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In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast Todd Adkins, Barnabas Piper, and Kevin Spratt discuss the differences between competition and partnership in ministry (and business). It is so easy for organizations and churches to try to out-do one another instead of working with each other. The same thing happens to teams within a single organization too. More often than not this hinders success instead of accelerating it.
- Why is partnership between organizations, or teams within an organization, healthier than competition between them (especially in ministry)?
- What mindset do leaders need to keep partnership at the forefront of their efforts?
- What are the most common obstacles to partnership?
- If interactions between teams or organizations have been competitive in the past what steps can be taken to move toward cooperation?
- What are the key elements of effective partnership?
BEST QUOTES
“In ministry working together to multiply effectiveness is crucial.”
“There can be healthy competition. It can push you to be better than what you are.”
“Your competition is wherever you were yesterday.”
“Competition can make you lose focus on your customer and focus on your competitor.”
“In friendly competition everyone wins if one team wins.”
“Partnership adds to our strengths.”
“Just because you’re not in competition doesn’t mean you’re partnering.”
“Establish what the score card is and establish lead and lag measures.”
“You need a cadence of accountability.”
“Churches are often very insular. They don’t look at other churches to see what they are good at.”
“Partnership has to be modeled at the senior leader level.”
“Ego is the enemy of partnership.”
“Ego goes hand-in-hand with insecurity.”
“One significant obstacle to partnership is that it’s a lot of work.”
“It’s easier to do something yourself than to work with others. Its usually less effective too.”
“Somebody just needs to take the step, to take the initiative.”
“Put your ego aside and ask others to teach you something.”
“Cast a vision of accomplishing the good for both parties involved.”
“Partnership is not reaching my ends with your help; it’s reach our ends together, a common goal.”
“If you oversell yourself or undersell your weaknesses you’re setting a partnership up for failure.”
“Good contracts make good friends.”
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
Team of Rivals by Dorothy Kearns Goodwin
We’d like to thank our sponsor, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. SEBTS is always asking the question, “Where are you going?” They want to equip pastors, missionaries, theologians, scholars and more to obey the commands of Jesus to make disciples anywhere and everywhere God calls them to go. Wherever students are going, Southeastern can help them get there. Southeastern Seminary has a wide range of degrees at many levels and all M.Div. programs now have a stronger core curriculum to better equip students biblically, theologically and practically for their current and future ministries. In addition to a stronger core, the total number of hours required to complete an M.Div. has been reduced to 81-84. They even offer distance education options for those who cannot relocate to North Carolina to study.
Apply now to begin your theological education at Southeastern. Use the code 5LQ to receive a discount on your application for any degree.
