Leaders often ask what is a good size team to use in strategic planning and oversight of ministries. With the right number of people on a team you receive quality input from all, members will ask questions about topics, and better decisions will be made. When that number exceeds seven people on a team, individual discussion lessens and members tend to advocate more than they inquire.

The number of people to serve on a team may be more important than you realize. The success of a team can largely depend on the size of the team. Bigger is not always better. First, ask what are the objective and goals of this team? In most scenarios, regardless of the objectives, the number of members on a team will not need to exceed seven. The fact is most teams will function more effectively with five to seven members.

With too few members on the team, discussion may not be as diverse as needed, not allowing all avenues to be explored and perhaps overlooking the best possible decision. Another downside of not having enough members on your committee or team is members can be stretched too thin leading to burnout or at least ineffective preparation and implementation.

In larger team settings people rarely take the opportunity to probe for understanding and clarity but instead pile opinion on opinion, leading to misunderstanding and poor decision making. Larger teams may come up with two or three possibilities. The difficulty is these two or three get discussed to death, while the best possibility may never get voiced. The larger the group, the fewer people speak to offer thoughtful ideas. Instead, team members buy into consensus.

With the right number of members on your strategic planning team you will receive quality input from all members. Members will be more inquisitive and ask more probing questions into the subject matter providing more definite solutions toward the objective and goals.

When selecting the right people for your team, pray first and foremost. Then list those in your organization who meet the following requirements: 1) open minded, 2) forward thinking, 3) willing to speak his/her thoughts and concerns, 4) Willing to listen to everyone else’s, 5) not a yes man/woman (no rubber stampers). Build your team on people with these quality traits and let everyone know they have an equal voice and each one’s thoughts need to be heard by all. Decide if you realistically need 5,6,or 7 people on your team. This will give you the team that you need to fulfill your strategic planning needs and objectives.

For more information on this subject and Organizational Health contact George Yates and visit SonC.A.R.E. Ministries.