March is the absolute best part of the baseball season, as far as I’m concerned (unless my team ends up in the playoffs). Opening Day is still a month away. This is the time those of us who love the game and the team (in my case the Seattle Mariners), dream about the possibilities. So for my birthday, Dixie checked one off my ‘bucket list’ and took me to Phoenix to see the Mariners get ready for the season, now only days away. Maybe this will be the year!
There are things about leadership to be learned by watching how different managers interface with their players and coaches. Mariner’s manager, Don Wakamatsu, is beginning his second season as a Mariner and as a big league manager. In his first year he led a resurgence of an emotionally depleted team, helping lift it from what had been its lowest point in years to an entirely new level. When it comes to his role and that of the rest of the coaches as they work with the players, Wakamatsu personifies several specifics that any leader would do well to adopt.
First, he doesn’t try to replicate his predecessor. He explains, “Players like genuine people. They can sniff out somebody who’s trying to be somebody else faster than you believe.”
Second, he says, “There are two sides to coaching. One, can you touch a player and make him believe? The other side is mechanics. I like our coaches to be able to do both.”
Third, he believes that for a ballclub to be successful it not only needs talent, it needs an element that Wakamatsu calls “adders.” He says a core of adders is important to a team “because those adders, if you can get four or five of them, create a lot of energy. But if you have four or five negatives, then no matter what I say sometimes, they bring people down.”
These are three lessons that we leaders in Second Half ministry should consider in preparing for our next season of ministry:
- Be yourself. Your people will know if you are attempting to be someone you are not. Especially second half people. They’ve experienced the ‘spin’ before. Remember, God made you, so it’s about being the best you can be.
- Touch the people. Reach their hearts as well as their minds. Let them know you love them and Jesus loves them and that you both believe in them. Guide them toward ministry projects that meet needs and compliment their gifts and skills mix. Just don’t send them off without being sure they’ve been trained for success.
- Look for the “adders.” You must find a core of men or women, solid in their faith, excited about working with you on the team, who will be the adders in ministry to and through adults in life’s second half.
These three things are critical to successful outcomes. It’s what Jesus did. He was true to himself always. He touched the people around him daily. And he looked for the “adders” when he built his ‘team of twelve.’ So go ahead. Build a winning team for Second Half ministry in your church or organization.
“Anyone wanting to be a leader among you must be your servant. And if you want to be right at the top, you must serve like a slave. Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many” —Jesus (Luke 20:26-28.
Go ahead. Stir the glowing embers in your peers; leave a light on for the next generation.
Ward Tanneberg
CASA Network Executive Director