{"id":4549,"date":"2010-10-15T10:26:33","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T10:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=4549"},"modified":"2021-03-25T13:24:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:24:04","slug":"a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/","title":{"rendered":"A question of balance – tailoring your feedback to your worship team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The service is done, the band has played 14 songs, including an improvised worshipful instrumental over the ministry time, and now they\u2019re winding cables and putting on jackets as the worship leader brings to close the final team prayer huddle.\u00a0 \u201c..Amen, and hey everybody, what a great service that was! You guys are the best! I thought you sounded amazing and guys, everyone really appreciates your commitment!\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I am thinking that I have played in better bands, and made better music, and this fact alone gives me no issue.\u00a0 Except that those excellent bands might play an excellent set, and yet close with a discussion of how we could have done better today, and ought to do better tomorrow.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s my question, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with a little encouragement?\u201d and it\u2019s a serious question, and it\u2019s a good question.\u00a0 Actually it\u2019s a question that should concern leaders of all types, and in commercial concerns, some time and money gets invested to ensure that every leader uses the right style of encouragement at the right time.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say two musicians play badly, but while one thinks he plays well the other is actually dissatisfied, perhaps even discouraged, at his lack of ability. Another two musicians play well, but one is annoyed at being told what to play, while the other is frustrated at not knowing whether he played what was wanted.<\/p>\n

If you imagine how each of these would respond to gushing praise, you can see it as being a blunt instrument, rather than a universal tool for growth.\u00a0 In fact we need to think about what combination of delegation and monitoring would be best for each individual in his current state and current role, remembering that the same person may need different encouragement for different tasks, and at different stages of their development.<\/p>\n

I am delighted to say that I can quote exemplary ways in which I have seen a worship leader doing exactly this, in a mature knowledge that treating everybody equally is not the same as treating everybody fairly.<\/p>\n

A simple way to classify people (yes, I said it!\u00a0 And you ARE allowed to snort with laughter, go on!)\u00a0 let me try to continue,.. as I was saying, a simple\u00a0 way to classify people is in two dimensions,.. willing vs. unwilling<\/strong>, and capable vs. incapable<\/strong>.\u00a0 In the case of our leadership (or membership) of a Worship Team, we might subtly rename those as confident vs unconfident<\/strong>, and expert vs. inexpert<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This gives us four categories; with loose examples here of different requirements:<\/p>\n

Confident Expert<\/strong>: The one who needs to be allowed to choose her own way. Give her the goal and let her decide how to achieve it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t thank her for playing well but thank her for gentleness and tact in guiding others.<\/p>\n

Unconfident Expert<\/strong>: Can be praised for fitting in, more than for technique. Can be encouraged by being asked to write music or give advice on correctness of diction, modes or chords.<\/p>\n

Confident Inexpert<\/strong>: Should be encouraged and praised for elements of independent musicianship such as deciding to not play in one verse, coming up with a simple alternative to a difficult passage, and above all for actual improvement in ability through constant study and practice.<\/p>\n

Unconfident Inexpert: <\/strong>This person can be praised!\u00a0 Go for it!\u00a0 Praise for having a go, praise for keeping cool, and hopefully praise for improvement.\u00a0 But just as with each of the other types, watch out for when they jump category and signal your need to change your approach.<\/p>\n

Because people grow in skill and confidence, you need to monitor peoples\u2019 progress.\u00a0 The progress is with different issues, but the monitoring is the same.\u00a0 From time to time, ask if they\u2019re OK?\u00a0 Thus invite feedback on their state of mind as they try to match their ability and attitude with the task at hand.<\/p>\n

Be open yourself, to invite openness in others, or you won\u2019t even learn their individual needs, let alone offer the truly appropriate encouragement.<\/p>\n

Other posts you might like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Worship team job descriptions<\/p>\n

Worship team auditions<\/a><\/p>\n

Free worship rota planning tool<\/a><\/p>\n

Worship team dynamics<\/a> \u2013 the phases any new team must go through<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The service is done, the band has played 14 songs, including an improvised worshipful instrumental over the ministry time, and now they\u2019re winding cables and putting on jackets as the worship leader brings to close the final team prayer huddle.\u00a0 \u201c..Amen, and hey everybody, what a great service that was! You guys are the best! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3534,"featured_media":4552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98,1510],"tags":[1253,1252,866,628,19],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA question of balance - tailoring your feedback to your worship team | Musicademy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A question of balance - tailoring your feedback to your worship team | Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The service is done, the band has played 14 songs, including an improvised worshipful instrumental over the ministry time, and now they\u2019re winding cables and putting on jackets as the worship leader brings to close the final team prayer huddle.\u00a0 \u201c..Amen, and hey everybody, what a great service that was! You guys are the best! […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-15T10:26:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-25T13:24:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/08123447\/Expertise-and-ability.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"286\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Weeks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Weeks\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/\",\"name\":\"A question of balance - tailoring your feedback to your worship team | Musicademy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-15T10:26:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-25T13:24:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/400b6f236d7bec945a61d863f09538cb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/400b6f236d7bec945a61d863f09538cb\",\"name\":\"Steve Weeks\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/our-dad.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A question of balance - tailoring your feedback to your worship team | Musicademy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A question of balance - tailoring your feedback to your worship team | Musicademy","og_description":"The service is done, the band has played 14 songs, including an improvised worshipful instrumental over the ministry time, and now they\u2019re winding cables and putting on jackets as the worship leader brings to close the final team prayer huddle.\u00a0 \u201c..Amen, and hey everybody, what a great service that was! You guys are the best! […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/","og_site_name":"Musicademy","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy","article_published_time":"2010-10-15T10:26:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-25T13:24:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"520","height":"286","url":"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/08123447\/Expertise-and-ability.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Steve Weeks","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@musicademy","twitter_site":"@musicademy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Weeks","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/","name":"A question of balance - tailoring your feedback to your worship team | Musicademy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-10-15T10:26:33+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-25T13:24:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/400b6f236d7bec945a61d863f09538cb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-question-of-balance-tailoring-your-feedback-to-your-worship-team\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/","name":"Musicademy","description":"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/400b6f236d7bec945a61d863f09538cb","name":"Steve Weeks","sameAs":["http:\/\/our-dad.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4549"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23583,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions\/23583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}