“After 30 years of developing the heart and skill of worship teams, I am absolutely convinced – micro-training is the future.”
A few years ago I made up a term for what I, and thousands of worship leaders I’ve worked with, have been having great success with for years.
That term is “Micro-Training.”
Micro-Training is… training your team over time with simple, short, consistent, weekly bursts of encouragement, inspiration, and insight – using primarily email, text, private social media groups, and links.
Especially during Covid, it’s the way to move everyone forward.
Team members have 4 core training needs:
- Encouragement/Inspiration
- Education (theological)/Leadership
- Practical/Musicianship/Values, and
- Spiritual Formation/Discipleship
.Here’s how it works.
.
5 Energy-Conserving Ideas For Training Your Worship Team Through Micro-Training
Thesis: You can micro-train your worship team through many small, consistent actions, rather than always feeling like you’ve got to go Captain Marvel all the time, running macro-training events with the limited space, time, and energy you have (or feeling guilty for not doing more).
I’ve seen it a hundred times. Sending short and sweet big ideas, in a variety of media formats, sent-over-email/text/private social group – is a plan that works.
.
1. Train in the easiest way possible – conserve energy.
Your team(s) need training. But here’s the deal – you’re a limited being. God knows that, and your family knows that – but do you?
Keep it simple – here are some options:
- The 15-Minute Team Email – At a set time every week, encourage your team members with 1-2 sentences in an email that takes you 15 minutes or less to create. Or send a link or eBook.
- The Encouragement Text Thread – Get all your team members on a text thread, and make it light but helpful. Tell them, “This is ONLY for mutual encouragement.”
- Private Facebook Group or Message – Post a thought, devo, link, or tool at a set time each week. Keep the group private for a sense of community-building.
.
2. Know what fires your team’s energy, and start there.
What people like is what brings them energy, and delight. So try adding energy to their lives rather than taking it away with more requests. Make deposits before withdrawals, and season it with training.
- Be short, meaningful, and to the point. Today is full up for me, and for you. Honor that reality by keeping notes short, encouraging, and to the point. Your teammates have limited focus time. Help them learn.
- Prime their interest with texts or posts about their quirky hobbies. I work with a lot of fellow geeks, and we send short notes to one another where we geek out about gear, NASA branding, fonts, Marvel movies, and bands. Give them energy, then follow it with heart and a smidge of training.
.
3. Major on Micro-Training; minor on Macro-Training.
Small resources, sent consistently to your team and leaders, will win the day. I’ve seen it a hundred times. Water dripping on stone will carve a canyon.
Short and sweet big ideas, sent-over-email/text/social – work.
- A monthly devotional thought – At a set time each month, send one devotional that becomes the theme you all chew on and chat about for the month.
- Short quotes for feedback – Put a helpful quote in an email, text, or social post and hit “send.” Let the games begin.
- Short video clips – Short training clips that pack a heart and skill punch work. Send weekly, or every other week.
- Short eBooks – One short eBook can move a mountain. Season your emails with these, and let a short eBook soak into their soul.
.
4. Spark training conversations in a private online group.
Find a good idea that is incredibly positive for your team to start an encouraging worship conversation around.
- Send a quote to your team about worship and trust, hope, pride, fear, or facing down musical insecurity. Then chip in the first thought. Let a thread develop.
- Teach your leaders and team worship and its theology – with substance. Honestly, there’s plenty of fluff out there. It’s not only the worship leader who needs some good worship theology rolling around in their heart and mind. Post an idea that will anchor them in faith.
.
5. A 3 Step Plan for Micro-Training
Worship leadership changes lives, saves lives, forms lives, and really, really matters. And it takes a life of dedication, risk, trust, and skill to do it well.
Without a micro-training plan, worship leaders burn time, energy, and emotion trying to effectively encourage and develop their worship teams.
With a micro-training plan, your team will rise and you won’t be cranky. Short and sweet big ideas, sent-over-email/text/social – is a plan that works.
.
3 Step Micro-Training Plan
- Set aside 3-4 hours to build a library (or start with my library below) of weekly quotes, devotionals, and media resources to send for the year
- Plan 15 minutes per week that you will send your team a resource
- Start sending/posting the first of next month and act on your plan
.
That’s how Micro-Training works. You will start to see results the first time you send something. Then watch what happens over the next few months.
And over a year, you’ll be amazed how much your team has grown – through micro-training.
And you’ll be amazed at how much time you’ve saved in the process.
Grace and Peace,
Dan +
.
Announcing The 2020 Micro-Training Challenge!
Starting Sept. 1 – Dec. 1, 2020, you as a worship leader are invited to launch micro-training with your team through the 2020 Micro-Training Challenge (MTC2020).
Make sure you’re on my email list asap to get fresh downloads and to find out more.
Micro-Training Starter Library – 150+ Training Downloads
The Worship Leader Toolkit is a complete library of 150+ resources you can send to your team, or mine for quotes, devotionals, and more. It is designed for micro-training.
From now until Saturday, Aug. 5, 2020 the whole kit is only $27.
.