Today at church, Pastor asked us for examples of things that separate us from God. Things like busy lives, self-absorption, erroneous beliefs about God (vindictive, fear-mongering), erroneous beliefs about our part in that relationship; these were the kinds of things presented by the audience.
One of the items I would add to that list is the notion that–because you were “saved” by reciting some words or getting doused by water–you’ve reached the climax of your relationship with God.
This too, feels like erroneous thinking. It means to me you have a reason (excuse) to try less. You’re saved because you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior. I would challenge that. Fantastic that you have accepted Christ! But you cannot simply accept Christ and then choose to live a baseless existence, courting only your physical desires! You may as well be an animal if that is the case. You were given a human brain by a mistake of birth.
I believe we are admitted into heaven (conscious reunion with God) through God’s grace and our own devotion to closing the gap between God and ourselves. Christ is our example. Jesus is our way, if we actively choose Him.
You can say you are saved. You can pay lip service to Jesus and call Him your Savior, but what are you doing to close the gap between your daily grind and Christ’s life example? Is He King over your life as well?
Are you studying God’s Word? Are you praying? Are you meditating? Are you worshipping?
The word is devotion.
That is my question to you: What can you do on a daily basis to raise your devotion to closing the gap between your Creator and yourself?
Is it ever too early to begin thanking your employees? Of course not. In fact, we recommend to start during the interview process.
When you are hiring a new employee, ask the person to share her most memorable work-related recognition moment-when she was honored for above-and-beyond behavior. Not only is this a great way to uncover an applicant’s strengths, but also can give you an idea of what types of rewards will be valued by this person in the future. Ask what she did to earn the reward, what she received and how it made her feel.
(Sorry, but if the potential employee says something odd, such as receiving a jug of moonshine for winning the Miss Burley, Idaho, pageant, we couldn’t begin to tell you what you do with that information.)
Next, use recognition soon after the employees starts on the job to buoy morale. Most people, after all, begin a job with a desire to succeed and achieve. Just consider the jobs you’ve had in the past. Remember your first days. Did you ever begin one of these new positions by trying to find ways to cut corners or shirk your responsibility? Of course not. Almost everyone who starts a job is pumped, hoping this will be the company to (finally) meet their needs.
But the first 90 days are critical. If the job doesn’t meet an employee’s personal needs in the first three months, morale declines sharply.
Great managers know that it’s much easier to keep motivation alive and build on it than to let it die and then try to revive it. So they determine early in a person’s employment what motivates that individual—and provide the type of recognition that person craves.
And we’ve found that one of the most effective ways to find out what motivates an employee is to … ask. We recommend meeting privately with new employees during their first weeks. You may wish to begin the discussion by saying something like, “Since you are going to be a vital part of our team, I want to be able to express my appreciation for your extra efforts. When it’s your time to be recognized, I want to provide it in the style you like best.”
Then ask a few questions such as:
What type of celebration do you prefer?
Private … a sincere thank you without a lot of attention from co-workers, maybe over a lunch
Informal … recognition from my manager at a staff meeting in front of peers
Formal … an award celebration with co-workers and guests
What recognition gifts do you like?
(Here are a few examples to spark the conversation)
Dinner for two
Attending a training class or seminar
Spa gift certificate
Music CDs or tapes
Book by favorite author
Tickets to a ball game
Tickets to the theatre, ballet, symphony
Opportunity to work on a high-profile project
Time off
Other: _____________________
These are just a couple of the questions we recommend (for a complete list pick up The Invisible Employee.) And of course, this meeting is just the beginning. Getting to know employees requires consistent, daily interaction. But this simple interview gives you a head start. The interview itself is a form of recognition of an employee’s potential. And the knowledge you glean will allow you to follow up with appropriate recognition during the very first months of employment.
So, remember—when in doubt—go ahead and ask. It could be worth millions in productivity.
Today’s Carrot A Day: Rewards While You Are Gone
When you travel, there are most likely people who fill in for you. One supervisor we talked with at a manufacturing company found a way to thank his only employee when he was on the road.
“I had a staff of six a few years ago. Now, since we are all doing more with less, there are only two of us left. So, it’s more important than ever to recognize,” he said. “With my employee, I understand her as an individual. For example, a simple thing, but she loves chocolate chip cookies.”
So when the supervisor went on a week-long business trip, he left her $5 and a note. The cash—the note explained—was to buy a fresh-baked cookie from the cafeteria each day as a thank you. Said the manager, “She’s stuck in the office, picking up the slack, while I’m traveling, so I want to make sure that every day some recognition is happening.”
Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton are the acclaimed authors of the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek best seller “A Carrot A Day.” Their new book, “The Invisible Employee,” can be ordered on amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com today. To learn more go to carrots.com.
Strategic planning in most companies goes something like this: Take your best people, pull them out of the office for 2 days and develop a document that is as useful as the Spruce Goose – the plane that flew only 1000 feet then grounded forever.
After the Spruce Goose fiasco, the engineers found the experience instructive—in what NOT to do on future projects. In the same vein, it’s useful to consider where companies go wrong in the strategic planning process and how to avoid those pitfalls.
1. Strategic plans are made with the wrong people
Most strategic planning is done with the company’s best and brightest.
Unfortunately these people are often out of touch with front-line. The result? – a plan filled with hidden flaws that will only surface during execution.
How to include all the right people: In 48 hours, the Department of Defense planned Operation Desert Storm. A representative from every support asset in the military – over 200 people in all – assembled in the basement of the Pentagon. At the end of two days, this group had the strategies that would win the war in 100 days.
This is called Open Planning – and it almost always includes planners from across the organization, three levels deep in the chain of command. It’s a highly structured process where the right people, using the right process can develop powerful strategic plans that everyone buys in to and can execute.
2. Strategic plans are inflexible
Most strategic plans assume the future is certain. This is a deadly misconception. As time increases uncertainty increases.
How to be ready for constant change: Strategic plans MUST have contingency plans and feedback systems. Strategy is actually like a flight plan. There is a clear starting point and a desired destination, and there are checkpoints along the way. Without course corrections at predetermined checkpoints, small deviations from the flight plan could put you thousands of miles off course. While our destination does not change, the path we take to get there must remain flexible.
3. Strategic plans are based on weak assumptions
People will often debate over forecasts, but rarely debate the assumptions the forecasts are based on. Assumptions are created by the limited data we have available about the past, combined with the experience and creativity of the planning team. Because of this, most assumptions are neither right nor wrong, merely “Weak” or “Strong”.
How to manage assumptions: Start by listing all of the key assumptions of your strategic plan. Rank the strength of each one AND estimate how much of the plan is riding on each. Look for the highest risks and develop real-world experiments that can prove or disprove the key assumptions. Plan contingencies that you can implement if course corrections are needed. Review your strategic plan AND its key assumptions quarterly.
4. Strategic planners repeat yesterday’s mistakes
Planners are frequently out of touch with the “real issues on the ground.” Many planners never even know the root causes responsible for the success or failure of previous plans. Was it communication? Was it lack of resources? Was it our assumptions?
How to learn from history: One way to avoid repeating mistakes is to practice the nameless/rankless debrief at least every quarter. Get the right people together and identify the root causes of the strategic plan’s success or failure and capture these lessons.
5. Strategic plans are not linked to execution
For strategy to work there has to be an unbroken linkage between strategy, campaigns, and tactics. The people getting things done have to be able to own and carry out their part parts of the strategy – from the top all the way down to the front line.
How to inspire the front line with the big picture: First, the plan must be communicated over and over again, up and down the ranks, for it to have a chance at survival. Second, the strategy should support a clear Future Picture – a high resolution image of the future that guides decision-making at every level. This helps people take initiative that is in line with the strategy. Third, managers must be held accountable for the intent of the plan in their performance reviews and compensation. Fourth, front-line accountabilities of the plan must be clear, measurable and have single points of accountability.
6. Strategic plans need to be destroyed
Big plans and big egos are a recipe for disaster. No matter how great you THINK your plan is – don’t believe your own press. Don’t fall in love with your plan, leave that to your customers.
Develop your own “Red Team”: The planners of Desert Storm handed their war plans over to a team that was set up specifically to take it apart and defeat it – a “Red Team”. They didn’t defeat it, but they found weaknesses that were fixed in the planning room, not on the battlefield. You need to do the same. Keep the yes men out of this discussion and take your pride off the table and let the Red Team do their job.
7. Planners ignore resource-allocation issues
Resource allocation happens as an afterthought. Without a clear understanding of limitations, leaders believe tradeoffs are unnecessary. Tradeoffs are difficult but absolutely critical. The alternative is the complete loss of what makes your company unique and strategic plans that are floating in the clouds.
How to incorporate reality into the plan: Start early in the planning cycle to clarify the necessary tradeoffs. What assets do you have to work with? Who are the people on the team that can make this work? How much time do you have? Effective analysis of the answers will lead to creative solutions—and a plan that has a good chance of succeeding.
A final thought
According to John Boyd, one of the greatest fighter pilots of modern times, the purpose of strategy is, “to improve our ability to shape and adapt to unfolding circumstances, so that we (as individuals or as groups or as a culture or as a nation-state) can survive on our own terms.” Rather than being subject to unpredictable and rapid change, the company calls the shots: it establishes where it wants to go and enlists all the knowledge and talents of its people in getting there.
Bryan Feller is the VP of Sales & Marketing for Afterburner Inc., a group of 50 men and women fighter pilots who teach strategy and flawless execution to Fortune 500 companies.
I wrote this parable back in late 2010 as I was going through something of an identity crisis. I think it was around this year where I really began to question my chosen profession (web design). For the first time, web work was moving from something I loved to do to something I had to do. I realized I was going to need something more than a life of pumping out websites day in and day out to keep me satisfied. This restlessness resulted in a series of financial experiments and a spike in spiritual studying. This parable was spun during that flurry of questioning everything and trying to absorb larger life truths. Enjoy! Matt
After years of seeking direction for his life’s work, a young man decided upon carpentry. He found great fulfillment in the craft, so it seemed the right direction. As his skills increased, so too did the affluence of his customers. For a while, he was happy and felt certain of his path.
Having grown up with little means, he dreamed of the freedom brought by great success. He envisioned building his own workshop, in which he would employ a team of loyal carpenters who together would produce wondrous works. He held this vision in great detail, right down to even the dust motes in the sun over his future workbench. He loved his dream.
After several years, however, the young man began to feel he was going about his business in error. This troubled him, as his business was more successful than ever. He employed a small team of very talented carpenters and his clients were regularly delighted with his store’s work. His customers represented some of the most well-established in the city. Yet the young man felt there must be something wrong. After all, the freedom he sought seemed to be slipping further and further away with every new project. He found himself working longer hours, staying up later into the night. More, it appeared the business was completely dependent upon him, and were he to disappear, the business would quickly follow.
The carpenter said to himself, “This is not freedom. I have less freedom now than when I began. I understand sacrificing in the present to realize a future gain, but it seems the faster this river flows, the harder it is to reach shore.”
“My goal must be to benefit from the flow of business without being submerged in the flow of business. How do I get there?” he pondered to himself. “Even though I have a strong team under me, I and my team are still trading my time for money. More, even if I find a way out, what becomes of my team? I must not only find a way out for myself, but for my team as well.”
A passing vagabond overheard the young carpenter’s lament and stopped to inquire. “How do you earn your money?” he asked.
The carpenter, amused, thought this was an ironic question from a vagabond. He answered, “I shape wood into beautiful and useful things.”
“If you stop shaping the wood, the money stops too?”
“Yes, the money would stop. The wood won’t shape itself.”
“And your customers would go elsewhere to have their needs met, is that correct?” asked the vagabond.
“Yes, the city has other carpenters who are also very capable,” the carpenter answered. He was feeling more trapped with every answer he gave.
“Sounds to me like you’ve worked yourself into a box,” smiled the vagabond.
“That box,” the carpenter said, “Is coffin-shaped. As near as I can tell, I could work like this until I die.”
“Indeed,” the vagabond said. “Tell me, carpenter–is the money more plentiful than when you first began?”
“Oh, yes,” he said. “At first, it was just me. Now I employ a whole team.”
“What if your team were smaller? Would you earn more of the money?”
“Yes, however it would be on me to do more of the work!”
“So by giving the work to others, you have been able to work less, accomplish more and earn the same or more than when you began your shop, is that correct?”
“Yes,” said the carpenter.
“Further, you say that doing more of the work yourself would earn you more money, but you would have to work longer hours; an unfavorable trade in your mind, correct?” asked the vagabond.
“Yes, that’s right,” said the carpenter.
“Seems to me, you want to bring in even more work for others. If you cannot go back, it seems moving forward is the way to go.”
“I could raise my rates,” the carpenter said. “That would improve my margin and possibly deter smaller, more time-consuming jobs.”
“As one who believes in service, is it your goal to help as many people as you can or is it your goal to help a privileged few?”
“As many as I can,” the carpenter realized.
“Then raising your prices to deter small jobs is not for you,” said the vagabond. “You wish to remain reachable. Raise your rates when the market allows, not to deter those who would otherwise seek to pay you for your services.”
“Yes, you’re right. I agree,” said the carpenter. “If I am to bring in more work, though? I am already feeling burdened. How am I to handle it?”
“Take inventory of your current duties. Is there one on your team who could fulfill even half of them?”
“No,” the carpenter answered. “No one among them knows the business like I do, from end to end.”
“Then you would either train one up or hire new. Considering your current team, are there any who could be trained? More, are there any who would even want your job? For it’s a job you have crafted for yourself. A job without paid leave or benefits, save being commander of your own ship, able to set your own manic schedule. But even that schedule is dictated by your clients’ demands, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is!” laughed the carpenter. “No, when I look at my team, they are all hard workers, but they all also appreciate their own time. I think I would be seeking to hire from outside. It needs to be someone who understands the carpentry business.”
“Then you seek another, like you. Someone who knows your business end to end, who enjoys the work, who is trustworthy and loyal and who reflects the values you have tried to imbue into your shop.” said the vagabond.
“That’s a tall order,” said the carpenter.
“Would it be wise to settle for less?” asked the vagabond.
“I suppose not,” replied the carpenter.
“You have chosen one of the harder ways of creating wealth for yourself, carpenter,” said the vagabond. “You have raised a business from nothing. While this can be very rewarding, it can also mean much trial, much discovery and much effort. Both risk and reward can be great when taking this path. When you trade your time for money, you can rarely have both.”
“What would you have me do to provide for my family if not this? I felt working for someone else was not the path to create wealth and freedom. Was I wrong?”
“Wealth may be created when working for someone else, however building your wealth while building someone else’s dream is one of the hardest things to do in this world. Freedom seldom comes from this path. Much of your relationship with money depends upon what you do with the wealth you receive. There are other ladders to the success and freedom you seek. What you must answer is whether your current ladder is leaning against the right wall.”
“What are these other ladders you speak of? Tell me. Please.”
“Another day, perhaps,” smiled the vagabond, turning to leave.
“Tomorrow!” said the carpenter. “Please.”
The vagabond was silent for a long time. Just when the carpenter was sure the answer would be no, the vagabond said, “Yes. Tomorrow then.”
“Great!” said the carpenter. “May I ask, what is the name of my new teacher?”
The vagabond said, “Solomon.”
The carpenter said, “Thank you for stopping, Solomon. Today, your charity has helped a blind man to see.”
Without any acknowledgment, Solomon moved on. The carpenter wondered if he would truly see him tomorrow. He hoped he would.
The following was part of a recent discussion around compensation and motives shared by corporations in today’s global economy.
“…even when companies provide compensation in the form of diners and luncheons, I believe we all must keep in mind the number one goal of any business it to make money. To be brutally honest, the entire point of compensation is to keep the employee satisfied so that they provide a good service for the company to what? …….to make the company more money. In essence, you can say the business is feeding the horses for the sole purpose to work them; not because they are hungry.”
Right, the company’s ultimate goal is to remain profitable and to grow. This is a goal that needs to walk hand-in-hand with the company’s other goal (hopefully there is another goal): to serve others. A company should exist to make life better for others. Period. If a company doesn’t make life better for others, it’s hurting others.
Yes, a company hopes to inspire its employees to heights of wonderful production. True. But I think good companies aim to inspire other things in their employees, such as loyalty, devotion, creativity, motivation, well-being and happiness. Yes, there is an element of self-interest in any organization; there has to be. Without an attachment to its own survival, it would be that much easier for that company to falter and die; at which point, its employees would be out of their jobs!
If you consider your own body to be an organization of cells, split into teams (organs, muscles, bones, etc.), don’t you have a self-interest in how things operate within your own “company”? Don’t we tend to pay minimal attention to our different parts until something creates pain? Then we seek to correct the pain as quickly as possible, right? Don’t we try all sorts of things to try to eek more performance out of our bodies? (Well, some of us do.)
I offer that companies are merely extensions of the human experience, so it’s only natural that they should take on human characteristics such as self-interest, greed, dysfunction, altruism, inspiration, pride and generosity.
It is such a great blessing that countless youth development program ministries exist that are dedicated to nurturing young adults’ relationships with their peers, church, family, and God. It is always in everyone’s best interest to continuously study ways to connect with the next generation, providing them with sound morals and advice. These are three invaluable reasons why having a strong youth development program is so important.
The Youth are Our Future
It seems like such an obvious thing to say, but it is so profound and has so much truth to it. Who our young people are will determine what the world will be like when they become the ones leading the church, running for political office, and managing large businesses. Today is the time for them to be equipped with spirituality in order to lead the world down the right path tomorrow.
Our Youth Need Purpose
One of the most tragic things about our society today is that so many young people are born without a sense of who they are and why they exist. Even more tragic, is that this often continues on into adulthood and never diminishes. With youth development programs centered on disciplining young people on the love of God and His perfect will for each and every one of us, the chances of them discovering their purpose is exponentially increased.
The Youth Must Begin Being Leaders Today
Our young people cannot feel as though they are unable to make a difference. We must teach our young men and women how they can begin being leaders today. This can be done very simply by showing them how they can be an example to their peers when helping an elderly neighbor with groceries or volunteering to baby-sit younger siblings. Leadership is about humility and accountability and the sooner these traits can be instilled in young people, the sooner the promise for a brighter future comes to fruition.
For more information on youth development tips, please contact us today.
