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Right Hand Team
Many leaders have a right-hand-man (or woman). To maximize your leadership effectiveness, I would suggest a right-hand-team.
For years, many churches that grew large enough had a senior pastor and his right-hand-man, the executive pastor. In my opinion, this is a dated and limited model of church leadership.
I suggest breaking the traditional “second spot” into two to four roles. I can’t tell you what those roles will be for you, but I’ll offer some broad suggestions.
Serving alongside the leader, you’ll probably want two to four team members that cover these roles:
- An administrative player. You’ll want to ensure someone is capable of building systems, structures, and accountability.
- A relational player. Hopefully you’ll have someone who is very good with people. This person could be an expert in recruiting, team building, pastoring, relational problem solving, or some combination of the above.
- An innovative player. In the best environment, you’ll have someone who is an idea-person. This team member is often young (but not necessarily). You’ll want to make sure this innovative mind isn’t rebellious and is a team player. When you find a person like this, she’ll be a great asset to your team.
- A stabilizing player. Most good teams have a person who can rise above the details and see the big picture. This person may not be the most visible, but is often one of the most important. He is someone who can bring objectivity and stability in the middle of challenges.
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So glad you talked about a team and not the pastor as the CEO. I may be alone in this but I felt totally uncomfortable with that approach. What you suggest is the framework for some dynamic work getting done for the kingdom and NO ONE person gets the credit! I also like the idea that your team is made up of various personalities. A must in my book. Thanks for the good post Craig.
Good Stuff… Great Series!
It sure is hard to beat Bill to the first post!
I think this model would be very effective in leading the overall direction of the team. You have people who can bring specific talent to each key area taking the burden off of a single person.
Sam, Jerry, Bobby, Kevin?
Those are some good players you have there
Wow! This is so novel to (modern) historical church structures and I love it! Thank you to so many of you who are not just talking about how good it would be, but are actually modeling this in effective ways for the rest of us to see!
It seems the more revolutionary we get sometimes the closer we get back to the original intent …kind of like Jesus’ 12?
That raises a million questions in itself if you really consider it…
I agree with you. Four is a great number! (Not an odd number though :)) A car cannot drive down the road on one wheel…I have seen three wheels on cars lately and in my opinion, it does not look safe…but 4 wheels stabilize the car and keep things in perfect alignment. So you have a driver and four wheels…oh! I guess that is an odd number
One person cannot and should NOT do it ALL! Could you imagine any Football team with one player (or maybe two with the right-hand man)….someone who says they can do it all??? That would be a disaster and just as ridiculous as one person saying they can lead a church alone or with their side-car in tow!
Jenn, I was thinking a leader plus 4.
[...] Right Hand Team [...]
Hey Bill! I will let you go first next week!
I will be at theSticks and unable to post early (if at all). BTW Craig: if any of your readers is going I sure would like to meet up with them. (Sorry for the shameless advertisement).
awesome stuff
continuing the thought …Jesus chose 12, but held 3 a lot closer …leader + four does sound like a stable and yet broad enough group …does the number of members on this team depend upon the ability of the “leader” to effectively lead and care for each team member? what happens when a great leader has too many people on their team? what happens when a not so mature leader has great people on his team, but more than they can effectively lead? what do you do with the Judas, though led by the greatest of all leaders, still was disloyal and betrayed trust?
i feel there is more to it than choosing a handful of people that cover the bases on needed leadership.
where does God’s selection, promotion and anointing come into the process? what about chemistry? mutual submission? cultivating and harnessing a “not about me” mentality?
finally, are you shoring up the primary leaders weakness or playing to their strengths in the formation of the team? does this team reflect the leader just as congregations naturally do, or is this a counter-intuitive collection of diverse servant leaders?
Love this post, I’ve recently started a new job and looking at how we structure team to be most efficient and helpful to the youth ministry. Thanks.
Pastor Craig,
You’ve broken this down more simply and more helpfully than I ever remember seeing it.
This will bring clarity for lots of people…it did for me.
Love you man of God!
This concept is very common in the corporate world. Most highly successful companies have a leadership team that includes leaders with a variety of leadership styles and skillsets. In the corporate world, such a team will typically include the CEO (aka Senior Pastor), and leaders from areas such as operations, finance, technology, marketing, research & development, and talent management if a services-oriented company. A CEO of a highly successful corporation is rarely a dictator who rules by decree, but is instead a leader of an executive team who invites a variety of perspectives into decision-making processes. It is an example of a best practice of the corporate world that can bring similar leadership success to the church world.
my experience has been close to the same.
1. a gatherer: someone who can recruit people.
2. a visionary: someone who sees what could and should be.
3. a strategist: someone who can form multiple, fluid paths to the destination.
4. an administrator: someone who can communicate, gather resources, and will FINISH the job through consistency.
at the willowcreek lead-summit i got this through a speaker and an adjacent conversation. Some people may have 2 of these 4 components in their leadership skill package…a few have 3 of 4. and nobody has 4 of 4.
and
idea people often don’t finish well
visionaries aren’t strategists because they get bogged down when they stare at the details
I’ve been thinking my way through this topic along similar lines, and in general I agree with your post - just a couple of caveats here:
Having people fill roles like this is great for the leader and great for the immediate needs of the congregation, both of whom now know who to go to when they need a solution or support. They’re both comfortable that they’re getting the expert; and the leader has some large areas of his life freed up to focus on the bigger picture.
One downside to this model is that it’s not always so good for the right-hand-team itself. When you’re the go-to person for a class of issues - say the admin guy - you become an expert at admin problem solving, but you aren’t necessary entrusted with the ideas or the creativity. Buildings & Grounds yes; youth ministry not so much. When the leader allows himself the luxury of such a team, he takes upon himself the responsibility for that team’s development and must work to counter their specialization attitude (The “When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” syndrome.)
The second problem is much larger. At no time can the leader of a church ever divest himself of the responsibility to plan toward replacing himself. Succession planning is an essential component of leadership, and far too many churches have discovered this too late to their ultimate cost. Filling the shoes of a great leader takes great preparation and deliberation on that leader’s part. (Moses must train Joshua before the invasion can be successful.) An effective right-hand-team takes the sum of your responsibilities and works under your guidance to fulfill those obligations. You’re the head; someone is the hands; someone else the legs and so on. But the more ‘handy’ the hand becomes, the less he is like a head. There is a very real danger that the right hand team, in performing their jobs in obedience to the leader’s direction, are removing otherwise eligible names from the leadership succession. This is a perception issue more than anything else, but there are four perceptions to deal with: the congregation’s at the handover (can he handle the job as effectively as our last leader?), the leader’s before the handover (will he handle the job effectively enough for the next step in the vision?), the peers’ immediately before the handover (can he handle the job as effectively as I could?) and the team member himself (All I’ve done is administration. Can I acquire the other skills effectively enough to lead on them?) This last impediment, in my experience, is the most difficult to dislodge.
It’s no good having/developing a team if one of them isn’t being groomed for succession – that’s just bad leadership on so many different levels (and in fact as succession looms, the successor should be grooming his own successor too). However, a competent leader will ensure that the right person is being groomed for the next generation. If we’re talking about a team, the point is too important not to be mentioned.
Sorry, I think I just blogged on your blog.
Steve,
The successor does not have to come from the right hand team. In fact, probably shouldn’t or there might be competition within the team. (I saw this at a previous church.) These team members are specialists through gifting. They probably don’t have the gifting to be the senior leader.
As a PS, I don’t know if LifeChurch.tv has a succession plan or not, but knowing Craig’s very capable right-hand team I don’t envision any of them in that role.
I would be the one that sees the BIG PICTURE…not always fun pointing out the “have you thought about this?”…but I am very passionate about the future as well as the present of the ministry…
All of your right hand team must be able to go Five Way, and play all the positions. It’s a checks and balances, and if they don’t know how to perform each others roles they should not be the right hand team….
This was so timely and so insightful. We’re moving in this direction right now and are grateful for this additional info. Thanks, Craig!
I’ve changed my team’s structure this year to strenghten the second tier of pastoral leadership, moving 3 of my pastors into Assoc Pastors roles. It has had a profound affect on their thinking & added a greater sense of connectedness & purpose together.
I’ve even started informally calling one of my younger pastors Innovations Pastor - he’s young, wired for ideas & is a great asset
this is great. thanks for sharing!
[...] Our church staff just made a leadership structure transition similar to the one described here. [...]
[...] right hand person Posted on November 7, 2008 by Chris I have been challenged by this article and how we structure the youth team here at TBC. Here is a clip: Serving alongside the leader, [...]
When was the last time anyone attended a conference on the attributes of God or the Word of God?
The knowledge of God is needed. More in depth teaching. That is what the Reveal survey revealed.
We Need Revival!!! There is an awakening in the true Church, will we as lifechurch.tv stay in the lights, and smoke, and ear and eye tickling? Please oh please consider the following:
10 Indictments against the Modern “Church”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7wzfvYkCW0&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_956707
I actually had a conversation with my mom about this - strangely enough. She was attending a church leadership conference with the staff of the church she attended and each person had to develop an ideal church model. We had a talk about church leadership and the importance of teams. I referenced how you guys develop leadership teams instead of your traditional “Pastor & First Lady” model.
Great post!
Thank you.
This has given me insight of the new model which my pastor is training and implementing.
We are a new church, only two weeks old. My pastor was called to a church where succession planning had never been part of their trainning curriculum nor discussed.
Trying to work with the membership for five years was very challenging because they were not open to change.
The Lord released him from that church to start the ministry which he had been called to do prior to pastoring the former church.
Currently we are pursuing a partnership. I will share this information from this site with my pastor.
Succession planning is crucial for the body of Christ.
This will continue to help the church go to the next level/demenision of ministry instead of getting bogged down, standing still,becoming complaiance and just going through the motion of doing ministry.
When there comes a time for change, and there are equipped trained leaders that know their calling and gifts in ministry, ready, knowledgeable, and understand their role, the leadership and the membership can continue to work effective and efficient as a team. Outreach to lost souls will continue,souls will be saved,healed and delivered, the fruit of the spirit will continue to be manifested in the belivers, retoration will continue and the body of Christ will be built up to better be prepared to do ministery.
This website has been a blessing to me. I will stay in tune to others comments.
Again, thank you for sharing and allowing others to share.
[...] a ton of thinking, reading (things like this post), praying, talking to pastors I trust, I’ve decided to initiate a pretty big change to our [...]
My wife and I have been discussing this topic. Can someone please give scriptural reference for the team pastoring concept.
There are 3 Greek terms for the same office translated by 5 different English terms (KJV): pastors, shepherds, bishops, overseers, elders. You will always find the terms used in the plural. You will never find anyone referred to as THE pastor of a church.