What are the keys to building excellent organizations? I would like to offer three answers: building strategically, building relationally, and building learning organizations.

Building strategically means to align everything in an organization with the goals of the organization. Biblically, the seminal goal of every organization should be the same, that is, to do the will of God—the Creator of all. And the Creator is executing a multi-generational plan (a meta-narrative) centered on Christ (Colossians 1:15–17). In the Creator’s meta-narrative, every organization should exist to serve the will of God (James 4:13–17). There is no other licit purpose for an organization other than to serve the purpose of God. In the Creation Mandate (Genesis 1:26–28), God declared his purpose for mankind—to rule God’s physical creation. Therefore both individuals and organizations are tools to facilitate God’s rule through mankind congruent with his meta-narrative. Hence, it is incumbent on organizations to develop a value proposition congruent with their respective roles in the meta-narrative.

Building relationally is one of the foundational ways of building God’s way. (Building according to the will of God implies building according to the ways of God.) No organization can exist without people—for example, workers, customers, and service providers. And by divine design, people are inherently limited. No one has all the gifts or all the perspectives. To develop and deliver any value proposition requires many different skills and perspectives. Therefore to build with excellence, we need to build with interdependent teams (Genesis 2:18 and 1 Corinthians 12). Teams should be composed of people who have C4 to do the various roles required of the team (Acts 6:1–7). In turn, an organization must be composed of teams who are performing various requisite tasks to deliver the value proposition. Only then can the organization fulfill its role in the meta-narrative with excellence.

Building learning organizations is essential given the reality of progress. Progress implies growth, development, and maturity. In the Creation Mandate, progress is an implicit aspect of dominion. God created a marvelous universe and then assigned mankind the role of discovering the wonders of creation and harnessing these wonders to facilitate man’s role of exercising dominion on earth through God’s meta-narrative. This means that organizations must be devoted to teaching, training, and mentoring people in the skills needed for the organization to play its role in the meta-narrative. Furthermore, since Christ is the foundation of all wisdom (Colossians 2:2–3; 2 Timothy 3:16—17), all learning must be rooted in a biblical worldview grounded in Christ.

Here is your business tip. To build an excellent organization, management teams must discern the will of God for the organization in the context of the meta-narrative and be committed to strategically aligning everything in the organization to fulfill the will of God according to the ways of God. Management must build relationally with C4 workers and service providers who are organized into effective teams who can then efficaciously deliver the organization’s value proposition. And management must be devoted to providing a learning environment in which workers can grow and develop their respective expertise based on the wisdom of Christ.