Of the things I've learned as a leader, my 4 P's, have probably been among the most impactful. If you keep these in mind I guarantee it will help you in almost every leadership decision.
As leaders we know about vision. It is the church / ministry we see in our hearts. It is the promised land that we are leading people to. When vision is established, the easy slip is to then think about strategy. 'What' do we do? However, whilst strategy is important, 'culture eats strategy for breakfast' as a famous management consultant once said. Culture is the 'how' we do things, the behaviour if you will.
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast"- Peter Drucker
Setting a culture is a tricky thing. Firstly, culture is rarely changed overnight, more often it takes time. Firstly, it has to be identified and given a language. Leadership is about giving language to concepts and thoughts. People will have a feeling about a culture they may not have given it words. These words are often called VALUES but could be called BEHAVIOURS.
"Leadership is about giving language to concepts and thoughts"
So if you haven't already, you will need to give clarity around the culture you aspire to. What does your tribe act like, how do they behave whilst doing whatever they are supposed to be doing?! See article all about culture here
When you know the culture you want to set and it is clear and expressed, then I recommend the FOUR P's
Practice
Preach
Praise
Pause
Practice - for culture to be adopted, it must be demonstrated. This is the famous, 'do as I do' as Paul said in 1 Cor 11:1. Now more than ever (though I think it has always been this way) people learn most from what we do, not what we say. As leaders we must demonstrably embody the cultural behaviour we want to be emulated. So walk the walk!
Preach - Once we are walking the walk it is important to also talk the talk. I think credibility is doubled when people witness the practice before the preach. Yet the 'preach' is also important. We teach from the Bible why we have a value of X, where we see that demonstrated in Jesus' life etc. We also give people an important key, and that is the language to explain the feelings that get attached to that value. Out of everything
that happens in life we remember feelings the best. How we felt when someone showed us amazing generosity, love or forgiveness. For healthy culture to grow it must be talked about regularly. When I planted my last church, I spent a whole series on culture and then every single week in our pre service 'huddle' (when we got all the service teams together to pray etc). In the huddle someone would share a 5 min inspiration on one of our cultural values to remind people of how we do what we are about to do. That is weekly cultural setting! My job in that same meeting as the pastor was set vision. (sign up to free leader tips email, article coming soon on bossing a pre-service meeting)
Praise - Ok now this is a big one so don't underestimate the importance of this. In life we all want to be congratulated, we also want others to know that we have done a good job. Plus when we see others being congratulated/celebrated we want to be that person! Use regular slots in your service, your weekly news/mail, your pre service huddle and social media to regularly thank and 'praise' those who have really aced a value. Say you have a value of being 'invitational' - you hear about someone who invited their neighbour to a church event. To give a great praise;
Identify the person
Make it public Tell people what they did and why it represented the culture and values of the church
Ask everyone to applaud them or show them some love if it's on social media...
Trust me, others will see this and take note and it will reinforce the values you want to see fostered. N.B bonus outcome - regular public praising is super attractive to those outside the church too!
Pause - I like to think of this as a proactive and positive approach to negative culture. Remember culture forms by default or design. (Remember culture article here) It will grow in any ministry/church and so it is for you as a leader to shape. So, though the first three P's are about feeding and curating culture the final one is about stopping or 'pausing'. We could use the word prune but often people attach too many negative connotations which may
not be useful, though it's obviously a biblical word used by Jesus and others. One of my observations of leaders, including myself, is sometimes a lack of willingness to challenge negative culture. So, I have to be just as proactive in pausing negative behaviour as I do in promoting the positive. My experience, learned by failure as much as success, is that if you pause early you can avoid pruning later! So a small correction early, though you may want to avoid it, will be a whole lot easier than dealing with an embedded bad culture later on. WANT TIPS ON PAUSING CHALLENGING BEHAVIOUR?? SEE ARTICLE HERE
"if you pause early you can avoid pruning later"
Finally, it is super important with all four of these P's that you are not the only promoter/gatekeeper on people's behaviour. Invite your entire team and congregation to promote and lovingly pause behaviours if they are not representational of your church values.
We have another article coming soon on one of my other favourites, the three C's 😆. I am not even joking! This you will love as another great leadership insight.
Before you go PLEASE say hi, follow us on social media and subscribe to our free newsletter so you don't have to keep checking back!
Big love, believing for great things for you and your ministry
Joss
Great