ClickCease
Matt Rusten
Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company

Is joy an underrated asset in your leadership? In our latest article, Matt Rusten explores why joy, much like humor, plays a vital role in building a thriving company culture. From increasing team engagement to fostering resilience, joy can transform workplace dynamics and inspire purpose-driven work. Discover three key ways to cultivate joy in your organization and why it’s essential for leaders who seek both results and fulfillment.

Why Joy is Vital for Your Leadership and Company
Business, Faith, Faith at Work
Convene
Do Not Worry

‘Do not worry.’ We’ve read Matthew 6:25-34 in the Sermon on the Mount, but what does that look like on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis? God knows our every worry, fear, and concern – and He can handle it. Many thanks to Darrell Passwater, Convene Forum Team leader, for his encouragement to think about how our lives might be different by truly living out this scriptural principle.

Do Not Worry
Greg Leith
Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the ...

Got a quick minute to chat? I’ve been wanting to share something with you as you lead in the midst of the election cycle in the USA or when your political election takes place in your country. When the dust settles on the election and the new country leader is declared, one thing will still be as true as it is right now. You’ll still be the one leading your firm the day after the election. Your team members will still come to work the day after the winner is declared. They’ll still be looking to you for leadership, for a paycheck, for a sense of community at their workplace.

What do they want most that only you can deliver? It’s meaning. That meaning they’re looking for begins with you and your leadership. To be sure, what Washington DC does actually can impact your business significantly, however, the president of the United States or the leader of any country does not lead your firm. You do. It’s an enterprise entrusted to you to lead as a steward. It’s a place where people look to you for answers, where people want to be part of a team that cares about them and where people want to be valued, appreciated, and loved. The next president of the country will not show up this week at your office to encourage your team, fix a broken piece of equipment, hire the next team member, sell a big account, or cast a bold vision about how your team will reach your goals and impact the culture.

Who Will Lead Your Firm the Day After the Election?
Chip Neidigh
A Safe Place To Fall
A Safe Place To Fall
Dave Ulrich
3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

As we find ourselves mid-October and a blink away from a new calendar year, it is an opportunity to prepare for how we view transitions. Transitions allow for reflection and renewal, for letting go and beginning anew, and for learning from the past and creating the future. Instead of laying out trends for the next year, I would like to comment on a fundamental enabler of any transition: hope. Leaders who want to improve, CEO’s who work toward excellence, HR professionals who aspire to deliver more value, and employees who seek well-being all achieve their transitions by realizing hope.

Hope integrates many of the positive traits that shape transitions for others and matter to me personally: learning, patience, service, faith, humility, optimism, gratitude, and so forth. I send hundreds of formal and informal e-mails every month to invite people to programs, to thank people for attending programs, to check in on those I mentor, and to stay connected to those I care about. I begin almost every one of these notes with “Hope you are well.” Hope is one of my personal desires, tag lines, and biases and an enabler of any transition.

If I could implant one trait in my family, friends, and colleagues who are undergoing continual transition, it would be hope. 

3 Principles of Hope That Enable Transitions

alignment

Team Success

My former mentor and boss Zig Ziglar taught me to keep it simple. So when I am asked by my clients how to make their team work I answer with a simple acronym T.E.A.M.

T is for Trust.

The biggest factor in building a strong team is trust. Trust is defined as firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. So that’s simple right? Well not exactly. Trust starts with the leader! Your leadership must be a model of reliability & truth. If your team trusts you and knows you stand by your actions, it empowers them to act in the same manner. Your team must also feel that everyone in the organization can be trusted to do what’s right.

E is for Engagement

If your team has mutual trust they will naturally be engaged, especially if they have a clear sense of your company’s purpose and vision. Establish your vision. Make sure your team understands their role and how it impacts your organization’s purpose, which will encourage engagement. Keep in mind that only about 30% of any organizations people are truly engaged.

A is for Alignment

Alignment comes through a singleness of purpose around your company’s vision. Alignment in critical to get everyone pulling in the same direction. Are your goals clearly stated so that everyone can work together for the common good? Look for areas where unity is not taking place and the folks back in alignment.

M is for Measured

For a team to function you must have a clear way to measure performance and keep all concerned accountable. A major failure in many organizations is the failure to hold everyone accountable. Put into place clear benchmarks to keep progress moving forward toward your team goals. Hold regular meeting to measure accomplishment and make course correction where necessary. All in all, if you keep Trust, Engagement, Alignment and Measurement at the forefront your team will move forward and enjoy great success!

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The R.O.I. Thing

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We use the Return on Investment (ROI) calculation to make investment decisions in our personal lives and businesses weekly, but we don’t typically think of ROI relating to our spiritual life.

In fact, a certain amount of dissonance exists between our ears when thinking about, on one hand, competing, building, investing and growing a company in the marketplace and, on the other, what our eulogist will say about our life on the day of our funeral and what eternity will be like in Heaven.

Jesus wants there to be resonance & complete alignment , not dissonance, with these areas of our thinking and within our lives.

If you take Him at His word, literally, as I do, then you have to read Mathew 19:29 to mean that the amount of money we allocate from our business’ profits to (1) loving our neighbors as ourselves (think funding your local Christian homeless shelter/rescue mission), and, (2) making disciples of all nations (think funding missionaries who take the Word to people groups  who have never even heard of Jesus throughout their existence), will yield us a 100x ROI of economic value in Heaven, forever, literally.

I submit that there’s no other way to read and interpret it.  Jesus wired we five talent and ten talent guys and gals to compete, grow and build a business, so that we can fund his Kingdom here on earth. 

If you feel this dissonance, commit a percentage of your profits to Kingdom investing today and see if it changes how you feel Sunday relates to Monday through Friday.  I’ll be curious to hear how your business performs during that period, too.