This is post #13 in a series of posts in a book I read on my Philippines trip and en route home. It contains leadership insights from the most victorious team in sports history (winning percentage = 86% as of the writing of the book): The All Blacks, The New Zealand National Rugby Union Team.
“‘Culture,’ says Owen Eastwood, ‘is like an organism, continually growing and changing.’ Identity and purpose, he says, need to be continually renewed and reinterpreted to give them meaning. ‘This cultural milieu is constantly changing,’ agrees Anton Oliver. ‘It’s not a static thing.’
‘Building trust, developing people, and driving high performance behaviors are never-ending tasks,’ says Eastwood. ‘Rituals are key for reinforcing the emotional glue.’ ‘It becomes absorbed,’ says Enoka. ‘Because with the power of the rituals, they’re so strong, you don’t have time spend two or three hours sitting in a room…’
It’s what Wayne Smith means when he talks about connecting to the central story, and what Enoka means by connecting to the core. ‘I think in the All Blacks’ culture,’ says Oliver, ‘that’s how it’s passed on. So much of the legacy we have,’ he says, ‘is done through ritual.’ Ritualize to actualize…Rituals reflect, remind, reinforce, and reignite the central story.”
Anton Oliver as quoted by James Kerr in Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About The Business of Life (London: Constable, 2013) 159-161.
This post contains some very powerful ideas for me as I seek to build the culture of GTP. They also relate to everyone as they pertain to life in general and generosity in particular.
Shaping a culture is done through rituals which keep us focused. They remind, reinforce, and reignite the central story. What’s your central story?
For example, if your central story is ‘family’ then the rituals might be to do certain things on holidays together. When generosity comes into view in such families, the giving tends to be weighted toward giving to family members rather toward God.
If the central story is ‘Christ and His kingdom’ it does not mean that family is not valued, but that family will be valued according to Christ’s values. When His kingdom is central, then all we say and do, including our giving, will align with that story.
So, what’s my point today?
Our lives are shaped by rituals, for sure, and like glue they have held my family together. I pray they hold my GTP team together. They will only find unmatched strength as compared to the culture around us when they connect to the central story.
And, as Anjji Gabriel, GTP regional facilitator for SE Asia says, “There’s only one story.” It’s God’s story, made known to us through Jesus Christ.
Today (and every day) make Christ and His kingdom the central story of your living, giving, serving, and loving and through you He will shape the culture around you for everyone’s good and for His glory.