Cal Zant
Not long ago, one of our senior leaders invited me to a meeting with several others to unveil a big idea that they were so excited about. It was thoughtful, thorough – and completely missed the mark. Why? Because the leaders waited until they’d fully fleshed out the idea before they invited in other perspectives.
Collaboration is one of those words we all use, but few of us define it the same way. And if we’re not clear on what it actually means, we’ll never build a culture where it thrives. For Kingdom-minded businesses, true collaboration isn’t optional – it’s essential. It reflects humility, trust, mutual submission, and the belief that God speaks through His people.
In recent conversations with leaders in our company, I realized that even we had different definitions of collaboration. That lack of clarity can create confusion, frustration, and even mistrust. So, let’s define it – and more importantly, let’s align it with God’s design for how we work together.
The Spectrum of Team Involvement
Most leadership approaches fall somewhere on a spectrum: from creating buy-in, to getting input, to true collaboration. Each sounds similar – but they are vastly different in posture, intent, and outcome.
1. Creating “Buy-In”
Buy-in is about persuasion, not partnership. If you could read our internal intent, it might sound like this: “I already know what’s best, but I want to make you feel like you were part of it or it was your idea.”
The leader has already drawn their conclusion and now needs the team to support it. They may feel it is collaborative, but it’s not. It’s about framing the narrative to make the leader’s decision more palatable.
The truth? This posture is hollow and fake. It’s manipulation, disguised as inclusion. It can reduce resistance in the short term, but over time, it kills trust and ownership. If a decision is already made, be honest about that. Tell the story, explain your thinking, but don’t pretend you’re inviting input if you’re really not.
2. Getting Input
This is a little more open but still short of real collaboration. The leader says, “I’m pretty sure I already have the answer, but I’m open to hearing your thoughts.”
This approach is mostly one-directional. There’s no real back-and-forth. Here’s a test: If it could be done by sending a survey or slipping a note under the door, it’s not collaboration.
If we wait until an idea is fully formed before inviting feedback, we’re not really asking others to contribute; we’re asking them to critique. And, of course, it feels like criticism! Because at that point, it is. We’ve already poured time and energy into shaping it alone, so any input after the fact feels like someone picking apart our work, not partnering with us to build it.
Being “open to input” doesn’t make it collaborative. You can be open-handed and still fail to engage people in meaningful, shaping dialogue.
3. True Collaboration
True collaboration means co-creation. The root of the word is literally that we “co-labor.” That means we don’t just ask for feedback – we birth and build it together.
Collaboration begins where certainty ends. If you’re not willing for someone to reshape the way you think about the topic, you’re not collaborating.
That means:
- We don’t come with a polished idea – it should still be half-baked.
- We don’t present options and ask which one people prefer.
- We invite people in from the very beginning when the idea is still unformed and messy.
That’s what happened when Corey Lusk and I co-developed our construction scheduling tool. At the time, Corey Lusk was the construction manager, and I was a software developer. Corey brought his experience managing projects with Gantt charts. I came from a heavy technical background and brought a very different lens. We dialogued, shaped it together, and landed on something neither of us could’ve created alone. That was true collaboration. If you asked one of us who came up with the tool, we’d say that neither of us did. We both did! We were never concerned about who got credit or who had the better idea. We both brought important parts of the end solution.
What Does True Collaboration Look Like?
- You make the idea community property early and invite others to shape it.
- You don’t polish it before inviting people in.
- You seek dialogue, not monologue. Some of us are internal processors, but collaboration requires us to become verbal processors.
How do you know if you’re doing it right? Ask yourself:
- Did I bring a fully fleshed-out proposal or a half-baked idea?
- Do I already know where we’ll land on this?
- Am I doing most of the talking?
- Did people disagree?
- Did the idea shift meaningfully through the conversation?
- Would I have landed here on my own? If your answer to this one is no, then it’s a great sign.
It’s Not a Democracy
Collaboration doesn’t mean consensus. It’s not about taking a vote.
It’s about seeking to discern God’s best through the group. That means:
- Invite dialogue rather than trying to win an argument
- Understand every perspective deeply. If you can’t represent someone else’s view in an argument, you don’t fully understand it yet. Stay curious! We must have the ability to hold an idea in our heads before we decide if we agree or not. So few people can actually do that, but it’s like a superpower!
- After the leader has heard all of the perspectives, they can then decide the best direction. The job of a leader is not to come up with all the best ideas but to make sure all of the ideas are heard – and the best one wins.
Why Is This So Hard?
Because collaboration isn’t natural. Most of us want to move fast, control outcomes, and carry the load ourselves. Trying to lead this way is harder than simply calling the shots. If we are completely honest, those of us who try to lead this way all think at some point, “Can I just make one freakin’ decision on my own?”
But as leaders, we have a choice:
- You make all the decisions – but you have to carry all the weight.
- You make decisions together – and the weight can be spread over all of our shoulders.
You can’t choose to make all the decisions and then complain about how heavy the load feels. They go together.
That’s why we lead differently at our company. Not because it’s easier – but because it’s healthier. Rick Betenbough, our founder, started down this path over 20 years ago after he felt like God told him two reasons why he had to start leading differently:
- God wanted to protect Rick – from himself. If Rick kept leading the way he was, the weight of it would crush him.
- God wanted to protect His ministry (previously known as Rick’s business) – from Rick. Absolute power corrupts. A leader making decision in isolation can’t be trusted. I heard a pastor teach that God actually ordains that every human being “flips their rocker” at times, just so we don’t get confused and start worshiping them. Leading collaboratively is protection against that. Rick would say it also provides alternative ways for God to get through to him. If God was trying to call Rick’s cell phone and he wasn’t picking up that day for some reason, God could call someone else on our leadership team to give them the message.
Today, we don’t just encourage collaboration among our leaders – we expect it. If you can’t learn to lead this way, then Betenbough Companies is not the place for you. We don’t say that to be harsh but because it’s foundational to what the Lord has done in our business over the past 20 years. We will cease to be who we are if we don’t embrace that.
Kingdom leadership is different. We must die to ourselves. We must learn to trust the Spirit of God in the group.
While collaboration can often be slower (or at least feel that way), it produces greater clarity, alignment, and wisdom. It will lead you to better decisions that wouldn’t have occurred to you otherwise. Slowing down on the front end can save massive rework on the back end.
Who Should Be in the Room?
One part we have seen trip up a lot of leaders in our organization is that true collaboration doesn’t mean including everyone in a conversation. Be strategic about who you invite in:
- Who is ultimately responsible for the results?
- Who brings a valuable or unique perspective?
Avoid the trap of, “Well, it’d be good for them to be in there.” That’s not a good enough reason. If the group has more than eight people – and especially more than twelve – it probably won’t be effective.
Once you’ve got the right people in the room – trust the process.
What Does God Have to Say About Collaboration?
God is collaborative by His very nature.
- God exists in perfect community: Father, Son, and Spirit. One without the other isn’t fully God. They are dependent on each other, and you can see in Scripture how they honor and point to each other.
- During the week of creation, God said, “Let there be …” a lot. But when He got to the crown jewel of his creation (human beings), he explicitly shifted into a collaborative process: “Let us make man in our image.”
- God rarely works through individuals in isolation. He most often gives one person part of the plan and another the rest.
- Moses led the people out of Egypt, but Joshua led them into the promised land.
- David gathered materials for the temple, but Soloman actually built it.
- Even Jesus invited 12 disciples to co-labor with Him. He didn’t dictate every detail – He gave them authority and let them get their fingerprints on the plan.
If you feel like you are missing something, look around! The rest of the plan might be sitting in the room with you.
Today, when I feel like the Lord has given me a new idea for our business, I look at it as if He gave me one or maybe two pieces of a puzzle. I then get really curious to see who He gave the other pieces to, and the search begins!
I might go so far as to say that if you think God gave it all to you, you’re probably missing what He gave to someone else that could make it even better. No one gets the full download from God. He designed us to need each other to see the whole plan.
Many toxic environments were created by a leader who claims God gave them the unquestionable truth about something. While it is within God’s power to do that, we should ask ourselves if there is even a little truth to us saying that because we simply don’t want people to question it. (Note: Listen to the podcast called The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill for a shocking, real-life case study.)
Revelation is rarely a solo act. God almost never gives one person all of the pieces to the puzzle because He so strongly desires for His children to work together. It delights His heart to see us value one another, honor the unique gifts that He placed in each person, and humbly submit to one another. Perhaps that is why He blesses this approach, and we arrive at the best decisions because of it.
Closing Challenge
You might be tempted to see collaboration as just a smart business practice. It is. It will lead to better decisions. It also spreads the weight. But those are surface-level benefits.
The deeper reason we prioritize collaboration is because it reflects the Kingdom of God.
True collaboration is one of the clearest expressions of Kingdom culture in our work. It reflects humility, trust, mutual submission, and the belief that God speaks through His people. It honors others.
So let’s be the kind of leaders who:
- Invite others in early
- Listen deeply
- Create space for God to speak through the group
Because when we do, we won’t just make better decisions. We’ll build a better culture – one that honors God and reflects His heart.
If this kind of Kingdom collaboration stirs something in you, I want to invite you to our Kingdom Leadership Workshop, October 7-9 in Lubbock. It’s a space for CEOs, owners, and executive teams to seek God together and learn how to lead with Him at the center.