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Home » Everyday Leadership, Featured

Start Where You Are: Team Size

Submitted by James Higginbotham on June 24, 2009 – 5:39 amNo Comment

I work with a lot of startups. I really love working with early startups because they are small, often with just a founder or founding partners. Compared to larger companies, which I’ve worked with as well, these early startups can easily make a change to how they do business that can positively impact them.

So, why do I often see church leaders that want bigger teams? Leaders that are always recruiting more volunteers?  Leaders that don’t turn down a single person, even if they are not a good match? Because as leaders, we incorrectly measure ourselves by how big our team has become.

Your team size in no way determines your team’s ability to make a positive impact for your local church and community. In fact, the larger your team the longer it takes to make a change. Big teams mean slow moving teams.

Small teams mean fast, agile teams. Small teams can quickly assess a problem, make the necessary adjustments, and  assess again.

If a team gets too big too quick, they don’t have enough time to figure out what things aren’t working. And when those things stop working, they have to stop the entire team to communicate and re-train.

So, if you are bummed about leading a small team, stop and reconsider. Your small team could be the best thing that has ever happened to you as a leader. Start where you are by leading your team, no matter how small.

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