Teamwork Essential for Strategic Leadership, Reveals New Study

More senior pastors of Protestant churches now consider themselves to be effective leaders. Few, however, say they are effective at strategic leadership.

By Audrey Barrick, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, February 28, 2006

More senior pastors of Protestant churches now consider themselves to be effective leaders, according to a new survey by The Barna Group. Few, however, say they are effective at strategic leadership.

The Barna study, released Monday, found a number of challenges when it comes to understanding strategic thinking and team-building. Few pastors understand the different types of leaders and thus tend to misdiagnose a leader's attributes. Additionally, they fail to understand how to best operate in a team-based environment.

Leaders range from those who direct and strategize to those who build teams and operate. In most cases, senior pastors are directing leaders, according to the study. Directing leaders major on motivation, empowerment, resource acquisition and vision casting. In those aspects, more than nine out of every 10 senior pastors consider themselves effective leaders - a high jump from 2001 when less than three-fourths deemed themselves as effective. However, only one out of every seven says they are effective at thinking and acting strategically.

Strategic leaders, while recognizing the importance of a pastor's attributes for successful leadership in the church, have fortes in other areas, including attention to detail, desire for efficiency and insistence upon careful organization. The new research indicates that such leaders are often times dismissed as too critical, overly analytical, and impersonal to be given the chance to strategize and plan for ministry expansion and impact.

Many times, pastors attach a lack in faith to the critical manner, demanding nature and need to plan everything found in strategic leaders.

George Barna, who conducted the research, says the best situation is when a directing and strategic leader work in tandem to pursue a shared vision.

"No single individual can provide the full extent of leadership competencies required by a complex organization, such as a church," said Barna. "The most effective organizations blend the talents and views of the four types of leaders into an effective team, usually driven by the Directing leader but greatly enhanced by the special gifts of the other three types of leaders."

The new research also found correlations between the absence of a strategic leader and the condition of a local church. Churches without a pastor, staff member or key elder in a recognized strategic leader position tend to remain numerically small, averaging less than 100 adults in weekly attendance, according to the study. Such churches also fail to adopt new approaches to ministry, which is the result of budget limitations, limited attendance as well as narrower thinking. And they are more likely to be in a constant state of crisis due to the failure to anticipate foreseeable problems that ultimately hinder the ministry.

"Strategic leaders refuse to jump on the bandwagon of the latest and greatest fads, which sometimes makes them seem stodgy or disinterested. They rarely get caught up in the enthusiasm of ideation sessions and initially blanch at the level of risk that is required by the emotional decisions promoted by fellow leaders," said Barna in his study.

"In the end, though, the contribution of the Strategic leader is profound. They bring balance, wisdom and well-conceived plans to the process. On their own, Strategic leaders are ineffective. But when they are a valued member of a dynamic team, they enhance the leadership of their colleagues and the impact of their organization."

The Barna Group, which provides primary research through its five divisions, conducted the survey in November and December 2005 by among a nationally representative sample of 627 senior pastors of Protestant churches. Additional information from a sample of 4880 senior pastors, church staff and lay leaders was also drawn from the Christian Leader Profile, a leadership inventory developed by The Barna Group to evaluate the leadership calling, character, competencies and aptitude of Christians involved in the Church.