Don’t be a lazy leader

As children, most of us have heard the saying, “do as I say, not as I do”.  More than likely, this was said when someone who you were supposed to be watching as an example did something that went against what they were trying to teach you.  We’ve also heard people say, “actions speak louder than words”.  Obviously both of these phrases are pretty self-explanatory, but how do they relate to leadership???

The other night I must have eaten too much pizza, because I had a strange, yet memorable dream.  In the dream, I was watching a group of people who I used to work with.  My role with them at the time was as a participant.  The leader of the group was carrying a large piece of posterboard, and as he spoke to all of the members of the group, he announced that a project was at hand that required extra effort by all members.  There would need to be extra meetings, learning and understanding new concepts, and then an intense commitment of time in order to pull off this successful project.  He stated that he was going to pass around the posterboard and that the members could all jot down their opinions and their availability for this massive feat.

I wrote on the posterboard, as did the rest of the members of the group.  My comment was not flattering.  I wrote, “I refuse to put forth any extra effort into this project because we have no productivity in our normal meetings.  If we were to accomplish what we should accomplish in our standard meetings, we wouldn’t need to have additional commitment.  My time is more valuable than this.”

A short period of time passed and I saw the leader of our group sitting under a table staring that the posterboard.  I asked him what was wrong.  He gave me the posterboard and showed me all of the comments that were written, several of which were similar in tone to mine.  He seemed very distraught by what he was reading.  He was a good man, but was a careless leader.  He had several competent, willing members in the group, but they were tired of being underutilized and unchallenged.  He had been consistently late or absent to several meetings, did not conduct them in an organized fashion, and although he may have been physically present for his group, most times everyone could tell that he was not mentally there.  Obviously this had a tremendous negative impact on the group as a whole.

My comment to him was this:  “The actions of a team reflect the attitude of its leader”.  And then I woke up…

It’s funny, because as much as this was a dream for me, I’ve seen this in reality a million times.  I’ve witnessed leaders that have ineffective teams because they make assumptions based on the following:

1.) They’re the leader and everyone needs to realize that they have other obligations that the casual members do not have.  This makes them exempt from 100% participation, and everyone else just needs to understand that they are “busy” with all of their other responsibilities.

Remember that members of a team or group have their own individual responsibilities as well.  Positionally, they value their other responsibilities the same way that the leader values his/her additional responsibilities.  There is no rank and order when it comes to things that occupy people’s time.  Who is to say that one person’s priorities are more or less important than someone else’s?  In fact, a good way to paralyze the effectiveness of a team is to devalue someone else’s priorities by overvaluing the importance of your own.

2.) They surround themselves with skilled and/or gifted people and allow those people to carry the burden of leading the team in their absence.  The talented people can definitely assist, but are not the designated leader and therefore cause confusion among the other team members.

A baseball team has a head coach, a first base coach, a third base coach, a pitching coach, and several other talented people who assist with the general direction.  Imagine if the head coach believed that he had so much talent in his other coaches that he could sit back and watch the game, OR that he could skip the game altogether and take his wife out for dinner…  Can you imagine the confusion that would occur when players had to take direction from all of the other coaches without some supervisory level of coordination?  It is the same way with other leaders.  Someone must be present at the helm to steer the ship.  Leadership is three parts participatory and one part delegatory.

3.) They forget the amount of effort that is needed to keep the momentum of the team consistent.  Leaders who have accomplished much over longer periods of time can get tired or bored if they’re not continuously challenging themselves to achieve better or new results.  When leaders stop striving to achieve, the team stops as well.

This is probably one of the most challenging things for a leader to recognize and/or do something about.  Leaders must consistently find sources of new ideas and motivation.  That’s why they’re the leader!  Leaders who get “tapped out” are dangerous.  I’ve heard several leaders say, “I’m tired of doing the same old thing and getting the same old results.  I wish someone else would see what I’m doing, take the reigns and put some effort into this.”  Well, sorry to say buddy, but that’s YOUR job.  You have to find things that stir your fire and your passion, even when you don’t feel like it.  Look at your team; they’re waiting on you to give them some direction and guidance, and finally to provide the example to follow.  That’s how momentum occurs.  You’ve got to keep pressing to move forward.

In 1 Chronicles 29, David requested participation from the people to deliver what was needed for Solomon to build the temple.  In this project, under the leadership of the families and the tribes, the people gave freely.  Verse 9 says:  “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.”  In order to generate great results, leaders have to participate.  They can’t command participation without participation themselves.  They can’t assume that others with gifts and talents will accomplish without proper oversight, and they can’t get bored or tired of being responsible for the outcomes of the team.

The actions of the team reflect the attitude of the leader… don’t be a lazy one!

Are You a Servant Leader?

Many of today’s leaders operate based on their title; they’re the President of this, the Director of that, or the Manager of some group of people.  Oftentimes, they use their title and their position to justify their actions and decisions, thinking that it was the amount of time and years of commitment to an organization that landed them in their current position.  Sometimes they may be correct if the culture of the organization is such that position is elevated based on time or seniority.  Sometimes people simply forget or misplace the mentality that they used to get to their position; replacing true commitment and dedication with a fancy title that appears on a placard on their office door.  These people may indeed be classified as leaders, but their effectiveness will certainly reach a ceiling that they will never break through unless they understand one thing – how to be a servant leader.

What is a ‘servant leader’?  It almost sounds like an oxymoron.  A servant is often characterized as a person who is under someone else – a person who carries out the wishes, tasks, and demands of the person above them.  But yet a leader is someone who is in charge, someone who’s responsible – a person who controls outcomes.  Obviously those two characteristics can’t drive the same person, can they?

Maybe you think a servant leader is a middle manager.  They oversee a group of people, a department or division, making them a ‘leader’, but they still report to a director, vice president or someone in a position higher than them, making them a ‘servant’.  That must be the answer…

Nope, that would be too easy.

So then, what IS a servant leader???

Servant Leaders are those who understand they have positional right to oversee, direct and command the outcomes of people who work below them.  However, their understanding is that the best function in their oversight, direction and command is to find effective ways to facilitate the success of those working to produce outcomes.  There’s a huge difference between passive leadership and active leadership, and the most successful of the two requires the most effort.  That’s why we don’t see it often enough.

Passive (positional) leaders burn people out.  They’re the “because I said so” leaders that are the rookies in the world of effective leadership.  They push and command and demand and get results based on instilling fear and intimidation into their subordinates.  Passive leaders can also be corporate cheerleaders.  They’re the “because I said you can” leaders that give vast amounts of permission for effectiveness, but don’t direct the outcomes through their own participation.   The passive leader stands on the sidelines like a cheerleader, telling their team that they have the ability to win if they just keep trying, when they should be actively engaged as the quarterback, playing the game and directing the rest of the team at the same time.

Active (servant) leaders know how to direct and participate effectively. They facilitate.   They know how to provide tools and to use the tools they’ve provided at the same time.  Servant leaders show a genuine willingness to help the team understand that every member holds an integral and unique function, while demonstrating that their own function is integral and unique to the performance of the overall team.  Servant leaders are willing to go to extremes to assist those who are working to produce the results needed to make the leader and the team look good.  Servant leaders are willing to let the team receive all the credit for the successes achieved, while oftentimes minimizing their own contributions as part of accomplishing those same goals.  Servant leaders are willing to find fault in their own performance before blaming poor outcomes on anyone else on their team.  They understand the importance of morale and seek to improve it at all times by finding unique ways to motivate team members by adding to each person’s individual value as a team member.

Servant leaders also know how to be an effective example to those below by serving ‘up’.  They understand the importance of making not only their own team look good through active participation, but by assisting others (those that they report to, or even those outside their own organization) look good as well, by supporting their individual and corporate goals.  Servant leaders understand that although not the primary reason for doing so, their efforts to serve ‘up’ will often be seen by those on their team as a positive example of how they can contribute, therefore improving the effectiveness of their culture and the world around them. 

Simply put, servant leaders produce results through active participation in things that matter to EVERYONE.

In my position as the Vice President of our company, I often have the opportunity to travel to various locations to see how each operation is performing.  I always try to schedule those trips so that they occur during a busy time for each location.  Sometimes the location is trying to attract new customers, sometimes they have big internal projects that they’re trying to achieve, and sometimes someone from outside our organization is coming to see how we operate.  During each of those types of occasions, I could easily show up in a suit and tie and tell the local staff, “I’ve got this.  I’m the Vice President and I’m the most qualified person to speak, direct or impress.”  I try not to do that.  Instead, I make every attempt to support the staff while they act on what they do every day regardless of my presence at their location.  If they’re trying to attract new customers, I’ll go out and hand out flyers, make sure refreshments are in the correct places, or greet people at the door, directing them to our qualified staff, who can provide them with the answers they need.  If there is a big internal project going on, I don’t steal the clipboard and the hard hat, but instead volunteer to assist the people who are working for the person with the clipboard and hard hat.  And if someone is coming from the outside to view our organization, there’s a good chance I’ll show up the night before to make sure everything is swept, spit-shined, and polished so that there are no worries when everyone arrives in the morning, in hopes that everyone will be at their best.

I’d like to think that the people who are part of my team see this and understand the real level of faith that I put in them and their efforts.  If I played the role of the positional leader, then what good are all of those people when I’m not around?  Whether they possess great abilities or not, I’ve just labeled them as incompetent by my own actions.  I don’t think I can expect tremendous efficiencies using that approach.

Likewise, I always try to be one step ahead of our company President.  This isn’t to make him look bad; on the contrary, I’m trying to make him look good.  I don’t know all of the answers of course, and there will always be things that I miss, but if I can pay close enough attention to what is important to him that I’m able to answer ninety-five percent of his questions before he even has the opportunity to ask them, and that I’m telling him what I think I can do in a given situation before he asks me if I can come up with a solution, my hope is that he feels secure in his position because of what I enjoy being able to do for him.  I don’t know if I’ll get paid more for my efforts.  I don’t know if what I do will prevent me from getting fired one day.  Honestly, those factors aren’t my motivation for doing those things anyway.  To me, what I try to do for him just seems like the correct thing no matter what.

The Bible gives us several great examples of servant leadership – Abraham and Melchizedek, David and Saul, Ruth, Boaz and Naomi, along with Jesus and his disciples, just to name a few.  All of them found effective ways to serve people who they were responsible for, while at the same time finding ways to serve those who they were accountable to.  The most significant thing to note is that aside from Jesus, none of them knew what the true outcome of their servant leadership would be.  Incredibly, some of the best results in the circumstances surrounding each of their situations were achieved through the blind faith actions of these servant leaders – that the principles driving their actions would generate tremendous outcomes.

It isn’t always easy to motivate yourself to be an active leader – putting extra effort toward creating more effectiveness by your own participation, especially when you can easily fall back on a title.  However, if you use a little bit of your own blind faith and create an environment of servant leadership, the results will be outstanding…guaranteed!

Don’t give good answers…ask GREAT questions!

One afternoon as I was sitting in my office, I looked outside the window to see one of our facilities team members walking by a piece of trash that was lying on the ground.  I couldn’t believe that he didn’t pick up the trash, as he literally stepped over it to continue to his destination.  As a company, part of our customer service operating philosophy is to make sure that we provide value to our customers by handling all inconveniences, including the random piece of trash in the parking lot, in a swift and effective manner.  In addition, picking up trash is part of our facilities staff’s daily routine, so for this staff member to pass over the litter was very strange to me, as it did not line up with what has been routine, normal and accepted in our organization.

I continued to observe the situation, and to my surprise, that same staff member passed by the same piece of litter on two more occasions within the next ten minutes.  Being the quality control freak that I am, I’d had enough…I just couldn’t keep quiet or observe any more.

So, I walked outside and asked the staff member if he’d come speak with me.  I was pretty irate with the whole situation, but as he was walking toward me, something changed.

I put my arm around his neck and my hand on his opposite shoulder and directed his attention to the area where the piece of trash was laying.  “Hey Bobby,” I said, “Can you tell me what you see that is wrong with this picture?”

“What do you mean boss?”

“Take a look over there and tell me what is wrong in that area”

“What are you looking at boss?”

“You tell me.  What do you see?”

“Well, I see a window screen that needs repair, there’s a crooked downspout on the side of that building, there’s a piece of wood trim that needs touch-up paint, and it looks like there’s a porch light out.  And, there’s a piece of trash laying right there on the ground.”

“Okay Bobby, what can we do about these issues?”

“I can take care of all of those things.  I’ll make sure they are done by the end of the day today.”

I was pretty impressed.  Not only did Bobby address the issue that I noticed, but he noticed several others as well.  At that moment, I was very thankful that I didn’t do what I had originally intended to do, which was to severely get on his case for neglecting the piece of trash.  Had I gone outside and yelled at him, I may have missed the opportunity for him to notice and repair the additional items.  I walked back inside the office and let Bobby get back to work.

At 4:30, I saw Bobby come into the office and grab his time sheet to clock out for the day. 

“Did you get everything completed that we discussed?”

“Naw boss, I got some of it done, but I’ll finish up tomorrow.”

“I’m confused Bobby.  When we were standing outside, you said that you’d get everything done before the end of the day.”

“Yeah, I know boss, but it’s 4:30…”

“Yep, BUT I didn’t ask you if you could get everything done before the end of the day, you committed to get everything done by the end of the day.  Last time I checked, today ends at 11:59PM, so technically you have about seven and a half hours left.”

“Okay boss, you got me.  I’ll get the stuff done now.”

Bobby completed the tasks within thirty minutes and was able to go home.

In reflecting back on the events of the day with Bobby, I learned a couple of valuable lessons that would help make my management of our staff much more effective.  I learned that although I may be responsible for the direction of our organization, that did not necessarily mean that I have to provide every step for every process.  By asking the simple questions, I could be more effective by allowing the staff to provide the answers (I could have easily asked the same “what do you see here” type question to expose issues in our office environment, our facilities management, our customer service areas, and any other aspect of the business).  In fact, I believe that in most cases the staff can provide better, more detailed answers in regard to their specific departments than I could ever do from my 10,000 foot vantage point.  Additionally, the staff members become empowered to generate the outcomes, which generates mileage for all of us.  In the case with Bobby, ultimately he knew what he committed to do to remedy the situations that he observed, and he was in a position where he had to choose whether to honor his own word, or to make himself a liar.  When a person creates a decision like that for themselves, what manager would even need to think about using a traditional “power play”?

This ability to ask questions that generate answers that can be managed by your staff is key to long-term success in your organization and more importantly, the empowerment of your people.

I thought about the passage in Matthew 16:13-19 where Jesus asked his disciples who the people said that He was; which was followed by asking who they thought He was.  They answered that the people said He was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.  Peter said that He was the Messiah, the Son of God.

I wonder if Jesus purposefully asked the disciples who they thought He was.  I’m assuming he had a reason, because there would have been no one more qualified to answer the question correctly than Jesus himself.  However, in looking at everything that was to follow with his crucifixion, and the disciples’ various tests and trials as followers of Jesus, it was more important that the disciples provide the answer.  I’m guessing that the “strategy” in asking the question was the understanding that when times got tough and with the terrible persecution that was to follow, the disciples would have to trust their revelation of who Jesus was more so than they would have if Jesus would have told them directly who He was.  If they were to change their position at any point, they’d be just like Bobby – they’d be choosing to make themselves liars!

There is a lot of power in your word, especially as it relates to your own actions.  In a management environment of any type –  whether that’s work, family priorities and obligations, friendships, or volunteerism, it is much easier to have people honor their own word than it is to have them honor your directives.  With that in mind, manage strategically…it isn’t always necessary for you to have the right answers; just ask the right questions!

Succeed during changing times…BE A MENTOR

If you have any history in owning, managing or operating a business of any sort, you know that every business goes through cycles – ups, downs, twists and turns.  We tend to celebrate the good seasons not as much as we struggle to keep our patience and manage fear through the tough times.  We often focus more on the bad, the stresses and all of the imperfections more than we do the good, the gains or the positive lessons learned, and therefore, even in our successes we never really stop focusing on what needs to happen in order to become good, better or best.

It is because of this vantage point of always needing to improve, that we often fail to miss tremendous opportunities to assist in developing others.  We talk about giving back and doing good “someday”, when we have the correct opportunity, when situations improve, or when our financial goals are finally met.  However, if you pay attention for any length of time, that day never seems to come.  I would challenge you to say that there is a reason for this; you’re not mentoring others.

Consider Naomi in the Bible.  She had a husband and two married sons.  Her husband died and a few years later, both of her sons died as well, leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law widowed.  After both sons died, Naomi didn’t have any reason to stay in Moab and decided to move back to Bethlehem.  She told her daughters-in-law to return to their mothers to have the opportunity to start over again.  One daughter, Orpah, left, and the other, Ruth, remained.  Naomi urged Ruth to leave, but she would not.  Ruth told Naomi that she would follow her wherever she went.

Ruth said to Naomi, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”  When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

This is an interesting situation because Naomi really didn’t choose to have Ruth follow her.  In fact, she insisted the opposite; but I believe that Ruth, although she may not have known what exactly it was,  understood that there was potential in Naomi’s leading.

Ruth followed Naomi back to Bethlehem where she was introduced to Boaz.  Naomi instructed Ruth how to conduct herself properly so that she would be allowed to pick up the left-overs from the harvesters in Boaz’s fields.  When Boaz saw what was going on, he instructed his harvesters to leave special provision for Ruth and Naomi.  Over time, this benefitted them both greatly, and at the proper time, Boaz redeemed Naomi’s land and married Ruth.  Ruth had a child, giving Naomi a grandson.  In fact, this child was so favored, that even the women surrounding Naomi said, “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!   He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

Ruth’s son was Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David…

There are some pretty interesting concepts in this story:

1.) By all natural circumstances, Naomi was in no position to have Ruth depend on her leading.  After all of her tragic loss and struggles, what could she really have to offer?  If you look at Naomi with today’s standards, there would probably be two opinions of her – the “poor Naomi, she lost everything she had and is now helpless” crowd, and the “for Naomi to have lost everything like she did, she must have been doing something seriously wrong” crowd.  Either way, from an external perspective, and probably her internal perspective as well, she didn’t seem to have much to offer.

2.) Although things weren’t perfect, Ruth chose to follow Naomi.  Ruth didn’t follow her out of pity, but out of dedication to her, and though Ruth probably didn’t understand what it was, her (Naomi’s) vision.

3.) When they returned to Bethlehem, Naomi imparted knowledge into Ruth.  Because of this, they were both sustained.  They weren’t overly successful during this period, but they did have their basic needs met by the application of Naomi’s knowledge.

4.) At a point, Ruth’s potential became important to Naomi.  Boaz (the owner of the fields) took a liking to Ruth and put her in a favorable position with his workers and her provision from his fields.  Boaz also knew that Ruth was connected to Naomi and that Ruth was taking care of Naomi.

5.) Ruth became favored to the point that Boaz married her and at the same time purchased all of the land that belonged to Naomi’s linage.  In these two actions, not only was Naomi’s future secured, but the future of billions and billions of people was established through the bloodline that produced Obed, Jesse, David and of course, Jesus.

It is absolutely amazing what kind of potential power exists in spending time with, training, and developing others.  So often we look at what we may be “out” by stretching our already-strapped schedule, diverting resources, and just simply having the patience to develop in others what someone took the time to develop in us.  Even more amazing is that an opportunity to give back and to establish may secure not only an element of your future, but that of future generations of leaders, workers, families and nations as well.  Lives can be dramatically altered when you take a small portion of your own time and take the opportunity to invest it in others.

Don’t wait for your situation to be perfect.  Train up your future.  Start today.

Understanding the Dynamics of Leadership Changes in your Business

Wow, okay, that title sounds a little too institutional for this blog doesn’t it?  Continue reading and we’ll figure it out…

First of all, let’s simplify the fancy title.  Simply put, as an organization moves through its life cycle, the dynamics of leadership are bound to change drastically over a period of time.  Often times, if the reasons for these changes, or the need for these changes are not understood and dealt with in unique ways, the business or organization is likely to lose momentum and potentially move backward or even worse, fail.  When leadership changes, the company often fails to explain to its employees why these changes are occurring (often times, they may not understand themselves), and in the uncertainty that is created at the local/store/agency level, a resulting uncertainty is then created with the consumer, as it is easily transferred from the staff to the customer. 

Take a minute to think about what may occur in the example of a business with a local manager that leaves his or her position, either by force or by choice.  The staff who are used to reporting to that manager are now so concerned with the conditions that caused the departure that they begin to work to salvage whatever they feel may be left of their chances for continued employment.  The staff puts so much effort into protecting their “turf” that they fail to recognize the needs of the customer, thus alienating the consumer and creating a huge potential negative impact on the business.  This is a substantial business risk that could be drastically reduced with some understanding of these situations.

To further understand this, let’s look at a standard life cycle for a sample business and note the changes in leadership that occur.

Tom had the vision to start a small restaurant.  He wanted to serve hamburgers, french fries and soda.  He opened his restaurant, and quickly gained popularity among the townspeople.  His business flourished, and Tom needed to hire additional staff.

Tom hired his brother, Pete to work with him.  Pete was a great hamburger and fry cook, so it was a perfect fit.  He also hired his daughter, Sally to operate the cash register.  Pete and Sally were great helpers for Tom, because not only were they good at what they did, they were family.  They saw the effort that Tom put into his operation and worked diligently with him to make sure their family name was respectable in regard to the restaurant they operated.  With these two additions they could easily serve the people in their community.

After time passed and the restaurant remained successful, Tom decided to start a second restaurant in a neighboring town.  He thought that the best thing to do was to move Pete and Sally to the second restaurant to manage that operation.  Tom knew that he was losing one of the best burger and fry chefs around, so he found a qualified replacement in Sam, an experienced burger and fry chef who had worked for years in the industry.  He brought a lot of burger and fry knowledge to the operation.  He also hired Pam, a recent high school graduate to run his cash register.  Pam had no experience in the business whatsoever, but she wanted to learn (and secretly wished she could have a restaurant of her own someday).  Pam was also going to begin taking night classes at a culinary arts academy.

About two years into their existence, Tom wanted to add seafood to his menu.  Everyone thought this was a great idea, and with the proper markup, Tom could make a much higher profit on seafood than he could burgers and fries.  Tom made his food orders from the seafood supplier, and everyone was excited for the arrival. 

When the order arrived, Sally handmade some signs to advertise the new menu items, and Sam and Pete got to cooking.  Neither one of them had any experience cooking seafood, and once the customers tasted the new food, their reaction was astonishing – they hated the seafood!  Sam had quite an ego, so when he heard what the customers were saying, he feared for his own reputation, knew he had other options, and left employment with Tom. 

Pete thought that he could figure it all out, so he kept cooking seafood.  He ruined a lot of it, and the rest went to waste because no one was ordering any.  The seafood expired and had to be thrown away.  Pete’s lack of knowledge caused a huge loss for Tom, as he was only good for cooking burgers and fries.

Sally didn’t have much to do now.  Without the inflow of customers, there were few sales, so she spent most of her day wiping down the counter next to her register.  When she was finished, she wiped it again, then she wiped it again, just to make her father think that she was keeping busy.  Tom knew better, but Sally was his daughter and there was no way he could let her go.

Throughout the entire time, Tom neglected to notice Pam, the staff member that was seemingly the most unqualified one of the bunch.  After all, what did she know.  She was only the cashier, and she didn’t have any formal education, or did she??? 

One day, Pam came to work, and she was carrying a brown paper sack with her lunch in it.  Pam was sick of eating burgers and fries, so she’d decided to whip up some fresh perch at home for a change of pace.  She’d learned several months ago in her culinary arts classes how to properly prepare seafood and she decided to put her talents to work.  Tom saw her bag and asked her what was in it.  Pam pulled out her fish and said, “oh it’s just some perch that I made last night.”  It was the finest looking meal that Tom had ever seen.

In the months to follow, Tom re-created his restaurants.  They became very successful seafood establishments, with much higher margins.  Some internal changes took place as well.  Tom discovered that Pam had been going to culinary school the entire time, and the team agreed that it would make much more sense for her to be the head chef.  Pete admitted that he never really liked the heat of the kitchen and would enjoy his job much more if he could just run the cash register.  Sally was happy to have her customers back, and Sam was replaced with another skilled member of Pam’s culinary arts class.  Tom’s businesses were saved!

What exactly happened here?  Let’s look at the basic progression and some reasons why the changes occurred.

1.) Tom, Pete and Sally were family.  It took a team of dedicated individuals who were committed to the vision to get the operation off the ground.  They were loyal to each other and to the vision.  However loyalty only goes so far when knowledge is limited.  Tom, Pete and Sally only knew so much, which was not enough for them to have a successful seafood operation.

2.) Sam was an outside expert.  He possessed the skills needed to accomplish his duties, but had no experience of working hard to start the operation.  He entered after the difficult work had been done, and since his entry was easy, his departure was easy as well.  He didn’t have the time or reason to be loyal.

3.) Pam grew with the organization.  She was there through the ups and the downs.  She understood that Tom took a risk on her by hiring someone with no experience.  Tom didn’t even recognize the risk he took in hiring her, so he could never properly value the relationship and her level of commitment to his business.  Pam was extending her knowledge outside of the work environment, creating unrecognized value to Tom.  He never asked for her input, so it wasn’t but by chance that he found that she possessed the knowledge and skills necessary to alter the outcome of his business.

This is what happens in most organizations, and in many cases goes unrecognized and creates their unnecessary demise.  The facts are simple, but yet difficult to discover:

• Loyalty is important, but will only get you to the place where knowledge runs out (often times, the loyalty “problem” is coupled with key people being out-of-place as time progresses…as was the case with Pete)
• Outside expertise may bring the required level of knowledge to an organization for the present.  However when conditions change, there is little/no loyalty, and sticking power becomes thin.
• Time and observation creates loyalty in very unassuming people.  Couple that with the proper external training, and solutions become more attainable.  Very often, the issue is really that leadership fails to recognize the growth that occurs in these unassuming people over the progression of time (i.e.: leadership holds them to a low standard and low expectations, when they are capable of so much more).

When these situations are addressed properly, the impact of natural change that occurs in any organization creates less strain on the environment, and continued success becomes more likely.

How does this connect Biblically?  Well, that one is very simple. 

Proverbs 2:1-5 says:

 ¹ My son, if you accept my words
   and store up my commands within you,
² turning your ear to wisdom
   and applying your heart to understanding—
³ indeed, if you call out for insight
   and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
   and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD
   and find the knowledge of God.

Just a little bit of understanding to add to your business toolbelt…

Are you a Placeholder or a Preferred One???

Last week I was faced with an unexpected challenge.  The person that I had chosen to manage one of our operations several months ago abruptly resigned, citing personal reasons as the rationale behind this decision.  This individual had been achieving better than acceptable results, but always required a decent amount of attention and generally more “hand-holding” than other individuals in similar positions in our company.  I had a feeling that as time passed and as more responsibilities were to be added to her plate, I would probably have an even greater challenge in keeping her up to speed.  Regardless, the current results were better than average, and as I already had a decent amount of time invested into this staff member, I figured that I could continue to deal with it.

Needless to say, her decision to leave changed all of this.  All of the sudden I was placed in the middle of what now was a crisis because I was losing a key position during a critical time.  Fortunately, this is not the first time during my career that this has happened.  In fact, it seems to have happened on a few different occasions, and the only thing that was different about this time was how I dealt with it.

A couple of days prior to all of this, I received an email from a person who was looking for employment.  Although they seemed to have some decent qualifications and I liked their resume, it was going to become one for the filing cabinet, because I simply did not have room for additional help.  The candidate had prior upper level management experience, and it seemed that she was aware that if anything, we were not in need of upper level people at the time.  Due to circumstances beyond her control, her previous position in upper level management had been eliminated, and consequently she mentioned that she’d be happy to be considered for a lower level position with our company.

Needless to say, I contacted her.  I did not tell her that our manager had left the company, and proceeded to interview her for the lesser position.  While speaking with her, I asked her about her prior management experience and how she would choose to handle various situations if and when they arose.  Every answer she gave me was better than perfect.  She was given a second interview with our Marketing Director.  Toward the end of that interview, a customer walked in the door.  Before anything could be done, she got up, greeted the customer and asked if she could help them.  I was speechless when I heard this.  At that point we had to tell her about the true position that she was interviewing for.  She accepted my offer, suggested two other potential hires that would benefit our organization and for the last two weeks has been producing phenomenal results. 

I was thinking about all of these events and found myself wishing that I had hired this candidate and her team in the first place.  However, back when I was originally hiring, her situation was different, and I highly doubt that we would have even connected.  We needed that first manager to hold the position until the timing was right for the person who deserved it all along to take their rightful place.

This reminds me of the account in 1 Samuel 2 of Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas who were the priests in the temple.  Originally, Eli would have trained his sons to take his place upon his death, which was the order of succession of that time.  During Eli’s priesthood, Hannah, so desperate for a son, prayed to God and committed to return her son to His service if only He would open her womb to allow her to bear a child.  We know that she gave birth to Samuel and placed him under Eli’s care and upbringing to serve in the Lord’s temple.  Eli’s sons committed acts that defiled the temple and God’s house, and subsequently God told Eli that they would all die at an early age.  Eli and his sons served as placeholders until Samuel, God’s preferred one, was brought up properly in the admonition of the Lord.  Had Eli not been present initially, there might not have been an encounter with Hannah and the events that followed would not have been orchestrated as they occurred.  Additionally, Eli knew that his sons’ behaviors were not acceptable to God, and at that point, he shifted his focus from attempting to rehabilitate his sons to educating Samuel. 

As business owners, managers and leaders, it is important to consider those who we invest time and resources into.  Are you able to tell the difference between your placeholders and your preferred ones?  Do you invest enough into placeholders to sustain your business until the rightful individuals take their place in those same positions.  Do you understand the importance of having the correct people in the correct place for the appropriate period, and are you flexible enough to acknowledge when that period is either beginning or coming to an end based on the arrival of the truly-qualified? 

Most times, we tend not to know the ‘real deal’ until it arrives.  However, if we’re honest with ourselves, we can often see key indicators with certain individuals that we quickly sweep under the rug, that had we not, we would admit that we may have key players out-of-place.  If we want to be successful and effective, we must acknowledge those indicators and adjust accordingly.

It’s All About Relationship

If you ask people to characterize a great leader, you might hear a multitude of responses.  Wise, dynamic, charismatic, talented, hardworking – any of these descriptions as well as several others may be mentioned.  However, in understanding what some of our greatest leaders have been able to accomplish, you’re likely to see that most of their accomplishments are far greater than what they could have achieved on their own.  They involve and invoke the giftings, skills and talents of others to assist in reaching the goal.  Therefore, I believe one of the most important qualities of the greatest of leaders is the ability to develop and manage key relationships…

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in one of the most rewarding undertakings of my life.  Jill, a good friend of our family, was disgusted with her excessive gas bill and posted a picture of herself at her desk wearing a coat, scarf, stocking cap and mittens on one of the social networking sites.  The caption under her photo said, “I was so upset with my $200 gas bill that I’ve turned down my heat to avoid another.”  Although she’s been through some difficult times and was serious about her situation, she has a way of conveying her message in a humorous manner, so that she’s never really seen as complaining or ungrateful about what she does have.  I value this.

Another friend of the family saw this picture and privately commented to Jill that she knew the feeling because she and her family had been without heat in her house for over a month.  Their furnace was broken, and they did not have the funds to replace it, as it was going to cost around $1500.  In our area, the temperatures have been in the single digits for the past several weeks, so the temperature inside this person’s house was hovering around 38 degrees! 

Jill instantly went to work.  She created a “Pay it Forward”  campaign, sending a message to all of her 500 friends on the social networking site, that if everyone was to contribute as little as $5.00, collectively the group could solve this family’s issue.  As one of the recipients of Jill’s message, I instantly thought that one of our company’s vendors (who we have an excellent relationship with), may be able to give a better price on the furnace, making the task even easier to accomplish.  In addition, I started to contact my friends…

Here’s how the power of relationship works:

My wife and I have an open door policy at our home.  Simply put, if we’re home (and even sometimes when we’re not), anyone is welcome here.  When we purchased our home 11 years ago, we agreed that we wanted our home to be a great place for our family, but also a place of blessing for others.  Although our house itself is not overwhelmingly huge, we really enjoy using it as a place where friends and family can gather to fellowship, visit, meet for fun and celebration, or just to get away from the troubles of their environment, even if it is just for a few short hours.  It isn’t uncommon for friends of ours to come to our house, ask what’s for dinner, find something in the cabinets or refrigerator, and start eating – before we even have a chance to answer.  Visitors, friends and family are here year-round, and we absolutely love that people seem to enjoy themselves here.

When I saw Jill’s message, I picked up the phone – aggressively.  I started to place calls to each of the people who visit our home on a regular basis.  I told all of them about the situation, no pressure, just the facts, and if they were able to assist, I’d appreciate it.  Every single call that I made resulted in a donation for this family, and the amount of those donations was huge!  The people who have been hanging out at our home for years now had a common goal and a mission.  We didn’t rent a movie, we didn’t order pizzas – we started to raise money.  After the initial round of calls was made, I began to receive calls.  Our friends were calling me back stating that other friends and relatives that they contacted were going to give money as well, and again, although any amount would have been more than acceptable, these were big gifts.  In less than two hours, we had raised about $1300.  I contacted Jill, and she was seeing great results as well.  The results were phenomenal!

I referenced the situation on my social networking page, and others began to respond – people I work with, vendors that I do business with, family members.  I was absolutely amazed.  I received a text message on my phone from a number that I did not recognize.  The text said, “Buy the furnace and get it installed, and whatever else you need, let me know.  I’ll pay you back when I come to town next week.”  I was embarrassed, but had to ask the sender who they were, as I still didn’t know the number.  Turns out that the text came from an old employee of mine, who had been terminated more than two years ago, and had relocated to another city and had taken on a new phone number.  Talk about floored…I didn’t think things could get much better!

Another one of my close friends posted my message on his social networking page, and he began to receive responses to that post.  His acquaintances who include several people who I do not know, began to pledge money as well.  I received a nice email from him stating, “I know that this [project] is not about you, but if you ever need anything, I’m there for you.”  I responded to thank him for his words, and I told him that I was passionate about this, and therefore, he was already there for me, doing exactly what he said.  Again, absolutely phenomenal!

In all this, I began to see so many characteristics regarding leadership that made the results obtained so great… 

Our friend Jill – she is an activator.  She saw past her own situation and whatever frustrations existed in it to hear what someone else was saying.  And more so than that, she saw a need and took a step.  I’m not saying that Jill wasn’t able to raise any money (on the contrary, she raised a lot!), but her relationship with me in this situation was as an activator.  Sometimes I am so “busy” that I don’t take the time or get the opportunity to stop and just listen to what is really happening around me.  I value the fact that Jill listened.  Jill is one of those people who has my attention because her words and actions are never overly emotional, frustrated, or complaining in nature.  She just deals with life as it comes, and for that she has my respect.  I am glad to be acquainted with someone who quietly listens and then rallies the troops.

I place extremely high value the relationship that I have my wife.  She is a facilitator.  For years, she has created an environment in our home where people feel welcome, comfortable and are able to be themselves, so that we all can truly enjoy the relationships that God has allowed us to participate in.  There is no monetary value that can be placed on a warm atmosphere, hospitality and a caring environment – that is, until this situation occurred.  My wife and her consistent, diligent and caring actions create that environment, often while I am out working in other areas of our businesses and volunteering with others.  It is rare to find a partner who not only sees what she does as a positive role that contributes to what is done inside but also outside of the four walls of our home.  My wife isn’t ‘submitting’ to our decisions. She’s supporting them wholeheartedly.  It is her commitment to creating a great atmosphere in our home that has assisted in forming these quality relationships.

Our friends and family are believers and supporters.  Without them, the end result would not have been reached.  I have the utmost respect for them because they heard the need and gave.  No questions asked…they simply responded.  After the fact, I thought about what could have happened.  They could have asked how I knew this family was deserving of their money.  They could have put restrictions on their giving.   They could have said, “not now – it just isn’t a good time for us”.  They could have been judgmental.  But instead, they just gave.  And in addition to that, they asked others they knew to give as well.  The people who I do business with, or who work for me that gave – they didn’t give to get next year’s contract or to keep their job.  They gave because they cared (for a complete stranger), and they knew that I cared.  How incredible is that???

So many lessons were learned in this situation.  In fact, I still probably have more that I have yet to learn from this.  To date, we’ve raised close to $2800 for this family – almost DOUBLE what we originally asked for.  Not only is their furnace getting fixed, but we’ve been able to replace some broken appliances, we’re trying to come up with a way to fix a vehicle that is in serious need of repair, as well as just trying to help them catch up on bills and other necessary items.  I am so excited for this family, because although times may be tough, I’m really hoping that they are seeing a small glimpse of how many people care about them and are rooting for their success!  I know from personal experience during our difficult times that the value of great friends is absolutely immeasurable!

The Bible says in Proverbs 3:27-28

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
      When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
Do not say to your neighbor, 
 “ Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,”
      When you already have it with you.

Be an innovator…

There are millions of businesses, products and services in the world today, but the most successful ones seem to have one thing in common – innovation.  The best ideas aren’t necessarily the ones that result in creation of new things, but instead are those that repurpose or reassign things that already exsist to serve a different or modified purpose.  Sometimes, innovation doesn’t exist in creating a modified end-product, but in the process used to create various products in general.  Most of the great products and processes of today exist because of someone’s idea to modify the way that an existing product was used.   Innovation is key to meet the needs of changing societies and cultures.  I personally know at least three individuals who are very wealthy because they found ways to modify products and processes that saved their companies millions of dollars.

I was reading the book of Judges today, and in Chapter 3, began to look at the progression of the first several judges in the Bible.  You’ll have to excuse the way I look at the way I read, but in my reading, I saw that the first judge Othniel ruled for 40 years, and the description of his term was covered in verses 8-11 (4 verses).  The second judge, Ehud, ruled for 80 years, and his term as judge was covered in verses 12-30 (19 verses).  By the way, Ehud was a pretty cool judge because he snuck a dagger into the king of Moab’s chambers and buried that dagger so deep into the fat king’s belly that he couldn’t pull it out – killing the king with it.  The third judge, Shamgar was spoken about in one verse (verse 31).  The verse said he slew 600 Philistenes with an ox goad.  Chapters 4 and 5 talk about Deborah, who ruled 40 years and then Chapter 6 discusses Gideon.

After reading all of this, I began to think about what I had read and quickly wrote off Shamgar.  I figured that it wouldn’t be correct (chronologically) to leave him out of the progression as the third judge, but since he only received one verse in the Bible, he must have been pretty insignificant. 

Then I looked again…

Verse 31 says, “…Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.”

Okay, so the guy killed 600 Philistines.  Being familiar with a lot of Bible stories, I recalled Samson who later killed 1000 Philistines with a jawbone of an ass, so although Shamgar was good, he didn’t top Samson…  So what was I missing???

The verse says that Shamgar slew 600 Philistines with an ox goad.  I have to admit that I didn’t really know what an ox goad was, so I decided to look it up to see if I could get a better idea.  When I did, I learned that an ox goad was a livestock implement, similar to a cattle prod, that was about 8 feet long with a pointed end.  It was used to motivate slow or stubborn livestock, often to get them to move or to do work. 

Now, I’m starting to see what I was missing.  Shamgar was an innovator.  The Bible doesn’t tell us whether he planned to be an innovator, or if he was forced to be one.  I highly doubt that Shamgar thought, “hey, I wonder if an ox goad is capable of killing 600 Philistines?  I think I’ll go see if it works.”  He probably became an innovator out of necessity.  I’m guessing that the situation that Shamgar found himself in warranted that he use whatever he had available to carry out his mission – Israelites needed saving and Philistines needed killing.  Probably the best (and only) tool available to him at the time was the ox goad.  Had Shamgar decided that the only way he would be successful at saving the Israelites was if he had the use of traditional methods – an army, swords, shields and spears, the Israelites probably would have been held captive or defeated by the Philistines, because Shamgar just didn’t have those things at his disposal.

The old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention”, or better yet “innovation” probably held true for Shamgar.  It also holds true for the best of the best business owners and managers today.  Necessity forces us to innovate.  When your business can’t afford to have the tools that other businesses use based on your size or budget, that doesn’t alleviate you from needing to be productive, competitive, or even just to be able to pay the bills.  If you find yourself looking at what you don’t have, change your perspective and begin to look at what you DO have.  Often times, the things that are in your hand are capable of doing the job when they’re used in new and creative ways.

If you need to hang a picture and happen to have a nail and a hammer, make sure you use that.  If you can’t afford a hammer, the heel of your shoe may work just as well!  Be an innovator!!!

Do you want to be a great leader? If so, find someone else to follow…

Although the title of this article needs no further explanation, it just wouldn’t be right to not expound on the topic a little bit, so here we go…

Many business leaders, me included, get so wrapped up in managing the day-to-day aspects of their business that there is little time for much else.  If we’re not careful, we can get so engulfed in the details that we succumb to managing what we have – so much so that we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to grow both our own capabilities as well as the capabilities of our businesses.  When we finally ‘wake up’ to what we’ve been spending all of this time doing, we find that the reason that we’re frustrated, tired and unfulfilled is because we’ve been managing something that is not moving forward.

One of the ways to overcome the process of going nowhere as a leader is to find some way to put yourself in a position where you’re forced to follow someone else.  You don’t necessarily have to try to chase down Donald Trump to see how to be a better leader; just simply find a position for yourself where you can FOLLOW.  Here’s why:

As leaders, we often feel the need to try to add our two cents to everything.  We have an opinion, we have some sort of education, and if we’re not in some form of control over what happens, then we feel that we’re not adding value.  So, if you’re willing to discover how to be more effective, find a place where your opinions, education, etc. are really not required.  In other words, sometimes the best way to “follow” is to find a position where your leadership abilities don’t really matter.  Why?  Because if you happen to get all hung up about using your expertise while trying to follow, you’ll end up defaulting to a leadership position (or really frustrating the person who IS the true leader).  Learn to follow with your hands and your feet, not your mouth and your brain.  If you’re up for the challenge, be part of something – not the person in charge of it.

About fifteen years ago, I decided to volunteer to play the guitar in the orchestra at our church.  When I started out, I wasn’t the best guitar player by any means, but thankfully (especially to the ears of those in the pews) I think I have improved over time.  As the years have progressed, my internal role as the church guitar player has remained the same, while my external role in business has changed drastically.  I’ve moved from being an hourly employee, to a low-level management position, to a middle management position, to executive management and to business ownership.  My level of education has progressed as well.  When I began playing in the orchestra, I was in high school.  Since that time, I have completed college and a master’s program.  Through all of my professional and educational changes, my role in the church orchestra has never changed.

Two years ago, I found myself becoming very frustrated with my “position” in the orchestra.  I saw the habits of some that I volunteered with – some people were always early, some were often late, some people played with skill, some played with little skill, some people came to contribute, and others came to be seen.  My biggest frustration was that leadership did not deal with these issues in the manner I would have chosen to deal with them, had these volunteers been employees of mine.  I was also very frustrated because several people were aware of my external successes, yet I was never asked for advice about how I would handle these situations, how “productivity” could be improved, or if I would like to “supervise” the volunteers.  At one point, I felt that I was being underutilized and if so, my efforts were not worth my time…

Somehow, I managed to hold my place and keep my mouth shut (how this happened, I still do not know).  I started to realize that my place in the orchestra was the only thing that I participated in where I had no level of control over anything or anyone except myself.  I also realized that there must be some reason, other than not wanting to handle these “issues”, that they were being handled in a different manner than I would have managed them.  Instead of getting frustrated to the point of quitting, I remained.  What I have learned during the last two years of staying in my place, using my hands and feet (not my head and my mouth) – has been priceless.  I’ve learned how to motivate instead of chastise, give instruction, receive instruction, seek non-critical input, work with others to produce positive results when there isn’t time to explain, celebrate victories, and share in challenges.  My position to “shut up and ride” has been vitally important to what I understand and practice today.

In the Bible, Jesus’ disciples were in a similar position.  Remember that Jesus was not the Billy Graham of his day.  His doctrine was cutting edge and controversial by the standards of the time, so those who traveled with him were not necessarily on a road tour of popularity.  Of the twelve, some of His disciples were successful fishermen, one was an accountant, and another a tax collector.  Before Jesus invited them to follow him, they had professions and were likely to be doing something meaningful with their lives.  Jesus didn’t ask them to follow him because he needed their “skills” to add to his ministry, or because he felt sorry for a bunch of jobless, homeless guys.  He needed their ability to understand that they could be effective in the revolution that would lead millions of people to Christ after His death.  The “simple” requirement that they needed to adhere to was to spend their time following Jesus with their hands and feet while He was yet on the earth.  And at that, most of them didn’t realize their true potential until the leader that they were following had been crucified.

So, if you want to be a great leader, it is often a huge benefit to exercise your faith, challenge yourself, turn off your head and mouth (education and opinion), and find somebody to follow.  You’ll be surprised at how your ability to follow keeps you from cyclically managing the ordinary and will position you to lead your business into the extraordinary!

What level does your knowledge come from?

It is amazing to me that in most business environments, as well as in life in general, the manner in which people speak is often parallel to their level of knowledge and responsibility.  Often times, as people attain positions of greater responsibility, they know more facts, they have influence over greater numbers of individuals, and have greater potential to effect the outcome of various situations.  However, these same people rarely recognize their position of potential and end up producing exactly the opposite of what they are capable of producing.  What exactly does this mean???  Consider this example…

A company has three “classes” of employees: general laborers, local management, and executive management.  Because of tough economic conditions encountered by the company, the CEO releases three memos, one to each class. 

The memo to the general laborers says, “Due to current conditions, our company has come under some difficult times.  We request that all employees pay close attention to the amount of money they spend in their department.  There is to be no overtime, and parts and materials are to be used wisely.  Please conserve resources whenever possible.  As soon as we can, we will restore normal operations.  Know that by participating with your effort to do what has been requested, we are confident that we will succeed.  Thanks for your support.”

The memo to local management says, “Due to current conditions, we acknowledge that you have a budget from which your business unit operates, but we are requesting that you spend no money whatsoever unless it is absolutely necessary to sustain the operations of the business.  We are temporarily freezing wages until recovery is achieved.  Additionally, to overcome this crisis, executive management will be focused on recovery efforts and will be spending the bulk of their time on these issues.  In the interim, while we all are dealing with this situation, understand that they [executive management] are not ignoring you, but instead expect that you will operate as we have trained you to do over the past several years while we all work together to restore normal operations as soon as possible.” 

The memo to executive management says, “You are all aware of our current financial crisis.  As of today, we have an operational deficit of $750,000 and we must recover within the next six months, or the business and our employees will be in jeopardy.  I am asking each of you to do everything within your power to assist in resolving this crisis, as I know that you are all aware of the seriousness of this situation.  I have complete confidence that we can work together to restore a stable position for our company.”

Although the three memos are worded differently, they all convey the same message –

1.) The company has a serious situation

2.) Everyone should pitch in to do their part to assist in the resolution of the situation

3.) Once the situation is resolved, things will return to normal.

The reaction, based on position and level of knowledge always seems to be interesting…

The general laborers respond by saying, “Here they go again…making our jobs difficult because they want to maintain their fancy lifestyle, meanwhile I’ve got to do more with less.  Seriously, what do they expect from me?  Do they want me to make bricks with more clay and less straw???  Oh well, I need this job, so I guess I’ll do what they say until I find something better.”

Some of the local management responds by saying, “I’ve been with this company for five years, and I should have seen this coming all along.  I know what’s happening here.  The CEO made some really bad decisions and now he’s asking us to stick with him while they try to bail us out.  If I was the CEO, I certainly wouldn’t be operating the way he chooses to operate.  I wouldn’t be that stupid.  And on top of that, he thinks he’s going to try to smooth over the fact that now the executive management team is going to spend their time working on stuff that they can’t fix.  Meanwhile, I’m going to end up doing all of the work, and for what… we’ll probably close up shop anyway.  I’d better make sure that I tell all of my coworkers that we’d better start looking for new jobs.  Time to go somewhere where we’re appreciated and where our opinion counts.  As soon as I get a better offer, I may be outta here!”

The remainder of the local management says, “I’ve been with this company for the past five years, and although this is one of the worst crises I’ve seen, we’ve been through challenges before.  I don’t like them and they’re definitely not easy to deal with.  When they’re over, we come out wounded, but we’ve always come out of them.  Several times, we’ve learned valuable lessons in these situations that we probably would not have learned had we not had the situation in the first place.  I’m going to rally the troops and make sure they know that we’re going to do this as a team, and since the executive management team is busy dealing with this issue, I’m going to make sure that my coworkers know that if they need my assistance in any of the areas where I’m strong, I’ll be more than happy to lend my assistance.  That’s the only way that I can see making it through this crisis.”

The executive management responds by saying, “We’re in a real mess here, we certainly acknowledge that.  Normally we operate with strategy and lots of planning, and now we’re in a situation where everything is going to have to be dealt with on a day-by-day basis.  We have a lot at stake, and potentially a lot to lose.  It would be easy to leave, but that just wouldn’t be fair to the people who work with and for us on a daily basis, and on top of that, we trust the CEO.  It’s difficult to see what the future brings, but we’ll stay onboard for now.  We sure hope that the people who we’ve trained for all of these years understand the severity of what we’re facing and can work without our normal level of oversight while we tend to this problem.  We really have provided them with the tools that they need, but now it is time for them to walk this out without our continuous assistance.  The outcome depends as much on their performance as it does on our decisions.”

The real differentiating factor here is how the local management responds to the situation.  Whereas the executives are often invested into the company that they are solving issues for, local management sits on the teeter totter and can either rely on their long-term experience and training to help get them through the situation, or they can use it to get out of the situation by moving elsewhere.  This is really the key position to affect change and through participation, or lack of it, all other people will “dig in” or “bail”.

In the Bible, these situations parallel that of Job.  As the executive management of his world (Job was very well-off), the CEO (God) made him aware of a crisis period that he would be participating in.  We know that this was Job’s “test”.  His outcomes were to either curse God and die or to withstand the test and in the end, we know that he ended up with twice as much as he started with.  Job’s local management (his friends), made assumptions and chose to speak things that weren’t the truth about the CEO.  In the end, Job was restored, and so were his friends, but only after he prayed for them.  The Bible says that after Job was restored, all of his brothers and sisters and everyone who knew him brought him silver and gold because of what he had been through.  It also appears to be clear that Job came through his situation with a better understanding of God, as well as his friends.

In your organization, it is important to understand the various responses to crisis.  It’s also important to know that the people who should know how to respond properly sometimes make very poor assumptions, rely on their own experience/inexperience, and their lack of ability to trust leadership’s commitment and dedication to the vision.  In those situations, we have to be very careful that we understand their position without allowing it to further impact any negative conditions of the crisis at hand.  Crisis can be a good opportunity to determine who understands and supports the overall vision, regardless of the obstacles faced while achieving it; it can also be a good opportunity to correctly “discard” those who do not support anything more than their own needs and/or agenda.

Make sure you know where your knowledge comes from!