Developing Healthy Teams Workshop: A two-day learning laboratory for ministry teams
As the NSW ACT Synod reshapes itself into three new, geographically and culturally diverse presbyteries, Vital Leadership’s workshop on Developing Healthy Teams has been timely. Led by Ben Gilmour, with a significant contribution from Alicia Benardos, our new head of People and Culture, this workshop contributes meaningfully to our Synod's well-being.
As the NSW ACT Synod reshapes itself into three new, geographically and culturally diverse presbyteries, Vital Leadership’s workshop on Developing Healthy Teams has been timely. Led by Rev. Ben Gilmour, with a significant contribution from Alicia Benardos, our new head of People and Culture, this workshop contributes meaningfully to our Synod's well-being.
As participants, we knew our individual top 10 Clifton Strengths but did not know each other well, so we began by considering how they might shape our work as team members. We were encouraged to use our CliftonStrengths as a language for stewardship, with our talents describing recurring patterns of thought, feeling, and behaviour so that we could recognise how we would contribute from our strengths and how to partner well.
Next, we explored how to move from being a group to forming a team. We drew on our experience to clarify the difference. We recognised that we often work out of our own call to be part of the group; however, our work then stays siloed, and collaboration is an accident rather than intentional. In forming a team, we began to understand that we need a compelling, straightforward purpose; it does not describe the team's strategic direction, but it is a catchphrase that brings people’s convictions together beyond the individual inclinations of its members. A consequential purpose means our work needs to be designed so we collaborate to produce shared output.
We also recognised that what a team needs to succeed is also a governance framework, a system to work within, as well as the appropriate resources to do the work. The final piece is pausing and reflecting on our work to improve how we work together. This looks like us learning, growing and developing together to form a healthy team culture. The healthier the team culture, the more productive the team becomes.
One of the most insightful sessions focused on the psychological safety necessary for healthy team development. We learned that psychological safety is a shared belief that we work to keep members safe so that interpersonal risk-taking is supported. This means that members feel safe enough to speak up, share new ideas, admit mistakes, and ask for help without fear of looking bad or being embarrassed. For us in the Uniting Church, it also means the team values and shares the gifts of all team members. Safety, trust and accountability are essential to maintaining psychological safety.
Building on the need for psychological safety, Alicia Benardos led a session, Leadership in Moments that Matter. She offered participants a challenging comment, “What you walk past is what you accept”. We discussed her premise that when we feel uncomfortable, we should ask ourselves: What does this situation ask of us, or what does good leadership require of me here? I learned that compassion and curiosity can work hand in hand with accountability; however, accountability is still the outcome. We workshopped the phrase “That’s just the way they always are”. We noted that what one does and how one does it are two separate actions, and that the second action, if problematic, can impact the common good in unhealthy and unhelpful ways when ignored. The need for accountability remains high for the sake of the whole team.
We finished the 2 days discussing the value of team covenants. We affirmed that we are stronger when we work together even when we disagree, and that a covenant ensures accountability to one another as the team moves from assumptions to a statement of intent.
I found the workshop both challenging and liberating, and one of the most insightful and worthwhile to have taken part. Creating healthy, psychologically safe teams is about fostering flourishing in our working environments. As a denomination of interrelated councils, I believe this is priority work so that the Mission of God flourishes wherever we find ourselves.
When we feel uncomfortable, we should ask ourselves: What does this situation ask of us, or what does good leadership require of me here?
Are you interested in a Developing Healthy Teams workshop at your Congregation?
Contact Rev. Ben Gilmour - beng@nswact.uca.org.au for more information.