Danelle came home from a church work day where they made preparations to pack over 200 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. She was excited because so much work had been done, and it had all gone smoothly. I remarked that she is a really great leader. She responded, “Oh, I don’t know if it was leadership – it was more behind the scenes work that set them up for success.” I said, “Well, you have an organization with a purpose that was well executed. What would you call it?”

Of course, it was leadership. But I think what made it feel like something else was that the team worked together so naturally. Coaching does not replace leadership, but at the same time, you cannot lead teams well without a strong dose of coaching. People like to work in their strengths, they like to feel that their effort has meaning, and they like to see their efforts multiplied by what others are doing.

Before Danelle left for the work day, she was telling me how she planned to organize everything. She has come a long way over thirty years of working with church volunteers. I remember one Christmas at our church plant, early in our ministry, where I begged her to just tell people what to do to decorate the church. She did not want to be bossy, but this particular group worked best when given specific tasks. As Danelle began to direct, two things happened simultaneously: a lot of work got done, and frustration levels went down.

That was a useful lesson for both of us. People do not all need the same thing in order to contribute well. Some people want freedom, while others want clarity. Some naturally see what needs to happen next, while others are perfectly happy to work hard if someone will just tell them where to start.

For this recent work day, Danelle told me she was going to have them do everything except one particular job. “Why not that job?” I asked. “Because it’s hot back there,” she said. Her instinct was to protect them from the unpleasant work.

I blurted, “Let them do that work too.”

And she did. There was no complaint. In fact, some people actually like doing the hard job. It gives them a sense that their effort matters. In this case, it was connected to sharing the gospel with children around the world.

This is one of the things I notice when I coach teams. Leaders can easily decide for people what kind of contribution they will enjoy, what they can handle, or where they will be most useful. Sometimes we are right. Sometimes we are not. Coaching slows that tendency down and helps us become curious about how people actually contribute.

A great metaphor that helps me think about teams is the difference between checkers and chess. In checkers, the pieces all work basically the same way. In chess, they do not. Not every piece moves the same, and where the piece is positioned matters.

​Teams are the same way. The goal is not to get everybody working alike. The goal is to help people understand how they contribute and how their contribution fits with the rest of the team.

When I coach an individual, I am helping that person understand what is going on inside of them. When I coach a team, I am also paying attention to what is happening between the people. Who needs more freedom? Who needs more clarity? Who may simply be in the wrong role? Those kinds of questions can change the way a team works.

Coaching is not simply helping each person become better at their job. It is helping people understand their value to the team and helping the team understand how those contributions fit together. That does not happen just because a leader tells people they are valuable. People need to discover it, often through experience.

They take on a role that fits them. They solve a problem. They see that something moved forward because of what they contributed. Over time, they begin to understand, “This is what I bring.”

I think that is what Danelle experienced that day. The work got done. People knew what to do. Nobody seemed frustrated. And 200 shoeboxes moved closer to being packed and sent around the world. It felt easy enough that she wondered whether it was leadership at all.

Maybe that is one of the signs of a team that is working well. People know where they fit, they know why the work matters, and they are able to contribute together without everything feeling hard.