Servant Leaders Think Team

I'll always remember him—Robert Turnberger, my high school baseball coach. Rumor had it he paid a reporter to spell his name correctly. In 1962, our team won the South Jersey Region 2 title under Coach T's leadership. School Board wouldn’t let us go to State. We were THE Pleasantville High School Greyhounds and we were good. No brag, just fact!

The ‘Hounds weren't a mass collection of superstar athletes. The only “star” on the team was the team. Coach took what he had and built us into a winning unit. Everything we did we did as a team. We played as a team on the field and teamed together off the field.

We sat next to each other in classes, studied and ate lunch together.

We never left the locker room for practice unless we went together.

We even had team songs, which we knew better than the school Alma Mater.

We were a team and we were successful.

When servant leadership invades your life, you discover leadership is a team effort, not a one-man show. No individual is as strong or as smart as all of us together. SERVANT LEADERS COMMIT THEMSELVES TO BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM WITH A SHARED VISION, PURPOSE, AND METHODS.

Vision may be initiated by an individual (a pastor, coach, president, supervisor, manager) but vision is best fulfilled by a team which shares the vision. A leader's vision is only as good as the team that fulfills it. Coach T embraced a vision for us to be the best team in South Jersey in 1962.  The Greyhounds caught his vision and got it done.

God believes in teamwork.

The Trinity is a team: Father, Son, Holy Spirit

Exodus 18: Moses' division of labor

Gideon's 300

David's Mighty Men

The 12 Apostles

The Missionary Teams of Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, Barnabas and John Mark.

Paul's leadership teams of elders and deacons after he planted churches.

How wise are Solomon's words: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.” Ecclesiastes 4: 9, 10.

SERVANT LEADERS DO ONLY WHAT THEY CAN DO AND THEY SERVE OTHERS TO HELP THEM DO WHAT ONLY THEY CAN DO.

Peter Drucker wrote:

“Effective leaders never say 'I.' They don't think 'I'. They think 'we'; they think 'team.' They understand their job is to make the team function. They accept the responsibility and don't sidestep it, but 'we' gets the credit.”

Coach T. would agree. Do you?