[background image: seraphic–stock]
In my previous blog post I talked about the importance of culture to us as a team at Metamorphic. Over the years we have had many great people on our team some of which are not with us today. Usually the reason for that has been a culture mismatch, not necessarily work ethic or lack of ability or even the likeability factor. As a leader you must develop the skill and courage to make decisions based on culture and convictions rather than task. We need to get tasks done but more importantly is how we get them done.
In the Developing world I have noted another culture that I believe is mostly missing. It is of course a part of our Metamorphic culture and is a cornerstone in terms of bringing transformation and hope for peoples futures.
The culture is honor. In Developing nations there is often a lack of honor at various levels that keeps them captive and a slave to non productive ideas. People generally show little respect and honor to one another as they go about life in a dog eat dog world. This brings with it a degree of negativity that becomes endemic as people continually pull each other down, discourage each other and put limitations on one another. In some nations this then becomes their world view until eventually they do not believe that they can change their future and don’t believe that any one really wants to help them nor do they want to help others. This breeds a sense of helplessness.
The word honor of course means more than respect but rather authority. When we honor people we give them authority or permission to succeed. This is what Metamorphic is implementing in Developing nations as we honor people by giving them permission to succeed, permission to dream. When honor becomes central in a national culture people begin to believe in each other and themselves, lawlessness disappears and authority is established. Nations where anarchy prevails where honor is not core, struggle to prosper and do well. Part of the Metamorphic system is to teach people to restore honor because with that comes empowerment and dignity.
As a team at Metamorphic it applies to us also as honor is part of our culture. So the outworking of that is that we honor one another in word, in attitude and in deeds. Practically that means we say positive releasing things to each other, we don’t focus on control but rather on launching people into their destiny and future. As a leader my primary responsibility is to release my team into their future and that is what honor is all about. When we honor people they will be less likely to seek honor from others as once again they feel secure in the culture created.
When I am looking at potential new team members I ask myself, “is this person seeking to honor themselves or others, what does their language convey?”
Honor, an integral part of Metamorphic culture.