the sinai culture code

sometimes I think of Moses as a middle manager...don’t we all?

he’s leading the scaling up of God’s latest product launch - the new version of the garden restoration project. he’s got the blueprints for this new “tabernacle”. but success requires building the team - and most importantly setting the culture. the vision and mission of this company of misfits that God is collecting is far bigger than this tabernacle product launch - so culture setting is going to be key for the long-term success of this movement.

i’m a firm believer in the power of company culture. ask anyone about their job and most of the complaints, critiques, cheers, and compliments will at least partially, if not fully, hit on workplace culture. it’s a make-or-breaker on employee motivation, engagement, sense of purpose, and success.

so what are we thinking of when we think of company culture? leadership structures, communication style, measures of success, patterns of reward, learning and development, community norms, etc. all standing on the foundation of mission, vision, and values. structuring a healthy organization will require a firm standing on those three pillars - and clarity correlates with buy-in and success.

i’ll start in the values camp. most successful companies have clear and delineated values. not simply fancy placards on the office wall - values are only as strong as the affect on behavior. i think we behave with consistency to our values. if behavior is inconsistent with a voiced/desired value then there’s a hidden one underneath.

check: have we operationalized our values? ie, do we know what those ideas look like in practice? first day on the job and your boss might say they place a high value on honesty and communication. that doesn't put much in your tool belt going into the workday. unless, we then clarify: preferred modes and timelines for communication, keeping short accounts, triangulating information, and others for example.

check: are we walking this out? if not - there’s a deeper underlying value. many can attest to a new venture (or individual…) declaring their inspirational values of integrity, honesty, and customer service, until the scandal unveils the true underlying values of wealth and power.

but i digress...

back to Sinai.

Moses is in the middle of several treks up and down the mountain (sounds like middle management to me...) as intermediary between God and his new rough and tumble interns being onboarded to the new team he's calling "family of God". so what’s the key to this onboarding success: clarity of culture and values.

it would be easy for God to send Moses down with the list of company values, say for example, trust, respect, holiness, rest, love. but what do those mean in our day-to-day wilderness ventures? enter the law, enter the tabernacle blueprints, with a side of [hundreds] of commands. these delineated and operationalized the values of God to create a people for himself. it wasn't designed to step-by-step us through life, but a means to learn God's heart and values. God’s end game - his people to know him and co-rule the earth with him in his kingdom. these seemingly strange laws and practices are not about the exhaustive life manual.
they are means, not the end.
a culture code.

value: God dwelling with his people.
practice: tabernacle.

value: God’s holiness.
practice: sacrifices.

value: trust.
practice: manna.

value: rest, enoughness.
practice: sabbath.

it’s not the means we worship, but the foundation and source. it's the end they point towards.

so back to our little hebrew family start-up, endeavoring on the latest garden restoration project - God’s mission is to create a counter-cultural people that acknowledge and receive His holiness and wholeness. now the culture code Moses brings down the mountain delineates habits and practices. the team is not perfect by any means. and yet God is relentlessly pursuing garden opportunities, and upgrading the practices to ingrain the underlying value that his wisdom can be trusted, not our own.

enter Jesus. now what do we do with this “code”? we’re several versions down the pipeline in this endeavor and the company has scaled. Jesus is saying he is fulfilling and embodying this ultimate culture code - kingdom come. Jesus has upgraded the means to receiving access, upgraded the options for what it means to live and carry these values. if we were true to stick to the values - trusting God’s wisdom, acknowledging his holiness, receiving his wholeness, and love - then the change in means is simply an upgrade, not an abolishment.

we had a phone booth - worked fine, cool invention. but now we have cell phones. the phone booth isn’t invalid, however now, our values of communication and connectivity can be personal and mobile.

and Jesus carries his own culture code, we find him inviting the newest interns to a 3-year onboarding process of his own. still re-iterating the same kingdom values, writing them on hearts now. because the climate has changed. but God has not.

in the book The Culture Code, daniel coyle notes that the highest performing teams and companies demonstrate 3 main pillars in their culture: safety, vulnerability, and purpose - all invitations i’ve heard from Jesus in my apprenticeship days.

i’d say God has many things to say about business and leadership - culture setting and operationalizing values is just the start. after all, i’m over the return-to-work discussions and debates, it’s time we talk bringing back scrolls and stone tablets...

disclaimer: not designed as theological commentary. please read people smarter than me for that.

further reading:
bible: exodus, leviticus
The Culture Code, by Daniel Coyle