One “adventure” that every church staff, every church board or group of church leaders, as well as every committee, task group, or ministry body within a church must face: “How to build a cohesive team.”
Teamwork in leadership forms an essential element of success in carrying out God’s work in this world. The Scripture asserts that each church contains the full range of spiritual gifts that, working together, can provide a fully functional body of believers. This body can become energized by the Holy Spirit to minister in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the local area, the state, the nation, and to the far reaches of the world.
Yet virtually every working group within a church has unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, and difficulties that interfere with their efforts to minister. The only way to remove this interference is to build a cohesive, interdependent, respectful, Christ-honoring team. To build such a team, the team members must learn to understand each other. One terrific tool to help gain that understanding: the Gregorc Style Delineator™.
Succinctly as possible, Dr. Anthony F. Gregorc asserts that God has “pre-wired” every individual with certain characteristics that pervade that person’s body, soul, mind, and spirit. These characteristics can be observed. And, in adults, these characteristics can also be disclosed through the use of the Gregorc Style Delineator™.
The God-given pre-wiring creates within every person certain innate preferences in how the individual takes in or perceives information—as life unfolds around him or her—and certain natural preferences in how the individual “processes” or “orders” that information into a useful form.
The two ways people perceive: Concretely (Physical Reality) or Abstractly (Non-physical—e.g., thought and emotional—Reality).
The two ways people “process” or “order”: Sequentially (“Step One, Step Two, Step Three ...”) or Randomly (“Chunk...Chunk...Chunk”).
These two characteristics join to form four basic Mind Styles™: Concrete-Sequential, Abstract-Sequential, Abstract-Random, and Concrete-Random.
Every person has all four of these preference combinations at work within him or her. But, most people exhibit a dominant preference. Their pre-wiring tends to pull that dominant preference up onto the “stage of life” in the face of daily interactions with other people, things, or circumstances.
Said another way, every person has some measure of all four Styles as a part of the wiring that God has given him or her. Every day each person draws on the characteristics and abilities expressed in all four of the Styles in order to make his or her way along the road of life. But, most people have a dominant preference for one, and sometimes two, Styles. The dominant Style tends to produce many observable characteristics that can help describe a person’s behavior or anticipated behavior in the vast majority of life’s circumstances and interactions.
Once a group of individuals working together in ministry learn about their own Mind Styles™ and also about each other’s Mind Styles™, they can use that information to learn how to better relate with each other. This understanding helps further bond them together and dramatically increases their effectiveness as a team.
Over the years, Dr. Gregorc’s extensive research has created a body of knowledge much like a very deep well. One can draw off some water from the very top of the surface of the water in the well and find that it satisfies a particular thirst. Or, over time, if one desires to do so, he or she can plumb the depths of the well and find an even cooler, more refreshing repast.
In other words, you can gain some valuable insight into yourself and others by simply becoming aware of the existence of Mind Styles™ and by learning about your own Mind Style™ and the Style of those on your staff, board, committee, working group, or other team. Or, you can delve into the information Dr. Gregorc has made available and learn a great deal more about yourself and others. It’s really your choice.
When one layers a recognition and understanding of one’s Spiritual Gifts on top of an understanding of Mind Styles™, one can develop a very insightful view of the people on a church staff, a church board, a committee, a task group, or even in an entire congregation.
I can testify that Dr. Gregorc’s excellent materials have greatly helped many individuals and groups, both within the church and outside the church, with whom I have had the privilege of sharing this information. During a typical presentation of Mind Styles™, many people have significant “Aha!” moments.
Often, a great deal of healing takes place among people’s relationships that have become scarred by unnecessary conflicts, disagreements, and misunderstandings. I strongly urge every church leader to consider obtaining this valuable material and using it to improve the relationships and teamwork at his or her church.
You will find a great deal of additional information regarding Mind Styles™ at www.gregorc.com. I will also gladly answer any questions you may have. Simply send me an e-mail.
Copyright © 2009 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.
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