Tag Archives: Andy Stanley

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What Do Cancer, Children, Car Shows, and Chaplains Have In Common?

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Just before Christmas this past year, one of our long-term employees took her 14 yr. old son to the doctor to have a knee injury checked out. What they thought was simply swelling turned out to be a mother’s nightmare – a rare form of bone cancer. Obviously, this is a life-changing event. It poses the question: What ministry responsibilities does a Christian company have in responding to this kind of situation?

ministry

Ministry Through Business

Now, I will be the first to tell you that we are not the perfect Christian business. Not even close. There are so many ways we fall short of where we want to be. I am sure we miss ministry opportunities every day.

On the other hand, we give it a lot of effort and I am proud of what God has accomplished in our company over the past eight years. In fact, this blog is an attempt to share some of what He has done to change this company’s focus. So, when a situation comes along that exemplifies this kind of ministry, I feel compelled to share.

Flexible Schedule

First and foremost, we wanted to make sure that this mother had full freedom to be with her son at every possible moment through the medical maze of full diagnosis, planning, and treatment. Though she is in a critical role within our company’s accounting department, we gave her the freedom to effectively set her own schedule.

She worked when she could (occupying her mind) and she was with him whenever she needed to be. In this case, we took Andy Stanley’s advice and did for one what we wish we could do for everyone. While our employee handbook does not exactly deal with this situation, we made sure we gave her every freedom we could. We cannot allow everyone this freedom all the time, but we can bend the rules when we have to.

Employees Engaged

Next, we had several employees step up in various ways from providing gas for her multiple trips to Atlanta (60+ miles each way) to chipping in with her work responsibilities and even helping her set up an account at the local bank for donations toward medical expenses. Everyone did their best to show their support through encouragement and prayers. She has never been in doubt that we were supporting her and her family.

One of the sales departments had the idea of hosting a car show, with the profits going to help out with medical expenses. This idea gained support and that department really put hours of effort into pulling it off. The event drew 60 cars, raised close to $1,500 for their medical expenses, and even served as the capstone to her son’s birthday party!

Chaplain

Finally, and likely most importantly, our company chaplain has been able to give her and her family the spiritual support they need. In addition to his normal support through weekly visits, he has been able to provide focused support for her and her family throughout the process so far.

Yesterday, the chaplain was able to sit with the family as the son went into surgery to remove the tumor from his leg. He was able to pray with them before and after the surgery and to wait with them until the doctor came back with the results. In fact, he was there to hear the doctor report that the surgery went better than expected! It appears that all of the cancer has been removed and that the leg is going to look great and operate normally!

This situation is not completely over for this family. We will need to maintain the support and continue to look for ministry opportunities. Our prayer is that our actions will help to get them through to the other side of this situation with their family intact. We also hope that their faith is strengthened as a result. The main goal is that God gets the credit for all that is done.

Eternal Impact

As far as can tell, there is not a book that specifically addresses how a Christian company is supposed to respond to an employee crisis like this one. I believe we are simply to seek to honor God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Regardless of the crisis, this behavior will have eternal impact!

How has your company responded to similar situations?

Do your employees have the opportunity to engage?

What more could you do next time?

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Are You Willing To Ask For This Employee Feedback?

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While focused on the issue of Employee Engagement, I ran across some very appropriate advice on the topic from Andy Stanley, Founder and Senior Pastor of North Point Ministries in Alpharetta, GA. In one of his podcasts on leadership, Stanley shared the way his organization values employee feedback. The difference in Stanley’s case is that he targets new hires for their unique perspective.

employee feedback

Automatic Systems

Stanley emphasized that the larger the organization is, the greater the need to build in automatic systems to help the leader stay connected to every employee. Since there is no realistic way for him to get around to every employee on a regular basis for feedback, he has put systems in place that assist him in maintaining high employee engagement in his organization.

Step Four: New Hire Feedback Process

The overall goal of this step is to get new hire employee feedback on the organization while they still have fresh eyes and can clearly see issues others may overlook.

New Hire Employee Feedback Process

One of the systems that Stanley has put in place is the three-month and one-year organization evaluation email to new hires. After three months on the job, and again at their one-year anniversary, every new hire gets an email from Stanley’s office. This email goes out automatically and does not require Stanley to initiate it.

This email gives the employee the opportunity to evaluate the North Point Ministry organization. It is not an employee review and is completely unrelated to the employee’s performance. Instead, it asks the employee to rate the organization and whether it meets, exceeds, or falls short of their expectations.

Every new employee is told about this email during orientation when they first start their job. They are told that they are in a unique position as they have fresh eyes for the organization. They will see things and experience frustrations that more tenured employees no longer see.

Fresh Eyes

I can certainly identify with this point. I have been in our organization for almost 20 years now. Quite simply, I miss a lot because it is too familiar to me. A new hire does not have that handicap. They are able to see things for what they are. They are more likely to be able to point out misaligned processes or unnecessary frustrations that others have simply accepted as the norm.

As new employees at North Point Ministries, they are told that the leadership wants to create an organization that is great for them to work in. If there are processes or policies that make their jobs unnecessarily difficult or keep them from enjoying their job, then the leadership wants to know about it. Only then can the necessary changes be made.

Evaluation Email Questions

Here are some of the key questions in the evaluation emails:

    1. Do you see anything we are doing that is off-mission or off-purpose?

    2. Do you see anything that frustrates you?

    3. Do you have a best friend at work?

    4. Do you have all the tools you need to do your job?

    5. Are you doing what we hired you to do?

These actual email templates are available for free download on my Resources page.

Immediate Implementation

I like this idea so much, I am going to implement it in our organization as quickly as I can. Of course, just like the focus groups, if I get the employee feedback and do not act on it then I am wasting my time and the employee’s time. I am also destroying my credibility with them. I am determined not to let this happen!

While the results from implementing this process may not be immediate, I can truly see how it will bear fruit in the future. I am excited to see it work!

What do you think about this process?

Does your organization get similar employee feedback?

If not, when do you start?

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How To Create Employee Engagement

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I have heard it said that the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. I would tend to agree with this statement. Jesus even said He would rather us be hot or cold, rather than lukewarm. If that is the case, I think there is similar application to the workplace regarding employee engagement.

employee engagement

Employee Engagement vs. Apathy

An “engaged employee” is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests (Wikipedia). An extremely negative, disengaged employee likely will not make it very long in their job, but an apathetic employee usually stays around longer and therefore is a drag on productivity, morale, and profitability. As a result, apathetic (disengaged) employees serve to more severely reduce the impact we strive for as a Christian business.

How Do You Get Them Engaged?

If we can all agree that the best employee is an engaged employee, then the next logical step is to figure out how to get all of them engaged. If we could solve the puzzle of employee engagement, then I think we could go far in creating exponential growth in our impact on eternity.

Recent Influences

Recently, this topic has been in the front of my mind for several reasons. I have had several different sources influence me toward a focus on employee engagement. First, as I mentioned in my latest series, I had a great conversation with Jim Reese, CEO of Atlanta Mission. In addition to the advice I shared in that series of posts, Mr. Reese also brought up employee engagement as a critical component of success.

Next, I read a recent post by Michael Hyatt in which he talked about changing organizational culture. Through a series of comments on that post, I learned a couple of tips about achieving employee engagement that I will share with you.

After that, I was listening to an older podcast by Andy Stanley on the way to the airport last week. In this podcast, Andy talked about how his church maintains such an engaged staff. I will share some of his methods as well.

My Focus On Employee Engagement

As a result of all of these inputs, it is obvious to me that I need to be concentrating on employee engagement in our organization, right? So this is what I am going to do. I am NOT going to wait to post about all of this until I have implemented all of these tips and methods, measured the results, and declared victory.

My Plan

Instead, I am going to give it all to you up front over the next several posts. I am also going to start implementing these ideas in our business, keeping you aware of the progress as I go. These progress reports will include the successes and failures, the pretty and the ugly! I will do my best to relay information to you that I believe will best help you do it better than we do.

Then, after all of it is implemented, I will also give you regular status reports as to the measured progress in our actual employee engagement scores going forward. I am not yet sure what this will look like, but we will find out together!

How engaged do you think your employees are right now?

What do you do to keep them engaged?

What opportunities do you have to improve?

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Common Objections To Developing An Inner Circle

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In my last post, I told you why you need to develop an inner circle of leadership in your company. If you have not read that post, stop now and go back and do so. You really need to be committed to doing this if it is going to be effective.

Now that you know why you SHOULD develop an inner circle of leadership around you, let’s address some common objections to doing so.

inner circle

It Is Not Fair!

One of the first objections that arises at this point is, “But it is not fair to everyone!” The idea here is that those you choose for this inner circle will have unfair advantages and opportunities over the rest of your group. Folks, as Andy Stanley put it in his session at Catalyst recently, “Fair ended in the Garden of Eden!”

It is not your responsibility to give everyone in your organization equal and fair opportunities with your time and energy. Jesus did not pass around a sign-up list to those in the crowd, giving everyone an opportunity to be in His small group of twelve disciples. Nor did He give those twelve equal opportunity to be in His inner circle of three.

Instead, it appears that each time He intentionally chose those with more potential than the rest. Just like the master in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), you should give of your time and energy “to each according to his ability.”

I Don’t Have Anyone Qualified For An Inner Circle

What if you feel you really do not have anyone qualified to be in your inner circle? Well, there are several ways I could answer this.

First I will assume you have enough people from which to choose, but you do not see any clear stand-outs. In this case, remember you are looking for those with the most upward potential. You may have to start very small and do a lot of developing. You may have your standards too high or you may need to relook at your hiring process! Regardless, it will be worth it.

What if you truly do not have anyone with even a remote hint of potential for this type of group? What if you are such a small company that an inner circle would have to include all of your employees to be considered a group? In these cases, I would advise two things. First, find someone else to mentor you and help you develop as you grow your organization. Second, keep this inner circle in mind as you hire. Do not hire people that could not eventually be considered for this opportunity.

But I Am Not An Expert!

Another argument may be that you do not yet feel like an expert yourself. You do not feel worthy or qualified to gather an inner circle around you for furthering their development. Good point. You are not. Unfortunately, you will never be qualified! If you wait until you are, it will never happen!

To again quote Andy Stanley, he said “It is not your responsibility to ‘fill their cup’, only to empty yours!” You are not an expert, and as long as you keep learning, you never will be! But you do not have to know everything there is to know about your job or role in order to teach them what you do know. Empty your “cup” of all you know – that is your only responsibility here.

Lack of Time

You may object to developing an inner circle by saying you do not have the time to pour into them. This could be a legitimate short-term argument because some leaders truly do not have the time right now to spare for something like this. However this argument virtually ignores the long term necessity and benefits of doing so.

Instead of accepting your current situation, you need to take immediate action to work towards creating this time in your schedule through delegation and elimination of less-critical tasks. By replacing these less-critical tasks with leadership development of an inner circle, you will actually free up more time in the long run than you can imagine!

Do you already have an inner circle? Is it working?

If not, are you now convinced to start working on it?

What is your next action step? Have you prayed about it?