1 | Welcome to Camaraderie Month!
- Oct 12, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 26, 2025
Read the lesson.
Welcome to Camaraderie Month!
This is going to be an amazing month as we dive into the second tactic in how to build unshakable team culture.
Over this next month we’re going to cover
what camaraderie is,
why we need it,
and how to build it.
More specifically how to build it in every room you walk into and on every team you’re part of - whether you’re the leader or not.
For you, maybe you’ve experienced amazing camaraderie in your past teams and you’re wondering how to recreate that - by the end of this month you’ll know how.
Or maybe you’re someone who has never really experienced the essence of camaraderie - I’m so glad you’re here - by the end of the month you’ll not only know what it looks like and feels like, you’ll know how to build it.
And maybe you’re someone who is currently experiencing amazing camarderie and you really want to make sure you maintain and continue building upon it and never lose it. Amazing - by the end of this month you’re going to know how to cultivate and continue to grow camaraderie so that it never stalls out and only ever continues to grow from one season to the next!
Let me remind you of the way I’ve designed this app. I’ve designed this app in way where you can listen to one of these lesons each day or every few days.
Obviously you can cruise through these in a day if you wanted to, but when we’re talking about team and culture and leadership, these are slow builds over the long haul.
Leadership and culture are built by small daily actions over a long period of time.
Camaraderie is built by small daily actions over a long period of time.
My preference for you as a leader is to listen to one of these a day, and really let it sink in. Look at your teams, your family, your friend group, your leadership, your community
through the lens of what you’re learning here about camaraderie
all so that you can start applying this tactic to your life and leadership,
both inside your home and outside your home.
Because just like honor, camaraderie applies everywhere!
With that being said, let’s really enjoy this month’s conversation around camaraderie.
Here’s where we’re going to start. We’re going to redefine camaraderie.
Let’s take a look at Webster’s dictionary.
According to Webster’s Dictionary - the word comes from the French "camarade" (companion) and typically describes the bond that develops between people who have gone through challenging or significant experiences together.
That definition is okay but not great.
This definition doesn’t provide total clarity on how to build camaraderie.
This definition makes camaraderie seem like it’s something that either happens or doesn’t happen - like it’s an accident - as if we don’t have any agency over building camaraderie - or what’s worse that we need a crises to build camaraderie.
I’d like us to begin this month by redefining what camaraderie is through a new lens.
A lens that empowers us as leaders to proactively build camaraderie.
A lens that doesn’t require a crises to build camaraderie.
And here’s how we’re going to redefine camaraderie:
Camaraderie equals mission plus relationship.
Let me say that again
Camaraderie equals mission plus relationship.
Camaraderie happens whenever you’re connected in these two ways with your people.
You’re connected relationally.
And you’re connected missionally.
You’re constantly ebbing and flowing between these two types of connection.
Connected Missionally - meaning we are connected through a shared purpose.
We’re both working towards something that will impact not just yourselves, but others and the world for good. Crises is usually involved in defining camaraderie because of the mission is creates. When a crises happens, shared purpose is found amongst a group of people who previously didn’t have a shared purpose. Good news - we can create a sense of mission without a crises being required. All it takes is vision and clarity.
And connected relationally - this is the ability to not just work alongside someone but to also care, protect, provide for, sacrifice for, connect, relate with.
Camaraderie happens when there is an equal ebb and flow between both mission and relationship.
and this is where the conversation really gets fun and creative for you as a leader.
Our aim here is not to have perfection of camaraderie.
That will never happen.
The aim for us building camaraderie will never be about having the perfect balance, or being perfect at mission and relationship.
We’d get really frustrated if we set that as our target.
Because we’d never reach it.
Our aim is to develop an ongoing ebb and flow of connecting relationally and connecting missionally.
The space created between these two is where the magic of camaraderie exists.
Our goal this month is to build connection both relationally and missionally so we build an atmosphere of true camaraderie.
Which brings me to my closing point for today.
Camaraderie is not just meant for business teams, or sports teams.
Families, communities, friend circles are meant to experience camaraderie.
However, the drift of life sometimes pulls us into NOT approaching our relationships with the intention of growth or change in our relationships. We allow our relationships to become stagnant. We stop getting to know one another, we stop learning together, we stop growing together. There’s more complaining and drama and less and less of a mission we’re pursuing together. There’s no longer anything more important outside of the group than inside the group, resulting in no sense of shared mission and relationships seem to move backwards.
I’m not saying every family or friend group needs to go become missionaries in the Philippines or that every family member or friend of yours need to become your inner circle best friend.
But I am inviting us to think about ever growing connection in both mission and relationships with those we’re the closest with.
Because I promise you, you’ll find a life filled with comrades in the home and outside the home, is a full, centered, grounded, wholesome, challenging-but-worth-it life.
If we can build a healthy sense of camaraderie in our home and closest friend group or community, we’ll be moving from a place of strength every time we step out the door to go build it somewhere else.
On that note - WELCOME to camaraderie - we’re going to dive into what camaraderie is, how to think about it, let it resonate with your heart and mind, and then get practical on how to build it in less than 5 minutes a day even during your busiest seasons.
By the end of this month, you are going to wake up and know exactly what your next steps are in building the essence of real camaraderie within your teams, at home, at work or in your community.
And don’t worry, it’s going to be so simple and light-weight, that you, someone who already has a full plate, can integrate building camaraderie into your day, as you go, not skipping a beat.
I’m excited to see your overall life thrive more because you have the both the mindset and the tools to build camaraderie in and out of your home.
I’m excited to see your current teams reawaken and transform. Maybe not over night, but at some point over the next month, the next year you will begin to experience the true essence of team,
because you will find yourself with comrades to your right and left.
That’s all for today. I’ll see you soon.