Convincement Culture

The thread continues here and outlines convincement culture as an alternative approach:

An alternative to birthright culture is “convincement” culture. This does not equal conversion or evangelism. It amounts to taking responsibility for the health & well-being of a community or tradition.

This is a cont. of a thread on birthright culture:

Convincement culture then is (at the very least) a willingness to see oneself on the inside of that organization in order to help carry it forward. It is a building trust with the individuals in the org as well as with the org/tradition itself.

Convicement culture could be described as a culture that “shows its work,” making the rules, expectation, practices, & language explicit and understandable.

It starts from the place of assuming that it wants people who are not here, who are not yet “insiders,” and then works to build a system and culture that does not require “secret knowledge” or learning by osmosis.

Convincement makes things explicit. The practices, the beliefs, the “rules of engagement” are demystified. It doesn’t assume anything of anyone, but rather creates welcoming & inclusive space through invitation & developing awareness & responsibility in the community.

Convincement culture is similar to the “creative-commons,” it is open to new data, new paradigms, and reformulations (or remixes) of the common narrative.

Convincement culture seeks to replicate itself rather than preserve itself. It builds up “apprentices” of the tradition who can carry it on & do it elsewhere. It invests in those who take responsibility for their own well-being, the well-being of the community, and the tradition.

Convincement culture is open to experiments & trials, knowing that legacy is not enough to sustain an organization. It seeks to support these experiments by investing time and resources into things that may not be the final answer.

Rather than focus on preservation and legacy, Convincement culture is rooted in a model of collective intelligence, anyone can learn, anyone who wants to can be on-boarded into the tradition, its practices, & its community. They too can teach and lead.

Rather than playing connect the dots on whose legacy is whose, or whose last name really matters, convincement is interested in a collective intelligence not knowledge experts based on legacy.

It is willing to give its best stuff away to those who want to put it to good use. It is a democratization of knowledge and skill and trust that underlies positive growth and change.

This means that anyone can become apprentices to the tradition. The goal is finding people who see what your community/org/tradition offers and are willing to commit to becoming a part of the process of moving towards the community.

A shift towards convincement culture is the only way to allow for a more diverse and inclusive community.

Convincement culture is less concerned with protecting its external boundaries and is more committed to knowing and understanding its center, its mission, and its purpose in this world.

“It is okay that we are not A, B, C, but we can be the “Es” in our community.”

I have seen organizations that operate out of a birthright culture even though there are no birthright people left in the organization. This is seen when there are no or very little systems of accountability, little process for moving into leadership, or understanding processes.

I think this explains why many orgs are out of sync with the people & contexts they find themselves in now during Covid19, but even before. The people and contexts of orgs/churches have shifted but the culture has remained the same throughout for fear of losing its identity.