Leadership and Grace- Fit or No Fit

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Jul 212016
 

Leadership and GraceGrace? Sounds like weakness, right?

The factory owner had many employees. He spent a lot of time on the factory floor checking, encouraging, advising. They were very important to him. One day his assistant informed him that one of the assembly line operators didn’t show up for work. Bill was normally a hard worker… but he had heard rumors that the man had a drinking problem. He wondered, concerned.

Shocking his assistant, he rose from his desk, pulled off his tie, tossed his suit jacket onto his chair, rolled up the sleeves of his perfectly pressed dress shirt, and trotted to his car.

He drove to Bill’s house, knocking on the door, no response. Slowly driving up and down each street in the neighborhood, he searched carefully. Finally, he saw someone hunched over, sitting on the curb at a street corner a couple of blocks away. It looked like Bill, but he wasn’t sure. Pulling the car to a stop close to the corner, he got out and sat down next to Bill. His clothes were a mess. He had vomited in the gutter and reeked of it and the alcohol that caused it.

Bill looked up, recognized his boss, and groaned in shame. “Let’s get you home,” he heard. Then he felt strong arms lifting him up, walking him to his car, getting him safely belted in. The owner walked him into his house, got him into the shower, dug around for clean clothes, brewed a pot of coffee.

The next day, the owner saw Bill on the factory floor, on time, working harder than anyone in his section. “Funny,” he thought to himself,”I’m more pleased about Bill’s performance today than any of the other employees!”

Read the real version in Matthew 18:12-14.

Grace in the workplace? But we have policies and procedures, human resources guidelines, discipline, termination. Yes. Yes we do. And they have their place.

With this short story, Jesus attempts to teach his disciples about the high value He places on each person. He teaches that the more someone falls, the more we care for them. He shows them that EVERYONE is worth dying for. He gives them yet one more glimpse of a kingdom unlike anything they’ve ever imagined. Grace? Yes. Seeing through the faults. Seeing the intrinsic value of another person. Someone worth helping.

I have been blessed by seeing colleagues blossoming and succeeding at work in ways no one thought possible. Because of grace. Yes, it’s a dirty job sometimes. Yes, they fall again sometimes. Yes, they don’t always show appreciation. And yes, living and leading through expressing grace still has its own reward.

My failures, my shortcomings, remind me every day of my need for grace. Grace extended from colleagues, from my family, from my Jesus. How can I not do likewise?

This is Part 2 of a four part series.  Part 1 is Leadership and Humility- Contradiction in Terms?

Three Reasons Why Patience Doesn’t Work at Work

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
May 032016
 

No PatiencePatience and the business of managing a successful organization are clearly incompatible. Here’s why:

First, rapidly changing markets make the pace of many businesses nearly frenetic compared to just a couple of decades ago. One of the newest buzzwords is the need to be nimble, rapidly defining and responding to new challenges. Mark Sanborn states, “Your success in life isn’t based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business.”  Patience equals slow, and slow can result in loss of market share or even the loss of the entire organization!

Second,  in the workplace, social factors often get in the way of progress. What’s popular over what’s policy. Without strict and consistent adherence to a company’s policies, anarchy results. Or at least confusion and variability in performance. Being patient, accepting intent rather than conformity, allowing staff to follow the principle rather than the “letter” of the policy, this can breed apathy at best, contempt at worst.

Last,  it is critical to keep a bottom line mentality at all times. Exhibiting patience with variability in performance suggests a higher priority on human resources than profit margins. This is clearly a lose-lose proposition, for without margin, everyone loses! Firmly keeping an eye on key metrics that are indicators of success is critical. Getting distracted by the individual and changing needs of staff causes a loss of focus and inevitable failure. It confuses the definition of where real value lies.

My pastor gave me much to think on with his sermon this past weekend.  The topic? God’s great patience with us. It made me wonder…why is He so patient with us? Doesn’t He have a bottom line, an ultimate objective? Was there anything in the sermon that has any relevance to me as a leader in the workplace? Regardless of your particular faith walk, I’d like to hazard a big, fat YES!

If you agree, then take my three reasons listed above, and use your creative powers to turn them on their heads. Is patience and the work of work wholly incompatible?  Is patience contraindicated in the office? I think….NOT.

Jesus, Value, and the Workplace

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Apr 022016
 

ValueShe sat in her boss’s office, discussing the day, frustrated about staffing levels and a litany of other things. “I know I shouldn’t have been so harsh with Kim when she came in so late. I was just so stressed! She’s a great employee. It just made me so mad!”

“I know I come in here boiling about one thing or another almost every day. How come you are always so calm about it? Even when I’m pushing at you to do something and I really shouldn’t be? How do you do that?”

He turned his chair to look at her a bit more directly. “I have a secret,” he said. “I’ve never told you this before, but maybe it will help you to understand. ”

“When I hear you coming into my office, I stop what I’m doing and turn to face you, right? Do you ever wonder why I often have a slight smile on my face when I do that, even when I know you are about to bring me something stressful, critical, or unhappy?

“Whenever I see you, the first thought that crosses my mind is this- “This is a person that is important to me. This is a person I value.” When that thought starts, it makes me smile and it makes me interact with you in a completely different way. Why? because that thought trumps anything else! Regardless of any stress, impatience, criticism, negativity. I see value in you and I want nothing but good for you.”

“You and I will grow together,” he said,”learning a little more about teamwork and family and valuing people every day.”

Does this make any sense, have any value, in a workplace focused on productivity, employee engagement, mission?

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” -Theodore Roosevelt.

Yes, I think it makes all the difference in the world.

Father, give me the grace and strength to copy the way your Son values people. Help me to treat not just one, but all of my crew as He would. Amen.

 

Not Good News?

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Mar 272016
 

good newsAnother sleepless night. My excuse? The neighbor’s very small dog with a very piercing bark. Incessant, all night long. Good news? Not so much. The disciples excuse? Their Savior crucified and buried. Their futures questionable. My solution? I’m up writing. Their solution? Mary, the one who had been forgiven much,  went back to the tomb. Why, I don’t know. Maybe searching for connection with the One Who knew and loved her best?

Finding Jesus missing, a series of sprints take place with Mary telling the disciples, John and Peter coming to look. Would no news have been good news? Did they think that the Jewish leaders or the Romans had done away with the body to discredit them?

Mary, grief-stricken, asks the gardener where the body has been taken so that she can retrieve it. Only when she hears Jesus say her name, does she realize that she is speaking to her Savior. Talk about Good News! She races back to the disciples, again, this time with a different story.

I was reading this account in John 20 with my kids class at church. We talked about good news. One student said, “That’s not good news! That’s freaky, good news!

While the sun is threatening to spill over the eastern edge of my valley, am I just calmly thinking of Jesus’ resurrection as good news, okay news, traditional news, old news, news I’ve head before that I’ve built resistance to?

Or, am I amazed and awestruck yet again that the Jesus story is real. That with His resurrection, He made good on His promises. That the God/man who dove headfirst into this hell of sin to save us proved that love conquers all, proved that His equality statement, God = Love, is true, proved that He had and has power over death. That our truly superhero, Captain Universe, is not only alive, but is working for us right now! He stands before the Father, and the rest of the universe and says,”My life and death walk proves my right to move my redeemed ones to SAVED status not because of what they’ve done, but because my name, and my blood, covers them.

Now that’s not good news..

That’s Freaky Good News!!

Good Things are Distracting

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Feb 132016
 

church editI’ve done some good things in the last few days. Served my church. Served people around me. That’s good, right? Well, I was thinking so. Still do. So why is it that I can still feel something lacking?

Early this morning, before the sun came up, my valley was filled with a heavy fog. So heavy that no hills were visible. So heavy that there was a steady drip of condensed water from the eaves. As the sun broke over the hills to the east, it steadily burned through the fog, working its way across the valley until all that is left of the fog now is a sluggish drop or two from the eaves. What remains is a perfectly still, perfectly clear morning, the sharp green outline of my hills against a perfectly blue sky.

Sometimes it feels like good things can fog up my view of what is maybe more important. Just like the fog this morning obscured the rays of the sun, at least for a while, do you ever wonder whether good things in your life block your view of the Son?

But wait, aren’t good things, well,  good? Umm, yeah. For me, I believe that doing good things, imitating Jesus, can make us look more like Him one good thing at a time. But is that the best thing? Is that the most that He wants from me?

Apparently Jesus doesn’t think so.

He was resting with some of his favorite friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Martha was working hard, making sure that everything was just right…for Jesus. That seemed like a very good idea! Mary was chilling, focusing solely on everything Jesus said.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” -Luke 10:38-42 NIV.

So, yes, good things are good to do.  But are they distracting me from  the one thing that is really needed? And what is that? For me it is spending more time listening for God speaking His words into my mind and my heart.

 

Know

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Jan 092016
 

[embedplusvideo height=”200″ width=”300″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1OTFIoc” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/lAdwX8HypJM?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=lAdwX8HypJM&width=300&height=200&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep2578″ /] I had nothing. Nothing at all. I was faced with sharing an inspirational moment with a group and I had nothing to share. Mentally and emotionally I was in a bad place, which didn’t put me in the right frame of mind to be creative and inspirational! FInally getting around to priorities, I poured my frustration out to God. Within one minute, He gave me exactly what I needed and the right spirit to share it well!

Anybody else have a tough week? Yeah, well, in those moments, I have to reach for what I know.

“Be still, and know that I am God:” -Psalm 46:10 NIV.

Know. Not hope, maybe, possibly….but know.

This is God’s Shut Up and Listen text. “Be still, son,” He says to me, “and I’ll show you one more time that I am in your life for good, that I’ve got your back. Your storm is a ripple in a puddle to Me. I can see past the waves. BTW, I own the waves! Chill son, and know…”

Hide me now
Under Your wings
Cover me
Within Your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father you are King over the flood
I will be still, know You are God. -Hillsong.

Settle. The command my daughter uses to calm the dogs. It is accompanied by her placing a hand firmly and gently around the muzzle. It is to calm the dog so they know who is in charge at that moment and they needn’t worry, stress or fuss about whatever is going on around them.

“Settle,” God says to me. Know that I am in charge of you and this moment. I am King over the flood. I will hide you, cover you. Just be still and know.”

As I watch the hills slowly take shape in the predawn darkness in my valley, I’ve got no fancy theology to share, no sophisticated statements to make. Just straight talk about what’s real.

Father, let me rest easy in what I know. Gently remind me when I forget. You are King over the flood. You are King over me.

Paris and the Great War Against Evil

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Nov 152015
 

war against evilThe world watched in shock Friday at the bloodshed and carnage that changed the face of Paris. As the casualty count grew, world leaders chimed in with their support, some heartfelt, some anemic. This is the third time in a hundred years that Paris has been touched by war. Yes, I said war.

It’s a war between good and evil. I know that it is common now to explain away terrorism, excusing their behavior, assigning noble purposes to their actions, but make no mistake, evil is evil. When a terrorist act, which by definition is for the purpose of creating fear and not to punish guilty individuals, is perpetrated, that is evil, pure and simple.

As a Christian, I believe that this world is indeed in the middle of a war, a war between good and evil. A war to determine whether God’s law of love will prevail against Satan’s kingdom of hate and destruction. Evil acts, whether performed by terrorist groups, nation-states, or individuals, all have one thing in common- men and women choosing wrong over right.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 NIV.

Evil will continue until Jesus comes to take His children home. What should we do in the mean time? Grieve for those in great suffering. Reach out to help. Call evil by it’s right name, and yes that means not only in Paris, but Beirut and elsewhere. Support justice and punishment for evildoers. And yes, pray. Pray for the evil doers that they will come to their senses and recognize their evil. Pray for the victims maimed and lost. Pray for the families left behind. Pray for those on the front lines fighting to protect us.

As we move closer to Thanksgiving, I pray that we are thankful for the simplicity of a plain red coffee cup rather than searching to find evil in the wrong corners. Instead, that we remove our heads from the sand, recognize the war and  true evil for what it is, and choose to fight it.

The Definition of Unconditional

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Nov 082015
 

unconditional surrenderUnconditional. Absolute. Complete. Also maybe harsh, inflexible, intolerant. Unconditional surrender. What was required of the Axis powers by the Allies at the end of World War II. What was NOT required of General Lee at the close of the Civil war. Confederate soldiers were permitted to keep their sidearms and their personal horses, one small right act before federal policies and practices continued the devastation of an already crushed South.

Unconditional. A word that refuses forgiveness and opposes redemption.  We even have idiomatic expressions for this [and no, I don’t use that “i’ word very much]. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. A more obscure one- Don’t throw out the champagne with the cork. The idea of going to extremes, such extremes that we discard good along with the bad. We do this all the time. We evaluate an action or decision by a person and write them off completely for that one thing. Unconditional.

Have you ever noticed that the truth about God is often opposite, inverse, antonymic (is that a word?) of and to the truth about us and the sin in our world? God takes that same word, unconditional, and applies it to the way He loves us. Yes, absolute, complete, yes inflexible. And maybe this is why we just don’t get it. When we think unconditional, all we can think of is negative. We can’t seem to let love be in the same sentence with that word!

And yet God continues to force those two words together. Unconditional. Love. In a way that boggles and confounds us.

I am a thorn in Your crown
But You love me anyway
I am the sweat from Your brow
But You love me anyway
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes, You love me anyway
Oh, Lord, how You love me.
-Sidewalk Prophets

We pull away from God because we… just…. can’t… believe that anyone could love us with no strings, no conditions, no if’s.

I paid a huge price for you:
all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you!
I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
trade the creation just for you.  -Isaiah 43:4 The Message

There it is. The message is clear. He would give…anything…everything… to get you back. That is the measure of His love for you. When that doesn’t make sense to me, it is when I am measuring love from my view, through my eyes. I try to limit God to what I can do, how I can love. This takes me down a path of rejection and denial. No! Not Him rejecting me, but me rejecting a love that makes no sense to my narrow, limited, conditional mind.

I enjoyed the sound of the rain in the predawn darkness this morning. That gentle, uniform, unconditional sharing of life-giving water that blessed our entire valley. I am reminded yet again that God loves me with a love that won’t stop, a love with no strings.

Unconditional.

Value. Is It Tied To Your Behavior?

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Oct 182015
 

Value and BehaviorI was listening to my pastor preach yesterday. Since I had served earlier in the service, I was sitting on the front row, which is a really good place to pay attention since EVERYONE can see you! He was talking about our minds and the struggle for control that goes on there every day. He talked about what we put into our brains and how we think affects our behavior. He shared some good stuff about left brain, right brain, about visualization, about habits, good and bad.

Right in the middle of all this, he stopped cold and talked about something entirely different- my salvation. He reminded me that my salvation is not tied to all this! My quality of life and my influence on others, sure! But not my salvation.

If you read my writing much in the past, you’ll see this theme crop up over and over. Why is that? Is it that I’m running out of topics? No, it is because I keep looking for new ways to express something that I need to hear and I think you do as well.

Regardless of your faith walk, there’s something of value for you here, I promise.

In the workplace, we have standards of behavior. We have employee handbooks, and policies. We expect coworkers to follow these as a picture of what success looks like in the work environment. When they don’t,  we as leaders are bound to counsel and correct, allowing coworkers to see that their behavior and performance is unacceptable and how it can improve. What we often forget- is that regardless of the behavior, that coworker has great value as a person. How we display that fact is a measure of our own maturity as a leader and as a human being.

At home, we have expectations. For our husbands, for our wives, for our children. If they don’t behave a certain way, succeed at a certain level, measure up to a certain arbitrary point, we express disappointment, anger, disgust, favoritism, dismissal.

They start to believe that their behavior has indeed set their value.

Why? Because we have made this clear through our actions and words! Because maybe we indeed do believe that their value is related to their behavior!

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.        -Romans 5:8, NIV.

God totally rocks at this! He sets our value high, before we even have a chance to let Him power us into looking more like him.

If we truly love someone, if we truly care about them through and through, then we make their value clear in all that we do, even in counseling activity at work, even during discipline at home.

Scandalous Grace

 bob-maclafferty  No Responses »
Oct 032015
 

[embedplusvideo height=”142″ width=”200″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1jFxZvJ” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/n-0SZYTVZks?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=n-0SZYTVZks&width=200&height=142&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep3190″ /] Lots of strong feelings this week in the wake of Thursday’s mass shooting less than a day’s drive north from where I’m sitting this morning. What a hard thing for families and friends to have their loved ones forcibly taken from them by evil. I can think of lots of words being used  in connection with this disaster- unfair, evil, justice, sickness, heartbreak, vengeance, grace,…..wait. What? Grace?

I ran into this song on the radio last night. Listened to it over and over. Shared it with some loved ones.

It’s nothing less than scandalous,

This Love that took our place.

Just call it what it is,

Call it grace. -Unspoken, Call It Grace

Yes. even for this troubled young man, even to his dying breath, the gift of salvation powered by grace, powered by completely undeserved action, could have been his.

It IS mine, every day that I choose to open my heart door to Jesus. Even on days that I fumble at the door knob and get in the way of the door swinging freely. It can be yours, today and every day, even if you can’t figure it out or even know what it means. It is yours for the wanting.

But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,   Romans 5:20 NIV.

The strange and shocking difference between our world and Jesus’ kingdom is centered in how we place value and worthiness on people.

“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
― John Newton, Amazing Grace

Today, as I wait for the sun to rise, I stand in shock and awe at the scandalous, reckless grace gift that saves me. And I am amazed at the secret of grace that I keep forgetting- when I value the people around me with grace in mind, I am copying Jesus and, just like he planned, can become just a little more like Him each day. Not because of me, but because of Him.

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