Key Word: Decision
Answers the question: How are we going to get there?
Scriptures: Acts 15:35-36
A Leader must request and receive proposals from the team. Just as God will speak to the leaders about what He wants and where He wants them to go, He will speak to teams about how to get there. When a leader and a team are functioning well, the leader is giving direction and the teams are submitting proposals to the leader.
Do we believe God’s wisdom flows through our team members?
We must believe this and expect it.
The leader stays in position by LEADING, not by DOING all of the work or all of the thinking, planning, and coming up with ideas. A wise person told me years ago, “John, quit doing all the thinking,” and I did; I let the teams think more and the results have been great.
Build into your team culture a process for handling ideas. Here is a simple example of this process working:
A team leader comes to his/her leader and asks, “What should we do about such and such?”
The leader then turns that back to the team leader and asks, “What would you recommend?”
This gives the team leader an opportunity to think, go back to his or her team to solve the problem, and bring back a solution. This lets the team take ownership of coming up with ideas and solutions.
“Proposals” come before “plans”; they don’t have to be fully formed yet, and we use them to clarify ideas. We have created proposal templates for our teams covering the purpose and goals, different aspects of implementation, and questions we need answered. If someone has an idea and we ask for a recommendation, those templates can be used to write up a proposal. We have found that the process of writing it down (or typing it out) helps our teams present ideas and recommendations in a more thorough, orderly way. It also means we have written records of good ideas, whether they are used yet or not.
Do we believe God’s wisdom flows through our team members?
We must believe this and expect it.
Watch the following teaching to learn more about the Leader's Responsibility to Request Proposals from the Team (4 min 51 sec).
Mentoring Workbook:
Click below to download a free resource:
Lesson 4: Request Proposals from the Team
The 6 Main Responsibilities of a Leader
Clearly Communicate Vision & Direction
Assemble & Build Teams
Disciple the Individual & Team (Make them better)
Request Proposals from the Team
Analyze Results & Reflect with the Team
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