Teach Your Team to Fish: Using Ancient Wisdom for Inspired Teamwork

HE EXCITED THEM

AS I CAREFULLY MADE my way across the rocks that littered the shore of the Sea of Galilee, I marveled at being in the actual place where so many people’s lives, and careers, were changed by the presence of a single man. I tried to imagine what must have coursed through Peter’s mind when he looked up at the figure that was silhouetted on the shore, and heard the words Drop your nets, and follow me. History records that Peter did just that. As did the woman at the well and the woman who was given her life back when the stone-carrying mob dropped their accusations against her and let her go free. Jesus had an incredible ability to excite people — causing them to take their lives and minds and hearts in totally new directions.

What was it that allowed Jesus to excite people so much? Was it pure charisma — the promise of adventure — the presence of God? Certainly it was all three of those, and more.

In this part we will explore some of the things Jesus did to excite his team. For example, he offered them a clear path to advancement, which in that culture was very limited, or even nonexistent. He turned work into cause, elevated the dialogue, and wisely used the power of presentation. He taught his team the importance of systems thinking, and how to run a family business. He turned criticism into collaboration and showed them the SQM Method: Simplify, Quantify, and Multiply. Most of all, he embodied the mission of which he spoke.

Jesus brought fire into these people’s lives. Those who had once sat in great darkness suddenly saw a great light.

He excited them.

HE TURNED WORK INTO CAUSE

I must work the works of him that sent me.

— JOHN 9:4

AS J ESUS WAS WALKING by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him" (Matthew 4:17–20). And then he put his arms around them and began to show them the Big Picture, one day at a time.

Study after study now confirms that people function better in their specific tasks when they know the big picture of which they are a part. A recent survey presented in the book Values Shift: The New Work Ethic and What It Means for Business, by John B. Izzo, Ph.D., and Pam Withers (Fairwinds Press, 2001), reveals that 91 percent of staff workers at every level would like to know details of the budgets of their organizations, even though their paycheck may be only a very small part.

One of the main reasons people underperform in their jobs is that they don’t know why they are doing them in the first place. To understand why this knowledge is so important, consider an example from the human body. Science continues to reveal the higher intelligence at work in our bodies. For example, red blood cells do the same thing in the body forever, but they never tire of their work. The red blood cell’s job is to take oxygen to other cells in the body and exchange it for carbon dioxide. In this nonstop activity the red blood cell is not depleted but in fact nourished by its job.

Scientists now know that the red blood cell contains within it the complete DNA code for the entire body. In other words, it carries a map of the whole body in its structure even as it continues to carry out a single, specific, highly specialized task. Some scientists theorize that perhaps because the red blood cell knows the function of the whole, it can be content in its micro task, and perform it without exhaustion.

In fact, every cell in the body contains the DNA code or map of the whole. Could it be that God already knew what management theorists are just now discovering — that even the least part of the body performs best when it knows the map of the whole?

If you have ever had the privilege of encountering an enthusiastic janitor or a humming cook or a singing maid, you have probably met the equivalent of a red blood cell that does not tire of its task because it knows its energy exchange is vital to the organization as a whole.

The number three reason people now stay in their jobs, again according to John Izzo, is that the mission of the organization engages and excites them. People also leave their jobs because the mission of the organization doesn’t excite or engage them.

Perhaps as we move into a society that is literally linked by the dynamic exchange of intelligence, we experience a greater need to know the macro plans of our organizations so we can be fully engaged in our micro tasks. This represents a huge shift from the isolated feudalism or smokestack industrialism that preceded us.

Leaders who believe that they can threaten red blood cells into doing their jobs are asking for trouble up ahead. The famous basketball coach Pat Riley says, You don’t have to yell at someone who wants the same thing that you do.

Teambuilders inspire people to look up. Jesus did this with Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, as well as with all his other disciples and followers. By revealing the Bigger Picture, he turned work into cause.

Questions

1. Does your team understand the DNA code of the entire organization?

2. Have you shared it with them, or do you think it’s a secret between you and God?

3. Why would one part of an organization need to know how another part functions?

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Help me share with my cell mates all that I know of your master plan for us … so that they too can work with ease and nourishment and joy.

Amen

HE TAUGHT COMMUNITY

… that they may be one, even as we are.

— JOHN 17:11

JESUS SOUGHT TO BUILD community through expanded thinking. His earnest desire, reflecting his Father’s desire, was that no seat at the banquet table should be empty — that anyone who was hungry for the team benefits of right standing with God would be fed.

When Jesus gave a blessing to the Samaritan woman at the well, he was opening the door of commerce and exchange with a group that had been previously off limits. After she had her initial meeting with him, she ran back into the village and brought along her friends — multiplying the effect of Jesus’ words. When he praised the faith of the Roman centurion who sought healing for his servant and required only that Jesus use his word to heal him, Jesus was opening up awareness that God’s blessing and favor could exist outside the social construct of strict Judaism. He gave the example of a king throwing a banquet and inviting his family, only to have his family decline because they were too busy to come. So the king angrily opened up the party to anyone who was hungry. He did this because he wanted the table to be full of happy partygoers, rather than empty with self-righteous, self-involved people. When Jesus was giving his final prayer to God right before his death, recorded in John 17, he asked that they may be one, even as we are.

Here he was seeking the ultimate merger of hearts and minds and souls — community.

Jesus had a huge heart and a big eye when it came to seeing the possibilities of unity among people of like hearts and minds. He wanted everyone to see their connection to each other, and to God. As I write this, there is a growing phenomenon called coaching. Whereas coaching was once reserved for athletic teams, and consultants were hired to improve the profitability of companies, thousands of people are now working at helping others to achieve their highest and best. Some of the people I know who are doing this say that there is nothing as satisfying as seeing someone blossom into the truth of how loved and talented and bright they are. When you are coaching, I asked one of them, whom are you working for? Them, he replied with a smile. And me. And God, too. And that is what is so great about it. It’s like we’re all in this one big company together.

Coaching helps people merge with others of like mind, and acquire new talents, often through expanding to the resources of the community. I recently had the pleasure of sitting next to Robert Willig, an internationally known economist who teaches at Princeton University. He was preparing a talk on Old Testament economics, and asked me what economic principle drove the New Testament. Not being an economics professor, I had to think about it for a moment, and then I replied, Well, if you look at the early Christian movement as detailed in the Acts of the Apostles, the people sold everything they had and held it in common. They were instructed to use what goods they had to give gifts to others, and not to worry about what they were going to eat and drink. Finally I looked at Professor Willig and said, "New Testament economics was about mergers and acquisitions ending up in