CHAPTER 5: LEADERSHIP IN STRUCTURE & PROCESSES INTRODUCTION In this chapter, we will talk about leadership in the context of organizational structure (such as teams and at the executive level) as well as in organizational processes, specifically in the context of leading change . This presentation will conclude with a brief discussion of leadership training.
TEAMS, GROUPS, & COVENANT In leadership perspectives, there is a significant difference between teams and groups. One way of looking at those two is to say that groups are a collection of people put together to accomplish a particular task for an organization. However, a team consists of a group of people who are committed to a greater purpose than just doing the bare minimum. They enjoy working together and they have a positive identity in which they pride themselves on doing good things for the organization and working well together. Obviously, leaders would love to see teams as opposed to merely groups. The question then is how to successfully form and sustain healthy team activity. Covenantal principles will certainly help. As a team forms, people feel one another out—they get a sense of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and how to interact with one another. This initial process can be a stumbling block for many groups—they never evolve into teams because of personality differences. However, if members practice the Biblical/covenantal ideas of hesed and mutual accountability, they realize that they need one another—those respective differences of perception and insight. People realize that disagreements can be constructive because it allows a team to work through an issue in a well-developed way rather than a reductionistic way in which certain options and perspectives are overlooked. Loving and being accountable to one another can free people from feeling the need to compete with other team members, and instead, it allows people to celebrate one another and appreciate different strengths and giftings. As the team develops and builds momentum by successfully accomplishing tasks and objectives, the danger of groupthink emerges. Groupthink is the process whereby a team puts its own positive self-image above reality. It keeps teams from considering their own weaknesses and blind spots, and therefore causes them to stifle any meaningful points of debate that might run contrary to the prevailing viewpoint of the group (this can be an organization-wide challenge as well). This is obviously a dangerous tendency fueled by a woeful combination of pride and laziness. But if people are really loving one another and accountable to one another, they will operate in a spirit of humility and will therefore be willing to consider opposing viewpoints. As always, we know that to truly love others in a spirit of humility requires Christ to capture our own hearts. As Christians, hopefully we can emulate this type of love in the teams and groups in which we serve. A final concept about teams for the purposes of organizational leadership and communication is that cross-functional teams can help increase “Big Picture Thinking” and “Active Dialogue” within an organization. Cross-functional teams consist of members from different organizational departments who meet together to solve problems and accomplish tasks. Because they represent different departments, they bring to bear the concerns and agenda of their respective departments. If done right, in a covenantal manner where mutual accountability and hesed are practiced, this can Leadership & Statesmanship - 16
