Nov
16
2011

Ministry Systems: Your Organizational Culture

An article by Matt

Andy Stanley’s most recent Leadership Podcast was focused on organizational culture. Every organization has a culture, whether they are willing to admit it or not: some are healthy and producing incredible successes, some are focused at maintaining status quo, and others are slowly killing the organization. The dictionary defines culture as behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture or the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action. In other words, culture is the sum total of history, philosophy, and values… and what causes us to do much of what we do.

In his podcast, Andy talks a great deal about understanding and evaluating our organizational culutre. The problem with culture is that it is very easy for us to become blind to it. After being a part of our church or organization for a while we no longer notice things about our organizational culture that we once did. The longer we are a part of our culture, the blinder we become. As a church leader, it is times like these that we need help. Might I suggest three ways to evaluate your church’s organizational culture:

New Staff. Andy talks about interviewing new staff three months, and twelve months into their time on North Point’s staff. One of these interviews unearthed a significant staff feud that had needed to be dealt with. Asking your new team members what they see in your team, and what concerns that they might have is a good way to expose potential issues.
New Attenders. From time to time we come across new attenders in our congregations that can give great insights into your church’s culture. Having the guts to ask newly committed members of your church questions about what they are seeing can be a great way of understanding how people outside of your culture interpret it. For the record, this is not something that can be done every person who shows up in your church for the first time. Use discernment as to who you invite into this process.
Outside Help. There are times when you just need a fresh set of eyes. One of the more interesting things that I get to do with Church Simple is perform a church experience audit. During these experiences I take part in a church’s worship experience, interview a cross section of the congregation, and develop an understanding of what the church’s stated values, vision, and strategy are as opposed to the communicated ones. Asking for an outsider, who gets the church, to come alongside you and help you evaluate your current culture can be a huge help.

How do YOU monitor YOUR church’s organizational culture?