Reality

“This is a very important lesson:  You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end (which you can never afford to lose) with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.”

- General Stockdale

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If you are going to make it anywhere, there are two crucial pieces of data that you must have:  where you are going and where you are.  Google Maps requires my destination and then it either assumes my current location as a starting point or asks me to supply one.

Given that I spend most of my coaching hours with entrepreneurs and visionaries, I hear a lot about bold and dynamic destinations and cool possibilities.  Their ability to see a preferable future and envision opportunities that others haven’t claimed is what has made them so successful.  That essential coordinate in the mapping process they have down pat.

An honest assessment of where they are currently is not where they seem to spend a lot of time.  The cold shower of present challenges and problems is typically why they are spending so much time focused on that ethereal destination.  But knowing where you are is the most fundamental initial data set if you are going to make that journey.

Whether it is in our LifePlan process (you really have to attend one of these if you haven’t already!) or our strategic business coaching process, we require that stock be taken on what is going well and what’s not.  We force both individuals and organizations to take a deep hard look at where they are currently utilizing a series of diagnostics.

Funny little coaching secret: not only does everyone already know what their problems are, but with a little questioning, discussion, and direction, they know what the solutions are as well.  Brutal honestly about the current challenges allow you to remove the obstacles keeping you from getting to that inspired future.

When we survey teams, we can typically affinitize their responses into 3-5 core issues that almost all other problems are sourced from.  Just giving them focus on a handful of things versus the hundreds of problems they feel like they are trying to solve is a real rescue.

For most leaders, they look at their companies and circumstance like watching a movie in a theater one inch from the screen.  It is hard to see the whole picture or look at anything with real context.  The tyranny of the urgent and the overwhelming requirements of day-to-day responsibilities consume their thoughts and minds.

But if they and their leadership can take a step back.  If they could elevate above the morass of all that urgency, things can start to look a lot clearer.  While driving the highway between here and Colorado, the trip was reduced to a series of dozens of individual turns that sequenced one after another on my phone.  But when I would widen the map, I could see the larger story of the journey we were on, the progress we had made, and how much closer we were to those beloved mountains.

Consider

• Are you clear on the destination you are working toward?

• Have you done the difficult work of getting honest about your current situation?

• Do you know what the handful of core issues you need to work on that will likely resolve most of the rest?

• What is it costing you to not have this kind of clarity?

Resignation

”Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

- Jesus of Nazareth

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The folks at Praxis warned us last March (you remember life before the pandemic took hold, right?) that we were entering an ice age, and nothing would ever be the same again. We thankfully read that article when it was released and took it very seriously. I remember the uncertainty, fear, and hope we all had that this would all be over by Summer. This article was a cold slap in the face for us and the dozens of business leaders we gathered with on Zoom calls.

It was powerfully prophetic and continues to be proven true.

The Labor Department reported that four million Americans quit their jobs in April alone. One of the ways that things will never be the same is that a majority of American workers are not intending to go back to work (at least to the way it was). They reapportioned their time and other resources toward family, experiences, and getting healthier in various categories.  

Some prefer things to go back to the way they were.

Some will reluctantly go back but resent those making them.

But millions will resign.

Resignation from being overwhelmed, busyness, and the comparison culture that has us constantly wanting more and never feeling truly satisfied, is something we should all be embracing in more significant measure. While we are still teaching all the sound business principles that comprise the roadmap we think our client companies should complete, our leadership teaching has become oriented toward taking our lives back over the last few years.  

Becoming an “essentialist.”

Designing and claiming your “best week.”

Prioritizing more “soul care.”

Claiming processes of elimination, delegation, and doing less better.

Although not all our clients share our Christian worldview, they all are finding value in the life and teachings of Jesus. While we claim him as the Messiah, others might claim him as simply a significant historical figure. Regardless, his teaching to live freely and lightly with less burden and yoke is an antidote to our age. Getting away, recovering our lives, and learning to take a real rest, is precisely what many of us have been doing. Maybe for the first time in our lives.

But this is not a recipe for doing nothing. We’re encouraging a resignation from “that” way of living and leading while strongly inviting them to resign to a more profound, more meaningful, and impactful way to live. Sitting with a leader claiming more margin, living with less hurry, and realizing significantly greater impact from their life is precious and rare. We are working hard to make it less rare.

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised we see so much interest in our Lifeplan Retreats. It is one of those rare places where we can quiet the noise long enough to fathom a better version of ourselves and a more inspired life. And as it turns out, if you are going to experience the right kind of resignation, you better have a pretty clear and exciting place to land.

Consider

• What are you resigning yourself to?

• Is it a good resignation or a bad one?

• Do you think you would benefit from a couple of days to reimagine your life? (If so, join us in Fredericksburg, TX in September or Avila Beach, CA in October! Click here for more info.)

Wildfire

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

- Jesus

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Ian Morgan Cron, a popular author, says that the single highest indicator of a leader's success is their level of self-awareness. Not giftedness, not experience, not intelligence, but instead knowing oneself and how you affect the world around you. 

One aspect of self-awareness is realizing that we all have learned patterns (typically from our families growing up) about dealing with stress. 

Knowing your enneagram number is a helpful way to become more aware of your patterned responses to stress. Still, Brene Brown talks about more general categories that she learned from an author named Harriet Lerner that is a helpful place to start: over-functioning and under-functioning. 

Over-functioner: Moves quickly to advise, rescue, takeover, micromanage; they get into other people's business rather than looking at what's going on inside of them. From the outside looking in, they appear to be very tough and in control.

Under-functioner: Get less competent under stress and invite others to take over; choose passivity and ways to escape. In addition to whatever is causing the stress and anxiety, they become the focus of more stress and anxiety. From the outside, they can appear to be irresponsible or even fragile and "can't stand the pressure."

These aren't intended to be identity indictments but rather helpful indicators that you need to slow down and ask some questions instead of putting on the learned, protective armor of an abundance of action or passivity. By all accounts, we live in anxiety-ridden times, and especially as leaders in our families and workplaces, it's helpful to know your tendencies so you can move toward a healthier response when things aren't going your way or some level of panic sets in. 

The other thing about anxiety/stress is that it's contagious. If you are charged up about something and responding reactively, you are probably spreading the panic in your family and organization like wildfire. 

Thankfully, anxiety isn't the only contagious thing - so is peace. But exuding peace has to be anchored in something bigger than our external circumstances, and you have to experience it to offer it. Thankfully, no matter your personality, enneagram number, or family history, anyone can learn how to cultivate a more peace-driven response to life and people. To create some space (and thoughtfulness) before giving an emotional response to a situation, Brene asks herself two questions:

1. Do I have enough data to freak out?

2. If I have enough data, would it be helpful to freak out?

She found that the answer is no 90% of the time to question #1, and even when it was yes -- the second one was almost always a resounding no, so that put the whole thing to bed.

Next time you learn something shocking about your teenager, your employee comes to you in an emotional fit, or a breaking news story (or family crisis) lands on your brain like a plane crash, first - be aware of your tendency as an over-functioner or under-functioner. Second, try asking yourself these two questions before you react. Your reaction will be contagious either way, and we could all use a lot more peace and calm in our lives right now. 

Consider

1. Do you typically over-function or under-function under stress?

2. How do you cultivate peace in your life? What anchors you to that?

3. Do you usually "freak out" when faced with a difficult circumstance or crisis? What might help you stay calm?

Obstacles

”People are not the obstacle; they are the objective.”

~ Executive Board Member

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We've all heard the adage that despite what kind of company we have or industry we operate in, we are all essentially in the "people business." I initially heard it in the context of valuing the desire and interest of the people that make up all our client bases, but more recently, it seems like employees are the "people" to whom all are referring. All of our employees, after all, are people.

I get to hang out with really high-integrity business leaders, many of whom have embraced a "Kingdom" understanding of their roles. We wildly encourage the ideas of us being co-heirs of God's Kingdom, that we are created to rule, and that caring for the lives of those entrusted to our care is our most incredible privilege and responsibility. While there is a growing understanding and acceptance of that charge, the practical realities of running an enterprise often land on the difficulty of managing people.

People are seen as the problem, not the opportunity.

People are obstacles, not objectives.

People are in the way, not the point.

Our purpose statement carries a great hope: Restoring leaders and organizations to their original intended purpose through coaching. We believe there is a better version of every person and every organization. In fact, restoring honor and hope to leaders is a valuable and necessary step in restoring an organization.

This purpose often slams headfirst into the perspective of owners who see people as their biggest problem. And don't get me wrong, dealing with the multitude of people issues we've seen would lead all of us to the same conclusion. They come by that opinion honestly.

But the only obvious next step if people are the problem is to get new people. This often results in an aggressive "do loop" of hiring and firing. Is that idea uncomfortably familiar to you? As an owner of several businesses and a former leader of several that weren't my own, that cycle is very familiar.

I think that is why a leader saying, "People are not the obstacle; they are the objective.", resonated so deeply with me. They are often not problems we are trying to solve, but tensions we need to manage better. While problems are typically solved through "process," "technology," "coaching," or "people," most leaders typically treat "people" as not only the problem but as the solution as well.

In our experience, the reason that people are perceived to be the problem is more related to:

• Receiving very little training (process)

• Receiving almost no ongoing instruction (process)

• Not being clear on expectations (coaching)

• Not getting much support from their managers (coaching)

• Not having adequate tools to get their job done (technology)

While people may seem like your biggest problem, our experience has taught us that they are our most significant opportunity. When we make their roles clear, give them good ongoing instruction, training, support, and provide them with the right tools, we can create superstars out of mediocre performers.

People can become our greatest asset, and exiting the expensive firing/hiring turnstile, can result in maximum productivity and profitability.

Consider

• Does it feel like people are your greatest problem?

• How would your response to that problem change if you saw them as your greatest opportunity?

• What do you need to do to best maximize the value of the team you already have?

Unheard

“Blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people.”

- Helen Keller

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We are continually learning the value of practicing what we preach.  One of the areas we conform most rigorously is in terms of meeting governance.  We have a strict regimen that we have to find sufficient reason to disrupt.

• We have daily check-ins or huddles

• We have a weekly Monday morning check-in for the week ahead

• We have a team leadership meeting every two weeks

• We have ad hoc topical meetings to address unique issues

• We have quarterly strategic planning offsite meetings

• We have an annual planning offsite meeting

We just finished our most recent quarterly meeting and it was other-worldly.  Our quarterly meetings follow a similar pattern.  They are offsite, at least half a day, and carry similar agenda.  We connect deeply as a team, do a deep dive on the cultural anchors of core values and purpose, and then review our vision.  We are reminding ourselves of who we are at the deepest and most definitional level.  We are looking at the inspirational, but detailed picture of our future in our vision statement and marking our progress.  We are focusing on the most essential next steps to ensure that vision is fulfilled.

We address issues, solve problems, and assign responsibilities to the things that must get done.

Our deep connection time always includes asking a couple of key questions.  The wise counsel of a gifted friend had us add a third that will likely become part of our process.  It is a stopping to truly hear a few essential things.  For we all suffer not from the things that aren’t said, but the things that go unheard.  

We answer the following questions for everyone else on our team:

• What do you value most about me as a member of this team?

• What do you find most challenging about having me as a member of the team?

• What is the one thing you think I would least like to hear? (or said another way, what do I need to hear that I am ignoring or don’t want to hear)

The first is easy to do with people you value and deeply respect.  The second is the most valuable, but can only be shared with people where there is a deep respect and trust of one another.  Knowing the one thing that I need to change that would help me become of a better version of myself is the best information I could possibly receive.  And possibly the hardest to hear.

But that third question was nearly impossible.  We had 24 hours to come up with our answers, but for most of us, we didn’t know what we would say until we were well into the conversation.  But what emerged was nothing short of glorious. 

This won’t just intend a better version of each of us.

This won’t just intend a better quarter for us as a team.

This stuff, if embraced, will change the rest of our lives.  It already has started doing so.

I started imagining all the other people I wished were experiencing something similar.  I wished the table were longer and more of them were there.  I ran through the faces of all the clients we work with and hoped it for them as well.  It reminded me that there is a better version of every person and that them becoming better is an essential building block of every organization finding a better version of itself.

It is the great hope found in our purpose statement:  Restoring leaders and organizations to their original intended purpose through coaching.

Consider

• Are you operating alone?

• Are the people to your left and right truly like-hearted?

• Do they believe the things you believe and are they fighting to accomplish the same things you are?

• How much is it costing you not to be aligned with “partners” in this way?”

Catastrophe

”A eucatastrophe is a sudden turn of events at the end of a story which ensures that the protagonist does not meet some terrible, impending, and very plausible and probable doom. The writer J. R. R. Tolkien coined the word by affixing the Greek prefix eu, meaning good, to catastrophe, the word traditionally used in classically inspired literary criticism to refer to the ‘unraveling’ or conclusion of a drama's plot.”

- Wikipedia

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When all hope is lost, the unexpected appearance of goodness is at the heart of the meaning of eucatastrophe.  It is also at the heart of every great story and the beautiful and poignant way the Divine often shows up in our story.  This is one of the hallmarks of living a life with God.  Oswald Chambers says that it is an obvious “tell” to whether we are living this way.

“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, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time.”

Ironically, I came to understand that Christianity was all about having it all figured out.  Knowing absolutes and having the “right” answer and understanding of all things.  It translated to a need to “be” right which naturally helped me identify who was wrong.  It allowed me to be the arbiter or judge of all things.

But sadly, it was not only a faithless proposition, it was completely the opposite of the life Jesus modeled for us to live.  By those who count such things, it is said that:

Jesus was asked 187 questions,

but answered only 3 questions.

And he asked 307 questions.

It seems like he was far more interested in discovery, mystery, and walking with God toward an answer instead of arriving at the answer.  It was a journey into uncertainty, wrapped by deep faith.  It laid the foundation for stories where the answer is found just in the nick of time when all hope is lost.

“We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. His purpose is that I depend on HIM and in HIS power NOW. His end is the process. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.”

As we entered the year, we prayed for advance words.  We received some precious ones that have taken on even greater meaning as the year has unfolded, but the word that everyone on our team received during this exercise was “abide”:  walk with him.  

We are not trying to figure everything out or be particularly concerned that we don’t have all the answers.  We still made plans, revised our vision, and got to work, but there was walking with him and a good bit of uncertainty that has filled our lives with blessed uncertainty.  And it has marked our steps in increasingly glorious directions.

We are experiencing a life full of surprises.  In fact, we couldn’t have written a story this good and are finding that eucatastrophe is what life with God often looks like.

Consider

• Are you waiting for the next shoe to drop?

• Or are you believing in the eucatastrophe offered in a life with God?

• Are your days filled with ascending fear or breathless expectation?

Full

”I’m not in a hurry

 When it comes to your spirit 

When it comes to your presence

When it comes to your voice

I’m learning to listen

Just to trust in your nearness

I’m starting to notice

You are speaking”

~ Will Reagan & United Pursuit, “Not in a Hurry”

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I was having coffee and working on a project ahead of a lunch meeting.  A younger man I used to coach came into the shop, noticed me, and joined me at my table for two.  There was a lightness and ease about him that surprised me.  He was expressing the joy he was experiencing in this season and giving me updates on how well his professional and personal life was trending.

And then his tone changed.  He leaned in and said some of the kindest things I have heard in some time.  He honored the investment of time I had made in him.  He acknowledged the impact of the strength he said I provided during the toughest season of his personal and professional life.  He was even attaching some of his current success to the time we spent together.

So rare.

So honoring.

He told me he was driving down the road and was instructed to go inside for an undisclosed reason.  Once he saw me, he knew why.

There were three crucial steps in this process that made it so uncommon:

1. He listened for God’s voice and direction.

2. He followed through on what he heard.

3. When given the option, he selflessly honored another for their contribution to his life.

He was intentional and clear, pausing to make sure that I heard what he was wanting to say.  Such a kind and thoughtful ‘joy bomb” in the middle of a busy day.  It confirmed all the things he was saying about how well things were going for him. He had a surplus.  He offered out of his fullness and it didn’t deplete him at all, but filled him further.  You can’t fill other people’s cups from an empty pitcher.

I would be remiss if I didn’t add some weight to the “crucial” steps above.  If there wasn’t a whole lot more going on in his life, those simple 1-2-3 steps wouldn’t have been possible.  If there hadn’t been any healing or restoration, none of them would have occurred.

• If he didn’t have clarity of heart and mind, he couldn’t have listened and heard God’s voice.

• If he didn’t have the margin in his schedule, he could have never followed through on the directive.

• If he was operating from a posture of scarcity, he could have never shared so abundantly.

In this season, he knows who he is, has a healthy EQ, and has the margin to spare for impacting and changing the lives of everyone he encounters.  My guess is that there are other people benefitting from all that abundance I saw; his wife, children, and co-workers at a minimum. 

Thankfully, today, I was one of them.

Consider

• Are you operating out of overwhelm or abundance?

• Do you think you are missing out on opportunities like this one?

• What needs to change so that you can hear, act on what is heard, and offer to others in your personal or professional life?

Escapes

”Far too many people choose to live in Egypt instead of by faith. They go to religion the way I go to a baseball game—to escape the muddle, to have everything clear, to find a good seat from which they can see the whole scene at a glance, evaluate everyone’s performance easily and see people get what they deserve. Moral box scores are carefully penciled in. Statistics are obsessively kept. 

Many religious meetings are designed to meet just such desires. The world is reduced to what can be organized and regulated; every person is clearly labeled as being on your side or on the other side; there is never any doubt about what is good and what is bad. ”  

- Eugene Peterson, Run With the Horses

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The first movie I remember being captivated by was Breaking Away.  The story of a young man trapped in a small town in Indiana who begins to dream of a world beyond his own through the lens of biking and the European world, where biking was king.  He becomes a vicarious world traveler.  Realizing that his mother kept an updated passport for years without a single stamp only strengthened his resolve.

About the time I saw the movie, I caught the one-hour summary of the three-week-long Tour de France on the “Wide World of Sports”.  I was soon taking to the country roads outside my small Texas town, logging thousands of miles on my crappy Schwinn.  I was escaping from the life I was experiencing in the only way I knew how.

While my father never traveled outside the US after his time in the service, he had a lifelong subscription to National Geographic.  He also subscribed to Food & Wine magazine for decades even though I don’t think he ever experienced any of the food or places discussed there.  I guess that was a bit like the unstamped passport from the mother in that biking film.

My car died as I was leaving college.  When I finally started earning a real salary after I graduated from college, the first thing I got was a vehicle to get me to and from that job.  The second thing I got was a Cannondale racing bike with Shimano components that I still have today.  Outside of cars and homes, it may still be the most expensive thing I ever purchased…certainly in early 1990’s dollars.

As an adult, I embarked on a similar escape.  I found that journeying with my faith allowed me to escape the challenges and monotony of my day-to-day life.  I could huddle together with others that believed as I did and it felt safe.  We knew who the good people were (us) and we could clearly identify those that weren’t (them).  We had our own scoreboard and we were always winning.

The only problem was that this bred another form of discontent.  A legalism of faith that didn’t reflect any of the healing, freedom, or grace that the faith was created to carry. 

Escaping often doesn’t solve our problems, it is just a short hiatus or vacation from them.

Now the bike I ride is on a stand, it doesn’t really go anywhere.  But it allows my mind to travel everywhere and it reminds me that true life is mostly found right here, in the day-to-day.  Not in escaping, but stepping deeper into the glory and opportunity that every day and conversation holds.  It is not an escaping from, but an adventure into the abundant life dripping from each moment.

Knowing that is changing every day of my personal and professional life.

Consider

• How do you escape?

• What are you getting away from?

• What are you longing for that you aren’t finding?

• What is right in front of you every day that you are missing out on?

Problems

“Own 100% of your 1%.”

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I arrived at this conclusion over a decade ago.  I had a friend in a problem marriage.  We were meeting to discuss how to deal with things and possibly solve some of the challenges they were facing.  It became very clear that he didn’t feel like any of the problems they were facing were related to him.  He said it was 100% due to his wife.  I asked him if he could identify even 1% of the problem as being his.  He said, “No.”

After that, we quit meeting and talking about his marriage.  I realized if he could at least admit to 1% being related to him, we could focus 100% on that 1% and see some change occur.  He couldn’t.  It didn’t change.  The inevitable divorce occurred soon after.  When I first attributed 100% of my previous marriage problems to my wife, divorce was likely to occur.  Things didn’t really change until I took some of the blame and owned my role completely.  Turned out that a lot more of the problem was related to me.  

A lot more.  

An embarrassing amount more.

It is the same with the business and organizations represented by the leaders we work with every day.  They all initially say that their problems are related to the economy, the business climate of their industry, the employees they have, their attitudes, proficiency, work ethic, etc.  But real change doesn’t occur until the leader can own 100% of the problems that are theirs.

Like trying to complete a puzzle, you first have to create the frame or framework of the puzzle if it is going to be completed or solved.

Those problems are hard to see on your own but can be fairly obvious to an invested and thoughtful third party (that is the role we get to play!).  Here are some of the more common “problems” we find:

• Problem with control - What are the things I need to let go of?

• Problem with perfectionism - Where is the tyranny of excellence keeping me from moving on to other things?

• Problem with indecisiveness - Where am I having trouble making decisions?

• Problem with focus - What issues need my attention?

• Problem with expectations - Where are they lacking clarity on what I am wanting from them?

• Problem with alignment - Where are they not clear and on board with where we are going as a company?

• Problem with engagement - Are my team members clear on their roles and how they help fulfill the organization’s vision?

We all have to wrestle with issues and problems that are seemingly beyond our control, but my experience in marriage and in business is that I typically own a percentage of them (and way more than I initially thought).  Owning my contribution to the problem was the necessary first step in solving all of them.

Consider

• Do you have any issues in your marriage or business?

• Are you clear on what role you are playing in creating them?

• Can you at least find 1% of the problem to own as a first step in solving the problem?

• Who have you given the right to help you see what is so hard for you to see on your own?

Mother

“When she speaks

there is so much permission in her love

and holy on her breath

you cannot help but sit like you are budding toward the sky,

you cannot help but believe you are every bit as necessary

as you were created to be."

- An excerpt from "She" by Danielle Bennett

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There is a woman in one of our leadership classes that I'm especially drawn to. She is a brilliant and successful leader who can take charge and "get things done." When she came to her first meeting several years ago, she had this authentic beauty about her, but it was buried under years of pain and heartache that gave rise to a defensive posture and unattainable perfectionism. The tenderness in her eyes didn't match the clinching of her jaws, but it was there.

Eventually, that heavy old armor she was wearing didn’t fit her tiny body anymore and was starting to get in the way. She started to take a hard look at how she was pushing people away at work and holding them to standards they could never meet, and realized she was constantly berating herself with the same scrutiny to be better, work harder, and maintain control. She knew something had to give. 

So, she began to let God "mother" her; to really take care of her. She went on a vacation for the first time in years. She attended a LifePlan where she was able to experience healing from past wounds. She started to accept the love and care from a boss that she was initially set against. She was taking her place as a daughter of Eve, whose name means "mother of all the living" or "source of life." She was able to offer life instead of protecting herself from it. As she learned to be gracious with herself, she was able to give that grace to others.

The shift in her that stuck with me was when I was sitting across the table from her at a Thai restaurant. She was a week away from having a performance review with her employee, and she was wanting some ideas on how to honor him. 

What?! HONOR him? Was this the same woman I had met several years ago? 

She wanted to help him see how he was succeeding in the role instead of focusing solely on his shortcomings. This was a very different use of her power. She had always been an incredible and intentional mother to her kids at home, but now it was spilling into her work. And it was beautiful. I told her she was "mothering" him in the best ways. She sat up a little straighter. She knew it was true, and we both knew it was good.

As a woman, the term "mother" can seem so limiting, and it's often a word that we leave at home with the kids. But it is so much more than birthing and raising little humans, although that is a very significant part of it. It is also about bringing life to the world with your words, your work, and your unique voice. It’s about calling someone up into their true identity with your very presence. It is fighting for the good in others and standing in the gap when discouragement and lies have overtaken them. It is offering the very life source of God, our Father and our Mother, to everyone around us...even our employees, bosses, and co-workers. 

And how did her review go with that young employee? It was glorious. There were tears. And they weren't the result of a good scolding from the boss lady, but from a woman who knows who she is as a fierce and loving mother and is helping others realize that they are "every bit as necessary as they were created to be."

Consider

• What do you normally think of when you think of the word “mother”? Does it have mostly positive or negative connotations for you? 

• Outside of your biological mother, who has “mothered” you in positive ways? How did that affect you? Have you told them so?

• If you are a woman in the workplace, how are you using your authority to offer life and dignity to those around you? Do you tend to diminish your strengths and the strengths of others or celebrate them?

Minutia

mi•nu•ti•a 

(mɪˈnu ʃi ə, -ʃə, -ˈnyu-) 
n., pl.

The precise details; small or trifling matters.

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We strongly encourage all the entrepreneurs we work with to go through our LifePlan retreat.  Getting clear on the life they are intended to live is a crucial first step in having the clarity and conviction it takes to get their business working for them.  Once they have their ideal life in clear focus, doing the work it takes to re-engineer their business to support that life becomes a foregone conclusion.

“To live a life without really taking the time to see what it is you were made to do and what is keeping you from doing it, that’s the common narrative. But to really know and get clear on my life’s purpose, that I’m made for something much greater than I realized is the truth that LifePlan has helped me lean into. The SummitTrek coaches are interested in one thing: for you to wipe the mud from your eyes, heal wounds, and help you see that you are more than you ever could’ve imagined.” 

- Will

No one ever started a business to make it their life.  They all had a plan to launch an enterprise that would serve their life, not the other way around.  Many of the leaders we encounter say that their families/lives get the “rest of them” instead of the “best of them.”  The best they can hope for is that one day they will sell their business and have the freedom to focus on what really matters.  

Their involvement in the minutia of their business often has them missing out on the crucial details of their lives, overwhelmed by all the little things that fit together to build a business well.

A friend forwarded a great article from Inc. Magazine: 5 Steps to Creating a Self-Managing Company.  We agreed with so much of what it said, but it inspired us to create our own steps from what we’ve learned through working with hundreds of leaders.

1. Go on a LifePlan retreat - Get clear on the life you were intended to live.

2. Establish your culture - Work to get powerful core values and a purpose to define the organization you want to run.

3. Build good meeting governance - Make sure teams are meeting and direct reports are getting clear direction and interaction.

4. Write a clear vision - Make sure everyone is on the same page about where the company is going.

5. Create an execution mindset - Make sure that there is a framework for creating and executing strategic initiatives and goals to achieve that vision.

6. Establish powerful dashboards - Self-managing requires that you and your leaders have the clear and important information necessary to run the company.

7. Document everything - Clear processes and procedures must be established.

8. Focus on organizational design - Create your org chart of the future and make sure every employee has a clear agreement about what their position entails.

This is all really simple, it just isn’t easy.  We’ve got a simple roadmap that we’ve used to help companies with thousands of employees, partners, and even solopreneurs make this journey.

Consider

• Are you clear on the life you were created to live?

• Does your business serve your life or the other way around?

• How motivated are you to have your family/life get the “best of you” instead of the “rest of you”?

Well-Being

“To develop the next generation of leaders, every employer needs to be asking:  What do our younger workers want from the workplace.” 

- Gallup

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According to the Gallup Organization, Gen Z and Millenials now make up 46% of the full-time workforce in the United States.  A recent survey of what they are looking for from an employer revealed some pretty interesting things.  

What young Millenials (b. 1988-2001) and older Millenials (b. 1980-1988) look for from their employer:

1. The organization cares about their well-being

2. The organization’s leadership is ethical

3. The organization’s leadership is open, transparent, and inclusive of all people

They also surveyed some of the older generations as well.  What Gen X (b. 1965-1979) and Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964) look for in their employer:

1. The organization’s leadership is ethical

2. The organization cares about their well-being

3. The organization is financially stable

While their number 1 and 2 answers were flipped, it is pretty interesting that workers born from 1946-2001 all valued the same top two things from their employers; care and ethics.  Other things I’ve read tell me that the reason they are so focused on those two things is that they are painfully absent from most workplaces.  The difference in both group’s third responses makes sense given what we know about the different generations, but I was pretty surprised that the top two answers were the same (albeit in a different order).

So what are we to take from that?  In a world where employees have never been more isolated and uncertain about the future, it is likely that the desire to work in a place that cares about their wellbeing, is highly ethical, and is open and transparent is going to continue to increase in importance.  

So what is an employer to do?  Gallup offers some clarification and some advice.

Well-being - most employers now have wellness programs, but physical wellness is not enough.  Gallup defines that wellbeing is made up of five elements (physical, career, social, financial, and community).  All those elements should probably be considered.

Ethical - employees expect the people they work for to be actively identifying and solving for ethical blind spots.  They also expect the people they work for to care about the lives of people outside the company walls.  Do the right things inside our company and regarding the world around us.

Transparent Leaders - most millennials have entered the workplace since the 2008 financial collapse.  They’ve seen a lot of fraud and deceit.  They’ve been given mixed messages on how good or bad the economy is at any given time.  They operate with more of a trust-but-verify approach to management and leadership.  WE need to err toward more disclosure than we typically have given.

Inclusion - this sort of goes without explaining.  Younger generations of workers are highly sensitive to social justice and issues of inclusion.

While we hear a lot of challenging comments regarding the younger generation of workers, they will soon represent over half the workforce.  We all need to get accustomed to the changing demographics and needs of the majority of our employees!

Consider

• How do you define the “good old days” regarding the type of employees you had?

• Are you ready to admit that we will never see those “good old days” again?

• Regarding the needs illustrated by the Gallup survey, what do you need to change in order to better adapt to the new workforce?

Labor

Labor

[ley-ber]

noun

1. productive activity, especially for the sake of economic gain.

2. the body of persons engaged in such activity, especially those working for wages.

3. this body of persons considered as a class (distinguished from management, and capital).

4. physical or mental work, especially of a hard or fatiguing kind; toil.

5. a job or task done or to be done.

---

There are many things I don’t miss about my banking career, but there is one thing that I really loved: I never had to work a single night or a day on a weekend.  The financial markets opened early and closed early, five days a week.  There wasn’t any trading or processing of trades I could get done at night or on the weekend.  I would sometimes, by choice, work on spreadsheets around investment strategies, but it was never required that I work after hours.

A few weekends ago, we completed another Lifeplan retreat for several couples at a high-end guest ranch.  It marked our 300th attendee.  The venue was stellar, the food was amazing, the weather was great, and the couples who attended were beautiful in every way.  Truly extraordinary people that all found dramatically enhanced versions of their future lives there.

Some might call spending Friday-Sunday with a bunch of clients a labor of love.  It flies in the face of everything I most loved about my prior career, but I love every minute of the retreat.

Where else can you completely rewrite the rest of your future in two days?  Where else can you completely change your life in 48 hours?

One of our recent attendees said:

“To live a life without really taking the time to see what it is you were made to do and what is keeping you from doing it, that’s the common narrative.  But to really know and get clear on my life’s purpose, that I’m made for something much greater than I realized is the truth that LifePlan has helped me lean into. The SummitTrek coaches are interested in one thing: for you to wipe the mud from your eyes, heal wounds, and help you see that you are more than you ever could’ve imagined.”

- Will

We have collected several hundred versions of this testimonial over the years, but Will says it really clearly.  The intention for your life is much more than you could've imagined.  It has never been harder to hear beyond the noise, chaos, and fear of our culture.  We need the mud wiped from our eyes, we need to set aside the lies and wounds that keep us from seeing clearly, and we need to realize the incredible value and unique intention of our lives.

And don’t get me wrong, a Lifeplan is an immense emotional outpouring from our team.  We leave those weekends pretty spent.  But we also leave completed satiated, full.  

What else could we possibly do in 2 days that could have this kind of ROI?  

What else could possibly set the stage for this kind of life change?  

Why would we choose to do anything else with our time if we knew this was a possibility?

This is the furthest thing from a labor of love.  It is a privilege.  It is our great honor.  And because of COVID, we created an online live group version that has helped us take 3 times more people through Lifeplan in the last six months than in any prior year.  And with completely comparable results.  

We just finished a LifePlan retreat for a large group of employees from a single company, and the next one is for a big group of attendees in Africa.  But later on this Fall, we will be offering both live in-person, and live online versions open to everyone.  Let us know if you are interested and we’ll make sure we let you know as soon as we establish dates for both.

Consider

• Is clarity about your life keeping you from the clarity you need to lead your family or company?

• Have you lost sight of the deeper meaning behind why you exist and what role you were created to play?

• How much would it help you to be clear on the purpose of your life?

Detached

”As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”  

- Proverbs

---

I was listening to an interview with an alcoholic in recovery.  He was describing all the rhythms and practices he put in place to help him maintain his sobriety.  Sleep schedules, places, and even ways of interacting/responding all had to change.  As a successful businessman, he is a person of high intensity, a problem solver, and used to reacting quickly to whatever problem arises.

All of that ability to react quickly to a stimulus with a response is particularly unhelpful when it comes to being a better human.  It is the antithesis of the slow and easy way of Jesus and being a more thoughtful and present person.  

Learning to do life slower has also become an essential practice in his sobriety.

He mentioned that he has learned to detach, discern, and then decide.  I’ve spent too much time in church to not be a little jaded about alliteration or acrostics when it comes to forming a message or teaching, but there was some incredible wisdom and power in these three d’s:

• Detach - stepping outside of the given situation or challenge and rejecting the tendency to personalize what is going on. Turning off that natural urge to think about how this affects you or might be related to you.

• Discern - engaging the wisdom of eternity to source clarity and understanding of what is going on and what you are supposed to do at that moment.

• Decide - choosing to do the thing you clearly know is the right thing despite how hard or costly it might be.

Sound pretty simple?  All those mnemonics have a way of making everything seem simple.  We say that most things are simple, but not easy.  This is no different.

Leaders are increasingly facing their lives and leadership alone.  And the world has become so chaotic and noisy that we had to create a discipline that is very similar before the meetings we have with clients.

• Consecrate - before every conversation, we take time to set aside everything that we normally bring into one (motives, agendas, attitudes, prejudices, opinions, preconceived ideas, etc.).

• Discern - we try to be slow to speak and quick to listen. Instead of reacting to what is said, we work to sift through what we are hearing and discern what is most important to focus on and respond.

• Offer - only when the recipient is open to receiving feedback and focusing on only the most important 1-3 things. Everyone is living in overwhelm. Helping them solve or make progress on their 1-3 biggest issues is a rescue, providing too much feedback and information or trying to address too many problems just contributes to overwhelm.

We all need people in our life that are with us, for us, and can set their own issues and agendas aside.  That can listen to us with discernment and clarity from above and offer simple and clear advice on how to solve our most pressing issues.  All of us are in need of that kind of rescue.

Consider

• Who do you process your life and leadership with?

• Who is helping you find order, clarity, and a way forward with the challenges you are facing?

• Are you finding that you are simply admiring your problems (talking about the same ones year after year) with very little progress?

• When are you going to finally do something about that?

Disciplined

“If success is a catalyst for failure because it leads to the ‘undisciplined pursuit of more,’ then one simple antidote is the disciplined pursuit of less. Not just haphazardly saying no, but purposefully, deliberately, and strategically eliminating the nonessentials.”

- Greg McKeown

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I recently had a meeting with a man who attended a Lifeplan retreat.  A beautiful man with a big heart and a mission that got clarified and elevated through his experience at Lifeplan.  God had wildly confirmed his purpose and he was feeling the invitation to take this work deeper, wider, and dramatically increase the impact of what he had given his heart to for 20 years.

He needs others to make this happen.  While God has given him the vision and the heart for completing the mission and the work is clearly his divine assignment, he will need other stakeholders to make it happen.  He was enthusiastic and passionate about the mission.  It was easy to get excited and interested in what he was sharing.

And then he asked the question I typically get in these kinds of meetings.  He wanted to know if this was the kind of thing where I could provide my experience and gifting.

The answer was a clear and simple, “No”.

I am so clear at what God has me saying “yes” to in this season of my life that saying “no” has become much easier.  As Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, says, I have gone pro at saying “no”.

I celebrated and affirmed what God was clearly calling him to accomplish.  We talked about the process of getting the right shareholders around the table with him.  We even discussed what the initial meeting might look like with these shareholders.  We strategized about some next steps coming out of that initial meeting.  I even offered to have coffee with him from time to time to give him support, clarity, and offer some advice.

I am already a big fan of his and believe that what he is being called to do is very important.  I want to see it happen, but I am very clear on what God is calling me to and it has become very easy for me to put boundaries on where I am committing my time.

And as they say, if the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll just make you busy.

Consider

• Are you clear on what you are supposed to be saying “yes” to?

• What are the things you are saying “yes” to that you shouldn’t be?

• How much would it simplify your life to become better at saying “no”?

Whole

“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.”

-Paul to the folks in Ephesus

---

I somehow missed the “whole” part of the “whole and holy” in these verses.  I went full force after the “holy” part with pretty miserable results.  Recommitting to doing better and doubling down on trying harder to deal with the unholy parts of my life left me feeling discouraged and failing miserably.  And I was working really hard.

I was involved in all kinds of ministry, had a bunch of roles at my church, listened to only Christian music, and read only books from our tribe.  I even fought off getting the internet or cable television in our house to keep from any worldly influences.  But almost two decades into my walk with God, I finally realized something that would have been so helpful to have known.

The restoration that was offered didn’t just apply to the eternal resetting and making everything right, but was intended to bring healing and restoration to every broken and incomplete place in my story.  I didn’t know that all that collateral damage from the life I lived was wildly affecting my ability to live the life prescribed by my beliefs.

Trying to be holy without becoming whole was a complete exercise in futility.

And don’t get me wrong.  Getting healthier didn’t remove the category of sin, but it did remove it from being the beast I battled with as the predominant theme of my life with God.  It moved from the forefront of my mind and experience to the quiet whisper, the nipping at my heels, and the fuzzy portion on the edges of the images in my mind.  It became more of a minor theme.

Getting whole and holy seems to have been the focus of His love.  The major theme that seemed to get lost in the shuffle.  I heard quite a lot about sin and holiness, but don’t seem to recall much energy given to the idea of getting any healing.  Getting healthier not only removed sin as the major theme of my life, but it also helped clear my mind and made me wildly more effective in my work.

It dramatically affected my role as a father and husband as well.

One of the primary drivers of me leaving a successful banking career to pursue a life in executive and organizational coaching is the belief that working through issues and getting healthier would do the same for everybody.  The decade I have spent doing this work has only confirmed that idea and deepened my resolve.

Consider

• How are you doing at pursuing holiness?

• How much time and energy have you devoted to getting whole?

• How much is it costing those you love and lead to not be healthier?

Captives

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the captives free,

    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

---

Okay, let’s skip past the baby in the manger with the kings, the livestock, etc. 

 Where Jesus really shows up in the gospel narrative is when he announces his arrival.  He is a young man, likely early teens, and he is brought to the front of the synagogue to read from the ancient texts.  He “found” Isaiah 61 and reads.  

In summary he says:

“I have come to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free.”

Then he rolls up the scroll, hands it to the attendant, and says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Essentially, you have all been waiting for a messiah to appear and I am that guy.

What a triumphant and audacious arrival on the stage of humanity!  Way more powerful and defining than the felt board representations found in many a Sunday school class of a manger, farm animals, and three kings.  The birth obviously mattered.  It was an invasion of humanity and the beginning of the “setting everything right” that God intended through that life.  But the announcement of his arrival as appointed king - come on!  It stirs me every time I think of that scene.

That triumphant announcement of his arrival is bookmarked by an equally stunning exit.  Ascending into the clouds, leaving his students to teach all nations the gospel, granting them all the authority in heaven and earth within that authority he had been given, and providing them with the Holy Spirit as a guide to direct their every step.

That transcends every heroic knighting, ceremonial pinning, or appointing of anyone in any situation since.  What could be more profound than that?

When we say that our purpose at SummitTrek is “Restoring leaders and organizations to their original intended purpose through coaching”, that is what we are talking about.  It is the restoration of all things intended in us as leaders.  Beyond best business practices (though we teach those) and the best current leadership ideas (we teach those as well), we are inviting all the leaders we engage to ascend to an even grander nobility for their lives/leadership.

You have been appointed.  

You have been equipped.  

You have been deputized in the most profound and aspirational way.  

And likely no one ever bothered to tell you about that heritage.  

That legacy, honor, privilege, and responsibility.  

That is what we are working to restore…and it changes everything.

Because we were appointed to be co-heirs of this Kingdom.  

We are to be the hands and feet of God.  

We were intended to be the generative governors (life-giving leaders) that care for and tend to everyone who resides in our small “k” kingdoms.  

We are to be good kings/queens that use everything in our power and discretion for the good of everyone entrusted to our care.

It just so happens to be the doorway to having a much better and more successful business as well.

Consider

• What is your understanding of the privilege and responsibility of your leadership?

• How does the description above compare to your previous understanding?

• Given the current state of your life/leadership, do these ideas inspire or discourage you?

Gifts

“I will never live life alone another day as a man the rest of my life!”

- A declaration I made at 9,000 feet in Colorado in Oct ’02

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It is hard to describe how much my life has changed in the almost twenty years since I made that declaration.  From feeling like I was doing life completely on my own to being flanked on every side by dozens of like-hearted kings and queens living in the same direction.  It has never been more obvious than during a recent hospital visit.  

My stomach, gall bladder, and pancreas all shutting down resulted in some pumping, scraping, and the removal of an organ.  I have never been in so much pain.  The morphine I was taking left me pretty catatonic during the week I was in the hospital.  I couldn’t do anything.  I couldn’t even think very coherently (some of my friends are still laughing at the drunk-dialed texts I sent them).  I sort of stared at the clock, waited for the next hit of pain medicine, and hoped the time would pass faster.

But the gifts of this season came immediately and are still coming.

• A dear friend from Johannesburg sent me an audio prayer that spoke encouragement, the Father’s heart, and broke lies/agreements I didn’t even know I was carrying.

• My eldest son and I had maybe the most meaningful conversation of my life where he had envisioned my funeral, the men that would gather, and what they might say.

• The rest of our coaching team immediately took over every responsibility and even removed some I would have in the future so that I wouldn’t come back to an overwhelming slate of work.

• My beautiful bride of 31 years stepped up in more ways than I can count.

• I got invited to be on a launch team for “Becoming a King” in South Africa.

• I had a week of recovery, a birthday, and then a week of snow and ice that allowed another week of rest.

• I had so many thoughtful sentiments and even some gifts.

• Finally, one of my deepest and most significant friends (and client) shared emotionally how glad he was to see me and how he thought he might not get to do that again.

I was humbled and overwhelmed.  Rescued from whatever fear or pity I might have had about my condition.  It truly was a reset in every category of my life, as my friend in Joberg had prayed.  I asked God for further interpretation and was surprised by what I heard.

This isn’t a picture of the extraordinary life, but a glimpse into God’s Kingdom here on earth as it is intended.  It is a picture of what living in the same direction with other like-hearted kings and queens looks like.  We were not intended to do life on our own.  We were fought for and have been granted a life of healing and freedom.

And that life is available for all of us.

Consider

• Who is in your tribe?

• Do you feel like you living and leading on your own?

• What is it costing you to not have like-hearted kings and queens living in the same direction around you?

Expectation

“For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.  We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison,  because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.”

- Paul to the folks in Corinth

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Sam: 

It’s all wrong
By right we shouldn’t even be here.
But we are.
It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo.
The ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger they were,
and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end.
Because how could the end be happy?
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened?

But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow.
Even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you.
That meant something.
Even if you were too small to understand why.

But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand.
I know now.
Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t.
Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: 

What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam: 

That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

The hobbits from the shire are tapping into some ancient wisdom that Paul offered the church in Corinth.  Despite our circumstances, we cannot lose hope.  We cannot lose heart.  We have to carry and offer the expectation of a brighter day.

A recent survey from the U.S. Census department yielded the following results of how small businesses were faring as a result of the COVID crisis:

• 31% said their business was much worse

• 44% said it is moderately worse

• 19% said it was about the same

• 5% said it was moderately better

• 1% said it was much better

That means 75% of all businesses said things were worse as a result of the pandemic.  And it is worth noting that they can only survey businesses that are still businesses.  Said another way, a full three-quarters of all businesses that haven’t already failed are worse off since the pandemic.  That is a staggering revelation.

Several things came to mind as I read through that sobering report:

1. The Praxis article told us in the earliest days of the pandemic (over a year ago) that from that moment, every business was a start-up and things were never going back to the way they were. We’ve worked with so many businesses, including our own, that began the process of pivoting in those early days of the crisis.

2. They say it is not the physically or mentally strongest that survive internment, but those who are most hopeful. Those who have an expectation that a better day is coming. Those who hold onto hope.

3. The dozens of conversations we’re are having with the new coaches and business leaders we have coached in South Africa. Beyond all the leadership and business coaching we have offered them, the thing they seem to treasure most is the restoration of hope.

We often tell leaders that this is their most important currency with the people they lead.  When the storms are raging outside your home, your children look to your face to see that things are going to be okay.  And when the obvious storms are raging around all those we lead today, they are looking to us for the same reason. Are they finding us fearful, withdrawn, and reactionary?  Or are they finding us calm, assured, and hopeful?

I once knew a leader that would regularly come into the office full of fear, anger, and obvious agitation.  Sometimes it didn’t even have anything to do with the company or the team, but every team member felt like it was their fault.

Our words not only hold the opportunity to uplift or crush a team member, but our countenance can also do the same.  We can bring more life as a generative governor (life-giving leader) or take it as an immature dictator.  

Consider

• In this most difficult hour, what face are you showing your family, your employees, and everyone else you lead?

• Are they finding you hopeful or even faithful?

• What expectations are you giving them?

• Are you shaping your worldview from sources full of fear, hatred, and lacking any hope (news, social media, etc.) or are you turning to eternal sources that provide a worldview that transcends this hour?

Engagement

“To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”

- Doug Conant

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Gallup recently surveyed 150 CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officers) of large companies across the globe.  They asked how they were maintaining productivity and engagement levels give the extended season of the COVID 19 pandemic.  The survey noted these top five responses:

1. Mission and purpose are important drivers of high employee engagement. This one shouldn’t surprise us. It is always the case, but particularly so in this kind of season. When everything seems unsure and even pointless in the world, the place they are coming to work better be pretty clear on who they are and the difference they are making in the world.

2. Leaders need to go the extra mile to show how much they care about their people. During a recent ice storm in Texas where many lost their water and were not able to get to stores due to the icy conditions, the CEO of one of the companies we work with procured dozens of cases of water and hand-delivered them in his four-wheel-drive vehicle to the doorstep of all of their almost 100 employees.

3. Unprecedented levels of communication and transparency are necessary to maintain trust. Everyone is assuming far worse than the reality. They all have friends who’ve lost their jobs and heard of companies that have failed. Share as much as you can as often as you can.

4. You cannot measure productivity by “butts in seats”. In an information and service economy, many of the office roles that have gone home are really difficult to measure. Micro-managing and “big brother” looking over shoulders reduces trust, lowers morale, and achieves the opposite of the intended purpose.

5. The emergency mentality of 2020 cannot be sustained through 2021. People cannot work in crisis for very long. That can only be sustained for shorter periods. The mandate to “go the extra mile”, work longer hours, and contribute more will start to have disastrous effects if carried out too far.

There is gold in this survey.  When working with teams, we often find the opposite of what senior leadership reports.  There is a natural assumption that when things are going the way management likes, they must have the wrong team and need to get a new one.  This lack of belief in a team is felt and perpetuates the problem.

The real antidote to all those frustrations often lies in how they are managed.  Getting a higher level of productivity and engagement from a team is typically the result of managing them better.  Being attentive to the things that cultivate and motivate the team to greater heights.  The good news is those things that yield better results for your company also produce a better quality of life for all those you employ.

As my business partner says, “Don’t try to boil the ocean.”  Start with one of the suggestions from the CHRO’s above and when there is measured progress in terms of engagement, move on to the next.  Ironically, there is virtually no cost associated with the ideas mentioned above.

Consider

• Has the engagement level with the team suffered in this last season of COVID, along with social and political unrest?

• Are you feeling disconnected from displaced team members?

• Which of these simple areas above do you feel like you could most easily embrace in order to improve productivity and engagement?