Kingdom At Work
[The information in this blog post is from an internal Betenbough Companies talk titled “Where Unity Begins” by Jeanna Roach, CEO of Betenbough Companies.]
No matter how healthy a team looks from the outside (talented people, polished org chart, effective strategy, etc.) if tension, misalignment, and competition lurk beneath the surface, the team will eventually fracture from within.
Unity is not accidental. It must be cultivated, protected, and fought for. Unity always begins with humility.
Many people assume unity means everyone thinks the same way. But biblical unity is not uniformity.
Unity Is More Than Agreement
True unity is a willingness to pursue a common purpose even when perspectives differ. It’s the ability to disagree without dividing. To listen without defensiveness. To seek understanding instead of simply proving we are right.
That kind of unity requires intentionality. It looks like leaders who remain curious, celebrate others’ strengths, and address conflict with grace and truth.
Good teams don’t happen by accident. Trust, alignment, healthy disagreement, and mutual respect are cultivated over time. They are rooted in humility and sustained through servant leadership.
The greatest threat to unity is often pride.
The Quiet Ways Pride Shows Up
Pride, especially in workplace culture, often disguises itself as excellence, confidence, ambition, or high standards. But beneath the surface, pride pulls teams apart.
Symptoms of pride can include wanting to be right more than wanting to understand, protecting our perspective instead of pursuing what’s best for the whole, and being more concerned with personal promotion than organizational health.
If we’re honest, most of us have heard pride speak in subtle ways:
- “They wouldn’t survive a day on our team.”
- “Our standards are just higher than theirs.”
- “We’ve always done it this way.”
- “I don’t see what the problem is.”
These statements may not sound particularly toxic, but they reveal deeper heart issues: superiority, judgment, and resistance to accountability.
Pride creates an “us versus them” mentality. It isolates departments, breeds comparison, and slowly erodes trust. Eventually, teams stop collaborating and start competing.
And the cost is high.
Disunity leads to low morale, conflict, high turnover, poor results, and broken trust. It does not honor God, and it prevents organizations from fully flourishing in their purpose.
The Biblical Foundation of Unity
Scripture consistently connects humility with wisdom, honor, and unity. The Apostle Paul writes: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (Philippians 2:3).
This scripture is a blueprint for leadership — an invitation to actively cultivate unity while pulling the weeds of pride from our hearts.
Consider what Jesus prayed for before going to the cross. Not success. Not safety. Unity. In John 17:11, Jesus prayed that His people “may be one.” If unity mattered that deeply to Jesus, it cannot be optional for us.
Psalm 133 goes even further, declaring that God commands a blessing where there is unity. There is spiritual significance attached to how we work together.
Rewriting the Narrative
Instead of reinforcing pride-filled assumptions, leaders can intentionally reframe their thinking:
- “They wouldn’t survive a day on our team” becomes:
“We could probably learn something from how they do things.” - “Our standards are just higher than theirs” becomes:
“Let’s understand their context before making assumptions.” - “We’ve always done it this way” becomes:
“Is there a better way to serve the mission or meet our goals right now?” - “I don’t see what the problem is” becomes:
“Let me listen more closely so I can better understand the issue.”
Satya Nadella rewrote Microsoft’s narrative when he became CEO in 2014. Discerning that the company had become too focused on protecting expertise and defending positions, he led them from a “know-it-all” culture to a “learn-it-all” culture. He emphasized listening, empathy, curiosity, and understanding different perspectives. The results of Microsoft’s newfound unity and alignment speak for themselves.
Contrast Microsoft’s success with the story of WeWork and its CEO, Adam Neumann. Founded in 2010, the company grew at an extraordinary pace, leasing office space, redesigning it into flexible working environments, and renting it to businesses and entrepreneurs. At its peak, WeWork was valued at about $47 billion. But Neumann leaned into aggressive expansion driven by more optimism than discipline, and the company’s complex governance structures concentrated power with the charismatic Neumann instead of providing accountability. When the company went public and its financial information was revealed, the depth of his mismanagement was exposed. Neumann stepped down, thousands of jobs were cut, and the company’s valuation plummeted.
Both these examples demonstrate that reframing matters because culture is built through repeated thoughts, conversations, and behaviors. Humility changes the atmosphere of a workplace. It creates room for curiosity, collaboration, growth, and grace.
Practical Antidotes to Pride
Here are several simple but powerful practices leaders can adopt to cultivate humility:
1. Stay Grateful
Celebrate the opportunity to serve rather than treating work as entitlement. Gratitude shifts our perspective from ownership to stewardship.
2. Take the Low Place
Choose service over status. Great leadership is not about being seen; it’s about lifting others up.
3. Keep Your Notebook Open
Stay teachable. Stay curious. Pride says, “I already know.” Humility says, “What can I learn?”
4. Push Others Into the Spotlight
Celebrate others genuinely. Honor their contributions without needing recognition for yourself.
Over time, these practices will shape the spiritual and relational culture of an organization and the individuals who operate within it.
What Do I Need to Do?
Perhaps the most convicting question for leaders seeking unity on their teams is this:
“How can I intentionally demonstrate unity?”
Resist the temptation to first identify where others should pursue unity. Because unity doesn’t begin when everyone else changes. It begins when we allow God to search our own hearts first.
- Where have I become defensive?
- Where am I protecting, proving, or promoting myself?
- What conversations need my humility?
- What relationships need grace from me?
- What assumptions do I hold that need to be rewritten?
The reality is this: unity doesn’t happen by accident. It requires leaders willing to do the deep work — the “why behind the why behind the why.” And when they do, organizations become more than productive. They become places marked by trust, joy, purpose, and the presence of God.
Because where unity lives, blessing follows.
Interested in accountability as you cultivate unity in your organization? Action Groups are a one-year program designed to help you grow both personally and professionally through monthly mastermind sessions and one-on-one coaching. Get more information here.