Changing Culture 4 of 4
In my book, The Creative Arts Ministry Field Guide (available on Amazon starting July 24th!), I list 8 tips for changing the culture of creative arts teams. These tips help smooth the process of change and also help solidify positive change on the team. We have covered the first six in previous posts. Here are the last two, direct from the book:
Knowing Why People Do What They Do
John Maxwell wrote about five levels of leadership: Position, Permission, Production, People Development and the Pinnacle in his book, “The Five Levels of Leadership.” He explains how people can move through levels of following a leader. At the lowest level, they will do something because you tell them to as the one in charge. Later they will move to a level where they do something because they personally enjoy it. It’s fun! This is the position level. Moving on, they may come to the highest level, which Maxwell calls the Pinnacle, where they do something because they believe in the value of it- they come to believe in the vision and mission of the ministry, group or cause. They see your integrity and what you stand for as a leader. Maxwell cautioned that while a leader should use all these levels to their advantage, it’s necessary to help people move to the highest level, because only a sense of vision and mission will ultimately cause people to remain invested for the long term, and I have found this to be true.
I have occasionally spoken openly about this idea- asking people straight up what level they thought they were on and encouraging team members to consider how important the mission and vision of our team and church actually were to them.
I realized that people have busy lives! They have big concerns like making a living, providing for their families, keeping their relationships healthy, pursuing their hobbies, sports, and much more. Many people will volunteer only when they have nothing else going on or they feel they can spare the time. They aren’t thinking about the mission and vision of the church. It’s just hard for many people to break out of their own concerns to see the value of it. YOU see the value of it, or you wouldn’t be in ministry and/or reading this book. But it’s a big mistake to assume the people on your team share that value instinctively. As a leader, it’s your job to MOVE people to a place where the value of what the church is doing is apparent to them, and therefore earns a higher priority space in their lives.
Personal Integrity with the Team
This is another tool in my toolkit. Let’s call it my team integrity. It relates to Maxwell’s 5th level of leadership (The Pinnacle). I don’t want a team member to question my own commitment and loyalty to the cause of Jesus through my failure to fulfil the expectations I’ve laid out for myself publicly.
So, the charts get done. The schedule gets disseminated. The loops get created. All on time, all early enough for volunteers to have plenty of time to fulfil their side of the contract. Nothing kills your ability to lead faster than failing to honor your own stated expectations. If you slack off, your team will too. If you make excuses, so will they. And you won’t be able to call them on it without sounding like a jerk or a hypocrite, or both!
That last one is hard- it’s where many aspiring leaders fail. Be careful what promises you make to your team. Be sure you can keep those promises, because your integrity with them depends on it. The flip side is that your leadership deepens and strengthens with every promise kept!