You arrive Sunday morning jazzed and ready to go. You’ve reviewed your set and the transitions. You even know all the lyrics by heart this week! Just as you get into the first song of your rehearsal with a passion stirring deep within, your lead electric attempts his solo but instead of a victorious chord progression, it sounds like a deflating bagpipe. It becomes very clear that your team isn’t nearly as prepared as you. In fact, it appears they haven’t prepared at all! What do you do and how do you go about it? What is reasonable and what is unrealistic?
Team members are usually volunteers
Your team members are most-likely giving of their time and talents without pay and therefore, they likely have other responsibilities throughout the week. Everyone should be prepared for rehearsal and where commitment levels should stay the same, passion levels can vary from person to person.
Music isn’t easy for everyone
Even though you might be gifted with musical ability, this isn’t as common of a gift for most people as you might think. Be patient when explaining musical concepts, which very likely could be foreign to those on your team.
Know your resources
The goal of worship at the local church is to bring others closer to the heart of God through experiencing His truth and presence in worship. Remember to be excellent with what you have, not to try and be like the most amazing worship band out there. Know who and what you have to work with and this will help prevent you from trying to summit the mountain of musical perfection.
Communicate your expectations
Once you have taken an inventory of what and who you have to work with, form some goals that you feels are reasonable for your team. Your team must know the expectations in order to fulfill them. Revisit these goals regularly to see if they’re being fulfilled and if the team feels they are reasonable.
Encourage growth through grace
Act as a team “coach” by encouraging team members but by also pointing out areas for them to grow. Always direct team members back to the main vision of the church to provide context for their growth. With encouragement and appropriate levels of constructive criticism, your team will likely go the extra mile for you.
Discussion Questions:
- Invite someone to summarize the topic.
- What is your initial reaction to this article? Do you disagree with any of it? What jumped out at you?
- Talk about a time when you were on a team that had either healthy or unhealthy expectations from the leadership of the team. How did that help or hinder your goals as a team?
- What did you wish had been different about that experience? Explain why.
- What role did the leader play in your growth on that team?
- What would you like to change about the relational dynamic, or the “vibe” of your team? How might reevaluating your expectations of the team help in this process?
- Which of the above points are you best at? Which could you grow in?
- Write a personal action step based on this conversation.
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