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

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ON SEIZING THE REALITIES AROUND YOU

Move at the pace of God’s presence, not your own agenda  

Proverbs 16:9. In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.

 

Have you ever considered that the pace of your mind might be moving so quickly that you are blazing past all that is rich, relevant and candidly in need of your total presence. And perhaps like a film in fast-forward, those around you are not getting the fullness of your love, gifting or attention, but fragmented frames of your presence flickering so quickly that there’s no room for intimacy, impact, or fulfillment… let alone memories. This is the pace of many. Most times the pace is too fast, other times too slow, and for fleeting moments, it moves at just the right speed… the speed of peace. I’m always amazed at the presence I feel when I read of Jesus’ encounter with others. Although there was great attention on Him at all times, he moved at a pace that despite the intensity of his surroundings, was still attuned to what was going on around him. He noticed amidst the thousands, not just the blind man, but the depth of his heart as well - simply from the power of a still glance. His agenda was nothing more than to be present; to move at the pace of allowing an external circumstance to become internal calling where acknowledging, receiving and responding were as natural as breathing and as peaceful as resting. It escapes us at times that God is Omnipresent. Perhaps we should aspire to simply “move at the pace of His presence” rather than our contrived agendas, so our presence can be the gift it was meant to be.

 

The question is: What are you missing by moving at the pace of what you think and not the pace of what is?

A Better Definition of Enemy

Let's play connect the dots from some resources you might not think would connect. First, the 28 May - 3 June 2016 edition of the Economist (p.26), where flip-flop statements were made by Republican leaders once Donald Trump appeared to win the party nomination for the presidential campaign. Rand Paul's was a particular stand out, saying on The Nightly Show on 25 January:

"Donald Trump is a delusional, narcissist, and an orange-faced windbag."

And then, in May, on Breithart.com:

"...I took a pledge when I ran for president to not run as an independent candidate and to support the Republican nominee. I stand by that pledge."

Still thinking about what it takes from people to operate like this within their own party, let alone between political parties, I came across this Daniel Taylor's Book In Search of Sacred Places: Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands. It is a book given to me recently by a friend who knows of my upcoming visit to Ireland this fall. Here is part of one of Mr. Taylor's reflections on pilgrimage, and it oh so relates:

"Pilgrimage holds out the possibility that when the last word is spoken about the human experience, it is a benevolent word. Absence, void, and disintegration are real, but not defining. Every good thing is subject to debasement and rupture, but rupture is the offense against the underlying design, not itself the essential nature of things....

....It is a chosen view of life....Having declared this my choice, I am obligated to certain actions in life. I believe myself obligated, for instance, to have fewer enemies....

The right demonizes the left, the left demonizes the right. Progressives are the new Puritans, seeing evil in every nook and cranny of society....Traditionalists see evil only in things that threaten the status quo. And each sees evil most clearly in the other. Leaders are defined now by their ability to frighten and enrage their followers, and nothing does that so well as a vivid and threatening enemy. And all these people want to recruit me to their side, with the ominous warning that if I am not with them, I am against them." (pp.154,155)

Taylor is pointing to a different way of thinking about what makes for an enemy. Before saying more about it, we have one more stop to make, a visit to Havel, a Life, the psychological biography about Vaclav Havel written by Michael Zantovsky, his longtime press secretary, a trained Psychologist himself.  Since I'm reading the Kindle version of the book, I can't assign a page number for the following quote:

"Havel neither had nor would he ever develop a concept of the Enemy. His decades-long critique of the Communist regime always strove towards the form of a dialogue, in which he went out of his way to try to understand rather than to demonize the motives of the other side and, if at all possible, always to extend to them the benefit of the doubt."

Havel goes down in history as one of the all time greats at affecting change and helping people to flourish --- something our current slate of candidates are not likely to achieve. He stands in there with other great names we might point to -- King, Gandhi, even Jesus - particularly in the definition of and treatment of the enemy department.

Can we business leaders consider choosing the best of these leadership examples, emulating them, re-defining what our enemy is, our real competition, and then acting accordingly? Can we reject shrill words and bombastic shouting, and pick up humble, loving speech, even at our own expense?

Having connected these dots among these three sources, I'm struck yet again that our real enemy is that which destroys souls, diminishes life, harms the body, ravages the environment, and takes away from the life our children and the children of others'.  Our real enemy is not the person who offers the same service or product I do. The real enemy is that which leads people to think that their greatest triumph is to deprive someone of their life, or perhaps worse, to deliberately cause their suffering.

What if that is the battle we take up as we lead our organizations, form our teams, prepare a new round of disruptive technology or product lines, determine employee benefits, consider what will be done with profits, and as we leave our estates behind.

May the God who destroys enmity, the Son who calls us friends, and the Spirit that equips us for works of service, bring us all wisdom as we live into our role as Stewards of the companies we serve, and fight the real battle against real rather than imagined enemies.

Employee Volunteer Days – Worth the Investment?

Should you really skip a day of regular office work and send your employees out to volunteer? This is a good question to be asking, as lost time may equal lost opportunity. But let’s explore for a moment the potential benefits of volunteer days and see if they’re worth it. Let’s take a look at how workplace volunteering impacts productivity and employee engagement. 1. A change of pace increases happiness and productivity. Think about it. Remember back in school when you’d go on field trips? Those were probably the most exciting times for any elementary schooler. It was a time to get out of the classroom, explore, and stimulate your mind as you learned about the world around you. The mood almost always lightens on field trips and you start to see different... READ MORE ON CO.TRIBUTE'S BLOG

Seven Reasons Your Work Matters

Many followers of Jesus live under the illusion that their work is not as important and God-honoring as the work of others. We’ve neglected Martin Luther’s teaching that all Christians are priests, regardless of occupation. Instead, we’ve created a hierarchy of jobs ranging from the most “spiritual” to the least. We’ve traded the dignity that God bestows on every life for an unbiblical struggle with spiritual job comparison. And no matter what we do, there is always someone with a more “spiritual” job. A bigger platform. A greater impact.

Enough.

Properly understood, our work is to be thoughtfully woven into the fabric of the Christian life. Work is one of the best ways we can grow in Christlikeness, love our neighbors, and tangibly advance the... CONTINUE READING ON THE TIFWE BLOG

Before You Set A Goal - STOP!

Having spent over 5 years under Zig Ziglar’s mentorship and even teaching goal setting at Brookhaven Community College in Dallas, I have learned much about goal setting. Also by God’s grace, I have reached every major goal I have set in my life. I think the biggest mistake many people make is by starting with a goal rather than a vision. Let me explain, take one of Steve Covey’s 7 Habits and “begin with the end in mind!”

Ask yourself WIIFM? (What’s in it for me? Clearly understand the benefits for you. Is this your goal and something you can believe in? Does this goal honor God? Will it bring you closer to Christ or take you further away? Spend time in prayer before you start the process, is it in His will? Remember Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your hear. NAS

Next, before you set any goal think about the day you actually reach your goal. How will you feel? What will it look like? Take time to live the future moment in your mind. How will you celebrate, who will celebrate with you? What are the benefits to achieving the goal? Once you have a clear vision of the accomplished goal with all the rewards and benefits you can start the process. The rest of the steps are important but if you start here you are well on your way to reaching your goal, every time!

Now identify all the road blocks or obstacles you will face and how you will overcome them. Think about what you are willing to give up to reach your objective. Who, besides yourself will be affected by your sacrifices? Too often, if you are not prepared, the first roadblock you encounter on your journey can lead to discouragement. Some even give up! Your clear vision of the goal is what will motivate to press forward and persevere!

In goal writing always identify the people that will assist you in reaching your goal. Also list the new skills or talents you will need to develop to reach your goal.

A critical step in the process is now to develop an action plan, break it down daily if you can. Be specific on what actions or step you will take to move toward your goal.

Finally set the date for accomplishing your goal. Now put all of this in writing and get to work!

Always write your goal in the first person, present tense. I am, I have, I will. Also write your goal using SMART: Specific, Measurable, Aligned with your Core values, Realistic & Time bound.

Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand! Proverbs 19:21