In unit three, we had a great discussion about how one might need to modify the suggestions in the CTE text in a nonmilitary environment. We had another discussion about teams in academic/governmental organizations and how team members can have an extreme passion about a particular issue that can derail the team processes. My objective is to get us thinking that there are all kinds of organizations; and while most of the teaming skills are the same regardless of the type of organization, sometimes we must reconsider how we approach leading a team for different kinds of organizations. This week I want to continue this idea with a discussion about teams involving volunteers.

Consider a religious institution that had expanded to the point of not having enough parking or seating to accommodate its membership. The building was totally land locked with houses on every side of the property. A committee was formed to figure out how to deal with this problem. There were 10 people on this committee, and all of these people knew something about real estate. There were realtors, builders, bankers, etc. It was a great surprise how well this committee worked together. They viewed several pieces of property, got lots of input from external experts, and over about a year, came up with three options for the institution's leaders and members to consider. These options were: (1) do nothing, (2) buy a large piece of property at another location and build a new building, or (3) buy the houses around the current building (and remove the houses from those lots), expand the current building, and significantly increase the parking.

Once these three options were presented to the institution's members and leaders, almost all of the long-time and older members chose to do nothing; the younger families believed the institution should buy property and build a new building because they could see the growth potential; and very few of the members considered the third option (buying houses around the current building) as a desirable option.

The problems:

Buying a large piece of property and building a new building sounded great, but the reality was that property was extremely expensive and so was building a new building. In addition, the location of a new site would be 10 miles or so from the current location and the older members did not want to incur debt or drive that far.

The younger members wanted the new location because they could see it being in a better location to continue to attract more and more young families. They see this as a "no brainier" if the institution wants to continue to grow. The biggest issue for buying a lot and erecting a new building, is cost. The group could sell the old building and borrow enough money to make it happen; but there would have to be more new members to get enough contributions to make it a viable option.

The solution:

The institution's leaders formed a team to work with the members and make a decision on how to proceed. Based on what has been presented in CTE and the Pressbook texts, how did this team need to function to move the institution past this quandary? (Note, this is a true story, and one year after the leadership team was formed, the institution made the decision to stay in its current location, to buy up surrounding houses, and to build a large addition to their current building. The institution lost no members and continues to grow.)