340: Why Healthy Workplace Culture is Crucial for Ministry Effectiveness and Impact

As you look ahead to the next three years, how should you be preparing your team to be fully ready for the uncertainties we face economically, politically, culturally, even spiritually? Laura Gardner, the president of Joni and Friends, addresses how they are sharpening and being sharpened in order to be ready.

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In this episode:

• An impact story from the ministry of Joni and Friends (02:37)
• Laura came from the finance side of Joni and Friends and then went into leadership (05:46)
• What Laura has found most helpful to help her grow as a leader over the years (06:17)
• "When I think about the success of the growth in my leadership, I would say it was accelerated by two things, Al: great mentors and a very curious mind." (06:38)
• "I believe it's more critical than ever that we annually access our employees’ engagement and their drivers for satisfaction, their fulfillment, their physical needs. And you know why? Because the workplace landscape has changed, our employees’ expectations have changed, and we need to listen to our employees to fulfill our commitment as leaders to them, to foster a healthy workplace environment." (08:10)
• The correlation between a strong organizational culture and ministry effectiveness (10:16)
• There are not bad mission statements. Yet, Christian nonprofits fail because they're not relentless about the culture (10:56)
• Some practical ways that Laura and her senior leadership team give space for their employees to innovate (12:46)
• Leaders should strive to create a  safe place through trust (13:46)
• Embrace vulnerability: It's ok to try new things and to fail (14:40)
• Joni and Friends learned from Best Christian Workplace survey's open-ended questions that employees wanted to have a voice into the decision-making process. So, the Management Advisory Group (MAG) was born. (16:00)
• What to you look for in meaningful mentoring relationships (19:19)
• "As Christian leaders, the most critical thing that we have to do is to make certain that we are staying in the heartbeat of Christ." (24:48)
• It's important for leaders to know exactly where they stand from a biblical perspective  on the hot topics in society (27:14)
• It's not an easy conversation, but it makes it a clear conversation when it is guided by your biblical principles (29:35)
• "But I encourage people to participate with Best Christian Workplace because that will give you the clarity that you need on how to move forward, to continue to foster a healthy and vibrant, thriving culture. And so I just, I encourage people to participate with Best Christian Workplace for the clarity." (33:04)

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