"Game over, man! Game over!" (A)

1) Team leaders will always help or guide the team in most need. And usually the team in most need is the new team.

Sometimes extra guidance or assistance will be needed because new teams don't exactly mesh and perform right away. After one team has been established, the new team usually has an unspoken expectation to perform similar to the established team. That doesn't happen because teams need time to meld and find their chemistry.

Team leaders will be needed to help guide a new team. While that "help" comes in different forms, sometimes it means removing oneself from the main team and going to work for the new team. This affects both teams in great amounts.

Team 1 loses a valuable player who has a role and everyone trusts that person will complete that role. Team 2 gains experience and knowledge. Team 1 will have to find someone new and fill the void, and reform the team. Team 2 will have the new leader form his/her expectation of a team with new members that are completely different. A smart team leader will realize the different personalities and learn to pull the power each member has, rather than trying to form an identical copy of Team 1.

Information sharing between the teams is also help. Sometimes a Team 2 doesn't have preconceived notions that Team 1 has, and can solve particular problems quicker. Transfer that knowledge to Team 1 and improve performance.

Teams helping teams benefits performance because the efforts of each team are not wasted trying to solve the same problem or gain knowledge already obtained. Think about how we learn to read. Someone who knows how taught someone who didn't. Sure, the teacher read rudimentary literature, but the beginner was able to understand so much faster than going it alone.

"I am NOT Hootie." (JM)

I've been listening to Hootie & The Blowfish lately. I love college rock; songs that tell stories.

Back on track-
I was perusing CMS and came across this little ditty and laughed. It was a blatant copy of Fellowship Church's series. The graphic FC has up isn't what they were running with during the series itself. But the concept is very similar. There is a site affiliated with CMS, Fickr, which has a bulletin board for comments. One comment called out the copier, who replied to the effect: we didn't copy, we took their idea and made it our own.

Right.

It brings up a murky point regarding information- what is truly accurate for information on the web? Some prescribe if it's on the 'Net, it must be true. Or if it comes in an email, it's as good as gold.

Wrong.

Information has to come from a verified source, and one must consider the integrity of the source. Take this blog for example. Most everything is my opinion on a wide range of subjects. My disclaimer at the bottom states that. As is my personality, I cringe when I know something I posted or have seen posted is not accurate. Because ultimately, decisions are made on available information, so that better be right. Else you end up in Cleveland, not Cle Elum.

Make sure the information you receive is accurate; check multiple sources. And cite your sources. Me, Myself, and I are not credible information sources, fyi.

So if you copy an idea from a HUGE church, don't think others have seen the source material and call you out. As my pastor has said many times before, my generation has been let down by every major institution- church (scandals), Wall Street (financial collapse), government (Bill C.), etc. We don't need the Internet to fail us or the generations to come.