Once your organization has been “steady” or has experienced growth and momentum in any area, it’s time to mature and grow into the next iteration of becoming who God wants you to be.

It’s the job of the leaders to work together to co-create the next evolution of the organization’s culture. Bob Goff asks himself, “What does the next best version of myself look like?” He then challenges himself to become that guy.

“The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction, malperformance,” said Peter Drucker.

While from the outside much appears to remain the same, there must be internal changes – shifts in how we think and act.

The challenges of this next step often include cultivating the nuances of this new culture in our teams and gently weaving it throughout the organization.

Generally, this requires us to establish a ‘doctrine,’ of sorts, to work from – not only for the benefit of external stakeholders, but also for clarity and execution of the brand internally.

Gallup polls indicate that 41 percent of workers strongly agree with the statement, “I know what my company stands for and what makes [us] different from our competitors.” Yet only about half of all employees know what’s expected of them at work, according to Robin William in “Getting Employees to Act on Your Brand Promise.”

One of my primary responsibilities as a leader at OneHope is to build the right culture for the context we live in. Our most recent 360 evaluation, completed by an outside firm, revealed that over 98 percent of OneHope staff could clearly articulate our mission and vision. However, it has to go beyond that. We are extremely intentional about living out our values: We are “HOPEFUL.”

Hardworking

We are a highly-skilled, capable group of intently focused and determined workers dedicated to giving our all to help affect destinies.

Outcome based

We set goals that are impossible for us to achieve believing that, as we abide in Christ, He can do what we cannot. Then we measure for fruitfulness and celebrate that He made it happen.

Pure

We surrender our egos as we earnestly seek to find Christ’s will in every situation. We constantly pray for pure hearts and pure motives to ensure we never compromise for the sake of convenience or appearance. We aspire to impact, rather than to impress, and value collaboration with other Kingdom-minded individuals – especially the local church – to achieve His goals.

Efficient

We aim to work quickly, but prudently, always operating in the tension of producing both quantity and quality. We lean into God and ask that He help us deliver what otherwise would seem impossible.

Faithful

We have laser-sharp focus on remaining faithful to Christ and to mission accomplishment. We take the time and care to craft strategic steps that will lead to rhythmic strides and build up the momentum necessary to allow us to take significant leaps. Everything we do is for Him.

Uninhibited

Emboldened with the knowledge that a creative God designed us to be thinkers, problem-solvers and innovators, we confidently take God-led leaps to follow Christ in His work.

Led

We pray, earnestly seeking the Holy Spirit’s guiding. We ask to be given eyes to see the vision, ears that hear Kingdom calling, hearts humble and open to collaboration, lips willing to speak the truth and provisions to complete the journey/fulfill the mission. We believe each person was called to work here and bring their own unique Spiritual-gifting to achieve His purpose.

Our ‘HOPEFUL’ DNA is more than a list of aspirational slogans. It is a doctrine we live by and the yardstick we use to measure ourselves against in our ministry objective.

Billy Graham embodied this principle when he and his closest circle set down principles of integrity that were to be the hallmark of their lives and ministries. (This later became known as the Modesto Manifesto2.)

The first step to reaching this next level is simply beginning to live out the new culture you want to see.

Lead Like God

In the long run, this growth spurt may require you to assess and adjust your core values. However, that process can be entered into only with the utmost care and attention. Most important is evaluating ourselves and our core values to ensure that in all we say and do, we are exemplifying who God has made us and called us to be.

“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then,” wrote Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland.

“Let every detail in your lives – words, actions, whatever – be done in the name of the Master, Jesus” (Colossians 3:17, MSG).

 

Rob is the President of OneHope and blogs regularly at robhoskins.onehope.net.

Read more by Rob Hoskins at goodnewsfl.org/author/rob-hoskins/