to bump into some people I knew who were likewise visiting, so we ended up together.

As I left I realized that not once did someone who represented the church itself welcome or talk with me.

There are some many small things that can be done to control this: use parking attendants or have lots of signs, station greeters at every door, put name tags on your volunteers. Nobody wants to be hounded when they visit a church, but I think they want to be welcomed by the host. I know connections isn't perfect, and people have probably fallen through the cracks already, but I pray that we really can "Cultivate a Connecting Culture" (our preview series theme) where people experience genuine hospitality- a greeting that let's them know that we really are glad they came, we really want them to have a phenomenal worship experience, and we'd really like to stay connected and see them get involved.

Developing our First Year Plan

Kevin MacGregor, who's quickly becoming a sort of "Executive Director" for Connections, has worked faithfully to lay the groundwork for our first year development strategy. We are working to develop the strategies for our three core areas of focus as a portable church:

(1) Website

(2) Worship Services

(3) Community Interaction - internal (Connections Cafe and Connections Groups) and external (community services)

When we take a step back we've already gone through several stages:

• Idea (should a new church be launched in North London?)
• Study and Prayer (actual needs and leading of God)
• Implementation (organize, fund raise, search for leader)
• Installation (beginning the actual mission)

Or to put it simply: we've gone from a vision to a reality- from the dream of launching a new church, to actually seeing people gather for worship, study, fellowship, service and outreach. It sounds so simple when you put it into one sentence, but it's been a ton of work and prayer!

But now, with a clear mission and a little momentum, we are ready to fully implement a strategy for development. This will allow us to do several things:

1. We can prioritize and track our growth.
2. We can evaluate based on our plans and what actually starts to unfold.
3. We can gather resources.

Let me put it this way- our dream was not fulfilled the day we held our first public worship service; our dream simply became visible to the community. Now we begin to invite the community to get on board and become the flesh and blood that fulfills our hopes and dreams.

We are also going to invite people, churches and organizations to invest in this mission. In sum, we hope to gather a lot of support and turn that around into becoming a self supporting and "church planting" church in three years.

Few new churches reach this level in such a short time. We just hope to be one of the few, and we'll try to do everything we can to make that happen with God's leading.


Below are the sessions we have scheduled for the church community:

Developing A Media Strategy

When: Thursday, October 18th (7:00pm to 9:00pm)

Where: The Navigator's

Audience: All Interested

Agenda: To educate, share media examples, provide a couple of guest speakers on audio and multimedia, and capture a list of what we would like to do at Connections

Objective: To develop a list of strategic elements for possible adoption at Connections

Series Development Strategy

When: Thursday, November 1st (7:00pm to 9:00pm)

Where: TBD

Audience: All Interested

Agenda: Walk-through an outline of a series development model, discuss, modify and gather ideas that might benefit series development planning

Objective: To develop a list of strategic elements for possible adoption at Connections

Community Service Model

When: Thursday, November 15th (7:00pm to 9:00pm)

Where: TBD

Audience: All Interested

Agenda: TBD (i.e. discuss the process of how Connections might discern what community services to dive into...)

Objective: To develop a list of strategic elements for possible adoption at Connections

Developing A Six Month Plan

When: Thursday, November 8th (6:30pm to 9:00pm)

Where: TBD

Audience: Leadership Team

Agenda: Take the strategic elements from sessions- discuss them and prioritize them

Objective: Arrive at a plan outlining specific incremental changes we will make month-by-month, service-by-service over the next six months.

Sharing The Six Month Plan

When: Thursday, December 13th (7:00pm to 9:00pm)

Where: TBD

Audience: All of our attendees/members

Agenda: Share our Six Month Plan with everyone involved or interested in Connections Community Church

Objective: Share the vision and plans of Connections Community Church over the next year.

A Culture of Acceptance

Preview Service Series: Cultivating a Connecting Culture
Sunday, October 14: A culture of Acceptance

Last time I asked you a question- what will it take to trust? To trust yourself, to trust others, to trust God? Today I don’t want to ask you a question, I want to offer you and invitation. But I believe it is a very profound invitation...

- Come as you are.

Read the rest of the sermon at cccsermons.blogspot.com

Come as you are...

Thanks Ben Jolliffe, this is awesome!