Develop a Culture
This week I hope to bring you a thought you can integrate into your week, or your life as a whole. If you would have been around me much when I was in Sales Management, you would have heard me talk a lot about building a culture within our company, and I continue to believe in the power of it today as a trainer & mentor.. Culture is thought of by many to involve a set of customs or behaviors within a country or area of that country. But, it’s a much more ground level and practical topic than that. Culture needs to be developed in a home environment, church, school, business, or nearly any organization that involves the participation of human beings.
As you may know, I like to use the dictionary’s definition of words in order to get a good grasp of the significance of a topic. Because the word “culture” can exist in many different arenas, you’ll find quite a number of definitions. One of Merriam Webster’s definitions of culture you’ll read is, “the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.” Culture is not a mission statement, a list of rules on the wall, or a handbook defining expected behavior. Culture is acting out those behaviors or rules. Culture isn’t what we say we are going to do, but rather what we actually do.
Inspired by the teaching of John Maxwell, I’ve discovered that people don’t do what they hear, or what they read, they do what they see. The same is true in families. I’ve found that my kids don’t listen intently to much of what I say, but they watch and analyze every move I make. I’ve at times watched behaviors in my boys that I dislike, but then came to the realization that I had recently modeled that same behavior for them, in some form. To build an effective culture in your home or workplace, you do have to define that culture. However, notice the last part of the definition states, “depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.” Transmitting will require modeling and teaching the behavior that you expect. And that kind of culture will carry into the next generations. In Proverbs 22:6, you’ll read “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
B.J. Gallagher once said that “Your real performance standards are not the behaviors you expect, but rather the behaviors you accept.” Friend, whether you’re looking to transform your workplace, or your home, you must first develop a culture. Decide what it is that you expect, define it clearly, inspire those under your leadership to buy-in and take ownership of it, try it in the real world, tweak it, condition it, and at some point accept nothing less than the desired behavior. Build a culture that changes the entire atmosphere of your organization or family.
