An Epic Journey

One thing that has really impressed me about the staff at the Andover YMCA is the culture of responsibility.  I have secretly been watching these folks while I hand out bottles of water to patrons.  I have been watching how each of them takes responsibility.  Here’s what I mean:

These people are constantly moving.  If they are not helping a guest out, they are cleaning, wiping down counters, checking the trash, collecting towels, washing towels, folding towels.  I don’t ever get the feeling that any one of them is waiting for someone else to do the job.  Each of them takes responsibility to act before being asked.

I was intrigued by this culture of ownership.  So…  I asked about it.  I asked one of the great ladies working behind the desk about how busy they keep themselves and whether it is part of the job or not.  She said that they like to keep on top of all of the work like they do at home.  As long as you keep it clean it never gets dirty.

Here’s my observation.  You can either hire someone and try to teach them to be what you would want to see in an ideal employee, or you can hire someone who already embodies those characteristics.  It seems to me that the YMCA in Andover, has done a great job of hiring people from the Wichita and Andover area who embody a healthy sense of ownership & responsibility.  These things create culture.

The question is, how do you determine if the people you are trying to hire embody your culture.  I think it probably has to be determined by evaluating their past performance in a way that tells you whether they embody what you value.

At Epic, we value 4 things:

o    E – Evangelism (We want to help people connect to God)
o    P – Partnership (We have a culture that says “What can I do to help” not “What’s in it for me” – we believe we grow through serving)
o    I – Intimacy (We want to connect with other people in real ways)
o    C – Creativity (We are willing to experiment and have fun – we embrace new methodology while holding on to old theology)

Those people that come on board with Epic must be willing to not only embrace these values, but live them out daily in their life when nobody is watching – because the reality is, there’s always somebody watching, even if it’s just the goofy guy handing out the water bottles!

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