Four Steps to Shift Your Culture and Face New Opportunities

Diverse group of college students in School campus holding their books

What is culture? It is the ways of thinking, living, and behaving that define a people and underlie its achievements. It is a nation’s collective mind, its sense of right and wrong, the way it perceives reality, and its definition of self. Culture is the morals and habits a mother strives to instill in her children. It is the obligations we acknowledge toward our neighbors, our community, and our government. It is the worker’s dedication to craftsmanship and the owner’s acceptance of the responsibilities of stewardship. It is the standards we set and enforce for ourselves and for others: our definitions of duty, honor, and character. It is our collective conscience. – Robert P. Dugan, Jr., Winning the New Civil War, p. 169.

One of the biggest barriers to organizational change is culture. You have a big, bold, new vision for your group but until you solve the culture issue, nothing will ever change. In this post, I will give you four key steps you can implement to shift the culture of your team and members.

1. Describe your God-given vision repeatedly.

Vision is an elusive concept. A God-given vision is one that flows from intense time with God in prayer and study. It is always larger than ourselves. You can only accomplish the vision with the power of God driving it. That being said, here is a great quote about vision. “All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible…” – T.E. Lawrence. To move your people forward you must help them see their future selves in the vision you are communicating.

1. Set up a structured training system.

Where most churches fall short is training its members for service. If you want to observe this first hand at your next large gathering ask former elected officers, “What orientation and training did you receive when you were elected?” To add to the conversation share the results with us in the comment section.

1. Model Transformation.

Paul’s counsel to young Timothy, “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”- 1 Timothy 4:11-13 (ESV)

My mom’s favorite saying was, “You can talk until you are blue in the face.” As you attempt to get people to follow your vision, know that people will follow what you are modeling.

One Sunday morning in 1865, a black man entered a fashionable church in Richmond, Virginia. When communion was served, he walked down the aisle and knelt at the altar. A rustle of resentment swept the congregation. How dare he! After all, believers in that church used the common cup. Suddenly a distinguished layman stood up, stepped forward to the altar, and knelt beside the black man. With Robert E. Lee setting the example, the rest of the congregation soon followed his lead. – Today in the Word, September 1991, p. 15.

People need to see the standard you are trying to achieve lived out in you first before they will follow.

1. Reinvest in People.

Finally, to change your culture you must be willing to die to self over and over again as you invest in the lives of those around you. When the vision becomes about you and not God, you are reaching a danger zone. At every level you and your organization climb, a piece of the old you dies to allow you to reach the next level. Let me give you an example.

I am not the same pastor I was when I graduated from the Seminary. In 1993, I was a “wide-eyed, transforming the world, rookie pastor.” Now some twenty-four years later I still desire to change the world, but armed with bruises from battle, I know change comes at a high cost. The cost of the death of past failures, broken relationships based on overzealous passion, and the death of a rookie’s enthusiasm, yet better positioned with a balanced view of my role in transformation.

You must not take this journey alone. No one should hang around you for an extended period of time and not experience transformation. They could be transformed by the God-given vision, or the training system to equip them for service. Some will be transformed by the ministry itself, regardless if this is from God. Lives will be changed. Go, change the world with the unique vision God has implanted in your heart.

#CultureChange #Leadership #Transitions