Most people in leadership roles have gone through the Strengths Finder 2.0 materials to determine their inbred strengths. Quite a smaller number have had the discussion about how that information impacts the team they are serving on.
I’ve served on quite a number of church leadership teams. Some were healthy, some not so much. Some were balanced, some not so much. While I was going through my job search process, some of the churches would use various temperament tools in the process of making the decision regarding whom to pursue.
I’ve used those types of tools myself in the past. Most of the churches were looking for a specific wiring of temperament. Many of those same churches spent very little time talking about Spiritual Gifts.
In building a team, there seems to be two main schools of thought. First, some churches are looking for teammates that are similarily wired. The idea is that on the chemistry front, the team will ‘click’ and inadvertent conflict and tension can be avoided. Makes sense.
The second school of thought, and not nearly as prominant, is to build a team that is balanced. Tom Rath and Barry Conchie have laid out a strong argument that balanced, well-rounded teams are the key to making a Great Leadership Team. The idea is presented in the context of Four Domains of Leadership Strength.
It starts with knowing your own strengths. It includes knowing the strengths of your team. It ends with suplementing your team, with staff or volunters that round out your team to create health.
My own five strengths are distributed as follows. I have two strengths (Responsibility and Belief) that fit in the Executing domain. Two more strengths (Connectedness and Relator) that fit in the Relationship Building domain. And my last strength (Learner) fits in the Strategic Thinking domain.
My weak domain: Influencing. While I can certainly speak in public, to groups both large and small, I do need to have people on the team that I can rely on to carry the vision and extend my reach.
Temperament and Strengths tools are great, I’ll continue to use them. I believe they are best used to know how to better lead and interact with the team members. Using the idea of the Four Domains of Laadership Strength may be a better way to narrow the selection of potential staff members.
