The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
So tonight I was thinking, "Kathryn is the kind of person that I could just write the same "Likeability Factor" blog about all the time. It could just be our running blog each week sharing again how likeable she is." I know, I know...you are thinking,
The reason I bring that up is because as usual in this week's meeting she found out right up front what's going on with me, and what I wanted to talk about. Sometimes I really wonder if she's a regional coach manager or a therapist. :) Actually this week she let me preach. Yep. Seriously.
She said, "what's this fasting thing you're doing? What is that about?"
I said, "I'm not sure I should get into the whole thing, I mean I really don't want to be preachy here..."
And she says, "that's okay, be preachy. You're a preacher!"
Since I was pretty fired up from fasting all day and praying during 95% of my day yesterday, I was more than happy to talk about what the Bible says about fasting, and also what it's done for me personally. Now I ask you, how many managers are going to not only listen to a sermon, but ask for one? Yeah, that's unique all right. Most of them are afraid you're going to drop the J-bomb at any time. lol (I've learned God isn't threatening to most people in the world, it's Jesus they get freaked out about. He's the lightning rod. Another blog post for another day.)
Moving on we talked about the best resource for solving conflict in the workplace. Right now we don't have any, however a friend of mine in management with another organization had asked me for a resource and I went straight to Kathryn since that is honestly her expertise. And she recommended something rather unorthodox for conflict management in the workplace...a book on marriage!
It’s called The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country's Foremost Relationship Expert by John Gottman. Here's what she said about it: "A lot of the principles are the same for home and work: softened start-up, bid repair, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 5:1 ratio of positive to negative interactions, so on, so on… You’ll just have to ignore the questionnaires and read the meat of the information. It’s also good for marriages – I’ve recommended it to more than one couple. In that case, the quizzes become very important."
I not only immediately recommended the book to my friend, but I clicked on to Amazon and ordered the book for myself. I'm hoping it will enrich my conflict management skills in the church and in my own marriage. Kathryn says she uses the principles in the book to assist in keeping her relationship with her boyfriend running smooth. (It's a fallacy that those of us who communicate for a living or coach people have it all under control in the personal araes of our lives. We struggle like anyone else and have to keep investing and fine tuning.)
Two things I learned yesterday - number one, Kathryn broadens her horizons when it comes to gathering resources for leading and often uses methods that may not be the norm. Come to think of it, isn't that what most great leaders who have ever really accomplished anything in the world do?
Second, she went the extra mile and offered my friend one hour of coaching, for free.
My friend has basically just won the lottery.
Comments
What wisdom! Thank you for sharing your wisdom as well as Kathryn's! Life is all about learning and sharing the wisdom so others may learn. We've never arrived...and when we think we have, that's when we get knocked down a peg or two! LOL