http://www.penumbramd.com Communicating Corporate Culture Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:40:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "I am the main conduit for information for our team to stay connected to what is happening in the home office."
"I am responsible for creating the materials needed to sell our products."
"I am in charge of customer delight."

All of these statements are in response to the question, "what do you do?" the most common 'get to know you' question we all use in everyday lives. First we say, "where are you from?" then we ask "what do you do?" Its just how us humans are wired.

The paradigm shift we are suggesting is to create a culture when people feel empowered, responsible and accountable for their role. In the above examples, the answers could have been..
"I'm a delivery driver for Staples."
"I'm the communications manager for Sysco."
I am the marketing manager for Genesco."
"I am every employee of the organization." (Honestly, wouldn't you love to hear that last line come from all your employees?

If you have culture of titles in your organization, start by shifting the conversation from the title to what they do - after all, that is actually the question being asked! Teach your people to think and behave in this manner. There are hundreds of people who work in your company (if not thousands) and every day the same question gets asked - only his time it is more about "how do you fit here and do I salute you?"

This is another one of our easier said than done suggestions, but one that can have a huge impact on your culture. Try it.

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Via: OnlineEducation.net

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No matter how empowered the execs think the org is, the proof is in the culture. Its funny how even as we are going through the proposal phase with a client for new business that we keep getting held up because the "empowered" person we have been dealing with this whole time still needs his boss' and her boss' approval before moving forward. (actually, we have gotten pretty good at keeping this from happening now.)

Most companies have cultures of "titles". who you are and what power you have and how I should treat you is based on your title. I remember my time in corporate as a COO. I would always give me card out with my personal cell phone number to employee and tell them to contact me if they needed anything. I really meant it. But how many calls do you think I got? You are right. All they saw was COO, they never saw the person. This was something we had to change in our culture and we went to work on it and did.

But here is my thought for the day. Imagine if you will, a place where when you ask someone what they do instead of answering "I am the Director for Planning and Inventory for a big firm in Austin" they would answer "I am responsible for making sure the sales team in our company has the inventory they need in stock and ready to ship when they sell it."

See the difference?

We'll talk more about this in our next post.

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While this year is going to be back to the old days of hype and attendance (should be a record crowd) there will not be any new ground-breaking technology introduced. Mostly improvements on what we already know.

• Tablets will continue to be a big theme. Except you will see lots of names you have never heard of trying to break into the space.
• Tablet accessories will dominate. Lots of people trying to get into the game with their ideas of stands, cases, protection etc
• Waterproof phones. Not sure the pratcial application of this except that my 16 month old daughter (who has had an iPad since she was 4 months old) will probably drop hers in the toilet soon. So, have to watch for that.
• Last year, we predicted that 3D without glasses would be shown and there were. But the images were not solid. This year we should see lots of improvement.  

So why not many breakthrough ideas? Well, for the most part the industry is in the infant stages of transforming into a device-driven word versus a fully functioning laptop or TV world. iCloud is just the beginning of what is to come.

The devices in our hands, in our homes, in our cars will merely be portals - screens to display the data and content streaming from somehwere in the cloud. Cloud is not too sexy and not something we will see lots of at CES since it is not something the consumer will hold in their hands.But it is definitely something they will interact with. iCloud has already reached record numbers. And Google and Microsoft will not take this lying down - they will respond.

Windows 8 is planned to be an operating system that is androgynous to the device. In other words, mobile version and PC version are the same. We spoke last year of the coming age where the line between app driven operating systems and software driven operating systems would begin to blur. We still see the day when Microsoft Word is not longer a software package, but an app that you use. Let's face it, 90% of what we do with Word could be done from an app.

So, what will CES become in the future? Look for an "App Section" in 2013.

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Anyway, some followers (who know I have a long history in CE) asked me my opinion of what was going to be the big stories of this year's CES. So, I am going on record again and seeing if I am right. (I sure hope so!)

1. In general, I think the future of consumer electronics (CE) is that you will be able to do whatever you want no matter the screen size. For example, what I an do on my 2.5" cell phone, i will be able to do on my tablet, laptop, desktop and television - screens from 2' to 200" I think you will see this at CES 2011. People showing "smart" TVs that will marry the love we have with our handhelds with the larger screens. Plus, we will want a "cloud" lifestyle hat allows me to move my settings and apps from one screen to the next with ease.
2. 3D TV was all the rage last year. But the problem with 3D - he glasses. I think this year, we will see someone show us 3D without the glasses.
3. Integration of handhelds as controllers of other devices. I think we will see some applications where our iPhone or Andorid-based phone will control all our devices in the home and car through bluetooth.
4. On the Apple front (by the way, hey will not annoucne during CES but will wait a week to get the press for themselves,) I think we will see a new smaller version of the iPad to create a bridge between the iPhone and iPad.
5. Continuing on Apple, I think we will see the convergence of their app based functionality onto their Macbooks and iMacs. I think thier new operating system with bridge the divide betwene the current iOS and Snow Leopard OS. You will be able to disconnet your iMac screen from the stand and then use it as a tablet. Your iTunes account whihc houses your apps will sync all you devices connected to the same account with the same apps.

So, I am on record and online. This way you can hold me accountable if I am way off or continue he conversation with me if I am close.

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You see, this group of execs was different from the last ones, but it was the same company. They were telling me how they were headed down this new path - but by new, they actually meant old. I shared with them my experiences from before and how the idea had failed. And then came the magic words, 'oh, but this time it will be different!'

Ah, yes, this time it will be different. We hear this line in organizations of all sizes, shapes and types. Whether for profit or non-profit, we have talked many times before on how the principles of corporate culture are the same.

So, why tell this story. Simple. Becasue when someone says to us "this time ti will be different" what we look for is the change in their culture that supports that statement. 99% of the time, it is not a corporate culture chnage, but actualy a personel change. A new person is brought in to lead and they want to try an idea that was attempted before. Sometimes they do not even know that it had been attempted and failed. Often times, thought, they do, but they beleive in the magical, mystical words "this time it will be different.'

When what caused the idea to die a slow death before was the culture, no one person or even one team of persons can make it work the second time around. While logically it might make sense that having more people in the boat rowing with you will make a difference, you have to understand that you are rowing upstream in the rapids of corporate culture. (insert image from all those river wild movies scenes you have seen)

I remember sitting at lunch with Milton Moskowitz at the "100 Best Companies to Work For" symposium. I had commented on the fact that I was impressed with all the new initiatives being presented by the various winners of the disctinction who were asked to speak. Milton said, "my prediction is that 90% of these initiatives will never work. The company's culture will never except it." (He knew I was a coportae culture guy, so he was speaking right to me.) The example he gave was paterntity leave, which was the hot new idea being presented. He said, "most companies who add this benefit see no results. The culture of the company is such that a man would be afraid to take advantage of this benefit for fear of the repercussions."

Exacttly. If the culture of the company will not except it, then it will not work. So, next time you hear those magic words, first ask the team, "what is different about our culture this time that will allow this to work?" After everyone looks at you bizarrly for this question, you can feel assured in the fact that you are actually saving the team a bunch of heartache and avoid them being cast in the sequel of Groundhog Day.

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Join a Movement. I think this is one of the tough ones for everyone – especially those prideful people like me. If you are truly going to be obedient to God, then you have to stop trying to start a movement in your city. I’ll bet that got your attention. After all, isn’t a movement to Christ what our city needs more than anything? Well, yes it does. But the movement is already there. The paradigm shift here is away from programming and planning and creating a movement in the name of Jesus toward looking for and joining God’s movement in your city right now. I think we have all been part of small groups who want to change the world. And I think many of us are so thankful for the blessing of salvation and the relationship of our Savoir that we want to do things for Him out of love and appreciation. Our thoughts may be in the right direction – bringing people to Jesus. But our hearts are out of alignment. Go back to Matthew 28:29, we are called to make disciples. We are not called to start a movement. We are called to love. And the best way to love God is through obedience.


I am especially guilty of this one. I cannot tell you the number of ministry groups I have been part of starting over the years. Or the amount of clever “seeker” events I have helped plan with creative themes, logos and t-shirts. How disappointing to Him I must have been. How disappointing to Him I am now if I believe that City Church is anything more than His movement in the city of Fort Worth.

When we started our journey, our focus was on targeting downtown. But after we let go, stopped planning and let ourselves join God’s movement versus starting our own, something amazing happened. In our first five Villages – none of them were downtown. God’s movement is for the city, but in His way, not ours. We did not start City Church as a new movement for the city. We looked for what God was already doing and joined in. (This philosophy is true for our global missions as well. Now there is a real paradigm shift!)

But remember the pride comment a few paragraphs before? Even as we write this, we wonder if this magazine is prideful. Are we doing this to get attention? Are we trying to show the other churches in the city how cool we are? I can honestly say as I write this, the answer is no. But I can also honestly say that for most of my life, the answer would have been, yes. Since we have started City Church, there have been people from all over the US (and even outside US) who have contacted us and asked Ben, “Tell me how it works?” “How did you come up with it?” “What is your plan?”

The answer is simple. First, you have to shift your paradigms. You have to love as Jesus did and be obedient. And you have to commit yourself to a lifestyle modeled by the apostles in the first churches. And you have to begin with believing it is His movement, His church, His people, His plan.

The city doesn’t need any more clever programming. It doesn’t need any new ideas. It just needs God’s people to live out His ideas – the ones He gave us – the ones that were modeled for us by the apostles in Acts.

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This shift corresponds with the first one – belonging enables believing. Get to know your neighbors. You know, those people who live around you that you see on a regular basis but do not know their names. God put you in their midst so that they might get a glimpse of Him through you. This also connects to the last shift. These people are not projects. They are people. Do life with them and get to know them. Earn the right to discuss spirituality by meeting them where they are without judgment. This is what our city is missing. The simple fact is that more of your neighbors are former church-goers who gave up or got disillusioned than are simple non-believers. They believe in God, but have no relationship. And they have been so burned by the “church” that the topic of church or spirituality is out of bounds with them – at least not until they see you are different or they can trust you.

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Okay, end of sentence, but not end of paragraph. This one is easier written than done. It almost feels weird as a believer to not see the world around you and feel for them, knowing that they are missing out on the most important part of life. But that is not the shift here. Think of it this way. When you have had a hard day or a bad situation at work or school, it helps if you can talk about it. The thing that drives you crazy is after you have told your story, the person says, “here’s what you need to do.” They try to fix you. Frustrating right? Imagine being the person in the cube next to yours as work or in the seat next to you in class or the mom on the bench next to you at the park – these people have pain, hurt and holes in their lives that can only be filled with Jesus. But it is His job to fill those holes and heal them – not yours, not mine.

Try to shift and start seeing people as people. Nothing more. Love them. Serve them. Meet them where they are in life. This is what God asks of us and this is what they need. It also helps with belonging if everyone understands you do not have to be “fixed” to belong. Life is messy. Family is messy. And churches tend to hide this part for fear that the world around them will reject Jesus because of it. Please show us where it says that in Scripture?

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We do the same. Our focus is on one person or family at a time –one block at a time. Your mission field is your neighborhood (more on that later.) It starts by planting a Village of people who live out our identities (God, Family, Mission) together. And from those people, a group being “sent” out to plant another Village. If we follow this, eventually, we have Villages all over the city. Villages full of people and people = Kingdom.

The second part is that we never stop planting. During our core group sessions before the launch, the question was asked, “When do we stop being a church plant and become a true church?” What a great question. It’s one of those planning questions we all are thinking, but not everyone asks. It was a watershed moment for us as a small group. It was the moment when we got to say this – we never stop planting.

Too many churches today get “planted” and then the team moves on to the next town to “plant” another church. We mark our scorecards and pat ourselves on the back and take pride in the advancement of the Kingdom we have caused. It’s similar to the many mission trips around the world where a team comes back with a number of people they have “saved” for the Kingdom. The fact is if you add up all the counts from all the teams, we have saved the world over a few times already.

The biggest mistake a church can make is to make itself so planned and programmed that it no longer needs Jesus! Look around. It’s happening all the time!

To be part of City Church means you are part of a plant – not just today or for the first year, but for all time. (Or at least until His return.)

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