For example, if you’re working in a church like me, sometimes we try to fit in a devotional, a prayer time, a team-building exercise, a personal check-in, individual reports, evaluations/debriefs, event planning work, goal-setting, brainstorming, long-range strategic planning, and a “where-did-you-see-God-at-work-this-week” sharing time all into one meeting.

Rather, narrow your focus and determine what types of meetings your team needs to have and how often.

Here is the rhythm we’ve come up with for our Family Ministries Team:

• Weekly check-ins between myself and each person who reports to me (15-30 mins).
• Weekly tactical meetings with the whole team to coordinate weekly tasks, help each other overcome obstacles, and check in on team goals (30 min).
• Monthly meetings that are focused on bigger strategic goals and team-building (2 hrs).
• Monthly 1:1s with each of my team members.  These allow me to connect with them more personally, coach them through hurdles, and check-in on things like job satisfaction and motivation levels (60-90 mins).
• Two annual half-day retreats – one focused on evaluation and annual goal-setting and one focused on rest, worship, and listening to God together as a team.

2. Shared Tasks

When designing jobs, you can promote coordination by baking it right into the job descriptions.  Rather than simply outlining the areas that they will be personally responsible for, also indicate the areas that they will need to collaborate with others on to succeed.

For instance, two tasks that require coordination from our whole team include our weekly emails to small group leaders and our monthly emails to parents.  We each have a responsibility to contribute to these communications before they get sent out.

The goal is to make sure that collaboration is never an “optional extra” that some people do, and some people don’t, but rather something that is essential to their job.  Just be careful not to go overboard on this one, so that no one can get anything done on their own.  It’s a balance.

3. Clear Roles

Creating overlap in job descriptions does not mean creating confusion around who is responsible for what.  Coordination is difficult if no one really knows who they should be coordinating with for any given project or task.

This means updating job descriptions when needed and keeping the rest of the team in the loop when changes are made.

For example, when we moved from having one admin assistant to two, they sent an email that clearly communicated which person would be handling which types of tasks and how each of them could act as a support to the different staff members.  This simple email cleared up a ton of confusion and made it easier to know how to work with each of them.

4. Cross-functional Teams

Rather than an individual or a single department tackling an event or project, bring people together from various functional areas to work together. 

In business, these functional areas would include things like sales, marketing, finance, and IT.  In a church setting, this is a little harder, as staff positions are generally created according to programs/services rather than functions, but the principle is the same – get people from different departments working on a common project.

For example, our church plans a large Christmas event, in partnership with our City, which brings together our Kids Programming Director, our Sunday Worship Director, our Community Life Pastor, our Family Ministries Pastor, and our Lead Pastor as a central planning team each year.

5. Goals and Objectives

Few things fuel coordination like having a shared goal that each person feels they can contribute to.

We used to have individual staff members create their own annual goals and key result areas (KRAs) every year.  We would each sit in our office and bang out the playbook that would guide our coming ministry year.  Do you know what would inevitably happen?  Because we created the playbooks on our own, we also came up with goals that we could achieve on our own, without the need to coordinate with anyone else.

Now, instead, we have a process of evaluation and goal-setting that brings the whole team together and gives everyone a voice and a sense of ownership over the direction of the next year.  We’ve learned this simple truth:

Goals that are created together will be achieved together. Share on X

If you’re wondering what this looks like, 4DX is a great example of a collaborative goal-setting system (Four Disciplines of Execution).  It’s so good, in fact, it made my list of top ten books from 2018.

6. Collaborative Technology

There are so many ways to coordinate as a team that go beyond simply the use of email.  A carefully chosen technology that is easy to understand and simple for everyone to use can not only make coordination easier but also much more likely to happen.

Digital options include cloud-based file sharing (e.g. Google Drive, One Drive), project management software (e.g. Asana, Basecamp), digital communication tools (e.g. Slack), to-do list apps (e.g. Trello, Notion), simple message threads (e.g. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger), and much more. 

For more ideas, check out Nick Blevins’ suggestions for ministry apps (requires email to download, but worth it).

Technology doesn’t need to be digital, though, to be effective.  Creative idea boards, team scoreboards, and large team calendars can all be very helpful.

7. Training and Development

A clear indicator that silos have begun to form in your church or organization is the lack of a unified leader development plan.  If every department has their own method, rhythm, and focus on this, your team will be growing apart, not growing together.

While one team might have an intentional meeting rhythm, as described above, the next might be more sporadic and less intentional.  One team may read books and attend conferences together, while the next might assume that each member is doing this on their own time.  One might have a clear leadership pipeline and succession plan established while the other only worries about leadership gaps when they occur.

These differences happen so easily – every manager has their own leadership style and will naturally have a bit of tunnel-vision around their own areas of responsibility.

Sustained alignment in an organization never happens naturally. It’s always intentional. Share on X

To begin, identify the necessary skills and knowledge that is the same for every team member, regardless of what their individual role is.  Craft training experiences and a development rhythm around these things, so that everyone learns the same language and moves in the same direction.

Each team and department will definitely need their own specialized training as well, but start with what needs to be the same and build from there.

8. Aligned Systems

Leader development is only one example of a number of different systems that need to be aligned in your organization.  Recruitment, hiring, onboarding, communication, information processing, annual planning, financial planning, evaluation, etc. – there are so many systems that can naturally drift out of alignment if we’re not careful.

As you’ve probably picked up on, alignment and coordination are closely related.  When everyone is doing their own thing, in their own way, it becomes very difficult to collaborate. 

As an example, just think about how frustrating it is when you’re trying to get people to be on the same message thread or use the same app when some of them are using iOS, some are using Android, and one of them stubbornly continues to use a Windows phone.  Or perhaps you’ve tried creating a shared folder for a team only to realize that one person uses Google Drive, the other Dropbox, and the other OneDrive or iCloud. 

It’s so much harder to coordinate when we’re not on the same page.

Beyond tech, the same is true of all the systems in our organizations.  If they are not aligned and compatible, people simply won’t work together.

9. Regular Reports

Communication is at the heart of coordination.  Reports can seem like a bureaucratic waste of time (and sometimes they are), but if used intentionally they can be a great way of keeping everybody in the loop without having to add another meeting to your calendar.

As a team leader, you need a regular inflow of data so that you can keep a bead on whether or not your team is winning.  Emailed or written reports can give you a high-level overview of where everyone is at and where the hurdles are that need to be overcome.

You decide which metrics and information need to be included in the report, how frequently they’re sent, and who all receives them.  The incoming data should form the basis for your management dashboard, which allows you to quickly and easily monitor the health of your team and organization.

In my context, I have each team member send me a weekly tactical report via email, which gives me a snapshot of where our ministries are at that week and what they need from me (which I’ll follow up on in our weekly check-in).

10. Relevant Policies

The word “policy” gets a bad wrap (just try and invite someone to a “policy meeting” and see how enthusiastic they look), but I believe it’s time to redeem this word. 

As leaders, policies are our friends.  They are not meant to unnecessarily burden team members, but to provide clarity and alignment, so that no one is left guessing about “how we do things around here.”  They ensure that your organization’s values get embedded in everyday activities.

Koontz and O’Donnell define policies as, “general statements or understandings which guide managers’ thinking in decision making.”

An example of how a policy can get your team working together is simply defining where and when people work.  You may want to provide a great deal of flex time to your team, allowing them to work away from the office during hours that work best for them, but you will also want a policy on what constitutes core time – set times when everyone is expected to be working or in the office.  It’s very difficult to coordinate and create a meeting rhythm if there is no overlap in people’s schedules.

Policies around how decisions are made, and who has the authority to make them, can also help your team know when they need to coordinate vertically with you and when they only need to be coordinating horizontally with each other.

The best policies are not oppressive but should save you time and energy and keep everyone on the same page.

11. Intentional Spaces

Is everyone in your office working in physically-separated rooms?  What do your meeting and conference rooms look like?  When do you resort to cubicles or create more open office layouts?

Our physical environments can have a remarkable impact on our team culture and how readily people work together.  A team that has separate offices or works offsite a lot will have to be much more intentional about coordinating with each other than one which is in close proximity.

I recently asked a Summer intern of ours to comment on what she noticed about our team culture and one thing she mentioned was that it seems like everyone is fairly separate and busy working on their own things.  Even though we have worked hard at coordination, the perceived culture is still independent and autonomous because of the visual of having separate offices. 

In contrast, I have a friend working at a local architecture firm where everyone works in the same room and even sits at the same large table.  Whether you’re the lead architect and partner of the firm, or the university student completing your practicum, you all sit together.  The symbolism here is powerful – equality, collaboration, community.

Testing out different layouts doesn’t have to mean an expensive renovation either.  Years ago, my team and I decided to take over the conference room in our office every Tuesday morning to test out what a shared working space would look and feel like.  These “teamwork Tuesdays” were an important part of how we became aligned as a team in those early days (and they cost us exactly zero dollars).

In what ways is your physical environment helping or hindering coordination?

12. Informal Communication

Here’s another simple truth:  We coordinate more often with people we like.

We are far more likely to initiate collaborative efforts with those that we have a positive and healthy relationship with. 

Creating a culture that promotes positive relationships is too big a topic to cover here, but one aspect to pay attention to in regards to coordination is the frequency and quality of informal interactions.  Yes, I’m talking about water cooler conversations, break room interactions, and even extended times when you choose to grab a coffee or lunch together.

Not only can these informal moments build relationships, but the wealth of work-related information that is exchanged here is remarkable.  It is not so much the volume that is important here, though, as much as it is the content and the nature of the conversation.  These are generally more relaxed atmospheres where we can let our guard down, process what’s going on in a different way, and even dream of what could be.

Organizational consultants who are doing a communication audit on your church or business are just as interested in these informal networks and exchanges as they are in your official channels because they understand how powerful the “grapevine” really is.

Ultimately, if you don’t have a culture on your team where people want to coordinate with each other, all the other methods in the world won’t help you. Share on X

Create opportunities for your team to interact outside of meetings.  Build a culture where people take breaks and get up from their desks regularly.  Provide occasions for friendships to form.  You may even want to hang out beyond work hours once in a while.

If you’re honest, is the quality of your working relationships one of your biggest coordination barriers?

13. Reward Systems

“What gets celebrated gets repeated.” – Andy Stanley.

If we want to increase teamwork and improve coordination, in what ways are we celebrating these things?  Find stories of people doing this well, then share them publicly and make a big deal out of them. 

Don’t just celebrate the outcomes or the numbers, but the process to get to the outcome as well.  In fact, sometimes, a failed outcome will still have a story of teamwork that is worth sharing.  Coordination doesn’t always lead to success, but we want to reward it when we see it regardless of the outcome.

Another tendency to watch out for is our preoccupation with rewarding individuals rather than groups.  In collectivist cultures, like China or Japan, celebrating group efforts comes naturally.  In our individualistic Western culture, however, we tend to focus on personal efforts.  Everybody loves the hero story of an individual overcoming all odds to achieve their goal. 

If we’re trying to promote teamwork and coordination, we need to start celebrating and rewarding teams rather than just individuals.  Giving one person the “employee of the month” award, or even a pay raise, may motivate someone in their individual efforts but it doesn’t rally entire teams to be more productive together.

Celebrate the process.  Celebrate the team.

14. Effective Supervision

As the leader of the team, one of the most important methods of coordination is you. 

You have the privilege and opportunity of seeing things at a higher level and can spot where coordination is or isn’t happening.  You have the authority to influence how people work together.  You get to choose what to reward and celebrate.  You’re responsible for evaluation and making sure the right things get measured.  You see reports from every team member and can bring alignment to what’s being worked on. 

In short, you get to be the champion for coordination.

Not only do you have tremendous opportunity to cultivate this on your own team, but you’re also the key connector to ensure that your team or department is coordinating with every other department in the organization as well. 

For instance, I can ensure my Family Ministries team regularly collaborates amongst themselves, but I also need to ensure that Family Ministries as a whole doesn’t become its own isolated silo in the church.  It’s my job to stay aligned with everyone else too.

If you’re the supervisor, no one else has the potential to get your whole team working together quite like you.

What’s your take?

Coordination is the key to making any type of organizational structure work well.  Whether you have a flat or tall hierarchy, a product or function-based model, or you don’t even know what you have, coordination is at the heart of making sure it works.

What have you found to work well in your context?  What would you add to the list?  We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Thanks for being here,

Dan