Posts tagged culture
Leaders Recognize Beliefs Separate Us, Faith Brings Us Together
Sep 9th
Let me encourage you to visit Lolly Daskal’s site, Lolly Daskal: Lead from Within. Her blogs—and her lovely paintings—will enlighten and enrich your life. Her recent post, Is a Belief a Fact or a Choice, resonates deeply with my own beliefs about, well, beliefs.
From my vantage point, humanity is swimming in belief systems. Beliefs permit us to be comfortable with the unknown as a means to be secure. Many beliefs promote goodness, perhaps under different names and concepts—while others herald contempt. Most are a conditioned response—a mechanism that deceives us into overlooking observations of the self because they are so generally accepted as being of great value. This casual neglect, oddly enough, detaches us. How can it be? If we are to believe something, must it not first contain truth? Yet others do not believe. Uh-oh. And, surprise of surprises, we do not always hold a fancy to another’s truth—to their belief. What’s up with that?
If we hold something to be true and believe in it, does it not retain certain value? And, at least to us, it soon represents “fact?” Yet it does not take long for another to ask, “Why?” For them, our belief is not fact. Herein lies the conundrum: our explanation may be nothing more than a speculation. Believing our speculation is THE uniquely acceptable explanation makes it incumbent on us to refrain from questioning the veracity of the explanation, unless it’s okay to be banished from our intimate circle. Said differently, when an explanation is accepted as a belief, we are either loyal or disloyal to it at our own peril.
Two notions come to mind:
First, Wayne Dyer suggests: “What you see is evidence of what you believe. Believe it and you’ll see it.” Over the years, I have come to accept beliefs are highly dependent upon perspective and circumstance. Would we hold to our current belief structure had we been born in another part of the world? For example, isn’t it perfectly reasonable to expect a child born in a Muslim country to grow up loving Allah (God, Yahweh (Jehovah), Bhagwan, etc.) through an Islamic belief system? Of course, it is. The story is similar for children born in Shanghai, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, or Nashville. We are, to a large extent, products of our environment.
Second, our beliefs typically are an outgrowth of societal norms and culture. As Lolly points out, society places a burden upon us—a very heavy burden—to accept what consensus says is so. Consensus, carefully considered, generally takes the appearance of fact; we know, however, it does little more than offer an explanation. Explanations have the tendency to engender tension. Do you recall the last time folks fought over hard facts? What about quarrels over explanations (in America, it is easy to recall quarrels over women’s suffrage and civil rights)? But a national platform is not necessary. We see them every day. Explanations must be defended because other people have their own explanation of the same phenomena—an explanation that requires a defense, too. When our belief systems are elevated to explanations of faith, we soon find ourselves in an arduous spiral.
So, is faith and belief the same thing? It may help to ask two additional questions: What separates us? What brings us together? The answer, as I see it, is elementary. A great many things separate us and very little brings us together. Said another way, beliefs separate us and faith (not talking about religion here) brings us together.
Sorry to go so long but I want to close with an observation I share with teens trying to assimilate our different beliefs to see just how much we are the same. The VERY abbreviated version goes something like this:
Like a stack of homemade pancakes, man exists within a plane of planes: Earth (flat or otherwise), the Milky Way, a galaxy, a universe. What lies beyond is certain to nudge us out of our comfort zone and, perhaps, into a brand new belief. For example, the recent Hubble Deep Field image captured hundreds of galaxies in a single view while the scientists have come to the conclusion there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in deep space—we call it the universe. But is it really THE universe? If we could stand far enough away, would we see hundreds, if not hundreds of billions, of universes comprising, I don’t know, a mega-verse? As we take the time to learn more, our beliefs must change to coincide with our discoveries. And the only option to prevent our beliefs from being turned on their head is to stop discovering. But that is not really an option at all.
The point is, if we become comfortable with our beliefs, we begin imposing them on others. When that happens, fear replaces faith and forces us to start all over again. I wholeheartedly agree with Lolly in that we do, indeed, need to let go of strict beliefs imposed upon us. As we do, fear resides and faith moves in to bring us back together. When that happens, our world becomes better for it.
Great leaders know how to find those diamonds in the rough!
Aug 19th
Ron Edmondson, in his blog post, “What to do if employees don’t respond,” suggested several great questions to ask yourself about employees who refuse to take initiative:
- Do they have the skill required for the task you are asking them to do?
- Do they have the resources required for the task?
- Do they trust that they are in the environment you claim to have?
- Do they trust the leadership of the organization?
- Are your expectations realistic?
If all those answers are yes, then you are forced to ask:
- Are they are good fit for the organization or their position?
- Can they do what you want or expect them to do?
Let me urge caution as you frame responses to those last two questions. Sometimes, we loose focus and rush into difficult pesonnel decisions prematurely. After all, we can provide an endless supply of resources and a positive work environment to no avail. Often, the culprit is organizational culture. And those most intimate with it may not perceive its nuances. The view from the top can, at times, be very different from the view at the bottom or sides.
Does the org’n have a home office? If so, folks elsewhere may suspect preferential treatment due in large part to more face time by virtue of proximity to the “leadership team.” Does the org’n have a “leadership team?” Beware. The perception may be one of snobbery. Who needs me if there’s a leadership team? The point is an org’n can’t have two teams. Either everyone is on THE team or not.
Does the org’n have an autocratic, hierarchical structure? If so, let me recommend you turn it on its head (somewhat literally). True leaders can not sit atop the pyramid if they are busy being present for the folks at the bottom. Great leaders uplift and edify their team(s).
Does the org’n have individual dev’t plans and annual appraisals? A minefield may lie just beneath the surface. If members of the team are appraised against themselves and the progress they have made relative to mutually shared goals, all is well. If they are “graded” in reference to their peers, it’s no-win. Why? Because they are forced to compete and that competition is at odds with the mission. It results in animosity and distracts folks from the org’n goals. It is impossible to feel like you are on the same team if others on the team (e.g., Type A’s) continually try to step on you as they climb the ladder of success.
Does the org’n have a intellectual “property” clause? In other words, to what extent does the org’n expect to “own” the products of your intellect? It has been my experience no one wins with ANY intellectual property clause because it stifles ingenuity, creativity, initiative, and genius. Yes, I am certain genius resides in your org’n and it’s likely not to be found anywhere near the top of the heap. Don’t leave it to the leadership team to make all the decisions; involve the people. Genius will come shining through!
All of this is to say, some employees are miserable not because of ineptitude or a sense of being overwhelmed, but because the culture doesn’t allow them to be the very best THEY can be because the org’n is too busy trying to get them to line up with preconceived notions of what the very best should look like. This is where a leadership change (at least for that individual) is paramount before more drastic action is taken. I’m not sure it is ever in the individual’s best interest to get a pink slip. Everyone has something to add; it’s up to the LEADERSHIP to discover it. Don’t forget, folks are going to say what it is they think superiors want to hear; however, hearts have a way of talking about things the mind seldom understands. Have a heart-to-heart and be on the lookout for diamonds in the rough!
One of the most universal cravings of our time
Jul 8th
Much like teaching people to fish rather than giving them their food, NorthFork will help establish a firm foundation upon which to raise a generation of leadership, of Christian leadership, to answer their cry.
Clearly, leadership principles hold worldwide application and appeal. The world yearns for leadership; not the glitzy, glossy, gives-good-press veneer that often passes for leadership in the public eye but, rather, the humble, soft-spoken kind of leadership that invites folks to listen, to trust, … and to follow.
True leadership is always undertaken as a service to the greater good. For more than a quarter century, the problem of our age has been described as “a crisis in leadership.” The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, for example, reports “the American public perceives a crisis of leadership in our nation. Major public and private institutions increasingly appear incapable of dealing constructively with an ever-expanding list of social and economic problems, and individuals are becoming more cynical about government. We need a new generation of leaders who can bring about positive change in local, national, and international affairs.”
We need servant leaders. “One of the most universal cravings of our time,” suggests James McGregor Burns, “is a hunger for compelling and creative leadership.” Leading is not something one does; it is something one becomes. True leadership is about people, not power. It is the outward manifestation of a caring heart, passionately concerned for the preservation of justice, equity, and the universal good of the people. True leaders gently, yet decisively, move the masses through inspiration and vision. “The signs of outstanding leadership,” Max DePree asserts, “are found among the followers.”
NorthFork will nurture people who are preparing themselves to venture out in public life to make a difference among those who shall follow; it will bring “ancient paths” (Jeremiah 6:16) within reach of those whose hearts seek to walk in the steps of the greatest leadership role model of all time.
Like “standing stones” erected by the people of ancient Israel to commemorate God’s supernatural actions on their behalf, NorthFork graduates will quickly find themselves integrating faith and action, growing in their depth of understanding of what the Bible reveals about how Jesus would have us lead others and, by extension, draw others to God through their “flavoring influence” on our culture.
What an exciting time awaits us!
