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Cultural Pressure Part One

by Beav on June 2, 2010

Today is the third guest post of 2010 here on this blog and another family member has stepped up to the challenge and this time for a two-day guest post mini-series entitled “Cultural Pressure.” Today’s guest blogger is none other than my dad, Tom Virtue who’s been involved in Ministry Leadership and Field Campus Ministry for four decades.  There’s a lot embedded in these posts so try to take some time to reflect and also comment and respond. Enjoy!

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“Would the girl/boy you were be proud of the woman/man you are becoming?

Attributed to Laurence J. Peter (1919 ~ 1990)

“Cultural Pressure” Part 1 of 2

One of the significant issues of stewardship that we’ve been given by God is stewarding who we are as people. That means taking ownership and responsibility in regards to our lives in every way – including our well-being and what we allow to affect our well-being.

What’s fascinating is that every environment we choose to put ourselves in will influence and shape us in a variety of ways, but each environment does leave it’s mark. That’s especially true of the environment where we work. We are pushed and pulled by forces in our work environments that either overtly or covertly move us toward conforming to the culture and environment that is shaped by the leadership of the corporation, ministry, or office.

I noticed this shaping by the environment in our early years of work when my wife and I were working on a ministry team where the focus was high performance – a high results orientation. In time, we watched people on our team at different points be caught lying about their performance and results. Am I saying that it was the leader’s responsibility that these team members lied?   No, of course not!  But, I am saying that how things were communicated, what the focus was, and the intensity level of the environment did have an impact on how tempting it was to make yourself look better than you were and it affected the people who were working on that team.

There are other cultural tendencies which I’ve observed over the years that can influence, shape, and impact who I am as a person or who you are as a person. I’ll mention a few and comment briefly…Performance pressure: I mentioned this above, but to summarize, this is where there is an intense results oriented culture so there is pressure on us to produce and be able to see measurable outcomes. This can create a subtle or not so subtle pressure to move from an abiding, peaceful presence toward a driven, stressed presence.

Happy Talk pressure:Some organizational cultures created by leaders, consciously or unconsciously, only accept or affirm positive statements. It’s like a version of Happy Political Correctness. That creates in us a hesitancy to trust our own instincts – wondering if we really see the things we see because none of what is expressed matches our observations, a questioning of ourselves before we say anything honest, and eventually a loss of trust and withdrawing emotionally from our commitment to the organization. Ultimately Happy Talk pressure creates a situation where we don’t feel free to express who we were created to be.

Gender pressure: I suppose this could happen with men, but all of the situations that I’ve observed here are where women sense unconsciously that if they take a leadership role they have to think, act, and respond like a man rather expressing who they are as a woman. Over time that can produce a loss of touch with their femininity and even losing touch with their God given identity as an bearer of God’s image as a female. Who they are is suppressed and oppressed rather than welcomed, accepted, and affirmed. As a result there is damage to the woman as an individual who is highly valued by God, and there is damage to the organization because it doesn’t profit from the person in the way God intended when they were put into that leadership role.That’s as far as we’ll go today. Hope that stimulates some thinking on your part!

What other kinds of “cultural pressures” have you seen as you’ve been a part of teams, work environments, or ministries? How did you experience the pressure (how expressed – direct or indirect, did it take you by surprise, etc.)?

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Tom Virtue has been on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for 37 years and currently serves with the Epic Movement in coaching and developing leaders.  He’s been married for 38 years to Karen, has three kids and two grandkids with another three grandkids on this way soon.

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Tagged as: Culture, identity, Pressure, Women

  • christine

    Tom, your thoughts on Happy talk pressure really stood out to me. That is the first time i have heard how being in that kind of setting can impact a person and i relate a lot to what you wrote being in those settings myself. Want to print it out and keep reading. I feel like this could be a whole chapter in a book. Has anyone ever told you, you should write a book with your son? :)

    • Tom

      I think someone has suggested that! More than one. In fact, we've gotten a couple title suggestions from TX before we even have thought about what topic we might write on. Glad that this gave some things to think about.

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/BVirtue Beav

    that's so classic that a ministry team could feel so much pressure to perform that they start lying. It's a clear indication that maybe something is off. What it indicates to me is that regardless of ideals, the environment begins to establish almost a morality of its own – what you can fudge on, what you can get away with, and what laws you better not violate. That's a real interesting thought on how culture can shape values as opposed to values shaping culture. Thanks for posting – this issue goes to some deep territory.

  • http://www.fogieblog.blogspot.com Jim

    Talk about deja-vu!! I have seen all three of these scenarios play out in my 30+ years in the corporate sector. The only thing I would add to Tom's thoughts on women is that in my experience not only did many women feel pressured to act like men but they took on the worst characteristics of men in the workplace.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/BVirtue Beav

      Jim – since my comment system has the default to just send follow-up emails for direct replies only I wanted to highlight that my dad responded to you, but did in a new comment thread so you'll have to come back to the post to see it unless you selected subscribe to all comments.

  • Tom

    Thanks for the comment Jim. You're getting at something that motivated me to think about all this in the first place. It seems like there can be damage done to people on an identity level if they just buy into the existing (dominant) culture of the workplace, organization, or whatever. When I started thinking about some specific people that came to mind – in this case women – it was really sad to reflect on. When there is identity damage it seems like what overflows from a persons life is the worst stereotype of whatever the culture might be. Thus, women acting out more extreme male dysfunction than most men as one illustration of what we're considering here.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/BVirtue Beav

      I'm glad you elaborated on some of this. I agree that this is a really deep thing and dynamic and I wish more people were thinking about leadership on this kind of level. I hope some women hop in the discussion to share some of their own experiences or observations.

    • http://www.infinitequeso.com/ Stephanie N.

      Sorry I'm so late to the discussion! :) I resonate with the "Happy Talk" pressure alot. Tom, do you have the gift of prophecy? I remember Brian writing previously that he does, and I was wonderinaybe being a prophet is part of why I (we?) feel this one so deeply?But mostly I just wanted to pipe in and say "thanks" to you, Brian, and Jim for highlighting the Gender Pressure issue. In many settings I have felt quite empowered as a woman. It helps tremendously that my husband is an amazing champion of women, and that I often work alongside him. But I have had plenty of experiences to the contrary, as well. Way too many to recount here. The older I get, the more stronger sense of myself I have, the easier it becomes. But it's still a huge issue. Also, I was reminded that years ago Sallie Clingman was putting together a ministry to help high-power, super-successful female CEOs "find themselves"–and specifically their femininity–agan after years of fighting for a place in the business world.Thanks again!

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/BVirtue Beav

        Glad you weighed in stephanie! I've wanted to hear more from women on this issue. I know most men are completely clueless on this front. That's not debatable in my mind. But I also don't sense that a lot of women are aware of how these types of environment impact their own identity as women. I think it needs more attention and I don't see many people speaking to this issue. I'm glad there have been things like the thing you mentioned to address some of this.

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