How to deal with change, conflict and problem people

Culture – not vision or strategy – is the most powerful factor in any organization, according to Samuel Chand in his book Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code: Seven Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration. Culture determines how receptive people are to new ideas, it encourages or suppresses creativity, it builds up or deflates enthusiasm, it creates a sense of pride or discouragement, and it shapes individual morale, teamwork, effectiveness and outcomes.

The book describes a range of different cultures. Inspiring cultures are ones with clear direction and an atmosphere of trust and respect. Accepting cultures have a positive atmosphere but some unresolved issues. Stagnant cultures have less trust, respect and loyalty, and more complaining and turf wars. Discouraging cultures have power struggles and attract malcontents. Toxic cultures use fear as their dominant motivational factor.

The author goes on to define seven keys of culture (Control, Understanding, Leadership, Trust, Unafraid, Responsive and Execution), then discusses how vocabulary defines culture, change starts with the change-initiator, chaos is a necessary part of the change process, and it is often necessary to change the vehicle (organizational structure) in order to reach the desired destination.

The book has a helpful companion website at www.freeculturesurvey.com, providing a church culture survey which can be taken by leadership teams as a diagnostic tool.

I was initially put off by the book’s title, mistakenly assuming that the content was about prophecy, but when I started reading I was amazed by the way the author was describing in a coherent logical way something that most church leaders intuitively sense but do not have the vocabulary to express – church culture. This book is going to be a great help to many church leaders who are wondering how to deal with change, conflict and problem people. I highly recommend it.