Lessons from Cambodia-Part 1-A Team Is Better Than an Individual

Thanks for rejoining me after my time away in Cambodia. I learned a number of leadership lessons during the trip, and that will be the content of my posts this week. The first lesson I learned is that a team is better than an individual. I already knew that from my prior life experience, but I haven’t been to Cambodia with a team from New Life before, and the experience was incredible. We had an eight member team including me. I was “wearing two hats” on the trip, because I’m the lead pastor of New Life, and also a member of the Southeast Asia Prayer Center (SEAPC), the organization that sponsored the trip. I had some official duties in my SEAPC board member capacity, which kept me away from the team for several days, so it would have been easy for them to be upset, especially because none of them had been to Cambodia before, and several had never been on a mission trip before. Instead, each of the team members put the mission’s purpose first, and worked together effectively whatever the task set before them.

The biggest reason the team was better than me going by myself is because now eight people at New Life have a first hand understanding of what’s happening through our mission in Cambodia. They will be great ambassadors for the mission, and their experiences shared with others at New Life will help everyone to have both a better understanding and deeper commitment to the work.

In addition, the team accomplished so much more than I would have been able to do myself. We had two primary “tasks” for this particular trip: 1) Help lead a “Kids’ Kamp” for 400 Cambodia orphans; and 2) Do repair work on one of the orphanages where the children live. Obviously, having eight team members gave us the ability to accomplish so much more than one person could have done. It also freed me to participate in several important meetings in my capacity as an SEAPC board member, including a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia. Without the team, it would have been an either/or opportunity rather than a both/and.

As you reflect on these differences, think how they may apply in your workplace, church or other organization. It’s tempting to be “Lone Rangers” in our efforts, because everyone knows if you want something done right it’s best to do it yourself. That may well be true if you are the best person at the task, for that particular task, but if the goal is to multiply our impact, then a Lone Ranger approach is only minimally effective. After all, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto, and even they could only address one situation at a time. Having a team gives us the ability to multiply both our skills and our efforts.

Let me make one final point today regarding the benefits of team, and that is a distinction between a team and a committee or a collection of individuals. A collection of individuals may all have great gifts, skills and abilities, but they won’t multiply the impact of the group, because they’re working for themselves. A committee is a group of people with a common purpose, but often that purpose is more the maintenance of a particular effort rather than the effective completion of a vision or task. In a team, the individuals submit their gifts, skills and abilities to one another in order to accomplish the vision or task at hand. Cooperation and communication are key components of accomplishing the vision and task and the group is committed to one another.

I had that experience in Cambodia in so many ways. The team went to serve Jesus and submitted itself to Him. In practical terms that meant the team accepted leadership from those who were in charge of the projects they undertook. Whether that was Pastor Sinai, the SEAPC Cambodia director, or one of the area directors for the area of Kid’s Kamp to which each team member was assigned, or to the project director at the orphanage where repairs were done, the team members submitted themselves to the appropriate authority and much was accomplished as a result.

As you go about your work today, I hope you will consider the multiplying impact of teamwork, and then implement it into areas where it will make an impact.

Here’s to leading better, by working together–today!

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