WALKERS AND TALKERS

Building culture into a team takes time.  It requires a stoic heart that is committed to people.  People!  Beautiful, fascinating, gifted, divine, complex people.

I’ve found that team members, not the leader, are the ones who determine the overall success of the team.  All the vision, strategy and planning in the world will always remain subject to the dominant culture of those carrying it. 

“Culture eats vision for breakfast”- Sam Chand

Even the most eloquently communicated vision will never supersede the values and attitudes of the ones it is entrusted to. 

A thriving vision is executed by a team who trust their leader.

There is an old adage that says, “More is caught than taught”.  I’ve found that people want to follow the walkers not the talkers.  They want to know you’ll be willing to lead them from the front as well as in the trenches.

As a leader, you don’t need to say a lot.  It’s wise to understate and over-perform.  When you do that people will shout your praises and join arms with you – there’ll be no need to sound trumpets and hire crowds in announcing your forthcoming initiatives.

Proverbs 27:1-2 (MSG)

Don’t brashly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow;
you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow.
Don’t call attention to yourself; let others do that for you.

Many leaders fail simply because they spend too much time planning and talking; not enough time building morale, trust, loyalty and strength into the team around them. 

We see this repeatedly in the Bible.  Kings, captains, priests and fathers who were weak in their influence because they led out of position.  Often times a no-named, title-deficient nobody outdid them.  None better than David to exemplify the power of this. 

• As a shepherd boy he slew a giant, while his king and army hid behind traditions and formalities. 
• As a fugitive he became the reluctant leader of a unit of warriors who defeated whole armies, while his king chased him hysterically in jealous rages. 
• Eventually, as king himself, David withstood numerous challenges to his leadership, but was never overpowered.

How did he do this?  By staying humble, building great strength into those around him and maintaining a heart of grace.  David never demanded to be followed by those wild-hearts hiding with him in the caves of his exile, yet they followed him loyally. 

Jesus never held a position, yet was called Master and will forever remain the definitive example of a leader and mobilizer of people. 

No leader is a one-man-show.  Those who try to be soon find themselves either standing alone or surrounded by an ineffective team.  No amount of vision-casting will remedy the negative culture of a team like that.

But a leader who believes in the greatness of those around them, who speaks into and pours into that potential, and who selflessly entrusts responsibility to those ones they have developed, well that is a leader who will see a vision fulfilled. 

“The best teams are made up of a bunch of people who love everybody, and serve anybody and don’t care about becoming a somebody”- Phil Dooley

The best teams are built by leaders who bleed vision and serve from the ground up – leaders who are not interested in building celebrity status or monuments to themselves.  The best teams are built on selfless investment and common cause.

Trust is essential to strong culture and once you have it, trust will ensure that a vision is received and carried into fruition in diligent hearts and diligent hands.

My husband Sam often says,

“I’m not TRYING TO build big churches; I am committed to building big people.”

I am personally convinced that the Kingdom of God is generational, strengthened by legacy and testimony.  I don’t see how this could possibly be nurtured without an unwavering commitment to people and a corresponding lavish investment in them.

If you are a leader today, make it a resolve in your life to remain constantly and keenly aware of the potential of the people entrusted to you.  Every person around you is loaded with Heaven’s potential.  They need you to draw it out of them; and you need them to get the mission accomplished.  You need each other. 

Dear leader, diligently and regularly remind yourself that the mandate of Godly leadership requires your investment into the ones and twos.  In the end, they are the ones who will rise up to perpetuate the stunning testimony of Christ’s grace into proceeding generations, long after you’re gone.

Let vision burn in your sight.  But also allow the Cause to action your hands and drive your feet.  Get some dirt under your nails and some dust on your feet.  If you commit to being the type of leader interested in significance more than prominence, you will find yourself surrounded with like-minded, willing-hearted champions.

One day you'll catch them in your peripheral vision, on your left and on your right.
your heart will swelL.
you’ll pinch yourself in overwhelming disbelief and gratitude. 
You will ask yourself,
“Who am I to lead these ones?” 

Then you will remember,
it was never about you anyway. 

You’ll join arms with their capacity, gift and commitment and you’ll take ground. 

A little less conversation, a little more action.  Let’s do this! 

[Inspired by Samuel Chand, Cracking Your Church's Culture Code]