Narrow

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

…narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

- Jesus of Nazareth

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This story begins almost 20 years ago. A man with a wife of 11 years, a son of 10 years of age, and two daughters of 7 and 4. The protagonist in this story is a banker managing a large investment portfolio (10 digits worth) with a carefully constructed spreadsheet of his future net worth (7 digits worth).

He is on track. Everything is happening according to plan. Numbers don’t lie, correct?  Well, at least they don’t, until they do.  Because the scoreboard our protagonist is trying to light up is the wrong one. This one is motivated by fear, the need to be the master of his own fate, and to prove that he can do life on his own.

Even his Christian faith has become contrived. A system of organization and order. A way to make him feel like he has it all figured out and a system to keep him from really feeling and experiencing the uncertainty and the glory found there. The faith required to live there.

This hero’s journey is assaulted. It gets turned upside down. Everything gets rocked. Faith fails.  Marriage crumbles. His unhappiness and discontent are felt by the ministries he is a part of, the children that he wanted to do better with than he had known as a boy, and the woman of his dreams.

But in a pivotal four day trip to Colorado, he encounters a guide, who takes him on a simple journey that he is still exploring almost 20 years later. 

The journey costs him everything to gain everything.

There is no longer the banking career and managing 10 digits.

There is no spreadsheet with the accumulated wealth of 7 digits either.

But there is abundant life.

A fully integrated career where personal, professional, and spiritual all operate seamlessly.

A much deeper, abiding, and true faith.

A restored marriage and a new concept of "father" for his kids.

And work that is playing a small role in bringing clarity, purpose, and success to leaders, the people they lead, and the organizations they manage.

This protagonist has been able to stare down his antagonist (although he whispers lies continuously) and find a new way to live. He is humbled and honored to receive confirmation of how different things are…how different he is.

Recently, his now 22-year-old daughter (who was once the 4-year-old mentioned above) was interviewing for a job. The company told her that they receive 5 resumes a day from girls just like her who have just graduated from college and are looking for work.

They never interviewed one of them…until now.

Not only did she warrant an interview, but they were so captivated by her character, the way she talked about her life, what she valued and how she saw the world, that the interviewer gathered other co-workers to hear what she had to say.  

When they asked her how she became that way, she said…

“I was raised in a family that valued my character over my accomplishments.”

The reality is that this protagonist’s journey, like all of ours, doesn’t end with his own life, but extends into the generations that follow. This protagonist got to witness the joy, pride, and excitement of the next generation of his life talk about her experience of being seen, heard, and honored.

This protagonist smiled and laughed so hard that the only place the happiness could get out was through his eyes. Tears of joy that he simply didn’t know were possible a mere few years ago.

Consider

• What scoreboard are you trying to light up?
• How invigorated, fulfilled, or full of life are you as you pursue that scoreboard?
• What will you pass on to the subsequent generations of your children or those you are leading?
• Are you ready to go on a journey that will cost you everything to gain everything?

Excavate

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” 

- Jesus of Nazareth

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Our kids enjoy a show called Expedition Unknown on the Travel Channel. Every episode has the incredibly likable everyman Josh Gates taking us into the great unknown mysteries: the origins of Stonehenge, the Mayan lost city of Gold, and even the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. 

He is often digging for and unearthing “treasure”. And I say that in quotations because what he typically finds looks more like a rock, a lump of clay, a shred of wood, or a piece of broken off something. Of course, once it is cleaned up, sourced, and attached to story, myth, or legend, it takes on inestimable value.

It is the same with your company and your life. 

Most companies we encounter have some version of core values and they are incredible noble words: integrity, honesty, teamwork, etc.  Fantastic words that nearly every company would identify with and wouldn’t differentiate a company from any other.

Lencioni taught us that these are permission-to-play values. Sort of contrived or “duh” values.  Because a starting point or sort of assumed baseline of operating as a successful business should include all of those. It is hard for a team to rally around those kinds of values, own them personally, or provide the differentiating power that real specific values provide.

When we are trying to arrive at a set of powerful and unique values to define an organization, we do a deep excavation of true company culture, the best and worst employee experiences, the things their customers celebrate about their engagement with them, and we walk all the way back through a company’s story.

We are all a collective sum of the experiences we’ve had…both the good and the bad. The overcoming and even the redemption of those experiences is where our true treasure is found.  

“Every past experience is preparation for some future opportunity.  God doesn’t just redeem our souls.  He also redeems our experiences.  And not just the good ones.  He redeems the bad ones too—especially the bad ones.  How? By cultivating character, developing gifts, and teaching lessons that cannot be learned any other way.”

— Mark Batterson

If we are going to arrive at something powerful, unique, and interesting - something that clarifies, motivates, and inspires our team - our values can’t be borrowed from the short list that every other company uses.

We’ve got to dig that stuff up, clean it off, and understand how it powerfully differentiates us from all others who do what we do.  

Several of our clients are in the process of wanting to aggressively grow their business. We are using the StoryBrand framework I am trained in to help them reintroduce themselves to the market. They are not only feeling more powerful through the differentiating clarity of their values, they are using them to more confidently offer their value proposition to a bigger audience.

One client texted me after a key meeting with an influencer. He said that he differentiated his work through the articulation of the values he had excavated.  The person he met with was taken by the values and said they were a great way to describe the unique quality of his work.

This client isn’t a fan of business development and wasn’t super excited about the plan we laid out to monetize his new organizational clarity into new business. But he just told me that the meeting above was his fifth of many. They have all gone well and he is beginning to find them invigorating.  

How great is that?

Real, deeply embedded values - once articulated - bring clarity, provide momentum, and are the pathway to doing more of what you do in even better ways. Watching leaders feel more powerful about what they are doing and leveraging it to do more of the business they desire to do is a really glorious thing to watch.

Consider

• What values are core to your organization?
• How did you come up with them?
• Was it a collaborative team experience or was it something you did on your own?
• It is rooted in your story, your history, and the experiences of your employees and customers?
• Are they powerfully motivating and focusing for your organization?  They should be.

Biathlon

“The word biathlon stems from the Greek word for two contests, and is today seen as the joining of two sports; skiing and shooting. Biathlon has its roots in survival skills practiced in the snow-covered forests of Scandinavia, where people hunted on skis with rifles slung over their shoulders.  Biathlon combines the power and aggression of cross-country skiing with the precision and calm of marksmanship.”

- U.S. Olympic Committee

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A biathlon requires athletes racing around a course totaling 20km at pulse rates of 180-190 beats per minute and then completely calming themselves well enough at four intervals to shoot a button-sized target 50 meters away.  

What the heck does the one thing have to do with the other?  

How were these things combined into a single sport in the first place?

The essential skills of both skiing and marksmanship were born out of necessity. They have played an important role in combat for centuries. For instance, in World War II, 50,000 skiing riflemen held off a Russian army that had them outnumbered 10 to 1. The History Channel has a documentary about Simo Häyhä, “The World’s Deadliest Sniper” who is credited with over 500 kills as part of that effort.

In the first World War, 7,000 bullets were fired per person killed. In the Vietnam War, it is estimated that 25,000 bullets were fired per recorded kill. A professionally trained sniper averages 1.3 shots per kill. They are incredibly efficient and precise.

So why are we talking about the skiing and sharpshooting required for Biathlon in a leadership blog?

It turns out that those seemingly disparate activities were powerfully and essentially connected.  In order to complete a crucial task, a Scandinavian soldier needed to be proficient at both. As different as these skills and abilities might seem, both were required to get the job done. And so the biathlon celebrates and reminds us of all that.

We engage the archetype of the “visionary” or “entrepreneur” often.  These are very particular people that are the architects behind most of the businesses you know. Someone had to have the creative inspiration, the courage, and the tenacity to start and withstand the incredible inertia of creating something new and on their own.

The company would not exist without them and yet it will probably fail with them unless they tap into a completely different, but essential skill set. Every entrepreneur either needs to discover the ability to throttle and manage all that creativity, risk quotient, and resulting idea generation, or deal with the consequences of all the creativity and lack of focus. 

The skills and abilities necessary to start a business are almost the opposite of what it takes to successfully manage the business.

Rather than trying to become something that doesn’t fit them naturally, they typically will hire that skill set and ability. They will hire an integrator, a general manager, an ops manager, or a president to oversee and manage the business.  

Increasingly, our clients are using the leadership teams and the healthy execution model we created to embody that integrator role to help balance the entrepreneur. It requires incredible trust and maturity for the entrepreneur to hand off management and authority to another leader or a leadership team.

Those who can are richly rewarded with better decision making, long-term stability, and a more focused business. Those that can’t, typically continue to live in the same chaos and overwhelm without much hope for change. Working harder or longer only exacerbates the problem.

Consider

• Are you like a Biathlete? Well skilled in both entrepreneurship and healthy management of your team?
• Are your team members frequently frustrated by your lack of focus?
• Are they less than enthusiastic about your new ideas?
• Are you open to having someone else or a team of others oversee, manage, and even throttle your endless slate of new ideas?

Deviation

Deviation 

de·vi·a·tion

ˌdēvēˈāSH(ə)n/

noun

1. the action of departing from an established course or accepted standard. "deviation from a norm"

2. the amount by which a single measurement differs from a fixed value such as the mean.

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I used to live a pretty button-downed life with a pretty button-downed faith. I felt like I had it all figured out. That I had God all figured out.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

God is unknowable. If you think you have Him all figured out, it isn’t God, it is some subset of who He is that you have landed on and defined. It is a portion of the unknowable God, but it isn’t Him.

A perfectly known and articulated life removes the specter of surprise, adventure, or discovery.  That is a subset of the life intended and not the abundant one we are all desiring to find (whether we have quit desiring it or not).

“Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life – gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God.”

— Oswald Chambers

I am finding that the example of others leading more abundant lives is helping me to move the needle on my own. In order for me to move one standard deviation from the norm, I need to be watching and listening to those that are living 2-3 standard deviations out.

And if I am going to coach and coax others out into the deeper and more uncharted waters slightly away from the mean, I am going to need to start living at least 1-2 standard deviations out as well.

Some of the tools God has used to help draw me out of the boat onto the water are:

• Aaron McHugh’s Life, Work, Play podcast - rebooting his life and living a more extraordinary story
• Morgan Snyder’s Becoming Good Soil podcast, blog, writing, and conferences - exploring the themes of sonship and Kingdom living
• Lifeplan - uncovering purpose, calling, and excavating the story of your life to help you map a clearer and more abundant future
• The Enneagram - an ancient personality profiling tool that helps people understand what they are like when they are healthy/redeemed/integrated and what they look like when they are not.

There are others, but those are the ones that come to mind most prominently.  

This journey toward living a more abundant life, standard deviations away from the norm, has taught me a couple of things:

• People are threatened by your breaking ranks with what they feel is normal
• They likely will not celebrate your movement toward freedom and more abundant life
• Walking with God into this incredible uncertainty brings a certainty to it that is more clear and sure than anything else in your life

Consider

• Does your spiritual life feel fixed, contrived, or lacking surprise?
• How close are you living to the “mean” of the standard Christian life?
• Are you living with the breathless expectation that comes from hope and uncertainty?
• What would one standard deviation from the norm look like for you?

Crappy

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” 

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Before Sam Rockwell won an Oscar for his unforgettable performance as Officer Jason Dixon in Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri, his favorite performance of mine was as the lovable loser, Owen, in 2013’s The Way, Way Back.

Owen had resigned himself to a pretty pathetic life as a slacker manager of a tired small town waterpark on the upper East Coast. Over the course of a pivotal summer, he encounters the lonely and discouraged 14-year old Duncan. He offers to give Duncan a lift and tells him he can stow his bike in the back seat of his very tired convertible.  

He says…

“Hey man, be careful with my car, it’s just the right amount of crappy.”

Apparently, so is his life. A dead-end unfulfilling job, a dysfunctional relationship with a long-time girlfriend, and seemingly no point to his life. Owen’s life is not changing because he has resigned himself to the current situation.

• He appears not to like it, but not enough to be motivated to change...
• because he isn’t trying to do anything about it....
• and he certainly isn’t open to the encouragement of his girlfriend and others to change it.

Just the right amount of crappy.

I have a broad slate of clients that fill my calendar every week. These are extraordinary leaders that are aware of their challenges, motivated to make real and substantive changes, and are coachable. To watch leaders and organizations change, get momentum in a better and right direction, and see them experience real measurable progress are the most invigorating things I can imagine.

But I am also meeting frequently with folks that aren’t currently clients. They are filling my calendar each week as well. Friends of well-meaning friends, folks who have stumbled onto our website or our Linked-in or blog postings, and all other manner of connections.  

They are from different industries, company sizes, and situations, but they carry a very common set of characteristics. They are…

Frustrated

Stuck

Discouraged

Overwhelmed

Unclear

Fearful

They are clearly in pain. They are at least a little motivated or we wouldn’t be sitting down to coffee or a meal. But most, in my humble opinion, are not in enough pain to be motivated enough to be open to really changing things…to receiving some coaching, redirection, and accountability.

And you know that old saying about the definition of insanity; doing things the same way over and over again and expecting a different result. That sentiment is alive and well. Apparently their life, their business, their leadership is…

Just the right amount of crappy.

I encourage those folks. I try to dust off their britches and get ‘em back on their feet. I try to discern what I can best offer and tool them up a bit. And then I bless and release them. You can’t make some translate their frustration and pain into action. You can’t make them be open to coaching and letting someone come alongside them.

I then sit back and see what happens next. In my heart, I am contending for them. Praying that their lives will get to such a wrong amount of crappy that they’ll reach back out, motivated and open to some redirection, some coaching, some change. That they’ll engage and start a journey.  For them, for their leadership team, for their company.

Consider

• How is it going?
• Honestly....how is it really going?
• Have you just gotten comfortable with the "right amount of crappy"?
• Or are you finally at the place where you are ready to do something about it?

Underdog

“Do you believe in Miracles?  YES!”

- Al Michaels

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We love rooting for the underdog, right? Whether it is the 1980 U.S. Hockey team, the kids from Sandlot, or even the Goonies. We love it when against all odds, the unthinkable happens. When the one that no one expected to come through, does.

The bible is replete with these kinds of stories, like the Israelites escaping slavery or David taking on the giant Goliath. And then there is maybe the most likely a tribe of underdogs as the world has ever seen, the disciples. With all the religious elite and rabbinical superstars that were available, Jesus chose the most unlikely of subjects to change the world.

Then he did something even more unlikely than that…

He chose us.

Increasingly, my favorite part of the Jesus story is not the life, death, and resurrection (although what was accomplished in those is truly staggering), but the ascension. That seems like the part of our intended heritage that gets overlooked or translated in some self-serving way.  (I don’t hate many things, but I hate prosperity theology.)

To me, the greatest underdog story of all is that He chose me. That he chose you. That he modeled what miracle, healing, and restoration was supposed to look like…so that we could carry on the practice. That the plan to heal, restore, and govern judiciously over this entire world... was us.

What a privilege.

What a responsibility.

How does that idea land with you?  Did you sit up straighter, filling your lungs with some deeper air? Do you mutter an “Oh #$%&!” under your breath? Your response to those ideas says a lot about you.

If you are confident as a leader (whether it is in your work, your home, or your broader community)...

If you know your validation and your identity...

If you have found some healing and restoration to your broken places…

If you aren’t operating in fear and overwhelm…

The gifts of the ascension should fire you up.

Greater things you will do that I have done.

I’m leaving my spirit to guide you.

Go and do likewise.

You are my hands and feet.

In the context of eternal life....with the knowledge that you have, are, and will always be loved....  given that everything you have done, are doing, and will do, is forgiven....

The privilege and responsibility of the gifts of the ascension should be pretty invigorating. 

Okay, that guy over there and a bunch of other folks you can easily find online, are going to make prosperity all about us or meeting the world’s definition of prosperity.

How sad.  

Not just because it is wrong and misguided, but because the prosperity we’ve been granted is far more glorious.

Consider

• Have you ever considered yourself to be an underdog?
• Have you ever thought about why underdog stories seem to be so appealing?
• What would life look like if your predominant operating system was determined fully by the gifts provided by the life, death, resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus?

Luxury

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” 

- Jesus of Nazareth

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I don’t remember taking vacations as a kid. I can remember some awkward visits to see some relatives in Dallas, sleeping on the floor, and going to an amusement park one day. I remember my dad taking me on a one-day business trip with him to a bigger city and taking in a new movie called “Star Wars”.

But I never really gave it much thought. I remember a distant memory of spending time on a deserted island and a trip to Hawaii, only to realize that I was blurring my recollections with Gilligan’s Island and the Brady Bunch. I spent a lot of time escaping to a different life through television and the life I imagined there.

In a meeting last week, a leader described her impression of vacations as a child as an…

...unattainable luxury.

That expression echoed in me like a church bell or the stiff base note at the heavy metal concerts of my youth. It reverberated throughout the life I’ve lived and stood in deep contrast to the life I am finding.

Her description of her first adult vacation to “paradise” reminded me of mine. I had gotten up extra early to watch the sunrise on my first morning in Hawaii. Backpack and journal at the ready.  We had arrived in the dark and I had only seen whispers and shadows of the glory I sensed was about to unfold.

As light broke the horizon of the endless ocean, I was overwhelmed and undone. 

I wanted to marry the creation I was experiencing with the creation I had read about.  But instead of turning to the Genesis story I found myself in Kindle reading the “Magician’s Nephew” from C.S. Lewis and his depiction of Aslan singing the world into existence.

(Grab a copy of the illustrated version of Magician’s Nephew and make sure your kids and grandkids get to experience Ch. 9 “The Founding of Narnia”.)

The “unattainable luxury” I had only imagined my entire life was becoming unimaginable beauty right before my eyes. And not only that, it was the realization that all that beauty was glory intended just for me.

I’ve heard so many describe their interaction with the grandeur of creation as making them feel very small. Mine was the opposite. I experienced the overwhelming feeling of the Creator’s love for me in the creation. I felt 10 feet tall, bursting with joy and confidence that comes from being noticed and cared for well.

He was delighting in me delighting in what he had created just for me.  Just like any father would for his sons or daughters.

Consider

• How are you experiencing the Creator?
• Do you find him in His creation?
• Are you overwhelmed, undone, and more closely aligned to Him in it or do you feel distanced and smaller?
• What is that telling you about your understanding of the heart of your Father?

Contending

“This time around I know what I am fighting for.”

- James K. Braddock in Cinderella Man

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Cinderella Man is one of the great all-time movies about one of the great all-time stories.  It is about a mid-ranked fighter in the depression era America losing everything and then clawing his way back into the ring and into the championship fight. He is the ultimate underdog because everyone else down on their luck is identifying with his success.

In a way, he is not only contending for his family, but for every man and woman who is suffering.  When his wife Mae (who hates him fighting) shows up at their local parish to pray for Jim, the priest tells her that the church full of people are there to do the same. "They somehow believe that Jimmy is fighting for them," he said.

Have you ever wanted something more for someone than they wanted it for themselves? 

Have you ever contended for someone that didn’t seem like they had the same fight in them?

What we often encounter as coaches is that people have quit believing that things can change.  Many of them have tried a lot of things, sometimes even things that look like the things we are offering. Their disappointment and lack of hope is palpable.  Given how difficult how things are, how could they possibly turn around?

They have long quit dreaming of something far better and are fixated on just calming the storm and surviving.

Given the backdrop of a really challenging world and a lot of frustration and discouragement we are finding in leaders, we are having to spend more time trafficking in what appears to be an increasingly scarcer currency…

hope.

One of our coaches refers to it as “contending for them until they are able to contend for themselves”. I love that. I think it fully captures the heart we have for leaders and fully summarizes what work that requires.

When the storms are raging and all hope seems lost, someone better still be holding on to hope.  The people you lead at work or at home are looking to you and your leadership to guide them through the storm. If you feel like all hope is lost, you better learn to fake it. You better show the ability to get up from the mat and keep fighting.  Or you better find someone to contend for you until you are able to fully contend yourself.  Find someone who traffics in hope until you build up a reserve of your own.

At the end of the day, whether you know it or not, you fighting for change, for hope, is not just about you. They all believe you are fighting for them…or not.

Consider

• Are you hopeful that things can change?
• Is that hope driving you to fight through the challenges, the discouragement?
• Are those you are leading drawing strength from how they see you fighting?
• What happens if you lose hope, heart, or the desire to fight?

Escape

“Vacation

All I ever wanted

Vacation

Had to get away”

- The Go-Go’s

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I was having a conversation with a wise, mature, and Kingdom-minded leader. I’ve known him for about five years and really gotten to know him through working with him and his company over the last couple.

He was talking about turning 60 and what he was feeling about this next season of his life.  He was contrasting what most of the people he knew were doing at his age with what he desired to do. They were planning increasing amounts of vacations to increasingly exotic places.

He isn’t. Nor will he be.

Don’t get me wrong, this guy likes vacations and has been all over the world. But he is so invigorated by his life and his company’s clear and intended future, that he would rather work on and invest in that than hang out almost anywhere else.

After my last meeting with him, our Client Experience Coordinator and I were discussing the conversation I had with this leader. She noted something really inspired:

Vacations are becoming more about escapism.

If the world has gone mad...

If you are finding life unfulfilling…

If there appears to be no purpose to your life...

If life feels more like chaos than calm...

If you feel disconnected from others...

You better get away.

But getting away shouldn’t be an escape to something you can only find away from your day-to-day life. It better be something that reminds you of the life that is intended every day. A life that is available, prepared in advance for you, and sacrificed for at a great price. A life that is part of your spiritual heritage.

We will face trials and the ways that we sin doesn’t make matters any easier, but we were created for something far grander. We should be high-fiving those around us with the realized glory available in every day. We should be feasting on the miraculous and invigorated by the life we have been invited into and are so privileged to live.

Our family has been incredibly privileged to spend 2-3 weeks in Colorado each of the last 4 summers. My wife and I have gotten away a couple of times as well.  

I find that…

I am no longer escaping my day-to-day life, 

but recharging in order to drive more fully back into it.

I am stepping away to gain perspective, to seek God’s deeper understanding and insight.  

I am filling my mind with fresh ideas, 

my lungs with clearer air, 

and my heart full of greater hope.

I don’t think the question is whether or not a person wants a vacation. Of course they do. The real question is why they want one.

Consider

• Do you want to get away?
• Why?
• While on vacation, are you excitedly anticipating returning back to your everyday life, or are you counting down the remaining days like a death march?
• What needs to change in your day-to-day life where you don’t feel the need to escape?

Choices

“Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome.”

- Wikipedia

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Most leaders we talk with feel pretty captive to their circumstances. As if there were something cosmic or predetermined about their situation that is beyond them and cannot be altered. I certainly know that feeling. There is a good chance you have felt it as well. Maybe it is the predominant operating system you are under right now.

It is interesting how fanciful a series of books like Choose Your Own Adventure feels. The idea that by making a simple series of choices could result in a completely different story sounds preposterous when you apply that concept to your own life.

But choosing a different path with a completely different outcome is absolutely available. The author Donald Miller proposes that we have a lot more to say about how our life goes than we realize. That we can settle for a more simple and less adventurous life that seems to be in ready supply in the world,

…or we can choose something a little more daring.

We just finished another Lifeplan retreat with a couple of dozen folks.  Turns out that there is an incredibly strong link between the life we have and the circumstances and choices we have made.  It also turns out that by partnering with God, you can make choices that allow you to co-author a much better story with the rest of your life.

Who wouldn’t choose to do that if it were possible?

Each of us knows deep down somewhere -  likely covered in deep layers of disappointment, fear, and resignation - that there is a better life available. I know that there is one that was assigned to you before you came into the world and the evidence is strewn across your life like the debris in a stadium just after a big game.

Like the clues in an eternal treasure map, each data point not only triangulates the target more fully, but builds the incontrovertible fact of its’ reality. The fleeting belief that there may be more or better isn't the problem. The problem is that there isn’t enough courage or conviction for someone to act on the courage of that conviction.

Like nothing else I’ve ever experienced, Lifeplan not only excavates the hidden treasure that becomes a powerfully clear map, it makes the case so obvious that it is impossible to deny or not pursue. Pressfield thinks it has always been there and the great work of our lives is to merely discover it.

“We come into this world with a specific, personal destiny. We have a job to do, a calling to enact, a self to become. We are who we are from the cradle, and we’re stuck with it. Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.”

— Steven Pressfield

Consider

• Do you feel like life has dealt you the story you are living?
• Do you ever have that feeling that there might be something more to life than what you are finding?
• Do you know how much more fulfilling your life could be if you were to find the courage to go on this kind of journey?

Circus

Integration -

/ˌɪntɪˈɡreɪʃən/

noun

1.  the act of combining or adding parts to make a unified whole

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I recently met with a friend of mine and he described his life as a circus.  

Can you relate?

I shifted to asking him about each of the three rings of that circus:

• Professional
• Personal
• Spiritual

We are all spiritual beings and all of us have a personal life and a professional life we are trying to balance. Interestingly enough, when we surveyed over 100 business owners a few years ago and asked them about their needs and challenges, they not only described their lives as something akin to a “circus”, but they noted that they were having a hard time balancing those three rings.

I am hearing the word “integration” a lot lately. It is used in the context of marrying your internal world to the exterior of your life. It is about the integrity of your honesty in terms of what is really going on inside. Like many people, I’ve spent most of my life masking my internal world with what I thought people wanted to see.

Funny thing is, that when the internal is not fully integrated with the external, people sense the internal despite how hard we work to keep up appearances.  

Something feels off.  

Something doesn’t seem right.

Something doesn’t ring true.

There is no freedom outside the integration of the internal and external life. And there is a presence, a confidence, a power really, that I don’t think is possible otherwise. It allows you to be much more fully present and available for every person sitting in front of you. Incredibly powerful for a leader, but pretty essential for a coach.

The other way I have heard the term integration used has to do with marrying the different arenas of our lives. The primary ones we focus on are personal, professional, & spiritual.  Those hundred leaders we surveyed a few years ago pointed to this specific issue.

The leaders we surveyed weren’t slackers, they were the super intentional ones. They listened to podcasts, read lots of books, attended conferences, and most of them even attended group leadership experiences or were part of executive boards.  

They were finding friendship and information.  

They were not finding real, measurable change in their businesses.

They were not finding the integration of their personal, professional, and spiritual lives.

We decided that if we couldn’t address those two deep needs while also cultivating friendship and arming leaders with the important information they needed, we needed to get out of the business. Thankfully, the leaders we now work with say that they are finding more of all of the above.

If the way we are investing in our leadership isn’t actually changing our businesses and we aren’t finding the essential integration of all of the arenas in our lives, what’s the point?

Consider

• Does your life feel like a circus?
• Are all three rings of your circus balanced and integrated?
• Do you find that you can effortlessly move in and out of all three without penalizing the others?
• Are you ready to do the necessary work required to find the integration you truly desire?

Treasures

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

— Matthew

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I heard a man quote this recently when he was talking about leaving behind all the vestiges of a successful home building career to follow Jesus. As rare and powerful as that testament was, it really got me thinking about why it is such an infrequently referenced passage and why that life is so rarely lived.

Maybe it is because the depth and breadth of that treasure is not completely understood.

Maybe it is like Morpheus said in the Matrix and it is “the world that has been pulled over our eyes… to keep us from the truth.”

A couple of months ago, I was part of a team that led 40 or so of us through a weekend to uncover much of that treasure. It is a weekend that I have been a part of at least a dozen and a half times. The progression of the weekend goes something like this:

Awaken core desires in the heart of a man...

So that he can find how perfectly those desires of his heart fit in an authentic re-telling of the gospel...

In order that the dissonance between the life he lives and the one intended might be revealed...

So that he might have the courage to walk backwards into his story and see all the broken and incomplete places...

In order that he might desire and receive the full work of the cross… the healing and restoration ministry of Jesus...

That he may know a new identity and possibly even a new name as restored and redeemed...

So that he will take his rightful place in the Kingdom of Heaven and lead with the strength and nobility intended.

Surprisingly, much of that weekend is a revelation to Christian men. As if they had no idea and no prior knowledge of those concepts above. I don’t know why that still surprises me, it was a mystery to me the first time I ventured into these waters.  Somehow I immediately knew that it was deeply true, eminently available, and desperately needed.

Every day I have lived since has been different.

If the treasure found in the field is simply sin-management and a pass to keep us from eternal damnation, I can understand why so many people walk on by. But if the treasure really is…

• Healing, here and now
• Leading as a co-heir of a Kingdom
• Dominion and rule over a territory (family, company, or community)
• The ability to do as the Father did
• Playing a uniquely divine role that only you can play
• Changing the world as an ambassador of the King
• Being an image bearer of the Most High God

…who wouldn’t take a flyer on this?! 

And why would we be doing anything other than introducing others to this treasure? Why would we be spending any time on the religion of tips, techniques, and behavior modification, when all the riches and treasures of the Kingdom are ours to claim?

Consider

• Honestly, what treasure are you looking for?
• Does your life and leadership reflect that quest?
• Would you sell everything you own and forsake all you have, to claim it?
• Do you feel like you need a weekend like this?

True

“Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension.”

- Joshua Lieberman

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DO YOU KNOW ME?

I am 6 feet tall, 220 pounds, very receding hairline, blue-eyed, husband of 28 years, with six children (27, 24, 22, 15, 13, 11), one son-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. I am a former banker, a current coach, and I self-identify as a Christian. I went to Baylor University and graduated with a BBA in Finance/Economics.

DO YOU REALLY KNOW ME?

My strengths are:

• Relator - enjoy close relationships and find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
• Individualization - intrigued with unique qualities in each person and enjoy figuring out how different people can work together productively.
• Strategic - create alternative paths and faced with any given scenario, can quickly spot the relevant patterns & issues.
• Activator - make more things happen by turning thoughts into action.
• Ideation - am fascinated by ideas and am able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.

My DISC profile says I am an I-D:

"You are commanding, intentional, selfless, and instinctive. You thrive in environments where you can inspire and encourage others to reach their desired outcomes. You love growing buy-in and developing commitment to a structured process in ordered to achieve better results."

My Enneagram is number 8 with a 7 wing:

"Open, honest, direct and straightforward. More importantly, you want to be independent, make your own decisions and direct your own course. You exude confidence.You have a take-charge, no-nonsense, can-do attitude. You have great pride in your ability to face, endure and overcome adversity. You stand up for your beliefs and perceive backing down as a sign of weakness – even though at times doing so may be common sense and in your own best interest."

BUT DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?

My spiritual heritage tells me:

• I am infinitely loved
• I am a child of a King
• I am co-heir of a Kingdom
• I walk in the authority granted to me by God
• I am uniquely gifted and particularly created
• I carry one aspect of the Creator’s glory that no other creature can

My spiritual gifts are:

• discernment
• faith

My purpose statement says:  

I exist to help others take their uniquely created roles to play in the Larger Story of God.

NOW WE ARE GETTING A LITTLE CLEARER…

You can know a lot of things about me.  Other people can know a lot about you.  And they all have value in terms of understanding. They are all pieces of the puzzle.

But unless you know someone at the level of identity...  

Unless you know their story...

Until you understand the unique role they were created to play, the gifting they carry, or the purpose of their life…

…you don’t really know them.

You don’t know the truest things about them. You are likely unaware of the things that mobilize, inspire, or encourage them to contribute greater and more. The things that prompt engagement, energy, and contribution. Without knowing those things, you will never be able to truly motivate or engage others.

Any millennials.

Most of your employees.

Maybe even yourself.

Understanding someone’s unique identity and considering it in the way you lead, motivate, and inspire them will not only change your business, it will change their lives.  And it will change yours.

Consider

• Do you know who you are?  Do you know the truest thing about you?
• Do you know your employees?  Not “know about them”, but “know them”?
• Are you frustrated by their lack of motivation and engagement?

Teams

“Starting a business is a team sport.”

- Katrina Lake (CEO of Stitch Fix)

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What the heck is Stitch Fix and who is Katrina Lake?  Well, Katrina is the youngest woman to ever take a company public, and at 34 has an estimated net worth of $500 million dollars.  (Probably the only CEO to have her 1-year-old son ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange as well.)  She does know a thing or two about starting a successful business. In her world of venture funding, web platforms, data mining, strategic partnerships, etc., starting a business probably is a "team sport."

But for almost every other business I know, it’s not.

Most businesses I come into contact with started with just one person. One person making all the decisions, wearing all the hats, figuring out all the problems, and shouldering all the risk and responsibility. In fact, the biggest problem most of them face is in embracing the idea of team.

Because, while starting most businesses may not be a team sport, it is going to require a team to sustain, grow, and mature one.  

It is going to have to become a team sport.

Some of the best companies we know still maintain a very tight locus of control at the very top of the organization. We believe in something very different. We encourage the integration of ideas, inspiration, and ownership at every level. Our system of organizational design and position agreements rest on that principle.

• Managers should be crowdsourcing ideas, inspiration, and ownership from their frontline employees.
• Department leaders should be doing the same from their managers.
• Division heads should be doing that from department leaders.
• The Executive team should be drawing on the collective wisdom and experience of all those division folks.

While decision making tends to roll uphill, we should be sourcing, engaging, and empowering everyone downhill who are closest to the things we are trying to manage and optimize. Not only is this the key to breeding engagement and a sense of ownership, it is the path to much better decision making and problem-solving.

Successful business comes from making it a team sport.

And while almost everyone would agree with that statement, virtually everyone I encounter has a difficult time allowing their business to become a team sport. Believing something is true and actually transitioning that thing in a new direction are two different things. I needed a regimen and accountability to lose a bunch of weight and get healthier.  I needed a plan and a system to focus my life and my calendar so that I could live a more intentional, impactful life.

Likely, so do you. So does your company.

There are no quick fixes, but there is a relatively short and methodical journey that can get you where you want to go. You really can arrive somewhere on purpose and likely in a place you’ve quit believing was possible.

Our business cards make only three statements:

Build a Team. 

Define a Future.

Create a Plan to Get There.

It may not start with a team, but the sooner you form and source them at every level of your organization, the sooner you will find the success you desire. Gather the right teams, help them imagine a more inspired future, and then get to work on the essential things that need to happen to get you there.  

It is a beautiful thing to watch.  We’re seeing it happen every day.

Consider

• Are your employees engaged, invigorated, and operating with a sense of ownership?
• Do you feel like you are alone and that every problem is yours to solve?
• Are you really ready to do something about it?

Crazy

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”  

- Apple “Think Differently” Ad Campaign

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My son-and-law and I were circling back to get our car parked quite a ways from the enormous crowd that had gathered at the Pearl Brewery. We were talking about what a revelation that entire area has become.  We talked about the level of both genius and crazy it took to bring about that kind of change. To have that kind of idea.

To see possibility where others see none.

To claim the opportunity missed or maybe just not taken by others.

Ironically, whether it is of a cultural, political, spiritual, or economic nature, most genius is first identified as “crazy”. If you’ll remember from the famous Apple ad quoted above, some of the crazy/geniuses noted were MLK, Bob Dylan, Richard Branson, Einstein, and Frank Lloyd Wright. All changed the world in some way. There were many others.

If we were remaking this 20-year-old commercial today, it might include some of the crazies of our time…the founders of Zappos, Uber, Amazon, or Airbnb. I mean, who will buy shoes or pretty much everything they need online?  Who will get in the car of a stranger to take them somewhere or let a stranger stay in their house?

Apparently, pretty much everybody.

They say when the architectural team entered the Pearl for the first time 15 years ago, the main brewery was like a tomb. Mugs of coffee long evaporated on desks. Interoffice memos covered by years of dust. Helmets and jackets still hung in employee lockers. Who could have imagined what that brewery and surrounding area could become?

A crazy person?

A genius?

So, here’s to:

• Kit Goldsbury on the 15th anniversary of first walking into a brewery

• Apple computers for celebrating the crazy genius that changed the world 20 years ago in their “Think Different” campaign

• And Martin Luther, who exactly 500 years ago, October 31, 1517, to be exact, changed the course of church history when he went a little “crazy” and nailed some ideas to a church door.

But also, here’s to many of you “crazies” that broke ranks with conventional wisdom, possibly your parents’ wishes, or maybe even good common sense…and embarked on your own journey to change at least some small part of the world.  You launched businesses and organizations that employ many and are changing lives and the broader community. 

Cheers!

One of the things I love most about the Lifeplan retreat that we concluded yesterday is we discover that what most of us know as crazy or genius, is actually inspired.  That desire to break ranks with the crowd, find a unique way to live, and a particular role to play in changing the world, is straight from the heart of God.

There are things embedded throughout the story of your life, sourced in your deepest desire, and referencing your unique gifting, that is intended to change the world…and make God’s glory better known.  It is the treasure in the field that all of us should be willing to risk everything to find.  

So here’s to over a dozen new folks who went after it and got some of their “crazy” back!

Consider

• Do you have that feeling that there is something more you should be doing with your life?

• That maybe God intended something more from the life you’ve been given?

• Do you have any deep desires, great hopes, or crazy ideas that you haven’t done anything about?

• What would it look like to step into a role that only you were intended to play?

Balance

“Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension.”

-Joshua Lieberman

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One of the most important lessons college taught me was balance. It was all about aggressively multi-tasking. I was sleeping little and spending inordinate amounts of time going to class and studying, pursuing relationships, growing in my faith, having lots of fun, and working.  

Having very little experience in relationships and essentially none in terms of faith, these were both revelations that there were never enough hours to satisfy or explore the boundaries of what each offered. I majored in Jesus, minored in friendship, and had to find another 80 hours a week to be a college student and work a full-time job. 

I remember relatively little from my experience of waiting tables during those years. I did get way more comfortable in the kitchen with food and its’ preparation, learned a bit about fine wine, and honed my ability to read people and situations quickly, but much of the day to day experience of all those hours are lost.

One lesson that I find myself referencing and applying often had to do with not spilling the drinks we were serving. The trick to not spilling the coffee you are carrying (or that tray of drinks as it were) is to not focus on them.

You would think exactly the opposite, right?

Turns out that our brain has the ability to process incredible amounts of information. Staring at the drinks or the cup of coffee you are carrying has your brain constantly interpreting, self-correcting and causing you to make it spill. Every slight ripple in the mug causes interpretation and correction the other way.  

Fixating on not spilling the coffee actually makes the spilling more inevitable. It is the same with not looking at the paddle board you are trying to balance on or not staring at the front tire of the bike you are riding. Both of those will inevitably lead to instability of the board and bike.

Most of the business leaders I know are wanting things to just settle down. To reach some sort of calm in the storm. They are running to and fro, from one issue to another, from this side of the organization to that one. They are constantly readjusting things and then adjusting to the unintended consequences of the initial move.

Maybe the answer is to look beyond the liquid in the cup.

Look further down the road and not at the front tire.

Keep your eyes on the shoreline in front of you and not on the board.

We find that when we can get leaders to step away from the tornado and look beyond the tyranny of the urgent, they can see with more clarity and balance. They make better decisions.  Forcing them to block multi-hour, half day, and whole day increments to think strategically allows them to do less, better. It doesn’t diminish the impact and amount they get done, it multiplies it.

Looking at a three-year vision, annual goals, and quarterly initiatives allows them to focus on the real issues that all the chaos and overwhelm is sourced from. It helps them deal with the root and not get consumed with the symptoms.  

It keeps them from spilling coffee all over themselves.

Consider

• Are you clear on where you are going to be in three years?
• Are you working toward the annual goals and quarterly initiatives that will ultimately get you there?
• Are you operating with balance and thoughtful oversight of what you manage or are you splashing coffee all over yourself?

Dignity

“Good farmers, who take seriously their duties as stewards of Creation and of their land's inheritors, contribute to the welfare of society in more ways than society usually acknowledges, or even knows. These farmers produce valuable goods, of course; but they also conserve soil, they conserve water, they conserve wildlife, they conserve open space, they conserve scenery.” 

― Wendell Berry

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My father’s parents ran a grocery store in a small south Texas town. My great uncle also owned the butcher shop nearby.  These generationally run businesses were both the victims of “progress”. They were replaced by bigger and more powerful national and regional players.

One of my father’s favorite stories about his parent's business was about something they did in the aftermath of the Great Depression. When they realized that the large box of IOUs they had accumulated from many of their neighboring residents, farmers, and ranchers could never be repaid, they destroyed them. I am sure similar versions of that story occurred all over the country. 

There was a huge backlash against Wal-Mart a few years ago. The typical result of them moving into a small town was that the butcher, grocer, mechanic, barber, optometrist, nursery, etc. would eventually go out of business only to be replaced by the aggregated offerings of the one superstore.  While this typically meant better pricing and selection for everyone, it also meant that local businesses and the families they supported were translated to hourly wage jobs barely tipping the poverty line.

Wendell Berry talks about a similar shift in Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food. Turns out that agri-business has relegated many family farms to the equivalent of an hourly wage: dictated crops and contracted returns on their efforts. There are documented losses in food quality and the proper reconstituting of the soil for longer-term use, but there is a more troubling loss that he spends most of his time discussing…

…the loss of dignity in the farmers.

The suicide rate for American farmers is 3 times that of the general population. 

When you take away a person’s ability to care for their family well...when you limit their ability to make decisions for themselves...  

When you remove the possibility of them holding onto and sustaining the family business and property they have typically owned for generations...

You rob them of their dignity.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all about progress. Helping organizations grow, mature, and change is what I do for a living. But in all things, we are working hard to make sure that the dignity of the individual work not only stays intact, but is increased and developed by the changes.

Ownership is cultivated through team leadership.

Engagement is grown through defining and celebrating culture.

Participation is encouraged through meeting structures.

Our powerful Position Agreements give everyone the clarity and understanding of the value of every role and the contribution it makes.

Progress and change, when handled responsibility, actually enhances the lives, individual dignity, and value of everyone.

Consider

• Do you need to make some changes?
• Does your organization need to grow, evolve, or mature?
• Do you have the necessary structure and processes in place to make sure everyone benefits as the organization does?
• How important is the dignity of the individual worker to you?

Watch this award winning commercial “So God Made a Farmer”.

Gardener

“Nature poets can’t walk across the backyard without tripping over an epiphany.” 

— Christian Winans

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I heard that quote recently and it brought to mind another of my favorites from Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

“Earth's crammed with heaven, 

And every common bush afire with God, 

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

The writings of John Muir as he entered Yosemite Valley for the first time also come to mind.  There is something about being aware of the creation around us and connecting to deeper meaning that makes the Creator seem even more tangible.

In the beginning there was a garden, and a man and woman placed there to tend that garden. Any pre-schooler in a Sunday school class knows that, but it feels like we have lost some of the wonder and anticipation this reality should hold.

What that story also points toward is the idea that we are, in fact, intended to be gardeners. We are to tend that field. Protect that creation. And most importantly, direct people back to the source of all that. It is in the preservation of that and modeling the life of the One who created that garden and tends to all things, that God will be best known.

One of the beautiful ironies of the Bible is found in the story of Mary Magdelene mistaking the resurrected Jesus for somebody else. According to John’s account, “Thinking he was the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.'”

she thought he was the gardener!

The irony is that while it is seen as a case of mistaken identity, she actually nails the idea. He is the gardener. So are we.

One of the reasons we are so intentional about coaching Kingdom leadership is that we are not just called to be employers, we were meant to…

• be generative governors (literally life-giving leaders)
• caretakers of the garden
• co-heirs of the Kingdom
• the hands and feet of God
• operate in His authority
• care for His children as our own

Turns out that doing things in the way they were intended is not just about making things “right,” it is also really good business. Caring for employees and clients well, operating under a higher purpose, and assigning dignity and nobility to people and work, produces a multiple of incredible outcomes:

• greater employee engagement
• higher employee retention
• increases in productivity
• higher referral rates
• and more

Acknowledging the garden all around us and taking to that field is not only the fulfillment of our ultimate Kingdom roles, it is the path to really successful business.

Consider

• Do you regularly acknowledge the creation unfolding all around you?
• Do you mostly confine your recognition of that creation to vacations in beautiful places?
• Do you approach your leadership as a generative governor or a life-giving leader?
• What would being more of a gardener of His Kingdom look like?

Bullies

In our world, you were either a bully, a toady, or one of the nameless rabble of victims!

— A Christmas Story

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Even the mention of the word "bully" will likely bring a person's face to mind for most people. Every schoolyard had one and you can probably remember their name. There is even a pretty good chance, however, if you can't remember who it was, that you might actually have been the bully.  I operated in the messy middle. I got my size very early and while I wasn't the bully, I didn't get messed with by them for the most part. I also didn't really do anything to prevent the bullies from running the yard. There was enough turbulence in my day-to-day home life to survive to be taking on the school's problems as well.

One of my former bosses used to tell a great story about confining himself to the front yard because of "fat Roger" who ran the local park. That is, until his dad realized it, taught him to box, and sent him down to take on Roger. One punch and a bloody nose later and Roger had been supplanted from his throne. The problem then became not making his new role a "bully pulpit" of his own.

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

                                                                                             — Lord Acton

One of the unfortunate consequences we are finding in either faith-based or high-integrity leadership situations is the rise of the bully.  Patrick Lencioni's continuum of organizational health...

...teaches us that either extreme is unhealthy.  The healthiest place is just left of center.  While operating in a "mean-spirited" environment might be more obviously unhealthy, "artificial harmony" is equally so.  In those environments, the difficult conversations never seem to happen. There is little resolution to problems.  Employees and divisions get silo'd, everyone operates in a vacuum, unhealthy offline conversations prevail, the company spirals without clear leadership and addressing of important issues, and... bullies emerge.

Just like in the schoolyard.

If there is no clear arbitrator handling conflict and keeping the molehills from becoming mountains, the mob polices itself.

Everybody assumes roles they've probably honed for generations. They take their place as a "bully, a toady, or one of the nameless rabble of victims."

It has been interesting to see the responses we've gotten when we have offered the analogy.  It is fairly visceral initially and then people typically move toward a knowing type of familiarity to the idea.  In our experience, it hits fairly close to the mark. In the same way that unchecked power corrupts, unchecked relational health can result in corporate bullying in both a mean-spirited attacking type of environment as well as one with artificial harmony. Not a huge surprise in a mean-spirited environment, but usually not expected in one where a faith foundation leans toward artificial harmony.

The interesting thing is that there is really only one source and one antidote... your leadership.  The teachers were the only ones who could have stopped what was going on in the schoolyard. The boss is the only one who can do the same in the workplace. A common cry of the bullied: Why didn't they (my parents, the teachers, or my boss) do something about it?

Consider

• Are there any bullies in the organizations you lead?
• How has your leadership contributed to them?
• What are you prepared to do about it?

Cruel

“Expectation is the root of all heartache.” 

― William Shakespeare

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With regards to setting clear expectations for their employees, the almost universal response of every leader we speak with is…they know exactly what they are supposed to do, I’ve told them a thousand times.

In regards to employees being clear on those expectations, the almost universal response of every employee we speak with is…I wish I knew what was expected of me.

Shakespeare said “expectations” are the root of all heartache. We disagree. We say that “unclear expectations” are the root of all heartache, frustration, disappointment, and the source of most organizational underperformance.

Rory Vaden, the bestselling author, keynote speaker, and co-founder of Southwestern Consulting, says:

“People can’t live up to the expectations they don’t know have been set for them.”

How true.  

That is one of the reasons we are so passionate about the Position Agreements we help our clients write. After we establish values/purpose, we create a powerful and inspiring vision (a clear picture of the future). Then we build the organizational chart necessary to fulfill that future. Then and only then, do we start creating the essential and powerful clear expectations found in Position Agreements. 

While we are pretty convicted about all the things we do with our clients, we are pretty convinced that if someone skipped all the others steps in our roadmap, and just implemented Position Agreements throughout their company, it would completely change the company. 

We refer to them as "job descriptions on steroids."

Many jobs don’t even have job descriptions. The companies that do have them share the document with new hires but then usually don't refer to them again. The need to replace an exiting employee often creates a frantic search to locate the elusive document.

Position Agreements are living and active. They are a signed agreement between employer and employee. They clarify the overarching results expected of every employee and list the possible strategic and tactical steps required to accomplish that result. They include standards for how the individual’s performance will be measured and the company standards that every employee is expected to uphold.

They include reporting relationships both up and down and link a leader’s responsibility to making sure all their direct reports fulfill their results as well. They end with a signature and a joint commitment of the employee to accomplish their result and the manager’s commitment to do everything in their power to make sure they do.

They become the foundation for healthy employee engagement, a frequently referenced true north for everyone, and the template for regular and highly invigorating reviews.

The integrity of powerfully articulating clear expectations cannot be overstated.  I love what one of the leaders of one of our member companies said at a meeting last week…

“For a leader to be disappointed in the performance of an employee when you haven’t clearly spelled out your expectations is cruel."

                                                               ― Todd Jarvis

And it is not only about doing the right thing by the people you employ, but is also the path to wildly better performance.

Consider

• Are you clear about what you are expecting from your employees?
• Are they clear?
• How much do you think things would improve if everyone had real clarity on expectations?