Teamwork Essential for Effective Leadership, Reveals New Study
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 Posted: 10:15:20AM EST

More senior pastors of Protestant churches now consider themselves to be effective leaders, according to a new survey by The Barna Group. Few, however, say they are effective at strategic leadership.

The Barna study, released Monday, found a number of challenges when it comes to understanding strategic thinking and team-building. Few pastors understand the different types of leaders and thus tend to misdiagnose a leader's attributes. Additionally, they fail to understand how to best operate in a team-based environment.

Leaders range from those who direct and strategize to those who build teams and operate. In most cases, senior pastors are directing leaders, according to the study. Directing leaders major on motivation, empowerment, resource acquisition and vision casting. In those aspects, more than nine out of every 10 senior pastors consider themselves effective leaders - a high jump from 2001 when less than three-fourths deemed themselves as effective. However, only one out of every seven says they are effective at thinking and acting strategically. the rest