And here ' s a related guideline …
Arrive at rehearsal early enough to be ready to go by start time .
Policies are most effective when you need something done a specific way , like scheduling :
Please block your unavailable dates for next month in PCO by the 5th of this month .
But , you wouldn ' t want that level of specification in some areas , like personal practice :
Please practice 30 minutes for each song scheduled for your Sunday .
This is too specific . For some on your team , 30 minutes per song isn ' t enough . For others , they already know the songs , or they learn songs more quickly .
So a guideline is better here :
Before rehearsal , learn your part for each song well enough so you can play / sing it in time with the rest of the band .
Then , before the service , learn your song well enough to not fully depend on the chart or confidence monitor .
These two guidelines above spell out what — learning songs to a specific level — without prescribing how . Once you ' ve taken time to write out all your expectations , start to determine if these expectations should be policies or guidelines .
Baby Step # 3 : Choose the Right Expectations to Start With . This baby step is challenging , but it ' s the most critical part of this process … get your team to buy in .
If you ' re starting mostly from scratch , choose a small handful of expectations that will make the most difference with your team right away .
Likely , those will be rules about practice / preparation , rehearsal attendance , and adhering to a scheduling policy .
The last thing you want to do is to create an encyclopedic list of expectations and drop it into the laps of your team . Instead , work slowly and smartly . We ’ re doing baby steps , remember ?
Baby Step # 4 : Talk & Get Input Have conversations with your team about what should be included in an expectation document . You might do this in a full team meeting or in a series of rehearsals . The key is to give everyone a chance to share their opinion . More in a moment on why we do this .
Baby Step # 5 : Create a Rough Draft From those conversations , create a rough draft of an expectation document using the appropriate suggestions from your team and the guidelines / policies you know need to be in there .
Baby Step # 6 : Invite More Feedback & Buy-In Invite more feedback or input from your team on your rough draft . With these conversations , you ' re not looking for full consensus . Instead , you ' re just encouraging them to weigh in . Team leadership expert Patrick Lencioni says , " If people don ' t weigh in , they can ' t buy in ."
What Lencioni means is that when a team member has a chance to give their input on a project , they ' ll be more willing to go along with the final outcome . Even if a team member may not fully agree to a policy or expectation , they ' ll be more likely still get on board with it since they had a chance to give feedback and share their opinion .
Baby Step # 7 : Work the Working Draft After getting feedback on the rough draft , update it accordingly and start using it with your team as a ' working draft .' Review it frequently with your team and begin ( gently ) to hold them accountable to the new expectations .
TRUST THE PROCESS ( AND REPEAT ) These baby steps will help you establish your first round of crystal-clear expectations , and you ' ll start to see your team step up . I won ' t lie . This won ' t be instantaneous , and you might be tempted to rush the process . But don ' t . The journey is just as important as the destination .
Once you start to see your first critical expectations taking hold , choose another handful of expectations to walk through the weigh-in / buy-in process .
And , here ' s the really good news . As you establish clear standards and get your team to step up their game , they will likely go along with other expectations with less work on your part . Why ? You ' ve started to shift the culture of your team .
THE NEXT BIG STEP ? I hope this piece gives you hope for turning around a team that ' s OK with being OK . But again , one article barely gives us space to explore this step , let alone any of the other steps it will take to help you develop a team that ' s exceptional every Sunday .
However , as you take these first few baby steps towards developing clear standards , you ' ll start to see what ' s possible with your team . And if you ' d like to talk with me about helping you get unstuck , reach out : jon @ worshipteamcoach . com . I ' d love to help you build the kind of worship team you ' ve always dreamed of leading .
Jon Nicol Jon helps worship leaders build teams that will make every Sunday exceptional . He lives and serves in Lexington , Ohio with his wife Shannon and their four kids . WorshipWorkshop . com WorshipTeamCoach . com