One Great Employee

It's been said that one great employee is more valuable than three good employees. Agree?

We've got some great employees on our team, here are some of the lessons I observe from them:

• Seek accountability rather than run from accountability. Good employees have good reasons why things don't get done.
• Embrace Change. With good employees, you find yourself having invest more time to sell the change.
• Understand the goals of the organization and align their activities to them. Good employees get a lot of stuff done, but regularly the wrong stuff.
• Great communicators and fill in cracks within their teams. Good employees know their jobs pretty well but miss opportunities to keep others in the loop.
• Have integrity and build others. Good employees have integrity and build themselves.

You probably know who these people are at your organization. Your stress level goes down when the walk in the room, they're a breath of fresh air, and you find yourself thinking he/she has it covered... Got great?

Sidenote: The "metrics" on this works as well... Think profitability over a fixed cost, not revenue.

Fast Forward Change

You can't fast forward change in your organization. Well, you can but not without consequences. In the season of change we've been in lately, here are 5 lessons I've learned in the past few months:

• The vision of where you want to be may be too much for your team to absorb in one setting, sometimes you need to think "bite sized" chunks when navigating change with your team
• If key stakeholders are left without all the information, they can quickly feel like an outsider and shift into survival mode while filling in the blanks you're leaving
• Have a clear message of the "win" in the change, be prepared to handle the "why" questions
• Choose to collaborate vs. dictate on the options of change, usually there are a few different paths you can take
• When roles and processes are fuzzy before the change, they'll be a flat-out blur afterwards... create plenty of space for conversations and clarifications before, during, and after the change

Chances are, for every hour you save trying to fast forward through change, you'll spend 2 hours on the backside picking up the pieces. So hurry up and wait for the process to works its way through...

"What If"

What If:

• We could set aside our need to be "right"?


• We didn't need to "win" the debate?


• We focused on being peacemakers and extended a hand to those we don't understand?
  
• We found commonality with those "different" from us and collaborated on projects to bring real change to our communities and world?


• We responded to people not about where we think they are wrong but focused on where we could agree?
  
• We truly loved people?

What Could Change?

• Could Athiests and Believers agree that people need clean water and work together to bring solutions to millions in need across the globe?
  
• Could the tradition church find commonality with non-traditionalists and work together to bring Hope to their local communities?
  
• Could a church work with the gay community to fill food pantries?
  
• Could Christians and Muslims work together to provide relief to earthquake victims?

This is messy and doesn't fit nice a tidy in a box. However, I do know I want to love more, talk and debate less, and be part of something Greater than myself. What might I learn about myself, others, and God from engaging more in these relationships?

This is a church I want to be part of.... this is a person I want to be.... these are the people I want to lock arms with...

"I Want to Move Dirt"

A friend of mine Bobby McGee posed a question to me that I thought I'd respond to and wonder how would you answer this question?

"A boulder is at the top of a mountain and contains a million dollars for your business... get to the bottom of the mountain and the million dollars is yours.... Would you push the boulder or dig out in front of it? Why?"

While the analogy lends to some interpretation, here is my response:

• Have truly great people on your team. If I picked the five best people from our company of 58, I think we could open a donut shop (and scores of other businesses) and be successful. Great people don't need to be pushed, they roll on their own as they are strategic, self-motivated, and they value team. (Jim Collins... get the right people on the bus) So what helps them roll?


• Remove the dirt (or barriers) that are in front of your great people. One of the most important roles I have is to remove hurdles that slow our great people. This may be team communication, communication to clients, poor processes or no processes, or misinformation in key measurables. So what other dirt is in our way?
  
• Remove the dirt in our own lives. We all have some sort of dysfunction or distraction that can keep us stuck where we are... Fear of failure, fear of change, moral failures, inability to trust others, glass half empty mentality, lack of financial discipline, etc... Working on our own individual "issues" can help dislodge the dirt in our lives. What can happen then?

We put ourselves in a position to roll toward our God-given purpose, a business can have a great chance of success, and in general, life rocks a little more (uh, pardon the pun...)

Dig out in front of the rock I say.... what say you?