INTENTIONALLY GROWING TEAMS

INTENTIONALLY GROWING

TEAMS NATALIE DUCHESNE | North Island Camps Facilitator, SUNZ

Teams at their essence are a collection of people gathered for a common purpose. I believe we should be weaving ‘intention’ into these relationships. Intention, however, doesn’t always have to have an awkward rigour to it. Rather, once acknowledged it can happily sit under the surface as you navigate your way in building, growing and deepening your team. Conversational questions are a great example of how intent can flow into the interactions you have with those around you quite organically.

I’m someone who always has at least one question that I’m intrigued about and will ask almost everyone I encounter. Asking someone whether they’re past-, present-, or future-oriented, for instance, can give a beautiful insight into a person. It’s amazing what you glean, whether you’ve previously known them or not.

Sometimes they are taken aback as if you’ve asked a deeply personal question. The internal processors sit in silence for a moment, consolidating their thoughts before answering. Others launch into a stream of consciousness as if nothing could be excluded. If you pay attention, you can learn a lot about someone asking questions even before they answer. Here are some of the conversational questions I enjoy using in the process to help me better understand the people within the teams I facilitate.

What are your passions?

In the context of building a team, I find this question helps journey towards a close-knit, safe environment of flourishing relationships. You get a sense of your team members’ values and gifts and start to see how their passions overflow into ministry—whether it’s a passion for communication, theology, knowledge, or being active and engaging with creation… Then, you can build on this passion. A great example is people who value inclusivity. I free up these people on the first day of a camp so they can put their gift of inclusion into action. They will identify campers who are on the outer or feeling outside their comfort zone, and will get alongside them,

pulling them into the action or connecting them with other campers. When everyone in the team recognises each other’s passions it also helps to build a sense of unity. You open up a space to go deeper. Every person has something unique to contribute—and to figure out those things early on in the establishment of a team brings opportunity to collaborate in the most constructive way.

‘For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.’ Romans 12:4-6

What quality do you value most in a leader?

Each person’s values, as well as their unique set of passions and skills, shape the way they contribute to the body of Christ. I’ve found that understanding people’s leadership values gives a useful insight for a team leader. Personally, I have recognised humility in many leaders I admire, and I’ll regularly share that as my response to the question above. Humility is key when thinking about what and how we contribute to ‘Christ’s body’. I distinguish humility from downplaying a gift, skill, or action. Rather, I see it as aligning ourselves with God’s reality and, from there, being willing to grow and develop. It’s a willingness to see the truth in ourselves and see ourselves with ‘sober judgement’.

‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith

God has distributed to each of you.’

Romans 12:3

When we engage humility as we bring our strengths and opportunities for growth to the team, we get a true sense of how to depend on, encourage, and serve one another and God.

Would you like to join me for…?

Allowing time for building close relationships through shared experiences and working together is another key part of team building and finding the place where people belong. How wonderful it is that we can also invite God into relationship and include him in the hilarity, spontaneity, and glee as we build each other up and build upon our relationships with one another! I like to have an emphasis on ‘play’ or unstructured time in many of the spaces I facilitate. When we had a leaders training weekend before our spring camps on Mount Ruapehu, we invited the leaders to an optional day of skiing/snowboarding before the training. We spent 24 hours together ‘playing’. This kickstarted friendship within the group in a very different way to the relationship-building that occurred over the rest of the weekend. I love gathering camp leadership teams a day before campers arrive too. We’ll set up, go through the programme, pray as a team, but will also have time to kayak or surf, chat, explore the area and just have space to enjoy each other and build our old and new relationships—being part of the body of Christ together. ‘so in Christ we, though many, form one body’ Romans 12:5