7 Traits of a Great Team Member

By: Ron Edmondson

I was reflecting recently on what makes a good team member…a good staff member of a church.

Here are 7 traits I came up with that make a great staff person:

Sense of humor – It’s critical in our office that you be able to laugh…at life…at corny jokes…and sometimes at or with each other. We have fun together and that makes us a better team.

Team spirit - We have no lone rangers on our staff. We rebuke struggling alone! We are part of a team and there are no turf wars in our organization and no one should be drowning in a project without some help.

Work ethic - We aren’t great at managing people. We simply rely on people having the sense of responsibility and inner drive needed to complete the work. We like leaders who are passionate about Christ and people and willing to do what it takes to accomplish our vision.

Healthy personal life – We deal with a lot of messiness in other people’s lives. It would make it very difficult to maintain the level of ministry required of us if we were not personally living healthy lives spiritually, emotionally and, as much as it depends on us, physically.

Open spirit – We share burdens with one another. Our people don’t live on an island to themselves. The more we learn to trust each other the greater this process becomes. We are open to challenge the system, the ministry and each other in an attempt to make the organization better.

Loyalty - It is imperative in our organizational structure that a team member be dedicated to the vision, organization, senior leadership and the team.

Servant’s heart – If one cannot approach their position from a point of serving others and Christ then he or she will not work well on our team. It’s the model of our entire ministry and must be represented by our staff first.