That Elusive Culture
12/04/10 17:55 Filed in: Tips
How would you describe the culture of your church or organisation? I was speaking to an associate pastor of a large city church and I asked him that question. I found his answer to be somewhat confusing. On the one hand he painted a glowing word picture of energy and vision and their church’s distinctive. On the other hand he made it clear he felt unsupported, was told what to do, [“put in a box” was the way he described it], and he was unclear about how to develop his own role and ministry.
I fed back to him both these perspectives, and asked him which one was mostly true. There was a prolonged silence. I waited. Eventually he cleared his throat, ummed and ahhed, and said probably the latter. The “brutal honesty” which is so necessary according to Jim Collins (author of Build to Last and Good to Great), is not easily come by. And it has been well enough noted that every organisation is dysfunctional – it’s simply a matter of how much.
Why is organisational culture dysfunctional? Because humans are fallible, have blind spots, don’t communicate perfectly, don’t get on with everyone, misunderstand others – and more. Besides, culture must change, must be dynamic; yesterday’s answers do not and cannot solve today’s problems.
Coaching forms one part of organisational culture – a key part. It is a tool that facilitates change in the organisation because it has a learning and leadership development focus. A coaching culture has some key distinctives: people seek to develop themselves and grow; the organisation supports them. A coaching culture is a culture that asks questions, that gives permission to ask those questions; indeed, encourages the asking of them.
This means a coaching culture is an open culture – openness and exploration is encouraged. It is also a culture of interpersonal respect. There is no “them and us” between senior pastors and associate pastors and interns. While there is positional distinction, there is no hierarchy. And because a coaching culture is a culture of encouragement, there is a commitment to investing in the lives of others for their on-going growth.
My associate pastor friend was not supported. He was not asked questions to further his growth, his opinion was not solicited – he was simply told what to do. The senior pastor did not invest in his growth. There was no provision for staff coaching, for peer coaching or for external coaching. There was a standardised package for discipleship, and no commitment to developing leaders. Here are some questions to move things forward:
I fed back to him both these perspectives, and asked him which one was mostly true. There was a prolonged silence. I waited. Eventually he cleared his throat, ummed and ahhed, and said probably the latter. The “brutal honesty” which is so necessary according to Jim Collins (author of Build to Last and Good to Great), is not easily come by. And it has been well enough noted that every organisation is dysfunctional – it’s simply a matter of how much.
Why is organisational culture dysfunctional? Because humans are fallible, have blind spots, don’t communicate perfectly, don’t get on with everyone, misunderstand others – and more. Besides, culture must change, must be dynamic; yesterday’s answers do not and cannot solve today’s problems.
Coaching forms one part of organisational culture – a key part. It is a tool that facilitates change in the organisation because it has a learning and leadership development focus. A coaching culture has some key distinctives: people seek to develop themselves and grow; the organisation supports them. A coaching culture is a culture that asks questions, that gives permission to ask those questions; indeed, encourages the asking of them.
This means a coaching culture is an open culture – openness and exploration is encouraged. It is also a culture of interpersonal respect. There is no “them and us” between senior pastors and associate pastors and interns. While there is positional distinction, there is no hierarchy. And because a coaching culture is a culture of encouragement, there is a commitment to investing in the lives of others for their on-going growth.
My associate pastor friend was not supported. He was not asked questions to further his growth, his opinion was not solicited – he was simply told what to do. The senior pastor did not invest in his growth. There was no provision for staff coaching, for peer coaching or for external coaching. There was a standardised package for discipleship, and no commitment to developing leaders. Here are some questions to move things forward:
- What are the positive and negative impacts regular coaching might have for the staff?
- What costs are being paid (by the individuals and the organisation) by not providing coaching?
- In what ways do we see (or not see) Jesus functioning as a coach with his disciples?
- What options do supervisors have in creating a coaching (i.e. empowering) culture?
- What options do supervisees have in creating a coaching culture?
- Who needs to be convinced in the value of coaching to see it brought into the culture?
- What’s the next step you can take to move your culture towards empowerment and coaching?
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