Who's on your squad?

I was in a seminar last week with a really dynamic speaker.  She has done a few seminars for my office before so I had heard her, but this time, instead of setting everything up and retreating to my office to knock out some work, I decided to stay in and participate in the session.  The topic was avoiding compassion fatigue (i.e. burnout), which is super relevant in all walks of life.  This speaker talked about "forming your own squad."  She referred to your squad as the people who are in your court, no matter the circumstances.  Just like sports teams are made up of athletes who play different positions, so should your squad be.  Here's the kind of people your squad should consist of:

• People who listen without advising - less talking, more listening
• People who offer sound advice - you'll know them by their wisdom
• A "fan club" who is always for you - you'll know them by their encouragement
• "Chicken Soup" people - the comforters
• People who move you forward - the bold ones who will tackle awkward issues in order to advance you

This portion of the presentation just stuck with me.  I started thinking about how important it is that you have people who are on your team!  In life, I try to be on many people's teams, but the reality is that you can't be on 100 teams.  You need to know who's team you are really on and you need to know who is really on your team!

This reminded me of the story in Exodus (in the Bible) where Moses was in charge of leading the Israelites to victory.  He went to the top of a mountain so he could see over the battle and God promised him that as long as his staff was raised, the Israelites would be winning.  The most important thing about this story was that Moses didn't go up on that mountain alone - his team was with him!  Aaron and Hur went up with Moses and they held up his arms so that his staff was always raised and the Israelites could win the battle.  Moses was human.  His arms got tired.  The Israelites would have never won had it not been for Aaron and Hur who held up Moses' arms when he couldn't do it on his own.  We don't get to see how Aaron and Hur feel about this, but we do see what matters.  Aaron and Hur went up with Moses even though his vision and instruction from the Lord seemed a little crazy!

This is a biblical story from thousands of years ago, and yet we see so many common parallels to today.  You have to have a team and they have to be willing to track with you through the stuff that matters.  They have to believe in your vision no matter how crazy it is.  Thank God for friends like Aaron and Hur!

The big takeaway from this lesson for me is that my squad matters!  Though life can be somewhat transient and friends come and go, there is definitely an underlying squad.  Those people have been there for you and will continue to be present no matter the circumstances.  Know your squad, know their role, and invest in them!