Building A Team

As I was thinking about building my team for the camp this past summer, I decided it was time to take a hard look at what it takes to make a great team. From the time I started directing summer camp (years ago), we have grown from having a staff of around 25 to now about 60. This is a major difference, and it requires more “teamwork” than ever. 

I knew that I needed to focus on team building and relationship building, and I also realized that they are not the same thing. I also realized that over the years I may have confused team building and relationship building. Teambuilding is about building a high-performance team that can run the company, business, camp, etc. without much fuss. Relationship building is about getting to know and care about each other. While I never want to get away from relationships, they are the cornerstone of camp, I really wanted to focus on camp running efficiently which requires good team building. Here are some of the things I focused on: 

1. Teams are built faster and better by focusing on a high and almost out of reach goal. Think about it. The teams that you have been a part of and have been the most satisfying have probably reached some next-to-impossible goal. Like climbing a mountain with a group of novice mountain climbers. The experience of reaching a goal and then accomplishing it together is what builds the team. It’s not a funny personality from the leader (praise the Lord), which is always fun to have and great for relationship building; it’s not matching shirts, which are great to communicate that these people belong together; it’s not the same mascot, which is great for having something that represents the group. 

It’s always people who are striving to reach a goal.  Without a goal, we can’t answer the most basic team-building question. “Why are we here?” A goal that can be seen provides a clear reason for the existence of a team.  Each week, and nearly every day, I reminded my camp team of our mission. Many weeks we felt outnumbered (because we were) as children ran through our camp grounds, but I reminded my staff that they will not encounter anything that they, with God’s help, can’t handle. During staff meetings, I allowed them time to tell stories of their day that seemed impossible to conquer, yet they did. We kept our focus on our goal and, after nine weeks of camp, we proudly stood together and said, “We did it.” 

2. I also realized strong teams need to involve everyone, not just the starters on the team. In my experience with sports, a good coach stresses to the bench players that if it weren’t for them, the starters would have no purpose, no backup, no way to improve their skills.  Every coach will tell you that the matching uniforms don’t make the team. It’s the commitment of the players to the purpose and the realization of each person’s value. We have been blessed to go to four Olympic events. It’s so impressive to see the closing ceremony with over 2000 athletes on the field and realize that only a handful got the highest honors. Still, every athlete felt valuable as part of the team that represented their country. The same principle applies to a camp, office, family, and community. This past summer I worked hard on letting each “player” know how valuable they were to the team. And it’s true. Even the least valuable player makes a big difference. If that player (worker) were gone, the whole team would feel the loss.  One of the positions at camp is just keeping the mess hall clean. That person rarely interacts with the campers, which is what camp is about. Still, that person is so valuable to keeping camp running smoothly and giving our campers a great summer experience. Strong teams need everyone feeling important to the cause. 

3. Emotions and personalities are a real part of life, but they can’t interfere with or come before achieving the goals that are set. Keep in mind, I’m not saying relationships are not as important as reaching the goal. My mother taught me that nothing is worth hurting someone’s feelings over and I truly believe that. But I’ve learned that emotional needs or personalities differences cannot take precedence over meeting the end goal. Again, no sports team would survive if emotions and different personalities drove the team instead of the goal driving the team. One summer, I went on a mountain climbing experience with a teen group. I was fifty years old—far from being a teen. There were lots of personalities and every personality didn’t click immediately. As an adult, I didn’t immediately have a bond with everyone involved. But as we become more determined to reach our goal, personalities and emotions took a back seat. Even outside interferences, like rain and hunger, didn’t deter us from our goal. This past summer, I had to look at each issue that came up and approach it with our end-goal in mind, not the personality of the individuals involved. It was so amazing to watch as personalities that clashed a little at the beginning of the summer began to work together to reach our goal of teaching Jesus to campers. 
4. Another aspect of teambuilding I had to work on was me. I realized that I had a huge responsibility to bring 60 plus people together to accomplish one goal. As the team leader, I had to model what I expected. Jesus demonstrated this perfectly when he built his team of twelve. Twelve men with very different personalities and jobs and personal goals and developed them into a force that changed the world. He set a high goal for them and then modeled the behavior he expected out of his team. I’m sure Jesus did this way better than I did, but I worked hard at staying focuses myself, keeping my personality and emotional needs out of the mix, and making sure I spoke to and asked about each team member several times a week. Was it hard to do? Did take a lot of time? Was it worth it? To all these questions, the answer is yes. As my daddy used to say, anything worth doing is worth doing right. 

I realize you are not a camp director, but these principles apply to your workspace, church responsibilities, and your family. Everything you set out to do that involves other people requires these four principles. I hope they help in some way. 

Hugs, Chrys