A Winning Culture

This morning I listened to an interview with Coach Mike Krezyzewski (Coach K) in which he stated; "It's not about having a winning team but about having a winning culture."  As those words bounced around in my heart and mind, my thoughts turned from basketball (sports in general...) to life.  A great deal of people live and work in a losing culture, which helps produce a culture of blame, suspicion and selfishness. 

There will always be losses and even seasons where our hopes and dreams fail to mirror expectations. While loss is an inevitable human reality, I believe that creating and maintaining a culture of winning is more important than winning itself. When we seek to create and maintain a winning culture - winning becomes an inevitable reality. So how do you create a 'winning culture'?

Spirited cheerleaders, great band, happy fans and pep rallies - while fun and inspiring at times, do little to inspire at the middle of the second half when you are trailing by 6.  A hated opponent can really fire you up for retaliation but that will only inspire us a few times up and down the court. A good butt-chewing from our coach can help correct bad execution or habits but at the core of a winning culture is a transformed life. 

A winning culture (be it a team sport, family, church, business, organization...) is filled with enough people committed to personal and team transformation that creates and maintains a culture of winning. The winning culture is created when there is a collective commitment to:

• An objective operational standard that serves as the foundation
• Authenticity
• Time spent together (eating, celebrating, reviewing, living...)
• Honoring others above themselves

I challenge you today to make the personal and cultural changes necessary to creating and maintaining a winning culture...

In Christ!

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers."  (A2:42)