Leadership Rules

Rules of Engagement in our Office

A little more insight into our culture at Catalyst...... 1. If you have something exciting to announce, scream it or make a noise with an instrument. But just be loud if it is worthy of announcing.

2. Open Source policy on the drinks and snacks situation. Replenish the snack area as well as the drinks in the frig if you take something.

3. You are always open to a prank..... and you are always free to provide one..... but if you give out a prank, be ready to receive one in return. It's like the Cold War nuclear policies between the US and USSR....

4. If you're part of the Catalyst team long enough, you WILL have a nickname. Hover, The Body, Lager, etc.

5. Anyone has the freedom to speak into a project, design, layout, or idea. Anyone's ideas can be criticized or built on.

6. Business attire is not allowed.

7. We ring bells CONSTANTLY to celebrate.

8. Your title can really be whatever you want it to be.

9. If at all possible, don't schedule a meeting. We despise meetings, unless it is really needed and leads to action. Or is a collaborative project and requires multiple people speaking into it. But meeting just for meetings sake is lame.

10. Get it done. Always. Execution and the completion of projects is like a drug to us. We take great pride in moving the ball across the finish line.

11. We thrive on competition. None of us like to lose. Fun moments usually involve competition of some sort. Especially cornhole or relay races.

12. We actually like to be around each other. Novel concept I know, but it actually works.

Do you Trust your team?

Trust is a huge part of having a highly functional team. One of the greatest talks I've ever heard on Trust and the importance of trust on a team is from Andy Stanley.

In fact, listen to a recent leadership podcast that Andy recorded. Great insights on this podcast. Highly recommend that you and your entire team take time to listen to this podcast together, and then discuss it. Our team did recently, and was incredibly valuable.

Here are a few main points and thoughts after listening to Andy talk about Trust vs. Suspicion:

1. Being trustworthy doesn't mean you'll be flawless and not make mistakes. Give your team freedom to make mistakes and then being willing to own up to it.

2. A great statement in terms of trust: I'll do what I said I would do, and if not, I will tell you.

3. As leaders, if our team fears our response when they mess up, because they've seen our response and don't want to deal with that, we need to change our response. Our response as leaders is determined by my personal maturity and security.

4. Ultimately, we create a culture of trust by trusting, and trusting more, and trusting even more.

5. Three things to blame when something goes wrong- blame a person, blame human nature, or blame the system. But many times, when the system is at fault and to blame, we still want to blame a person.

6. The tendency when something bad happens, or one of your team members acts in an untrustworthy fashion, is to try and create a system or a policy that will keep it from happening ever again- managing towards the lowest common denominator. One person messing up causes the entire system to change. This is not the right thing to do. All you'll do is create a culture where everyone thinks you don't trust them, and perhaps end up running off your best people on the team who are incredibly trustworthy because rules and regulations have been set up for one person, and not for everyone.

Is your Culture attractive?

As leaders, we are always looking for ways to create a "great corporate culture." Whether in a business, ministry, not for profit, or small start up, creating culture is key to a healthy and successful organization. Tons of books have been written on this issue, and lots of speakers and consultants would consider their theories to be the answer. The reality is, most companies don't have great corporate culture, based on their employees responses and feedback. Creating the correct culture is a difficult task for any leader.

Here at Catalyst, we've worked hard over the years to establish a culture that fits us and creates a great place to work and collaborate with our team.

In my opinion, there are a couple of key ingredients to creating a great culture that we've learned.

1. Be distinct. Your look/feel/ethos should be yours and yours alone. Make sure your brand, design, and team all are cohesive.

2. Be authentic. Create and live out your values because they are who you ARE, not because they are what or who you want to be, or who or what someone else wants you to be.

3. Believe in your product or offering. 100% belief that what you do is incredibly relevant and helpful and needed. It will drive your atmosphere and the way you make decisions, and create a strong bond with "one purpose" in mind.

4. Be attractive. Is your culture so vibrant and positive that your customers or audience is attracted by it? Do people outside of your walls talk about your culture? Do people want to join your team just to be part of what is happening?

5. Be your own customer. If you won't buy your product or service or offering, then why would you expect anyone else to? Does a focus group of your core customer require bringing in outsiders, or simply gathering the troops?

6. Establish your style and embrace it. Similar to #1, but more specifically toward how you get things done. At Catalyst, we "work hard and play hard." That is our style. We embrace it constantly. Figuring out HOW you accomplish things as a team will help give your team a style to embrace and build.