11 Actions for Culture Cultivation
Just as a healthy garden will not exist without careful gardening and constant attention, a healthy culture does not happen by accident. Culture is the shared beliefs and values that guide a group of people. Left alone, culture deteriorates. Wise and loving leaders cultivate the culture in which they are leading. If leaders fail to […]
Three Essentials in Evaluating Chemistry During an Interview
Zappos famously guards their culture. Because they know each person brought on the team will either contribute to or corrode a healthy culture, they pay people not to accept a job after going through orientation. Even if a person is talented, they don’t want the person to stay if the person does not believe in […]
A Church’s Behavior Must Be Rooted in Its Beliefs
Thoughtful leaders know that both beliefs and behavior reside within an organizational or ministry culture. Culture is continually formed as the shared beliefs and values are actually lived out in the culture. In a healthy church culture, there is harmony between the beliefs and the behaviors, between what the church says they believe and how […]
Two Strategic Drifts in Churches and How to Address Them
Organizations and churches drift away from their identity and mission. Without constant care and godly leadership, drift pulls a church from her core message and mission. A church doesn’t drift into greater health or better focus. We drift as individuals in the same manner. We don’t drift into physical fitness or spiritual growth. We drift […]
Three Ways to Starve the Bad Values in Your Organization’s Culture
Every organization, every ministry, every team has a culture. Much has been written about culture, and essentially culture is the shared values and beliefs beneath the surface that ultimately drive the behavior of the organization. This means an organization’s culture has direct bearing on how the organization acts. Terrance Deal, in his book Corporate Cultures, […]
When Two Values Collide, Development Must Win
Often in a ministry or organization, stated and/or unstated values will collide. When two values are at apparent odds with one another, leaders must decide which value wins. If a collision occurs, leaders must declare which value will be primary. A common example in church ministry is the tension between two commonly held values: leadership […]
Amazon, Values, and the People of God
The recent New York Times article outlining the culture at Amazon created quite a stir, even prompting CEO Jeff Bezos to respond and declare the article to be inaccurate. The article read very similarly to the biography on Bezos and Amazon. In both the book and the article, the culture at Amazon is painted as […]
Stories and Heroes
Two weeks ago, Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson, and I led a time of teaching and discussion centered around our new book Creature of the Word. We challenged leaders to center their churches, not merely their confessions, on Jesus. One of the questions from the audience revolved around analyzing and changing the culture of a church. […]