teamwork

A lot has happened over the past month or 2 to make me think about teamwork. We all know about it & hear about it growing up, but I guess I’ve just seen it in action a lot lately & needed to share some thoughts here. 

We bought a new security system maybe 2 months ago. [*So, warning to all you criminals who read my blog = don’t mess with my house because the cops will arrive in like 47 seconds!] Anyway, we got an unbelievably pimp deal on the thing. Basically they gave us a 23 contact system with 2 way voice, cell back up, 2 key fobs, motion detectors, and all the other bells and whistles for FREE! Pretty crazy. I’ve got a friend in my community group who works for ADT & he said that system costs about $3,000. Pretty cool. So the guy was asking me where I wanted the contacts – you know, which windows & doors, etc… and I was like “if you’re giving it all to me free let’s do all of them!” & he was like “OK.”

Then the guy shows up to install it all. He made some comment about this being the size of 3-4 regular jobs and that it would possibly take him til midnight (it was around 8pm). He never complained though, just got straight to work. A little later somebody rang the doorbell & it was another installer from their company. He was there to help Merrill, the 1^st guy. Then a little later another guy showed and rang the doorbell. I went upstairs to my office to send a couple emails and when I came back downstairs there were 5 install guys in my house!!! I was amazed.

I asked “Did Merrill call and ask you guys to come help him?” They were like “no, we always call around when we finish with our jobs & see who needs help.” ("That’s pretty cool," I thought.)

Me:            “So, do you guys get paid for being here?”

Them:            “Oh, well Merrill will be the only one who gets paid for this job. We only get paid for the jobs we’re assigned to.”

Me:            “Then why are you guys here???”

Them:            “We all work together as a team. We want to help everyone get their job done, so we all help each other. We help Merrill get done faster tonight and then next week he’ll be helping one of us.”

*That’s brilliant. Just natural teamwork. These guys were having some crazy fun too! Nobody was complaining about being at my house late. Teamwork was a way of life for these guys!

A week or so later I was having a conversation with my good buddy Scott who lives in Dallas. He just started a brand new job at a big fancy graphic design company. His office is next to American Airlines Arena (the Mavericks are awful, Scott). He was talking about how much he LOVED his new job. He said stuff like “when one of us in the office doesn’t know how to do something or needs help with something – other people in the office just jump in and help. There is an amazing sense of teamwork in the office. And that’s worth a lot to me. I would rather work here with the teamwork than somewhere without it even if they paid me more.” (I think he said the “even if they paid me more” part. Although, we failed to clarify just how much more it would take.) 

I’m proud to say that even with all these examples & my long 25 years of experience here on earth I don’t think I’ve ever seen better teamwork than at Ridge Church. I’m privileged to work on a staff that is all about the mission & it takes teamwork to get that done! Over the last couple months everyone on staff in some way has completely gone above and beyond to directly help me in the area I am directly responsible for. They’ve done stuff completely out of their job description and stuff that no one would “expect” them to do. They’re in it for Ridge Church not just their job. There doesn't seem to be silos or borders/divisions between “departments” here at Ridge. Our admin. pastor has gone way beyond the call of duty and spent hours and hours to help me out in Upstreet a couple times. Just take a second and picture the admin/executive pastor at your church busting his butt for the children’s environment at your church… can’t picture it? Didn’t think so. (If you can then that’s awesome & your church’s staff probably has some great teamwork going on.)

Teamwork is VERY important. Just ask those guys who work at Platinum Security & love their job because of the teamwork. Ask my buddy Scott who loves his job because of the teamwork. Ask me & I’ll tell you about how I love being a part of the team at Ridge Church and I guarantee you we get more done & are more effective at what we do than other staffs who don’t work together. Teamwork is a beautiful thing and I love being a part of it. But I know it didn’t happen by accident. It’s gotta start with the leader. I’m confident our lead pastor had to be very intentional about creating this culture of teamwork at Ridge. It’s definitely paid off because it has infected the whole church and I’ve seen teamwork in the staff and volunteers like I’ve never seen anywhere else.

So, if you’re a leader – work hard to create a culture of teamwork within your organization.
And wherever you work – be a team player! who cares what person gets the credit or glory!? JUST ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION. Isn’t that why you signed up in the 1^st place?