In Houston, most of the homes are built on concrete foundations. A common saying here is, “There are only two kinds of homes in Houston – ones that have already had foundation repairs, and ones that will need repairs in the future.”

The culprit here is the clay soil, which soaks up water to expand in wet seasons and shrinks when the weather is dry. This underlying, undetectable soil movement will eventually cause cracks in the concrete foundation. At first, the cracks are invisible, but they will eventually show up in the exterior bricks or interior sheetrock.

Does your team have foundation problems?

After a difficult season, I suspect there are some “cracks” within your church or ministry’s staff or leadership team. They may seem very small right now: a person who has a shorter fuse than normal, someone else who is disengaged, team meetings that lack energy or progress, or tension you can feel but can’t quite put a finger on.

A homeowner in Houston can ignore a small crack in the wall, but it is a clear sign of a deeper problem. In the same way, those small signs of trouble in your team, especially among individuals who are normally strong performers, may indicate a deeper problem. You can ignore the warnings, but the problem won’t go away.

Houston homeowners water their yards in dry periods, not just for the grass and plants, but also for the foundation.

Ministry leaders can also take proactive steps to repair cracks in their teams:

Ask. A starting point is to make an observation about the behavior you’ve seen and ask the person how he or she is doing. This simple invitation to open the door for conversation can have tremendous value.

Name it. When an entire team is out of sorts, naming the issue(s) can be an important step. Especially in this challenging season of emerging from covid, staff members want to know that their leaders understand and sympathize with their struggles.

Care. The first two steps (“ask” and “name it”) will backfire if leaders don’t follow up by demonstrating their care for staff. Care can be expressed in a variety of ways. Just don’t relegate it to the bottom of a long “to do” list.

Nourish. At the risk of ending with a “Sunday school answer,” the importance of spiritual nourishment cannot be overstated, especially in a difficult period. In dry seasons, your staff needs a fresh drink of living water.

Do you see any cracks in your team that need attention?

Mike Bonem is a consultant, coach, speaker, church leader, husband, and father who loves to help ministries and leaders reach their God-given potential. He is the author of Leading from the Second Chair and 3 other books on ministry leadership. Mike can be found online at www.mikebonem.com.

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A version of this article originally posted on MikeBonem.com

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