Gifts that differ
A body of varied gifts
Paul tells the Romans that, as a body has many members with different functions, so the church has gifts that differ — prophecy, service, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, mercy — and each is to be used wholeheartedly. He does not lament the differences or try to make everyone the same; he celebrates the variety as the design. A healthy body needs its parts to be different and to do their distinct work well.
Building a team is partly the art of assembling complementary gifts. The leader who hires only people like himself builds a team strong in one area and blind in all the others. Paul's vision is a deliberately varied team — the encourager beside the teacher beside the administrator beside the one who shows mercy — each covering what the others lack. Your weaknesses are not meant to be solved by your becoming well-rounded; they are meant to be covered by people gifted where you are not. Build a team of complementary gifts, and the whole becomes far greater than any member, including you.
“As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God.”
— Peter, on stewarding gifts — 1 Peter 4:10 (WEB)
Strong teams are built of complementary gifts. Your weaknesses are meant to be covered by people gifted where you are not, not solved by your becoming well-rounded.
“Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith.”
Paul celebrated varied gifts as the design, not a problem. A leader formed here values people unlike himself who cover his gaps. The inner work is humility about his own limits and appreciation of others’ different strengths.
Assemble a team of complementary gifts, deliberately including strengths you lack. Resist hiring reflections of yourself. Let each person do their distinct work well, covering what others cannot.
Leaders gather people like themselves and build teams strong in one area and blind everywhere else. The blind spot is mistaking sameness for cohesion while leaving whole areas uncovered.
Map your team’s gifts against the needs. This week, identify one gap your own gifts do not cover and seek someone who fills it.
The leader who surrounds himself with people like himself builds a team strong in one area and blind in all the others. Your weaknesses are not solved by becoming well-rounded, but by people gifted where you are not.
Are you building a team of complementary gifts, or hiring reflections of yourself?