Winning Small = Huge Gains

Team leaders: If you want big results, then lead your team through achieving “small wins” together.

As leaders, especially in music ministry, we often have a big vision to increase the excellence of our team’s performance that aspires to be just as good as the groups we admire. I mean, it would be awesome to have a tight and polished sound like the mainstream worship artists we listen to, right? 

This aspiration is good; it’s part of what drives us to better ourselves and those around us. Often though, our aspirations lead to overwhelming requirements of our team members who may not be ready to handle what you ask of them…

…that is, they’re not ready YET. 

YOU can equip your team to handle large challenges by building them up through several series of “small wins.” I learned the value of “small wins” in one of my most memorable worship experiences, when I was working as a music director at a small church with a handful of volunteer singers and instrumentalists. Everyone had great individual skills, and they had been working collectively for quite some time, but we all aspired to take our performance to another level. 

In my mind, I dreamed to have this group perform a specific arrangement of the Blessing of Aaron from the book of Numbers that I’d sang in college. (You can listen to it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4C9zVg5X_A) 

I knew that we needed more time to achieve this massive goal, especially with just a handful of performers. So instead of immediately learning that music, my strategy was to refine and strengthen the cohesiveness of the group, consistently focusing on only three things in each rehearsal:

- Tone
- Technique
- Tying Parts Together 

No matter what song, old or new, we honed in those three “small wins,” and over time, this strategy helped us lock in on a REALLY SOLID sound. After a year or so of consistently “winning small” each week and refining those elements, all the while incrementally introducing new material, I felt we were ready to go for the choral arrangement.

In what would have normally taken a couple months of rehearsals, we achieved in WEEKS—and this was with some folks who didn’t read music as well as others! We performed the arrangement at the closing of Easter service, and it was one of the most gratifying worship experiences I’ve been a part of. 

So, in your own team, identify “small wins” that you can achieve together as a strategy to scale up to the next level. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

- Is your guitarist or keys player locked in a rut of only playing basic chords? Show them 1 or 2 new shapes for them to use as replacements for old chords. You can then add more voicings over time.
- Are your singers having a hard time finding 3-part harmonies? Reduce it down to 2-part and have your doubled-melody singers work on blending behind the main vocal. (More on scaling up your vocal team in a later post!)

Lastly, I should mention that I approached overall team improvement by focusing on building up each individual, allowing them to excel in their strengths and guiding them through challenges with specific tips designed to boost their confidence. If you implement “small wins” for each person, the whole team improves, and with a heart properly aligned for worship (that is, GLORIFYING GOD FIRST and ENJOYING HIM), you are guaranteed to achieve success. 

Be blessed 👊✌️