The first time I recognized the power of working on a team was during the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. I worked for Xerox, one of the sponsors, and we provided the photocopy equipment for all of the venues. I was responsible for the operators and their support team. That meant setting up special training programs for volunteer operators and being available if anything went awry during the Games.
I
spent most of my time at Commonwealth Stadium which was where media headquarters
were located. The team I worked with included representatives from Digital Equipment,
Edmonton Telephones, the armed forces, and a host of other volunteers. It was
amazing! We worked long hours, but we all had one goal - to make the games a
success. That's when I experienced the power of having a common vision or goal.
Working in an effective team is the most satisfying experience I can name. It's interesting that in the church we are just starting to understand the importance of a team. Today, a thriving congregation has to be led by a team of people. How else can we find the diversity we need to meet the different needs that are out there.
The most successful teams are composed of strong individuals coming together. The better we know ourselves - our gifts, our passions and our weaknesses - the better we will be able to work in a team.
Clair and I have worked together now for more than 15 years and people are often amazed at how we connect with one another. We have co-authored three books and when we read them we aren't sure who wrote what. We spend hours talking with one another - often in the car as we are coming or going to events. Other times we share insights from a book we have read.
The gift is that over time we have discovered how to work together. When we are planning an event Clair wants to know how much time we have and how we are going to break that time down. I am more interested in what it is we need to cover and do the timing later.
We have learned to start with the basics. Who are the people we will be working with? What is the one thing we want to accomplish? We do a lot of talking. Then it gets exciting.
After all of the work is done and we have had an opportunity to debrief, we come to a point when I am ready to pull it together. This is when I speak intuitively - I don't know where it comes from or how, but we have learned to capture what I say. I just start to talk and Clair types it all down. In the early days, he would stop me to ask a question or make a point, but then I would lose my train of thought and it didn't always come back. Today, when I start to talk, Clair just types it all down knowing we can go back and edit it later. It is always a miracle to me that I have the insights that I do.
Clair is the one who makes the connections - especially the theological ones. He remembers dates and names, I try to make the event interesting. We are a good team. We know our strengths and weaknesses. We challenge and support one another. But most of all, we have come to trust one another 100%.
We recommend working in a team. There is no life like it.
Congregational News October 2008 Vol. 15 No. 1