Build a Great Tech Team

Learn the same principles of building a thriving team that Life.Church staff recently walked through in an All-Staff meeting

Great companies, great teams, great products don’t happen by accident; they are the result of intentional work and thought. We don’t fall into health and success, but without intentionality, we will fall into the opposite. If we want to thrive and build great products, we must grow in impact and effectiveness.

This is why Life.Church and our digital teams have used the Adizes model of corporate lifecycles to understand where we are as a team and as an organization and how we can continue to be healthy and grow.

According to the Adizes model, all organizations go through different lifecycle phases and every team member possesses certain leadership strengths (or inputs.)

For an organization to continue to grow and scale they must identify what phase of the lifecycle they are in and the leadership strengths needed for that phase.

Let’s take a quick look at the lifecycle phases and what is needed during each. If you’re familiar with the Adizes model, you’ll notice we adjusted the lifecycle names to fit our context. There are seven lifecycle phases and four leadership inputs — see definitions for all four inputs in the graphic.

Each phase requires specific leadership inputs at specific levels (represented by a capital letter or lowercase letter) to stay healthy and on track. The omission of certain letters in any phase demonstrates a total lack of necessary inputs and signals when a phase isn’t healthy.

Seven Phases and Required Leadership Inputs

1. Getting Started (paEi) — This is the very beginning phase. You wonder if your idea or business will even work. The leadership inputs needed for this phase are paEi. The Entrepreneur input is heavily needed for this phase to be successful. The Entrepreneur input brings the vision and purpose that will bring clarity for long-term effectiveness. There is a smaller emphasis on the Producer, Administrator, and Integrator inputs.
2. Blowing and Going (PaEi) — This is the phase where things start working and moving fast. The leadership inputs needed for this phase are PaEi. The Entrepreneur input is still needed heavily and the Producer input steps up to help get things done. This is the phase where you need to get a lot done and have the flexibility to take some risks. The Administrator and Integrator inputs have smaller roles because you’re focusing more on effectiveness than efficiency in this phase.
3. Hanging On (pAEi) — This is the phase where it starts to feel too big to handle because of the growth. The leadership inputs needed for this phase are pAEi. The Entrepreneur input still needs to have a heavy influence during this phase — it’s critical to keep the “why” in front of you. But now the Producer input needs to back off a little and let the Administrator input have a bigger role in creating systems to support the growth of the organization. Efficiency starts to emerge to support effectiveness.
4. The Zone (PAEI) — This phase is what every organization and team should aim for — the optimal operating zone. The leadership inputs needed for this phase are PAEI. Every team member and all systems are consistently at peak performance and balancing both effectiveness and efficiency. There is strong growth, stability in systems, and great flexibility. Culture is strong throughout the team or organization. The systems are serving the mission. And the people are all-in. All four leadership inputs are needed heavily and equally, and they must all be aware of the need for each other in order to maintain this prime phase.
5. The Treadmill (PAeI) — This is where the organization’s progress and decision-making get more difficult and slow down. The leadership inputs you see in this phase are PAeI. This is where the organization loses the strength of the entrepreneur input. Awareness and action from the team to keep “E” — future vision and clear “why” as a central part of their process is key to moving back to The Zone, otherwise, you will continue to drift down the slope.
6. The Mud (pA — ) — This is where trust begins to erode and the policies become more important than the people. The leadership inputs you see in this phase are pA — . Both of the long-term leadership inputs — the Entrepreneur who drives toward the future and the Integrator who develops people — are gone. To move back to health, would require a serious reboot and commitment from the team to make significant changes to direction and leadership. This is not impossible but highly improbable.
7. The Titanic ( — )— This is the end. A complete restart or stop is the only course of action.

If you want to build a great tech team, you have to have the right leadership inputs in the right amounts at the right times. This model of lifecycles and leadership inputs can help you evaluate the current health, the continued health, and the issues that could emerge on your team. It gives a clear guide for how to move towards the prime target, The Zone, and how to stay in it when you are there.

Discuss with your team:
• Identify the current phase of your team
• Identify the dominant leadership input of each of your team member
• Discuss what is needed for your team to move to the next healthy phase

Want to learn more? Check out these resources to gain greater insight:
How to Grow a Healthy Organization — from the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast
• In this episode, Craig Groeschel will show you how to identify where your organization is in the cycle and grow it into a healthy, thriving one.
Adizes Institute Worldwide website
• Here you will find more information, resources, tools, and training about the Adizes model.