Change the Crowd.

Every great team has something in common, and it is a few people with positive attitudes. Those who are always raising spirits, encouraging others, seeing the bright side, bringing joy, etc. But how does a small group within the team manage to change the whole of the team for the better?

In a sermon from my home church, The Crossing Macomb, guest speaker Tyler McKenzie (Pastor at Northeast Christian Church, Louisville, KY) shared how crowds have a strong influence on others, so choose your crowd wisely. Great advice, and I agree. We should choose our personal crowds wisely because they will ultimately define who we become. Another similar thought to this is from Craig Groeschel, who says, “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” But, what about in our place of employment? I don’t have any say in who gets to be in the work crowd or not, so what then? When it comes to a crowd you can’t choose, there is still hope.

I will never forget the culture shift my high school soccer team went through in just 4 short years. We went from a losing record, seniority rules, unmotivated, unengaged group of people to a highly motivated, driven, encouraging, uplifting team that won more and more games; and we didn’t do it by choosing our team. None of us had a say in who was on the team, but we all had the responsibility of being on it. There were about 5 of us who really strived to make the team great. We showed up early, stayed late, encouraged with grace, and lead with compassion. We were surrounded by a crowd filled with toxic culture, but instead of playing part in it, we brought change to it. The crowd was influenced and the culture was changed.

Show up.

Encourage.

Lead.

When showing up to a place where you can’t choose your crowd, it becomes even more important to be a positive influence who brings joy and encouragement. The great part about changing the crowd is you don’t need to be on top, and don’t need everyone on board to make change. In fact, you don’t even need to outnumber them; you just have to know that you can’t go it alone.

I like to think about changing culture as adding food coloring; it doesn't take a lot to change a lot.

We changed a team of 27 with 5, executive teams change organizations of hundreds with as little as 3, and Jesus changed the world with 12.

You can’t always choose, but you can always change. Go be awesome. Change the crowd.