Sticky Teams

I just finished the book Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne. The concept of team has really been on the forefront of my mind lately as we look to fill some vacancies on our youth ministry leadership team. So on the cover this book looked really beneficial. The book was good however I wish it came with more of a disclaimer. This book is written from a very Baptist vantage point. Me not being in that denomination found it distracting that instead of talking about teams, a term which most in ministry can relate to, he opted to talk about boards and the power they carry in most Baptist circles. Not saying that's bad just saying it's foreign to anyone not Baptist.

Once I got done translating this into my context there were some healthy points that I plan on implementing. Larry stated that the three main points of any good board (team) is...

• Doctrinal unity
• Respect and Friendship
• Philosophical unity

This i can relate to and find that it goes often in the unspoken but important section of working as a team.

Sticky Teams has a great section on shepherding a team as opposed to simply leading one. A dynamic worth thinking through if you've never pondered it before.

Also he brought up the concept of a plumb line. As many may know a plumb line is a building tool to make sure something is square and being built properly. It's basically a weight with a string on it that is hung beside a structure. Gravity pulls the string straight down and the builder can see if what they are building needs to be corrected because it'll look crooked next to the "plumb" plumb line. Larry makes the point that ministries need to have a set of written down plumb lines so they can measure off of them. So one of our plumb lines might be something like..."Students grow and are discipled best in small groups." or "Families are the primary disciplers of their students."  These are not mission statements but merely tools that help us stay the course.

"That’s where our plumb lines come into play. Once we’ve articulated what we’re about, it’s obvious what aligns and what doesn’t. That makes it far easier to resist the persistent parishioner or any small group of single-issue lobbyists who want us to take a different route...

...A great set of plumb lines also highlights any areas of unique vision, perspective, or expectations that you may have."