Thermostats + Lids | Team Culture | 4 of 5

We’re back today for week 4 of our series all about Team Culture! In today’s episode, Chip Parker discusses the importance of setting the culture as leaders. Listen in as he discusses how to reinforce your team culture through your actions, consistency and habits. Let’s jump in!

Thanks for listening to the Impact Leadership podcast! We are so glad that you're here. If you're looking to connect with Chip Parker, send him a message at chip@theorchardcc.org. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays. We'll catch you in the next episode!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everybody, welcome in to the Impact Leadership Podcast. My name is Chip Parker, and I'm the lead pastor at the Orchard Community Church, a multi-site church in North Central Florida working to impact lostness and impact the next generation. This podcast is all about helping you as a church leader grow your leadership to grow your impact. Let's hop into this week's conversation. All right, so we are back at it with our conversation around culture. And as I've said, I think in every episode so far, is this is extremely important. As a leader, your role in creating and maintaining the culture of your organization is one of the biggest responsibilities that you have as a leader. It is one of the most important tasks that you can give your mental focus to. And I think that's important because often we don't do that. Often we don't give our attention to culture. We give our attention to things that feel more urgent, more pressing. But over the long haul of your leadership as you develop culture, shape culture, maintain culture, it's going to pay off in incredible ways. So the first three parts of this conversation, just to recap, in case you need a refresher, are number one, we talked in episode one about what culture actually is. And we define culture as shared values and shared behaviors. It's those things that are in the room when we're not that really dictate what culture is. In episode two, we talked about how culture always drifts. Your culture will always sink to the lowest level of behavior that you tolerate as a leader. That culture is always shifting. And so we have to do a good job of holding a standard and maintaining. And then in episode three, we talked about how we hold that culture, how we shape that culture through alignment. We sustain culture through alignment. And when our systems and strategies and sayings are not aligned to the culture we want to have, that is organizational sabotage. And so here we are in part four. And what we're going to do in this conversation today is really talk about the leader's role in handling the shaping and building of culture. The question really is: what do we as leaders do that shape our culture the most? Here's what I want you to know. All right. Leaders have to embody the culture that they want to create. You as a leader are primarily responsible for shaping the culture that you want to create inside of your organization. Leaders, maybe we would say it like this, have to be the thermostat for culture, not the thermometer of culture. What does that mean? Well, think about it, right? If you are at home, you have a thermostat that not only tells you what the temperature is, but it sets the temperature. If it's hot, you pull that baby down and you set the temperature. If it's cold, you kick the heater on and you set the temperature. As a leader, we have to see ourselves as the thermostat of culture inside of our organizations. It is the way that we act, the way that we interact with others, the things that we say, the habits that we embody that really set the temperature of culture in our organization. And so hear me, leader. If you don't like the culture you have, it's your job to set it. It's your job to set that temperature. So a couple of thoughts on that. Number one, I think that we have to understand that culture is something that is caught far more than it's taught. You don't create a culture in your church, in your business, in your sports team by telling everyone what you want that culture to be. You set the culture by embodying it, by being a living example of that culture for people to look to. That is through the tone of your leadership. That is through your own emotional regulation when things get difficult. That is through your responses when everyone's looking to you to see how you are going to react when things aren't going the right way. I think the actions that we exhibit when things are hard is really what helps us to set the tone for culture the most. If you want to know as a leader what your culture is going to be, I think you can see it in what you do when things get difficult. And if you want to go a long way into reinforcing the culture you're trying to create, when you live up to that culture when it's not easy, when you live up to that culture when no one is expecting you to, that is when you really begin to shape the culture around you. I heard somebody say it like this one time, and I thought it was pretty impactful for me. They said sometimes leadership is just being spiritually mature in public. I love that idea, right? That sometimes being a leader is just saying, hey, this is how I feel. This is how I want to react, but it's not how I'm going to react because I'm going to lean into the fruits of the spirit. I'm going to lean into Christ's work in me, and I'm going to be spiritually mature in public. When we live out those values, when they're not easy, when they're difficult, that's when we shape culture. Then, number two, I would say this you've got to do it consistently. If you are inconsistent in those behaviors, in those attitudes, in those responses, that inconsistency is going to erode trust inside of your organization. Far too often, the reason that we have unhealthy cultures, or at least cultures that we wish we didn't in our organizations is because leaders adopt a do what I say, not what I do mentality. Leaders think that they are above the systems, that they are above the culture. Leaders believe that they are the exception to the rule. And when you as a leader operate like that, you are just, man, you are cratering your culture because you have to be consistent with your culture, even when it's not easy over the long haul, if you want to build that strong culture. Here's what you've got to understand: it doesn't matter who you are when you hold the microphone. It doesn't matter who you are on the stage. It doesn't matter who you are on the platform. Because as a leader, your private behavior in the office with your team, your private behavior is what's going to become your organization's public culture. Who are you when no one's looking? That's where your culture comes from. And then I would even say it like this is that your leadership not only sets the floor for the bottom of your culture, your leadership can set the ceiling for the top of your culture as good as your culture is going to be. This comes from you as a leader developing discipline in your life to, as we've already said, lean into culture and live out those values, even when it's not easy. It's going to come from your humility inside of those pressure-packed moments when it's easy to deflect blame. But when your humility comes to the forefront and you own it when you've dropped the ball, that sets culture. Listen, nobody in your organization is going to be more humble than you are. And then finally, I think as a leader, your growth is going to set the lid for your organization and your culture. See, in my experience, one of the hardest challenges for leaders to overcome is their own giftings. If you are a gifted leader, if you are naturally talented, if you can wing it and it go well, that is so dangerous. Because what's going to happen is over time, you're going to default back down to the level of your giftings, and you're not going to put in the intentional time and the intentional effort to grow as a leader. And what's going to happen is that your organization is going to stall, your culture is going to stagnate if you as a leader are not putting in the work to grow and to get better. Maybe we would end it with this your team is going to eventually resemble your habits. As a leader, that is so important for us to understand that if we want to shape the culture in our organizations, we have to live it out. Leader, hear me. You are the thermostat, not the thermometer. If you don't like the culture that you have, it is your job, your responsibility, your calling to set it and to change it to where it needs to be. So I hope you'll join us back next week as we round out this five-part series all about culture. One last thing before we end this conversation is just let me say if you are a leader, specifically in the local church context or even outside of it, I would love to be able to connect with you if I can help. If you would like, I'm going to have my email in the show notes. Reach out to me. We can set up a time to connect because here's what I know leadership is bigger than any one of us. If we are truly going to have an impact in our communities, we need to lean on each other and we need to learn from each other. So I would be more than happy to do what I can to connect with you and help you lead right where you are. So reach out. Let us know how we can connect. But until then, we'll see you right back here next week on the Impact Leadership Podcast.