A topic that has captivated me for almost a decade is that of the culture found within faith based organizations, both for profit and non profit. These organizations often possess special assets but also face unusual challenges. This post briefly touches on both and puts forth an analogy of how a successful faith based for profit company might operate. Though I think the analogy also fit non profits, this will largely focus on the former, and by the description I mean a company that operates in a normal, secular industry but whose founder or culture is heavily intertwined with some form of religious faith.
I’ve had a fair amount of experience with several for profit businesses that are heavily faith based, in particular Christian. While in college I had a part time internship with a company like this, have worked as an executive and in smaller roles for a for profit company that had a high percentage of faith based employees, and now own and run a small company that by and large fits my definition above.
My thoughts were again taken to the subject after returning from a brief visit to one of these faith based for profit companies. My wife Brandi had gone with me and after arriving home I started up a conversation with her about my perception of its culture. She asked if the opportunity presented itself, would I ever want to be a part of the management running a company like the one we had just visited. Frankly, I answered emphatically that I would not. If you’re curious to know why, read on.
Though there are notable exceptions, arguably the most recognizable being Chick fil A, from my observations, and admittedly they have been of a fairly small cross section of organizations, a disproportionate number of those faith based businesses struggle with creating a results oriented culture. I purposely am not going to propose reasons for this but rather limit the post to observations. From the outside looking in, these companies appear to be filled with very nice and I’m sure well intentioned people, yet some seem to be missing a certain competitive edge. I say this with regret as these companies have much to offer. (I use the term competitive broadly. A company’s results orientation may be strongly serviced focused like Chick fil A’s. For this discussion what’s important is not what qualities the leadership champions but rather that they have clear goals and aren’t afraid to manage, reward, or admonish as needed in order to achieve them).
Pushing me, my wife asked what I would do if I were in a position of leadership within that business.
The analogy that seems to fit best as something to strive for is that of a highly talented and competitive sports team whose members happen to be persons of faith. As such, when they are off the field, they have values that are of a higher priority than winning: faith, family, community and such. But when they are on the field, besides perhaps striving for ideals like a commitment to play by the rules and standards for conduct during the game, they largely function day to day like the other highly trained teams against whom they compete. They employ the best strategy possible, work the hardest, and sacrifice to achieve the goal being fully and passionately engaged. They are talented, committed to the team’s purpose and each knows their role and takes pride in performing it with excellence to benefit the team. They know they are not part of the team simply because many of the other members share similar beliefs, but primarily to perform at a high level in order to ultimately achieve the organization’s purpose and goals. This to me captures the essence of the culture that faith based for profit companies should strive to create. And, as you probably already noted, it in fact basically resembles what is taught in most current “secular” management books, which to me is the point.
Earlier in the post I said that I would not venture a guess as to the cause of the problem. I’m going to steer clear of speculating on possible root causes but will say that perhaps, on the surface, there is more pressure in a faith based company to “be nice,” which may appear at face value to conflict with being competitive and being results oriented. Or maybe managers even feel that a results focus somehow runs counter to their understanding of their faith.
But as companies like Chick fil A, Thomas Nelson and others have shown, organizations can embrace faith based values like integrity, respect, generosity, and work life balance yet maintain a strong results orientation and profit margin.
Author Resource:
http://www.leadingbythinking.com Paul Hoyt is an emerging writer presenting a fresh perspective on topics relating to business and the logic of life. He is the founder and President of a successful luxury watch company and is a member of the Cerebrals Society for those with IQ's in the 99.7 percentile.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")