Tension, polarization, and mean-spirited interactions are everywhere. If you’re leading a team—or even just serving on one—you’ve likely felt the impact. Whether in business, non-profits, or faith communities, people seem quicker to dig in their heels, assume bad intentions, and disengage.
During my first year as a CEO, former InterVarsity President Steve Hayner became a good friend and mentor. He once told me: “Creating a healthy culture is the number one job of any leader.” That wisdom has stuck with me—and it’s more relevant than ever.
But you can change the culture. You don’t have to let division or negativity define your team.
🚀 Try this today: Two simple phrases that can move your team from unhealthy conflict to collaboration:
🔹 Suspend Certainty – Encourage your team to step back from the need to be “right” and make space for different perspectives.
🔹 Stoke Curiosity – Shift from debating to discovering. Ask real questions. Seek to understand before seeking to be understood.
👉 These small shifts create an environment where people listen, engage, and move forward together. And as a leader, you set the tone.
Where can you put this into practice with your team today?
🔎 Learn More:
• Consider letting Doug help you grow your team culture and see your team set free to focus on what your vision calls you to do. Contact me.
• Want to evaluate your current culture? Best Christian Workplace has a world class employment engagement survey that can help you access your organization or business’s culture – Check it out!
The Heartbeat of Every Successful Team is Its Culture
Is yours strong enough?
Why It Matters: Vision and purpose are essential, but they’re not enough. Knowing our “where”—our longer-term goals and aspirations—and our “why”—our purpose—only gets us partway. We must also know our “who”: Who are we destined to be as an organization or business?
That’s the heart of the matter—our culture—the make-or-break issue for long-term success.
As Al Lopus, co-founder of Best Christian Workplaces, highlights in Road to Flourishing, “Culture isn’t an initiative. It’s the way work gets done.” A flourishing culture doesn’t happen by chance. It’s intentionally cultivated through leadership, shared values, and consistent practices.
3 Essentials to Build Culture:
✅ Establish clear values and live them consistently: As Lopus suggests, “Values must move from posters on the wall to behaviors in the hall.”
✅ Cultivate habits that reinforce relational trust: Trust is the currency of strong cultures. Without it, collaboration crumbles.
✅ Align team behavior with mission and goals: Your mission defines what you do; culture defines how you do it.
🔎 Learn More:
• Consider letting me help you grow your team culture and see your team set free to focus on what your vision calls you to do. Contact me
• Want to evaluate your current culture? Best Christian Workplace has a world class employment engagement survey that can help you access your organization or business’s culture – Check it out!