What game are you playing?

Photo by Maria Lin Kim on Unsplash

Monopoly, Risk, Rook, basketball, soccer, baseball—these are the games I played as a kid. I knew who I was playing against, what the rules were, what it took to win, and (at the end of the game) who the winners and losers were. Those games (which had start and end points) are what Simon Sinek refers to as finite games.

Much as I loved competition and winning, as I grew older (and hopefully wiser), I realized that most of life isn’t a finite game—think families, church, loving God and neighbor, telling others about Jesus, and working in order to serve others. Most of what we experience in life is what Simon Sinek calls an infinite game: changing players; varying and changing preferences, practices, and rules (save for what the Bible teaches), and only participants (not winners and losers).

What game are you playing through your involvement in your international Christian school? Unlike Monopoly and basketball (finite games), Christian education is actually an infinite game designed to help students, staff, and leaders flourish in Jesus. And to play an infinite game effectively, Simon specifies 5 practices:

1. Advance a just cause.
2. Build trusting teams.
3. Study worthy rivals.
4. Prepare for existential flexibility.
5. Demonstrate the courage to lead.

To learn more about the 5 practices of the infinite game, keep reading!

Infinite Game Practice #1—Advance a Just Cause: Don’t try to beat others, to win, to be the best at all costs. Even if your international Christian school is in difficult circumstances, don’t focus on surviving. Instead, advance a cause that is so just that people willingly sacrifice to advance it. What does a just cause look like? Here are 3 examples:

• “We imagine a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are, and end the day fulfilled by the work they do” (Simon Sinek).
• “[T]o strengthen Christian schools and equip Christian educators worldwide as they prepare students academically and inspire them to become devoted followers of Jesus Christ” (ACSI).
• “Helping students, staff, and leaders at international Christian schools to flourish in Jesus” (me).

Note: Statements that include “be the best at” or “be the leader in” are not just causes.

Good news! Advancing a just cause helps us flourish, in part by helping us consistently experience passionate purpose. And for my just cause (see above), here’s a snapshot of what that looks like:

• Students consistently experiencing making a positive impact for Jesus.
• Staff consistently experiencing discussions (including celebrations) of the meaning, implications, and achievement of the purpose statements.
• Leaders consistently experiencing shared ownership for school improvement and mission achievement (see Construct: Responsibility, p. 14)

Consider: How can you more effectively advance your just cause while also helping those involved to consistently experience passionate purpose? 

Infinite Game Practice #2—Build Trusting Teams: Don’t build mistrust, doubt, or competition. Don’t build solopreneurs or groups. Instead, build teams where everyone deeply trusts each other, where everyone demonstrates vulnerability and care.

What helps me develop trusting teams includes:

• Remembering that as Christians, we are all part of one team, the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
• Addressing Patrick Lencioni’s 5 dysfunctions of a team: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.
• Being aware of others’ cultural backgrounds. As Erin Meyer, author of The Culture Map, notes, not everyone builds trust in the same way. Some cultures base trust on task (think North America), and some base trust on relationships (think Japan).
• Working to be an ideal team player—one who is hungry, humble, and (people) smart (see video).

To flourish in international Christian schools, trust and teamwork are vital! Why? Because trust and teamwork help us experience healthy relationships—here’s what that looks like for my just cause: 

• Students consistently experiencing caring, collaborative, respectful Christ-centered staff (see Construct: Christlike Teachers p. 15)
• Staff consistently experiencing trustworthy, supportive, respectful, empowering Christ-centered leadership (see Construct: Supportive Leadership p. 15).
• Leaders consistently experiencing a leadership team that exhibits transparency, vulnerability, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability, and a focus on team results.

Consider: What helps you develop trust, teamwork, and trusting teams? How can you further develop and maintain healthy relationships?

Infinite Game Practice #3—Study Worthy Rivals: Don’t try to win, to be better than others, you know, to be the best, to be the leader in your field. Instead, do something harder: strive to improve, to be your best, to be all God intended you to be. Studying worthy rivals (models of excellence) can help, in part because studying worthy rivals helps you see where you can improve.

As a coach/consultant, worthy rivals (models of excellence) that I study regarding leadership and organizational development include Patrick Lencioni (4 disciplines of organizational health), Liz Wiseman (Multipliers), Lynn Swaner (Flourishing Together), Al Lopus (Road to Flourishing), Chris McChesney (The Four Disciplines of Execution), Erin Meyer (The Culture Map), Simon Sinek (Start with Why), and Stephen M. R. Covey (Trust and Inspire).

What does studying worthy rivals (models of excellence) look like at international Christian schools? It looks like…

• Students studying mentor texts before writing essays.
• Staff reading Flourishing Together and/or Road to Flourishing and then discussing ways to help students, staff, and leaders flourish even more.
• Leaders reading and then discussing case studies of how other Christian schools are addressing current challenges.

Consider: What worthy rivals (models of excellence) should you study even more so that you can grow, improve, and experience transformative learning? 

Infinite Game Practice #4—Prepare for Existential Flexibility: Don’t prepare to run from change, to weather a crisis and then go back to “normal,” or to make modest change. Instead, prepare for existential flexibility, for doing deep, radical change in order to better advance your just cause. 

What does doing deep, radical change look like? It looks like…

• Photography companies moving from film to digital. (Kodak, who pioneered film, didn’t make this change and later filed for bankruptcy.)
• International Christian schools shifting to online instruction so that they could continue to advance their just cause amidst COVID.
• My changing from serving as an administrator at an international Christian school to serving as an independent coach/consultant for a variety of international Christian schools.

Consider: How prepared are you and your international Christian school for existential flexibility, for doing deep, radical change? To what extent does your school use the practices necessary for doing deep, radical change? (These practices include advancing a just cause, building trusting teams, studying worthy rivals, and staying proactively prepared for the next crisis.)

Infinite Game Practice #5—Demonstrate the Courage to Lead: Don’t duck difficult situations, difficult conversations, or difficult decisions. Don’t choose the easy way. Don’t focus only on the short term. Instead, focus on advancing your just cause in the long-term. Proactively build trusting teams, study worthy rivals, and prepare for existential flexibility (doing deep, radical change). Do hard things (like facing difficult situations, having difficult conversations, and making the difficult decisions) so that you can continue to advance your just cause.

In other words, demonstrate the courage to lead: 

• Obey God’s command: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9, NIV). 
• Remember that though we live in a broken world, God works everything for good and nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:28-39). 
• “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thesalonians 5:16-18, NIV). 
• Continue focusing on your ultimate infinite game: glorifying God, now and forever.

Consider: To what extent are you demonstrating the courage to lead? What helps you? What hinders you?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

What about you? 

1. What game are you playing? Finite? Infinite?
2. To what extent are you implementing the 5 practices of an infinite game (advancing a just cause, building trusting teams, studying worthy rivals, preparing for existential flexibility, demonstrating the courage to lead)? 
3. How can you more effectively play the infinite game of Christian education? 
4. How can you more effectively help students, staff, and leaders at your international Christian school to flourish in Jesus?

The infinite game is about mindset, and here are other posts related to mindset:

• What mindset are you using to consider focusing on flourishing?
• What mindsets help you flourish? 
• How important is mindset?
• Leaders, is your mindset eating your model for breakfast?
  

Get flourishing!

Michael
P.S. Here are some additional resources to help you learn more about playing an infinite game: book, article, video playlist, and webinar.