YWAM Harpenden Team Building

Team Building -- YWAM Harpenden
These are some guidelines YWAM in Harpenden, England have come up with to help the many and varied teams on the base to live long and prosper --- to work well and multiply.

How Can We Help One Another?

 * How can we help one another become more fruitful/effective in ministry, to pastorally care for each other, and grow in God?
 * Team is one of the basic building blocks of how should we function together in YWAM Harpenden

YWAM Value Number 10 -- Function in Teams

 * YWAM is called to function in teams in all aspects of ministry and leadership.
 * We believe that a combination of complementary gifts, callings, perspectives, ministries, and generations working together in unity at all levels of our Mission provides wisdom and safety.
 * Seeking God's will and making decisions in a team context allows accountability and contributes to greater relationship, motivation, responsibility, and ownership of the vision.

What Kinds of Things Would Be Done in Teams?
This is not an exhaustive list:
 * Intercession/Seeking God together
 * Vision Development and Doing It
 * Making Decisions
 * Accountability for effectiveness in:
 * work
 * pastoral care
 * growth in God
 * commitment to YWAM values and,
 * YWAM Harpenden commitments.
 * Prayer and Ministry for each other

What Size is a Team?

 * 4-6 people on a team would be good.
 * Teams need to be re-formed if they are larger than 8 (maximum) or smaller than 3 (minimum)

How Often Should We Meet?

 * Teams should meet at least once every two weeks
 * This should be a purposeful, pro-active team time and we recommend planning for once a week.
 * Some teams will meet every day
 * Face to face is essential for some of the functions of this type of team, but phone calls, video conferencing and other forms of communication are encouraged.

How Many Teams Can I Join?

 * Everyone who is YWAM Harpenden staff should belong to and function in a team.
 * You may need to function in two teams, but not more than two.
 * Please decide with your team leaders which is your main team and which is your secondary team.
 * Groups like the English Leadership Team (ELT) are not counted as a team for our purposes here.

How Will Teams Be Led?

 * Led, facilitated what ever you want to call it.
 * Teams need leadership, but there is great flexibility in how your team functions, for example having different team members lead different parts of your team meeting.
 * We intend to support, equip and develop team leaders, who will train up other team leaders.

What Are Team Leaders to Do?
Team Leaders should aim for the following:
 * Spiritual Leadership -- spiritual growth toward Christ likeness in their team members and the mission
 * Visionary Leadership -- an environment developing for the initiating, adopting, birthing and releasing of vision and ministry
 * Relational Leadership -- functioning effectively in team and modeling care, support, accountability and the development of leaders, staff, students, marriages and family.
 * Operational Leadership -- Good stewardship of all the resources that God has entrusted to the mission implementing the appropriate legal and financial processes and systems.

Can We Really do All That?
September 2008
 * No team leader or indeed team is going to have all the gifts, experience and resources to do it all with excellence.
 * Not everything has to happen in the team, but the team needs to see that these essential areas are really being covered. That is the responsibility of the team leader and the team itself.
 * One of the ways is ask questions of team members and of the team as to how we are doing in the four areas of leadership.
 * The Holy Spirit will help us as we serve one another in these four areas.