Teamwork makes the dream work

You cannot overstate the value of having a good team.

Like most people I have been part of great teams and part of teams that were not cohesive or effective. The strength of your team will more often than not define the extent of your success as a US Chair and your happiness in your role.

In a United Synagogue community there are multiple opportunities for teaming:

• lay-leaders working together and with rabbinic and local professional staff;

• volunteers partnering to deliver programmes and events;

• working with other communities or local bodies; and

• working with head office.

More than ever, the vibrancy of a community can be measured by successful teaming. More volunteers, a more varied programme, and higher attendances are all symptoms of a community that has taken maximum advantage of the partnerships available.

Like any good relationship, a team needs work and commitment, it will have highs and lows and strengths and weaknesses. It requires all parties to contribute, communicate and evolve and when a team breaks down you can be sure the impact will be felt in the community. I want to talk to the challenges faced in various teams I’ve been part of and how, mostly, these have been overcome.

Firstly, let’s discuss the teamwork between the Rabbi and the Chair (and the HO and Rabbinic teams). Nothing shouts 'unhappy community' louder than a situation where the Rabbi and the Chair are at loggerheads. Here is the controversial part: working with Rabbis is hard for a lay leader and I am sure working with a lay leader is equally hard for a Rabbi.

Rabbis’ livelihoods connect with community satisfaction, so rabbis are arguably incentivised to avoid confrontation or radical change that might antagonise some people. Lay-leaders have a short tenure and often also a ‘big idea’ which they want to be laser-focused on; sometimes at the expense of bringing everyone with them. Sometimes, for completely acceptable reasons, these agendas conflict. Communicating effectively to work through such conflict is crucial: if there is a point of tension, I have learned that allowing it to hang creates a bigger problem. Working hard on the relationships between lay-leaders and Rabbis is one of the most important aspects of community leadership. Where both parties are prepared to put the good of the community first in order to form a strong team, the community will benefit.

I have been part of four different Honorary Officer (‘HO’) teams, leading two and participating in two. I believe that an HO team presents a rare opportunity to work with people with different life and professional perspectives, that you can only really get in a voluntary role. Learning how an accountant, medical doctor, engineer or investment banker tackles a problem, helps enhance your own perceptiveness in your field as well.

In particular the pandemic has taught me that HO teams are strongest when they spend time together informally. An HO team that gets along will be more united, more likely to reach consensus and decisions, and will support each other through the harder times: I have direct experience of this.

Finally, teaming with other communities and organisations is important. We offer the best for our members when we give access to variety. The enjoyment people have received from participating in other communities’ programmes (e.g. online Friday night) is immense. We cannot all be strong in every area so by sharing our strengths we can ensure that Anglo Jewry itself is strengthened. As communities we must do more to share our ideas and to be willing to license an idea that has worked well elsewhere.

I will end with an inspirational quote from my favourite TV Show – The West Wing – which eloquently sums up my thoughts. This is delivered by Toby Ziegler the fictional (and Jewish) Director of Communications: “We're a group. We're a team. We win together, we lose together. We celebrate and we mourn together. And defeats are softened and victories sweeter because we did them together... You're my guys and I'm yours... and there's nothing I wouldn't do for you.”