OK - all you "blog-o-rhythm" police guys (& girls) cut me some slack.
Here are some ideas we are working through as a church staff that I thought would be interesting to dialogue on.
I want to preface my words by saying we have a great, talented and hard working team of people on our church staff. I love them all.
I know it is my job as a leader to "define reality" for us, though.
So we came up with these ideas to guide the culture of our staff this year. I think these ideas will work in a lot of settings, so that's why I'm putting them out here.
So here are our 5 "work culture" guidelines:
1. I love this place, 24/7, 365, 100%
2. Yes, whatever it takes
3. Do it right, do it now, do it wow
4. Everything is an experiment
5. I win when the team wins
On no. 1 - I think it's vital to make sure we love what we're doing and who we're doing it with.
Every 7 years, Old Testament slaves were given a jubilee option. You get to go free or you stay where you are because you love it.
It's probably good to evaluate some things every so often (not on the really bad days!) and see if we are still doing things we love or just doing things out of old habits.
We wanted all of our guys to really look into their hearts and determine if they worked here because they love it wholeheartedly (still) or just because they've been here for a while.
It's a good thing to keep doing what we love, to stop doing what we don't love anymore. Or figure out why we don't love it anymore. Maybe we just need to push reset and start loving it - again.
6 comments
ha! i was about to leave a comment about the rhythm. consider the slack cut!
it's great to work and give your life to something you love and believe in. and even more great to do it with people you connect with organically - people who you can share life with.
jess & i enjoy tasks, but if it weren't for the relational connects, i think "loving it" would be definitely difficult, if not out of the question altogether.
Posted on April 24, 2007 at 9:44 PM
I think #4 is one of the hardest ones for a lot of churches to get right, because it implies that leaders have permission to fail, sometimes in very public and embarassing ways, and that we're okay with that.
Welcome to the blogosphere, PK. As a long-time infrequent blogger, you won't get any flak from me about not posting often enough!
Posted on April 24, 2007 at 10:55 PM
i think love for our work is rooted in the created part of us that god designed with a specific job in mind. relationships are the foundation of a great culture, and i fully embrace the notion of experiment. that's where the great ideas are born.
i love the concept of jubilee. it's a god idea.
Posted on April 25, 2007 at 9:36 AM
Pastor Kirk,
Great blog post. We are working to redefine our staff culture as well and you word your values well.
I also love the idea of jubilee. Craig Groeschel has been writing a series called breaking barriers on his blog. In it, he touches on staffing as one barrier to a growing church. It does not necessarily mean a change of staff sometimes as much as a change of perspective and attitude from our staffs.
I'm going to forward your post on to dad. We just might steal some (or all) of your team values to use here.
Posted on April 28, 2007 at 3:07 PM
The enthusiasm embodied by these four sentiments, carried over into our homes- our relationships...make for extraordinary lives.
I am just so bleapin' excited about this church. ya...
Posted on April 28, 2007 at 6:48 PM
advanced english, remedial math...5 statements.
still excited.
Posted on May 3, 2007 at 10:32 PM