Category Archives: Leadership

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Great Leadership Advice From My Dad

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My Dad’s advice is still coming in handy after all these years! You likely remember similar words of advice in your life, whether it was from your father, a teacher, or even an Andy Griffith show! Even after many years, some advice continues to apply in our everyday lives.

advice

Dad’s Advice

I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was heading out on a date in high school and Dad wanted to give me some final advice. His wise words still ring in my head some 25 years later.

Son, make your decision about what you will and won’t do right now. Whether is it drugs, alcohol, or sex, you cannot wait until the heat of the moment to decide. It will then be too late.

Of course, then I was too cool to let him know that I was listening! Fortunately, I was listening and made (mostly) wise decisions during those years. I knew he was wise then, but I had no idea I would still be following (and giving!) that advice these many years later!

Good Advice?

What makes this advice so good?

Well, in my mind it is ALL about timing. If we go through life waiting to make decisions until we face certain circumstances, then, as my Dad said, it will be too late. The emotions of the circumstances will override our logic and cause us to lean toward immediate gratification rather than deferred gratification. Making these decisions ahead of time allows us to think more clearly and to consider all consequences.

Example Situations

I think the picture was fairly clear in the high school example. Let me give you some examples of situations we may face as adult Christian business owners and leaders to illustrate what I am talking about.

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  • If you have not decided ahead of time how much money you will give or how you will give it, then what do you think you will do when the profits start rolling in or your income increases?
  • If you have not decided what you will do in advance, what do you think you will do if shown a “grey area” loop hole by your financial planner that he describes as “commonly used” by others?
  • If you have not made up your mind beforehand, what will your response be when offered a chance to go alone to a business lunch with a very attractive rep from one of your vendors?
  • If you have never planned your response to an opportunity to tell a little white lie to cover up a mistake you made, what do you think you will say?

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As you read through these examples, one or two of them probably stood out to you. You may have already faced these circumstances. If so, whether you made the right choice or not, you know what I am talking about. You also know that the likelihood of a good decision without advance planning is very low.

Applying The Advice

So how do you make the right decisions in advance?

You may be thinking that you cannot possibly be expected to anticipate EVERY potential circumstance when you would have to make such decisions. If so, you are right. I do not expect you to do that at all. In fact, that would be ridiculous.

No, I have a few simple thoughts that should put you on the right track. Take a look at these and see what you think.

1. Ask God to search your heart and show you where you are vulnerable. (Psalm 139:23-24)

    It is very likely that you are stronger in some areas of your walk and weaker in others. If you will ask God to point these weaker areas out to you, He will be faithful to do so (Psalm 145:18-19). It is these areas where you need to focus your attention.

    You do not need to worry about EVERY possible scenario in these areas. Take the most likely decisions you could face in each area and start with those.

2. Take these weaker areas and plan out your responses. (Proverbs 12:5)

    Take these weaker areas that God reveals to you and think about potential pitfalls. What kinds of decisions could you face that might throw you off your game? What decisions would you want to make in each area if you could write the script? Now begin doing exactly that!

    Make the decisions in these areas NOW so that you do not have to try to think about it when it is too late and you are under pressure (Proverbs 1:10-19)!

3. Use Scripture as the strong foundation for these decisions. (Psalm 119:11)

    If your vulnerable decision is about giving more money even when the temptation is there to spend more on yourself, try 1 Timothy 6:17-19 or Luke 6:38. If your weakness is maintaining your integrity when preparing your taxes, then use Psalm 119:36 or Proverbs 11:3.

    You get the idea. The point is to use an easy-to-remember verse from which to rally when put in a tough spot. Memorize the appropriate Scripture and call on it when challenged.

Do you remember similar advice from years back?

How does this advice apply to your work today?

What advice would you give to someone else today?

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11 Benefits of Living Out Your Vision and Core Values

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I have posted recently about some issues going on in our business and how one of these issues related to one of our core values: Integrity. Well, I want to talk about the other situation a little more in depth at this point. This situation is related to another of our core values: Employee Development.

core values

Not A Good Time

As I mentioned in a recent post, a key, long-term member of our company’s leadership team (my inner circle) gave me their resignation. While there is never a good time for this to happen, this announcement came at a particularly bad time for me.

We are less than 60 days away from beginning a total renovation of our Honda dealership facility and this leader was to be one of the key drivers of this project. He was also a leader in ensuring the smooth transition into the temporary location from which we will operate during construction.

We are also just over six months into a new management team under his leadership. This leader has played a critical role in their development. Though the team has shown amazing progress during this six-month period, there is still a distance to go before this team truly realizes their full potential.

As I said, this is not a good time for him to leave.

Employee Development

At the same time, one of our company’s five core values is Employee Development. We describe this core value this way:

We strive to create an atmosphere that inspires and enables people to reach their full potential.

Moving People

In addition to this core value, our Vision statement is “Moving people.” We explain our vision by first pointing out the connection between “moving” and transportation – in our case, selling and servicing automobiles. But the true meaning of this vision applies to the people that come into contact with our business – the stakeholders. These people fall into three categories – employees, customers, and community.

We want anyone, from any of these three categories, that comes into contact with our company to be better off having done so. We want to help “move” them from one position into another, better position as a result of their interaction with us. We want every decision we make to reflect this vision.

Key Leader Resignation

Let’s go back to the leader that has now resigned. When he first told me, he generously offered to work a month’s notice. He was willing to help in the transition in any way I wanted. He explained how this new business opportunity was not one that he sought out, but was simply too good for him to ignore.

As he explained the opportunity, I quickly saw that he was right. I realized that I could never offer him the same chance to reach his full potential in our company as he could reach in this new job. I was disappointed in losing him, but I could not blame him for saying yes to the offer.

Living Out Core Values?

It was at this point that I had a choice. I could get angry and do what the majority of owners would do in our industry – tell him to pack his things and go ahead and exit immediately. I could cut off his compensation and benefits that very day and do only what I was legally bound to do.

OR, I could embrace our core value of Employee Development and our “Moving people” vision. I could congratulate him on his tremendous opportunity and begin laying out a plan that would maximize his effectiveness while he worked his notice, benefiting both of us in the process.

I chose the latter. In fact, I used the opportunity to reinforce our commitment to our core values by going to every department individually and explaining the whole situation. I tried to show, by example, that we are indeed serious about these core values and our vision.

The Results

The results? Well it has not been long enough yet to give a full report, but I can give you some of the immediate benefits…
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    1. Other leaders have immediately stepped up to fill in the void caused by his departure
    2. Employees have seen we are committed to our core values – “moving” them whether that means they are moving “up” in the company or “out!”
    3. Our company’s relationship with this leader is fully intact and will bear fruit by maintaining an open line of communication in the immediate future in case we need help tying up loose ends (or accessing a lost password!).
    4. We were able to have a going-away party to show him our appreciation for his contributions and to allow closure to those employees closest to him.
    5. I believe his transition into a new job will be easier because we eliminated any stress that could have come from a messy separation.

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As I began listing these immediate benefits, I realized that there are longer-term benefits as well. Here is a short, not exhaustive, list of these benefits…

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    6. The remaining leaders in the company will be stronger in the long term due to stepping up their game in the transition and beyond.
    7. Other employees may realize we are serious about employee development and our other core values. Hopefully, they will work for similar opportunities in their own career. While some may move “out,” they will be better off having worked here. Still others will move “up” and make us a stronger company as a result.
    8. Our ongoing relationship with the departing leader will bear fruit in many other forms as he will be working on cutting-edge ideas and processes in his new job. We will have the inside track access to what he is learning.
    9. His future job performance will be better due to the ongoing relationship with our company. We will likely serve as testing grounds for some of his ideas and projects.
    10. His personal relationships with some of the employees, hampered while here due to working relationship, will likely blossom without that hindrance.
    11. I will maintain a friendship with him. I already look forward to hearing how his new job is going and how he is using the skills and talents God gave him to impact others.

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Have you had similar opportunities to live out your company’s core values?

What would you have done differently?

What benefits did I overlook?

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Obedience From A Weak Position!

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If you have been in business long, you have likely found yourself in a weak position from time to time. Maybe key personnel left for other opportunities or a new competitor came onto the scene. Whatever the case, you knew your organization was vulnerable. What if God asked you to do something right then that could potentially wreck your fragile situation? Would obedience be easy for you?

obedience

Fragile Situation

Not too long ago, I had a key, long-term member of our company’s executive leadership team come to me and resign. His reasons were valid and I supported his decision though I did not want him to leave.

While there could have been worse times for this to happen, it was certain to cause massive change within the organization. I was seriously concerned about the ripple effect it would have on others in the company. I knew I had to tread lightly through the transition to minimize collateral damage.

A Choice To Make

Unfortunately, within days of this news I had to face another, more significant issue which violated one of our core values. This issue, if addressed, had the potential to do tremendous damage to the entire organization – especially in its weakened position! If ignored, there was a good possibility that nothing more would come of it – at least in the near term.

I prayed about the decision. I sought godly counsel. I wrestled with it from every angle. God’s answer became clear.

The problem was that certain circumstances muddied the picture. Whenever I looked at all that was involved in this picture, I got confused. It was easy to rationalize actually sweeping the whole thing under the rug without many people even knowing it ever happened. That was certainly the easiest thing to do.

Obedience?

I had the choice between obedience and ignoring the problem altogether.

Based on the feedback I received from godly counsel, the answer was simple. I must address the issue and face it head on. I had sought godly advice and received it. I had prayed about it. The only step remaining was obedience.

Similar Circumstances For Joshua

While the circumstances are not exactly the same, take a look at Joshua 5. The Israelites have just entered the land God had promised them. Unfortunately, it was still enemy territory. They were just miles from Jericho and everyone in that town knew they were coming to attack.

It was at this point that God told Joshua to have ALL the men circumcised! If Joshua followed God’s direction, his army would be incapacitated and completely vulnerable to attack (see Genesis 34). This condition would last for several days. How could he even consider doing this?

Just like me, Joshua found himself in an extremely vulnerable position. God gave him clear instructions. He had the choice between obedience and rebellion.

Choosing Obedience

Joshua chose obedience. God honored that choice.

In my situation, I chose obedience as well.

I truly hated the decision I had to make, but I hated the alternative of ignoring God even more.

God Is Faithful

Now that I am on the other side of the decision, I promise you that God is faithful when we choose obedience. None of the fears I had ever materialized. In fact, I found out my team is even stronger than I imagined.

What I really found out (again) is that God honors our faith in Him when we choose obedience. I cannot guarantee I will always choose the right path, but I know I will remember this particular situation for years to come. I encourage you to do the same and see how faithful our God truly is.

I recently read the following quote in Wiersbe’s study on the book of Joshua, called Be Strong.

It has been well said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence but obeying in spite of consequence.

How do you see this quote applying to your situation?

What does it say to you?

Where do you need to choose obedience despite the consequences?

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11 Killer Resources For Free Christian Leadership Material

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When I first began attempting to run a Christian business, I was lost. I wanted to be a Christian leader, but I did not know exactly what that looked like. As the leader of the company, I knew I had to model what I wanted our company to look like if I expected it to change. I wanted Christian leadership material to read, but I had no idea where to go to find it.

Christian leadership

No Easy Search

Unfortunately, I did not find a website that listed a bunch of resources. Instead, I had to stumble across each of these resources one at a time. In some cases, one resource led me to another. Over the years, I have put together quite a reading and listening library of Christian leadership material.

In an effort to make it a little easier on you, I have put together my top 11 resource sites. I have tried to mix it up a little between blogs, podcasts, videos, and whitepapers. This list is most certainly not exhaustive, but it is some of the best you will find.

11 Killer Resources for Free Christian Leadership Material

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Key Christian leadership bloggers

Podcast and video sources

White papers, articles, etc.

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Christian Leadership Is Not Automatic

It really does not matter if you are at the top of your company or just getting started in your career. If you want to grow in Christian leadership, then you must take action on your own. Very rarely is anyone going to do it for you, and even then it will not work. You have to want it on your own!

You need to commit to digging into just a couple of these Christian leadership material resources listed above. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, but commit to reading or listening to something from one of these sites on a daily basis. Even if you only carve out 15 minutes a day, you will still see a difference.

Others Will Notice

Not only will you see a difference, those around you will see a difference. I am not an expert in Christian leadership – not by a long shot. However, when former employees make it a point to tell me that I do not appear to be the same guy they worked for several years ago, I know something is working.

I know to give God the credit. But I also know that He is not going to increase my Christian leadership ability without my participation. I must want it and I must be willing to do something about it! If I do my part, He will honor my efforts.

Act Now!

Do me a favor and check out these sites. Spend some time and invest in your own Christian leadership so that you are ready when God calls your number to make the big play! You will not regret it!

Which of these are new to you?

Do you have a site that should be added to the list?

What is your commitment to grow?

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Anger Is Inevitable – Is It Sin?

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Just over a week ago, I posted Don’t Do These 7 Things When You Are Angry. In a comment/question, Kari Scare asked what we ARE supposed to do when we are angry. Because she is a successful writer and blogger at Struggle To Victory, I asked her to guest post for me on the answer to her own question! The following is her guest post on anger management. Please make sure to let her know how much you enjoyed the post by commenting at the bottom!

anger

Anger is Inevitable, But Not Sin

Anger is inevitable. This is especially true the more we interact with others, such as daily at work or with our families at home. Even Jesus got angry (Matthew 21:12-13), and the Old Testament provides many references to God’s anger.

Anger is not a sin; the key is to avoid sinning when angry. Having a plan for when anger hits not only provides a way to avoid sin, but it also allows for self-control to increase as we choose to not “give full vent” to our anger (Proverbs 29:11). The Bible also indicates that we must also control or limit (Ecclesiastes 7:9 and Proverbs 14:17) and even get rid of our anger (Colossians 3:8, Ephesians 4:31-32).

I remember a time in my life when my temper easily flared, and I was known for being somewhat volatile. If God hadn’t taught me how to control and even how to eliminate anger, I would have continued believing this was simply “the way that I am” with no hope for change. Yet, He did work in my life in this way.

5 Steps To Control & Prevent Anger

The following 5 suggestions for how to control and prevent anger stem directly from that struggle:

1. Keep from getting angry in the first place.

    Sort of a preventative maintenance approach, avoiding getting angry seems difficult when the response comes so naturally. Yet, this can be achieved by staying grounded in the Word and by keeping short accounts with other and with God.

    In other words, deal with issues while they are still small. The bigger a conflict becomes, the more overwhelming it feels, and the more likely anger will rise up.

2. Deal with root cause issues.

    Usually, anger stems from a deep-seeded issue that an individual has failed to deal with and overcome. Anger also often results from feeling a lack of control over circumstances. Coming to terms with and understanding those issues can help curb and even eliminate angry outbursts.

3. Realize you don’t know the whole story.

    When another person feeds your anger by their attitudes, actions or words, try to remember that when others treat you wrong, it’s usually more (if not totally) about them and not about you.

    You may never know the root cause of their behavior, but you can avoid letting it negatively impact yours. Chances are you don’t know the whole story, so err on the side of grace when dealing with others.

4. Be aware not only of words spoken but the tone used.

    Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” A gentle answer often includes saying less, but always includes a tone that calms and soothes rather than agitates and fuels the fire.

    Personally, I find that gentle answers come more easily the more I listen. So, the less I speak and the more I seek to understand, the more gentle my words become.

5. Get and use wisdom.

    The Bible instructs says “discretion” makes a man “slow to anger” and better able to overlook hurts from others (Proverbs 19:11). Discretion means “the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment.” Acting based on sound judgment means thinking before acting or speaking, and the result is that anger automatically subsides.

    Having wisdom means listening more and truly hearing what others say. It means avoiding those who struggle controlling their anger or who seem to provoke you easily. Wisdom means knowing when to walk away, to stay well-rested, and to avoid those blood-sugar highs and lows that make emotions difficult to manage. Pursue wisdom, and anger will begin to subside.

Don’t Just Eliminate Bad Habits..?

Whenever we eliminate bad habits, only getting rid of the negative creates a weak defense. When the opportunity presents itself to employ that habit, not having an alternative can spell certain disaster. God has a way of testing us in areas in which we are trying to mature and grow, which is helpful since that’s really the only way we’ll grow.

To properly prepare for this future challenge, the negative must be replaced with positive. In other words, simply getting rid of my anger and bad temper was not enough. I needed to replace it with another “go to” response. But what response?

The Bible’s Answer!

We find the answer in Colossians 3:8 & 12, which tell us to “put aside anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language” and to replace them with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” As the fruit of the Spirit increase in our lives, their counterparts will naturally decrease. Avoid having an empty house that will be “worse than the first” if left untended (Luke 11:24-26).

Today, I can happily say that anger no longer controls me. While I do get angry once in a while, the above lessons serve to prevent and often eliminate anger, and suggestions such as those found in Don’t Do These 7 Things When You Are Angry help keep me from sinning when I am angry. No, my score is still not 100% in controlling my anger, but it sure improves as I deliberately and intentionally employ the instruction the Bible gives for managing anger.

What do you do to manage your anger?

Have you replaced any bad anger habits with good ones?

If you are still struggling with anger, what are you going to change?

Please leave comments to let Kari know how good this post was! You can read more from Kari at her blog – Struggle to Victory.

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Do You Make These 9 Christian Leadership Mistakes?

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Over the past seven months, I have been telling you about the various actions you should take in order to run your business based on your Christian faith. I have discussed behaviors and attitudes you need to exemplify if you want to excel in Christian leadership. I have even given you tips on Christian ministry projects you should consider.

Christian leadership

Christian Leadership Contradictions

Too often, I hear about (or even witness) professing believers in Christian leadership positions who are behaving in a way that contradicts their words. Worse, some of these leaders are getting caught in compromising situations or scandals that end with them being removed from their Christian leadership positions.

The fallout from these situations is disastrous. Not only is their career often ruined, but the damage done to those following them is incalculable. The wounds can last for years. I have seen it firsthand.

Something Worse

As bad as these events can be, I think there could be something worse. Consider the 30-40 year career of someone in business. Assume they profess to be a Christian and hold a significant leadership role or even own the business. Potentially, their eternal impact could be tremendous – in a positive or negative way.

Now picture that nothing happens like I described above. They do not get caught in a situation that ruins their career. There is no “Evening News” expose` that causes their reputation to come crashing down. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Something Missing

Unfortunately, I think you could be missing something. Instead of a sudden explosion causing the damage, there is something going on that could cause just as much damage, if not more, over the long haul. Rather than doing anything extreme, they are simply not walking their talk.

From a distance, this person looks like a model citizen. They talk about their faith and preach to those around them about integrity and other Christian values. Their motives are even good. For these reasons, they are more likely to stay in this damaging position for a longer period of time.

But instead of living out what they are saying, they are making some crucial mistakes. Unfortunately, these mistakes, when made over time from a position of Christian leadership, can have devastating effects on those who are close enough to see the truth.

Higher Standard

See, as Christian leaders, we are held to a higher standard. More is expected of us. Right or wrong, when we make mistakes, the price is higher. When we step out and declare our faith in Jesus, we associate our name with His name. We tag His reputation with ours.

Then, when we make mistakes and live in a way that does not reflect God’s love to those around us, we run the risk of turning people away from Him. Even though we may not blow up our reputation with a single news-worthy event, we can do just as much harm. The only difference is that it is spread out over a longer period of time.

What Does Jesus Say?

I promise you, Jesus is crystal clear on what He thinks of this kind of behavior.

But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea!
Matthew 18:6

Common Christian Leadership Mistakes

Rather than complain about the too-frequent public scandals, let’s do something about our own contributions to Christian leadership. Take a look at the following list of common mistakes made by leaders like us. Then let’s commit together that we are going to live the faith we claim.

    1. Pray before meetings, curse afterwards

    2. Tell crude, off-color jokes or laugh at those that do

    3. Preach about faith, panic when stressed

    4. Tell someone you will pray for them, forget about it

    5. Promote forgiveness, carry grudges

    6. Require accountability, fail to acknowledge your own mistakes

    7. Expect loyalty, treat the employees like numbers

    8. Demand integrity, cheat on your taxes

    9. Talk about family values, but encourage workaholism

Take Action

I would suggest reading through this list a couple of times. Make sure that you ask God to search your heart and reveal to you any inconsistencies between your words and actions. Then share your findings with someone you can trust to hold you accountable to changing.

Do you agree with a higher standard for Christian leadership?

Do you make any of these mistakes?

Which mistake do you need to work on first?

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What Must Tiger Woods Do To Win The Masters?

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Last week, Tiger Woods pulled off his first win in more than 30 months. After a series of life storms have blown through his life over the past couple of years, it was good to see Tiger get his groove back. While I am not a golf expert, I know there is one thing Tiger accomplished in this past tournament that he must do again if he wants to win the Masters in Augusta next week.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods Fan?

Whether you are a Tiger fan or not, you have to admit it is more fun to watch a golf tournament when he is playing than when he is not. He just has a quality that raises the playing level of all those around him. There is more pressure, more suspense, and more excitement when he is in the hunt.

So what is it that Tiger Woods did that allowed him to win last week? What must he do to win the Masters?

Show up.

Now hold on a minute…don’t look at me like that! I know this seems obvious, but I really do have a point. Not only that, this point applies to every one of us.

You Must Show Up To Win

Quite simply, there is no way to win at golf if you do not show up. You must first show up for practice. Then you must show up for the tournament. You must show up for every tee time, regardless of how you played the day before. You must show up to every tee box, even if the last three drives have gone in the water. You must show up for every shot even if your back or knee has started to ache.

I think you get the point…while it is a simple idea, it is not easy.

We Must Show Up

The same is true for us. As Christian business leaders, we know there are going to be things that go wrong. We know there is an enemy. We know that not everyone will support our positions. We know that some of our best efforts will result in delayed rewards.

And yet, we cannot forget that we are called to keep showing up. God knows our frustrations. He sees our disappointments. He feels our pains. Even so, He expects us to continue to show up.

We Get The Crown

See, He knows that if we will continue to show up for the race, we will eventually get the crown. Now only does he know this, He promises it to us in His Word (2 Timothy 4:1-8). He knows it is difficult, but He also promised that He will be with us through it all (Matthew 28:20).

Additional Benefits

There are other benefits to showing up that we sometimes overlook. I am not sure Tiger Woods even recognizes this. One additional benefit is in the impact it has on our followers. Folks, when you continue to show up day after day, despite the headwinds and pitfalls, your followers will notice. Not only do they notice, they draw strength from it and seek to emulate it.

This does not only affect your followers. Those you serve, especially the least of these, feel a sense of acceptance when you continue to show up. This acceptance may have escaped them their entire lives.

Jim Reese talked at Catalyst about how many of those served by Atlanta Mission have experienced a life of people failing to show up. It could have been parents that disappeared or well-meaning volunteers that failed to show back up after the first couple of visits.

Keep Showing Up

Regardless of how or why, Reese told leaders that we too often underestimate the impact we can have by simply continuing to show up. Like Reese, I want to encourage you to keep showing up.

Times will get tough and situations will not go your way. Do not give up. Remember that if you want to win like Tiger Woods, you must continue to show up!

Have you been consistent in showing up?

Have you seen benefits to showing up?

Where do you need encouragement to show up?

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Tortoise and the Hare

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A Friend’s Transformation

A very good friend of mine recently started working on his own blog. Well, let me put it this way…he is finding out how much he has to learn about the technical aspects of building a blog, website, and the like! He is in the middle of the process and realizes he drastically underestimated the learning curve.

tortoise

At the same time, I know he will come out on the other end of this process with a successful blog. I know this because I have watched him do the same thing in other areas of his life. Before I tell you more about his story, let me tell you what has been on my mind as of late.

Dave Ramsey’s Recommendation

Dave Ramsey, in his recent book EntreLeadership, talked about a great business book someone had recommended he read. Ramsey, like me, loves to read great business books and then apply the truths learned in his own business.

In this case, the recommendation came from a billionaire (that’s a “B”) in business. When someone with this track record recommends a book, you should listen. So, what was the title of the book?

Tortoise [title color=”red-vibrant” align=”scmgccenter” font=”georgia” style=”oblique” size=”scmgc-1em”]The Tortoise and the Hare![/title]

That’s right! Aesop’s fable The Tortoise and the Hare is at the top of a billionaire’s business reading list. In fact, he told Ramsey that he reads it to his top people every year! Evidently, he sees some value in the book, right? As for me, that is enough reason to take time to study it.

Learning From The Tortoise

So, study it I have. And while the moral of the story is simple – Slow and steady wins the race, it is not necessarily common. In fact, I would go as far as to say it flies in the face of the majority of what I see around me today.

In my business, and likely yours as well, the common focus is on 30-day or quarterly results. If you cannot produce results in the immediate future, then you likely won’t have a job for long. Most people just don’t work and wait for long-term results anymore.

Spiritual Hares?

This is not only true in business, but in virtually all facets of life. Take our spiritual lives. How many times have you gone to a conference (like Promise Keepers) or a revival and come away feeling like you are on the mountaintop? We all have! And we have all wished we could stay there.

Even Peter felt this way in Matthew 17:4. We all have a natural desire to rush to the top of the mountain and stay there. We want quick and easy and our society shows it. We are certainly paying the price for this mindset.

Solution: Tortoise Game Plan

So what is the solution? The game plan of the tortoise! Spiritually, it is a daily quiet time and consistent prayer and Bible study that, over time, gets the best results. In business, it is Biblical principles applied on a consistent basis with hard work and persistence.

My Friend’s Decision

Back to my friend with the upcoming blog. The reason I know he will be successful is that I have watched him change his entire being over the past 14 months. You see, at the end of 2010, he weighed 300 lbs. and was drinking heavily on a daily basis. He was a believer, but there was no real evidence of his faith.

And yet, one day he just decided he wanted to be someone different. Actually, he realized he was someone different and wanted to go back to who he really was – to who God created him to be. So he changed everything.

Tortoise Transformation

He did not buy a lottery ticket. He did not go to the internet and research the best pill for weight loss. He did not order the Hawaii chair.

Instead, he stopped drinking. Cold. He stopped eating junk and began eating healthy. He started exercising. Regularly.

Now this sounds too easy. It sounds a little too perfect. Maybe, but it is true. I watched him do it. His solution was not an instant one. Nor was it an easy one. It took him a lot of sweat and tears…literally. But he made it. He made it with tortoise-like persistence.

Now, 14 months later, he has lost 115 lbs. and has not had a drop of alcohol since that day. He has participated in multiple triathlons and has a 5 year plan to do the Ironman. He is also spiritually awake and growing each day.

Same Solution

For his blog, the solution is the same. He needs to keep hammering away at the process of learning this new skill. He will most likely not see overnight success in his blog. But if he stays the course and progresses a little each day, he will come out with something he can be proud of.

For now, I am proud of his progress. We can all draw inspiration from his example. When his blog is ready to go live, I will have him guest post and let you get a taste of what makes him tick!

Where are you trying to be the Hare?

Have you seen success with the Tortoise game plan?

Where do you need to be like the tortoise?

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Setting The Stage For Employee Engagement

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As I said in my last post, I have been running across a lot of material on employee engagement lately. The best definition I can find for employment engagement is this:

An “engaged employee” is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests (Wikipedia)

The more I have seen on this topic, the more I have realized how much our organization needs to improve. That means there are likely others of you thinking the same thing.

employee engagement

Must Start At The Top

Obviously, that improvement has to start at the top if it is going to be successful. This is not because I am the best person for the project, but because if my support is not behind it, then it will not last.

Follow Along With My Action Plan

As a result of this realization, I have taken the various sources of the material I have seen or heard and I have condensed into a fairly simple action plan that I am going to follow over the next several months.

Rather than waiting until I go through the whole process before I report to you, I am instead going to tell you about my action plan ahead of time. This way, you can hear about the progress as it happens.

You will hear about the wins and losses, the good, the bad, and the ugly! Hopefully, this process will help you implement similar employee engagement efforts in your own business.

Step One: Setting the Stage

In this step, the goal is to educate the employees about the need for good, honest communication between them and the ownership of the company. Without this preparation, any efforts to improve the workplace will most likely be misdirected and ineffective.

Setting the Stage

This past Friday, I went ahead and took the first step in my plan. In this step, I set the stage for the upcoming focus I will be putting on employee engagement in our organization. As I normally do every month, I went to each of our eleven departments over the course of a couple of days to give a devotional.

Simple Story For Illustration

I started with a simple story about a church that wanted to help a missionary in India. After, collecting hundreds of bedsheets, the church congregation spent hours and hours tearing the bedsheets into thin strips to be used as bandages. They then shipped the bandages to the missionary to give out.

When the missionary in India presented the bandages to his people in India, one of the ladies held up a strip and exclaimed, “If we sow these strips together, we can have some really nice bedsheets!”

Inviting Participation

I asked the group, “Who was at fault?” Without hesitation, everyone agreed the pastor should have asked for specific needs rather than assuming a need for bandages.

We talked about when we make an effort to help others, we cannot just assume we know what they need. We must ask them what they need. We also have to make it easy (and safe) for them to tell us.

Adding A Twist

Next, I added one fact to the story that I had intentionally left out the first time I told it. I went on to tell them that the church pastor had in fact asked the missionary how his church could specifically help his people in India. Instead of offering suggestions, the missionary simply told the pastor that anything he and his church decided to give would be fine with those in India. He said he was just thankful for the help.

I asked, “Now, who is at fault?” Of course they all agreed that the missionary was now the one at fault. We discussed how it was unfair for the missionary to give so little information about the specific needs of his people when asked. We all agreed that if he had simply asked for bedsheets, he would have saved a lot of time and frustration on both sides.

Parallels to Employee Engagement

From there, I went on to draw the parallels to our organization. I explained that I would be coming around to their departments over the next several weeks to solicit some feedback from them on improving their workplace environment.

I explained how critical it will be for them to give me straight and honest feedback. I pointed back to the wasted time spent tearing and then sowing the bedsheets. If they were truly interested in an improved workplace, then it would be essential that they give thoughtful suggestions and ideas. I emphasized how their willingness to participate would determine the success of our efforts.

In my next post, I will outline my plan for the face-to-face meetings throughout the organization. Stay tuned!

Have you seen the benefits of employee engagement?

What have you done to improve it?

What more could you do?

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How To Create Employee Engagement

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I have heard it said that the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. I would tend to agree with this statement. Jesus even said He would rather us be hot or cold, rather than lukewarm. If that is the case, I think there is similar application to the workplace regarding employee engagement.

employee engagement

Employee Engagement vs. Apathy

An “engaged employee” is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests (Wikipedia). An extremely negative, disengaged employee likely will not make it very long in their job, but an apathetic employee usually stays around longer and therefore is a drag on productivity, morale, and profitability. As a result, apathetic (disengaged) employees serve to more severely reduce the impact we strive for as a Christian business.

How Do You Get Them Engaged?

If we can all agree that the best employee is an engaged employee, then the next logical step is to figure out how to get all of them engaged. If we could solve the puzzle of employee engagement, then I think we could go far in creating exponential growth in our impact on eternity.

Recent Influences

Recently, this topic has been in the front of my mind for several reasons. I have had several different sources influence me toward a focus on employee engagement. First, as I mentioned in my latest series, I had a great conversation with Jim Reese, CEO of Atlanta Mission. In addition to the advice I shared in that series of posts, Mr. Reese also brought up employee engagement as a critical component of success.

Next, I read a recent post by Michael Hyatt in which he talked about changing organizational culture. Through a series of comments on that post, I learned a couple of tips about achieving employee engagement that I will share with you.

After that, I was listening to an older podcast by Andy Stanley on the way to the airport last week. In this podcast, Andy talked about how his church maintains such an engaged staff. I will share some of his methods as well.

My Focus On Employee Engagement

As a result of all of these inputs, it is obvious to me that I need to be concentrating on employee engagement in our organization, right? So this is what I am going to do. I am NOT going to wait to post about all of this until I have implemented all of these tips and methods, measured the results, and declared victory.

My Plan

Instead, I am going to give it all to you up front over the next several posts. I am also going to start implementing these ideas in our business, keeping you aware of the progress as I go. These progress reports will include the successes and failures, the pretty and the ugly! I will do my best to relay information to you that I believe will best help you do it better than we do.

Then, after all of it is implemented, I will also give you regular status reports as to the measured progress in our actual employee engagement scores going forward. I am not yet sure what this will look like, but we will find out together!

How engaged do you think your employees are right now?

What do you do to keep them engaged?

What opportunities do you have to improve?