Peter Drucker once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast every time.” One of the hardest issues to fix within a church is a culture problem. Culture is the norm of behaviors in a group of people. It’s how they solve problems, resolve conflicts or even interact. We’ve all been to a church with the right music and good preaching, but there was just “something in the air.” It’s hard to put a finger on any one thing in particular, but there are unseen, underlying issues. A healthy culture sends the opposite signal to guests who enter a church for the first time. They sense that something good is going on in the church.
It can be compared to dirty diapers. You don’t have to see dirty diapers to know they are there. There is s stench that gives it away. The person may not be sure where the dirty diapers are, but they know there are dirty diapers that have not been disposed of properly. The best gift my wife and I received at our baby shower was a diaper genie. It totally hid the smell! So, the goal of any leader is to create a healthy church culture that starts with the senior leader and then flows down to the departments.
When a leader complains about behaviors, it is not a behavior problem but a culture problem. Behaviors flow from culture and values. When someone travels overseas to a new country, they encounter the culture. The culture is different from the language, interaction, food, and maybe even how they dress. The one traveling to the country has to get used to it and adjust. The same is true of every church. Each church possesses a different culture. Again, the senior leader’s job is to cultivate a healthy culture.
Unhealthy cultures in a team or church are formed because of the leader. Ultimately a culture problem is a leadership problem. As a pastor, if I don’t like the culture, then it’s easy to find out what is causing it. I can stand in front of any mirror and meet the problem with our church culture. The senior leader has to take ownership and accountability to cultivate a healthy culture. “The most important aspect of an organization is not vision or strategy. It is culture,” Dr. Sam Chand. Culture problems are never solved quickly. It takes diagnosing key issues and creating a culture-shaping plan to fix them. But first, the leader must know what an unhealthy culture looks like first before they can create a plan for a healthy culture.
What does an unhealthy culture look like?
Unhealthy cultures have these characteristics:
1. Turf battles between staff and/or volunteers are constantly slowing down progress.
This is where staff work against each other by competing and arguing over budgets, physical use of space, or volunteers. There are silos, not bridges.
2. Leaders play the blame game.
The senior leader or department leader blames others for their poor performance, attitude, or conflict. If two leaders were personally accountable, it would change any conflict for the better.
3. Staff and team members feel threatened by other people’s success.
There is not a celebration of others’ successes and definitely not a celebration where there is elevation of a position. Instead, there is resentment and jealousy.
4. Teams have no input.
They are only informed of changes. Whether this is the senior leader or department leader, there is no dialogue or consensus. Decisions are made in a vacuum with no one giving input or only a few “yes” people. The only change people like to be a part of is a change that benefits them or change they help create.
5. There is no trust and both sides refuse to build it.
Unhealthy church cultures lack trust on every level. The leader and staff do not trust each other. The leader doesn’t trust the people, and the people don’t trust the leader.
- The greatest statements that a team can learn to say to their team and each other are, “I am sorry. I was wrong (without being defensive or passive-aggressive).” Dr. Sam Chand
What does a healthy culture look like?
1. There is conflict.
Conflict, when handled correctly, can be cleansing. Patrick Lencioni points this out in his book, “The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.” He says that the number one sign of a lack of trust is the absence of conflict on a team.
2. There is a genuine relationship with the goal of working on mission together.
The mission is greater than any one personality, ego or achievement. The team has a clear mission with clear wins, and they all rally around it.
3. Authority and responsibility are given to others on the team.
Secure leaders give away authority and responsibility. Insecure leaders give away responsibilities without the direct report having authority to create. Very secure leaders give away both but will assume responsibility if things go bad instead of blaming others.
4. Instead of just dismissing difficult people, they do the difficult work of helping them become healthy.
Every church has difficult people. Part of making disciples and developing leaders will be working with difficult people. A healthy culture does all it can to help develop difficult people. I know this firsthand because I was difficult when I first entered leadership. I’m grateful people didn’t give up on me but developed me.
5. The people all speak the same language.
Every culture has a certain language they use. You can hear it all through the organization. When I get the chance to tour larger churches that are making an impact, I always hear them speaking the same language. Craig Groeschel said, “In order to build a healthy culture with a common language, you have to build a ‘cult-like culture.’”
6. Leaders over-communicate culture instead of over-complain about it.
Leadership is taking ownership. A leader can complain or cultivate culture, but they can’t do both simultaneously. Great leaders over communicate their desired or solidified culture in a simplistic yet healthy way.
How do we create a healthy culture?
Create several key action values that drive behaviors. Model it. Live it consistently as the leader. Talk about it over and over until the people can finish the sentences. Leaders never say, “I have tried. Our team just won’t do ______________.” A culture shaping leader says, “I haven’t done a good enough job to lead our team to ________________.”
Keep culture to 2-3 key behaviors that each team or department needs to live out. Don’t say new things all the time. Keep a few key things in front of them all the time. Hint: What frustrates you the most and what you complain about is where you fail at this. Create values to counteract these frustrating behaviors.
Say it. Write it. Say it. Write it. Say it Write it. Over and over and over. Become the Chief Reminding Officer of the church. It’s called being a CRO. Healthy church culture doesn’t happen by accident. It happens only with intentionality.
Leaders must put a huge emphasis on a healthy culture to create one at their church. It may have taken years for a church to develop a very unhealthy culture, and it may take years to work a healthy culture into that local church. The leader has to have a plan, patience, and the right people on board to create a healthy church culture that can minister to the ones coming in the door.
