Do you ever feel that as a leader you have to play the roles of both “good cop” and “bad cop?” If so, you may feel that balancing those opposing roles is exhausting, nearly impossible to navigate, and incredibly difficult to move an organization forward in those conditions. In my experience, clergy most often gravitate more towards the “good cop” role. While this approach is kind and generous, it frequently lacks the gracious and loving truth-telling that is needed. Saying nothing or brushing off situations that need addressing won’t rock the boat and create controversy or conflict. Consequently, if a leader takes on the role of “bad cop” too frequently, the leader can be seen as a rebel, too harsh or demanding, and even impatient or unkind.

The busyness and pace of church leadership can leave leaders spending the majority of their time fighting the “fires” that land on their desk and in their inbox. Leaders keep their heads down placing one foot in front of the other as they just try to keep up. When firefighting is the everyday norm, seeing beyond the smoke and flames is difficult. With their head down, leaders miss the bigger picture. 

Leading a church has become increasingly difficult and complex. On a weekly basis, I hear clergy remark how enormous the list is of what they didn’t learn in seminary. The skills needed and the church landscape has changed drastically - especially in the past few years. As a result, solo leadership is no longer feasible and team leadership is a must.

“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy,

If you’re playing a solo game,

You’ll always lose out to a team.”

Reid Hoffman

When church leaders think of teams, they instantly think of all the internal teams such as administrative committees, ministry teams, and staff. These teams are obviously important and vital in leading well. However, church leaders don’t often consider an external team. An external team is critical for leadership growth and development as well as receiving unbiased feedback and outside perspectives.

When assembling the team, first consider your strengths. Then consider the types of skills, knowledge, and voices you need to surround yourself with to grow in your leadership, self-awareness, skills, perspectives, and knowledge.  Your team may need to morph from time to time depending on your current context, but most often leaders need to surround themselves with a coach, spiritual director, mentor, and therapist. This group of people support, encourage, and challenge leaders and provide critical feedback. Who is your team to support you individually?  

“If you are going to endure in the challenges of leadership, 

you need partners that will stand alongside you and 

mentors who will give support, coaching and advice.  

And as long as I have been in leadership myself, 

I have had a firm rule that I would always build a team 

and find partners to work alongside me.”

Tod Bolsinger, October 2020

What kind of outside team is needed to support the overall ministry? Sometimes a leader needs to bring in outside assistance to provide an unbiased perspective, help paint a picture of the current reality, say the hard “bad cop” things that need to be said, and stretch the thinking and perspective of the congregation and leaders. This keeps the pastor and other leaders from always having to be the one who is the expert in the room and from having to say the difficult things. This doesn’t keep the pastor from asking the hard questions and leading in difficult times, but an outsider (coach, consultant) can say things that would be treacherous and unwise for pastors and other leaders to say to their own people.

Take some time to reflect on what kind of team you need to surround yourself with personally.  Who is missing from the team?  Next, reflect on the team your church needs.  Who is missing from that team?  What steps will you take to fill in the needed team members? What budget considerations need to be made to do so? Remember, even GOAT’s have support teams!