Teams: For Better or For Worse

I've been reminded this week how very difficult "team" can be. I usually love teams - love building them, leading them, serving on them....but they are messy for sure.

And good teams don't just happen. They take an all-out commitment. The kind that says "no matter what, we're going to work through this and divorce is not an option!" When you want to walk off, bail out, wash your hands and throw in the towel, you have to stay and keep talking and working.

In many ways it's a lot like marriage. It requires the same kind of "no matter what" attitude. At times we don't like each other much. And we're radically different in every way. But we have no choice but to make it work because each of our program's results depends on the other person on the team also doing their part. The work cannot be accomplished by a group - it absolutely requires a TEAM. Some of us have tried to do it on our own...but the work just simply can't get done that way.

My attitude has not been great but I am committed to improving it. And through much prayer and reflection I heard myself today telling two other team members that "We're a young team. And we cannot expect to behave and function like a mature team any more than we can expect 1 yr old toddlers to behave and function like 10 year old kids!"

There are no shortcuts to growing up. We can't avoid the terrible two's, we just have to go through these awkward and stressful stages right in front of each other. We have to make mistakes, disappoint each other, overreact, and sometimes behave like idiots before we can finally begin to realize that none of us is perfect, but each of us has a lot to offer. And all of us together can accomplish an amazing amount of great things.

I'll be glad when we outgrow this stage.