Thanks for joining us on Season 7 of The Flourishing Culture Podcast, brought to you by The Best Christian Workplaces Institute. You’ll learn how to build a flourishing workplace culture that drives the ministry impact of your organization, your church, or your company brought to you by the Best Christian Workplaces Institute. Now here’s your host, BCWI CEO, Al Lopus.
Have you wondered if it would be helpful to invest in improving your team’s effectiveness? Today, our episode uncovers the transformational power of experiences and how they build community in the workplace.
Listen to the Audio
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Stitcher Radio | Listen on Google Podcasts
Fantastic teams are a key part of a healthy workplace culture that I discuss in my new book, Road to Flourishing. A healthy, cohesive team can accomplish so much more together than what individuals can contribute by themselves. One aspect of staying healthy on a team is to take time for investment in the team dynamics. Coming to a shared vision, finding rest, and having fun can all happen through time together on a retreat. Investing in the health of your teams will help you fulfill the mission and vision God has entrusted to your organization.
I’m delighted to welcome Rusty Chadwick, Director of WinShape Teams. In addition to leading WinShape Teams, Rusty also speaks, writes, and creates development experiences for teams and leaders. Rusty understands the power of transformational experiences. He is the co-author of the book Team Work: 13 Timeless Principles for Creating Success and Fulfillment as a Team Member. He is also the author of an e-book, Retreating Together to Accomplish More.
Rusty – it’s great to have you with us today, welcome to the podcast.
A team is not just a group of individuals working alongside each other in a common direction. But it’s a group of people committed to a shared and common purpose working together toward that. If we’re struggling none of us is reaching our goal.”
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- Rusty – you have an interesting career path. After college you spent several years as a guide and head wrangler at a guest ranch – how did that experience shape you and link to your subsequent work at WinShape Teams? (02:44)
- There are five different ministries that are a part of WinShape Foundation (03:39)
- “I learned the transformational power of experiences.” (03:56)
- Through those experiences, they will have revelations, that when they add action to them, will change their lives (04:49)
- The importance of building community in the workplace (05:06)
- The impact of servant leadership (05:53)
- One of the factors of a flourishing workplace that we highlight at BCWI is Fantastic Teams. In the book Team Work, you and Russ Sarratt talk about clearly defining what a team is and what a team isn’t. Share some insight into what makes a real team, versus just a group or a department within an organization. (06:45)
- Small in number, complementary skills, common purpose, common goals, mutual accountability—things that set apart a group that will be a true team (07:38)
- “In a team, all of us win or none of us do.” (07:52)
- “A team is not just a group of individuals working alongside each other in a common direction. But it’s a group of people committed to a shared and common purpose working together toward that. If we’re struggling none of us is reaching our goal.”(08:01)
- In Christian organizations, we hear a lot about the important concept of servant leadership. You talk about Servant Teamsmanship in your book – how is that different from servant leadership? And why is servant teamsmanship important to flourishing? (09:20)
- Creating a healthy team takes intentionality and investment. You use the term “intentional retreating” to describe retreats and programming efforts. What does an intentional retreat experience look like and how does it build into the strength of a team? (11:20)
- It is very difficult to step back from the daily operations of our lives, especially in the workplace (11:47)
- Retreat as a team is a practice that allows us to step back as a team and focus on something (12:07)
- What about some other ways to build community and connection in a team? Are there some practices that teams can incorporate into their regular weekly or monthly rhythms that promote community – especially in these days when teams might be partially in person and partially online? (14:29)
- Five components of a strong community (15:16)
- A powerful purpose
- Time together
- sacrificial service
- challenging one another to grow and change
- celebrating and mourning together
- Monthly or quarterly community gatherings, invite families, choose service opportunities to do together, choose things you’ll celebrate together (16:21)
- You challenge people to examine their own perspectives related to issues on a team. This reminds us of the warning on our rearview mirror: “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.” What are some examples of team members being “too close” to an issue? How do you encourage people to gain perspective? (20:28)
- We always have to be ready to respond to change in our work environments. Change can have a ripple effect, impacting more than just one team. The impact of change goes beyond business performance to also affect a team’s outlook or motivation. As leaders, how do we help our teams respond to change in a healthy, productive way? (23:57)
- Model good self-care, personal quiet time, rest, exercise. Model that for your team and encourage them to develop those habits (24:37)
- Responding to change vs. reacting to change (25:45)
- Knowing the people on your team well (26:29)
- “Coach team members to focus on what will be gained rather than what will be lost. In the midst of change, our first thought is very often is to think about what will be different, the things we’re going to lose when this new reality is upon us.” (27:02)
- We often focus on leaders and how they can set up their teams for success. In your book, you emphasize that this responsibility isn’t just for the leader. What are some qualities and attitudes that every member of a team can embrace to contribute to a healthy work environment? (28:38)
- A team is strong and healthy when their purposes are accomplished and their people are fulfilled (29:29)
- For team members to serve on their teams well they must be strong in personal excellence and sacrificial service (29:29)
Additional Resources
Download BCWI’s four-page guide for inspirational leadership in crisis for FREE.
Read the Transcript
Read a complete, word-for-word transcript of the episode
Share the Love
If you enjoyed this episode, please rate it on Apple Podcasts and write a brief review. By doing so, you will help spread our podcast to more listeners, and thereby help more Christian workplaces learn to build flourishing cultures.
Follow our Host
Follow our Host, Al Lopus, on Twitter https://twitter.com/allopus
Follow our Host, Al Lopus, on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allopus/
Email our host at info@bcwinstitute.org
