Evangelization Director Mike Norris uses the character traits found in the Bible as well as reflection on a person’s ‘True Colors’ for teaching leadership skills to business professionals and clergy.

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.” — Colossians 1:27-29 New International Version

A Christ-led workplace, with bosses who use the ministry of Jesus as an example of how to build an effective team, is a vision Evangelist Mike Norris has built his mission and vocation around.

Norris, along with two business colleagues, Monica Rougeau and Kassie Rougeau, have built Elevare International, a New Iberia-based leadership training company that offers Christ-like advice on team-building to local businesses and churches. The company’s model and practical applications have brought interest from people in the secular world to clergy at the University of Rome.

“Leadership is using your influence to help someone become better,” Norris said. “So really there’s no title that can give you that power. It’s more of your personal decision to help someone become better.”

Through his company, Norris has helped business offices and churches pair the right person with the right job in hopes of creating a positive workspace that will bring God glory.

“We use True Colors, an international program that we are certified to use,” Norris said. “True colors reveals a person’s temperament.” 

The True Colors template is designed to assess a person’s character and personality traits by taking a look at how they think, process and communicate, Norris said. The end result helps organizations figure out who goes where. 

“We get an awareness from that and then we can start picking apart how do you affect others around you,” he said. “Once you have knowledge of self, you can communicate effectively and build your team.”

There are four major colors in the True Color system, blue, gold, green and orange. Blue is someone who is really in touch with feelings and relationships and has an awareness of people. Examples of these are doctors, teachers and ministers, he said. Golds are people who are structured and work better with checklists and timelines. Greens like to assess things — professions such as accountants and CPAs — people who love figuring things out. The last group is orange, sales people who don’t like to be confined to the office and think outside the box, he said.

Every person has all the colors and their abilities inside of them, some colors are just more dominant in some rather than others, Norris said.

“The company was birthed from the leadership principles that our Lord used. He took 12 unqualified men and spent time investing in them, teaching them. That’s how he built his people. His work is still having an impact 2000 years later. We’re doing ministry, we are just applying it to business,” Norris said.

When he’s not advancing the mission of Elevare International, Norris serves as the director of evangelization for Our Lady of Perpetual Help in New Iberia. In that role he said he gets to focus on an area he feels is at the heart of every strong leader — relationship. 

“My strength is to help people overcome obstacles,” Norris said. “My personal favorite is marriage counseling. I think a lot of the issues we face are because of the disintegration of the home.”

“Relationship is what it all comes down to. We want to have a connection with people. It’s in our DNA and make up. We’re screaming to connect. Even people who have dogs need companionship,” he said.

Norris’ relationship with his wife, Vicki, began in high school and has endured for 17 years. Together they have three children, daughters 11-year-old Rhyan and 6-year-old Micah, and a son 3-year-old Ryder.

Norris and his team have brought their leadership expertise to ministers and administrators who assembled at the University of Rome.  It’s an honor that had been previously given to clergy in the vicinity of Rome.  Norris and his team were the first American laity group to address the assembly. “Administrators from around the world gather there once a year. They (administrators for University of Rome) saw some of our social media stuff and what we had some with topics like life coaching and life analysis. It was a really unique experience,” Norris said. 

He is also in talks with the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette in hopes of reaching an agreement to work with them in applying Elevare’s  team-building techniques to ministry teams throughout the region.