Cultural Bankruptcy
I rarely post things because I’ve figured them out, but I do post out of experience.
It seems to me there is a thread of perspective in every organization that shapes the personality, culture and ultimately the success of their impact. The office talk can take several paths, but I think you can often chart the course by listening to what they talk about.
Over 20 years ago I was privileged to be part of a large $240 million dollar manufacturer that was experiencing rapid growth and serious market penetration in every brand they tackled. The culture was electric with market share talk and strategic thinking about “what’s next” in our pursuit to take new mountains in our industry. We were all about sacrifice for the greater goal of owning the markets we engaged in.
In that pursuit, we bought a competitor that had filed bankruptcy and I was part of the team sent in to analyze the current operations, clean some things up and then ultimately consolidate their brand with ours.
So we arrived at the offices of this once powerful, but now bankrupt company and you could sense the culture from the parking lot. The office dialogue was… -we don’t get what we want…we can’t compete in todays markets..customers are unreasonable…we need more…we are under resourced…we are deprived, short changed and we cannot be effective in these conditions..times are tough…etc, etc, etc…They had a warehouse full of product, hundreds of orders for things that didn’t match their inventory and they were unable to purchase parts for new production because of bankruptcy. Nothing had shipped in weeks. It was the most depressing place I had ever been.
Within 48 hours our team that had been shaped in a take the mountain, no excuse environment had reorganized the existing staff, deployed phone banks to contact customers and we were starting to ship product out of the warehouse at a record pace. In 2 weeks we shipped more product than that company had shipped in the previous 12 months. The interesting thing that hit me in this 2 week flurry of activity was that nobody had time to take stock of their problems because every moment was captivated by getting product to customers. Frankly we were having a blast and the employees of this floundering entity were enjoying a new day and almost giddy at the change in perspective. Customers were delighted, employees were engaged and we left that plant with a tremendous sense of accomplishment in both our logistical progress and the opportunity to take discouraged, but talented people and reenergize them for a greater purpose beyond themselves.
What’s the climate in your ministry? Is that talk at your church about what songs they didn’t like last Sunday or about the how the church is delivering the gospel in new and fresh ways to people in your community and around the world. I’m convinced that the difference in a growing ministry and a stagnate one is when there is so much outward focus that there is no time for inward debate. We are known in Christian circles for what we are against, but we often lose velocity in declaring what we are for.
Reorganize your committees into teams that tackle unreached people groups, community restoration projects and have them address major issues in third world environments. Stop the inward debate and take the mountain.
I am convinced we can turn around some culturally bankrupt churches and ministries.
