This past May, I attended Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership Summit, which I can’t say enough great things about. I learned so much, and it’s difficult to narrow down my favorite takeaways.

But today, I’m going to try.

I love our team – and if you’ve been here a while, I know you know why. Teeny, Suzy, Somer, and James all play critical roles in the work done in the swHw community. But when your team is stretched from North Carolina to Delaware, I would be lying if I said it didn’t create unique problems.

Problems that I’m grateful for. Problems that I believe many people would wish to have for themselves. But still, problems that need to be dealt with.

One thing I’ve learned with having a largely remote team is that there’s no such thing as over-communication. We have established lots of fantastic tools to help us be able to communicate with one another, despite working at different times in different locations.

But because we don’t get to see one another everyday, because we sometimes rely on email and text for a few days before we can connect on the phone or on a web meeting, it’s not hard for things to get missed.

Important things. Like tone. Like intention. Or even just what’s going on with someone personally, not just work-related tasks we happen to be doing together.

It’s not intentional. We love one another. We are fantastic friends in addition to Kingdom teammates. But things can still get missed in the shuffle of life and responsibility.

So once a week, I gather weekly reports with 4 simple questions, which allow me better insight into what’s going on into everyone’s life, workload and team contribution.

Question 1: What was your biggest “high” of the week?

This can be work-related to our ministry, but it doesn’t have to be. If something awesome happened in someone’s personal life, like a child’s first steps, or our husband’s ministry (we all married ministry leaders too!), that can easily be a “high” for the week! Whatever brought them the most excitement is what we want to know about so we can celebrate together.

Question 2: What was your biggest “low” of the week?

Same rules apply here, just the opposite side of the equation. But whether someone felt they didn’t have the tools they needed to do their job with excellence or they had a difficult personal circumstance, this can help us know how to pray and work toward resolution, even if it’s just offering extra encouragement.

Question 3: What’s one thing you did for the team that should make us grateful to have you as part of the ministry?

We’re blessed to have a team of doers where everyone excels in their lane. But sometimes, I’ll be honest, they know how much details stress me out, and they take such ownership over the area of the ministry, there are often things I wouldn’t even know about that need a “thank you” from me. I’m certain there are still plenty of things they do each week I’ll never know about, which is why I try to thank them every chance I get, but I love knowing the area of their job they are most proud of so we everyone stays in their ministry sweet spot.

Question 4: What’s one thing the team did for you that made you grateful to be a part of the ministry?

Leaders need accountability, and we need a lot of it. James and I are passionate to consistently be growing in leading like Jesus, and that can’t be done if we aren’t serving our team and caring for them. I love the weekly accountability to make sure we are being intentional to bless our team. Busyness is no excuse for lazy leadership that doesn’t intentionally pursue to help others feel valued.

Give these weekly reports a try for your business or ministry. You’ll be grateful you did!
Which question do you think would be most valuable to hear answered from your team?

Michelle Myers, Founder & Chief Instigator

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