You screwed up. You did. Repeatedly. A lot, in fact. So have I. Repeatedly. You team, members have screwed up.
And it’s OK.
The reality is that everyone makes mistakes.
In all honesty, it doesn’t bother me that much if one of my team members makes a mistake. Mistakes are inevitable. It DOES bother me if that team member keeps making the same mistake over and over – or if the mistake is a result of an attitude issue or plain, old-fashioned laziness.
However, the mistake could be a sign that my team member is struggling. There may be things going on behind the scenes that I don’t know about. The mistake could have even have been my fault – I didn’t keep the team member in the loop, or didn’t properly give him or her the resources (time, personnel, money, etc…) to succeed.
Long story short, the only way to know is to talk about it. Don’t accept what are obviously excuses or deflections, but listen – really listen – so that you’re sure that you understand what’s going on. Then offer instruction, if needed – absolution, if it really wasn’t their fault – apology, if it was actually YOUR fault – and correction (or even discipline) if it was caused by ego, attitude, or a lack of effort. Don’t add another screwup to the situation by failing to address the issue. You owe it to your team to help them grow…
“Failure is an event, not a person.” – Jeffrey Gitomer
Hmmm - well, let's see...
I'm a Christian, a husband, a dad, a son, a pastor, a consultant, a musician, a writer, and bits and pieces of a bunch of other things. My work life has followed three main phases - business to teaching to church. I was the Weekend Services Pastor for nine years at Northview Church, an awesome church in the Indianapolis suburbs. I used to work for Willow Creek, another awesome church in the Chicago area. Plus I've written for various magazines and websites, and other freelancy sorts of things... My life mission is to help the church be as excellent as it can be.
Oh yeah - the name's Greg. Greg Wallace. But not the race car driver or the major league pitcher or the British celebrity chef. Just the creative worship guy. Hi.
It's my hope that these ideas, musings, rants, raves, etc... will inspire you. They're just my opinions - but again, I hope that they'll help to inspire you. Because the church really, really needs inspired creative types. If you're a creative type (and most people are, deep-down), ask God for help. Then take any ideas that are useful to you - borrow them, nab them, use them, adapt them - and make them into something greater...
You can head over to my Instagram site for an abundance of shorter posts: creativeworshipideas. If you're looking for consulting - especially on weekend services, team leadership or multi-site strategies - I'd love to help. Just message me here, and I'll be in touch - Greg
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