“Walk in the Spirit.”  At Jesus baptism, after he came up from the water, he saw heaven open and the Spirit of God descend like a dove on him. From that moment forward he must have walked differently. Things must have changed for Him. The question is; how can we walk in the same Spirit, living out the Kingdom call in the midst of our busyness and pressured lives. Walking in the Spirit at work is both the hardest thing to do and the most required. So how do we do it?

Discipline! But discipline can readily turn into religious exercise, with a form of Godliness yet no power. It has to be more then making sure I get up early to read the bible; or a commitment to pray for X number of minutes; or scripture memorization. The religious leaders of Jesus time and even some of today are full of scripture memory. Bible memory alone will not lead us to walk in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit comes from the discipline of following Jesus.

That was much easier for the initial disciples, because he was flesh and blood. When he left the village to go pray they could go and seek his physical whereabouts. They didn’t need the guidance of the Holy Spirit for that, they just needed to spread out and find him. But I can’t follow the way they did. Yet I must follow Him if I am to find the peace that surpasses everything I know or have yet experienced in this life. And I must do it in the midst of work, late flights, meetings, phone calls, cash flow problems and everything else business life throws at me.

Walking in the Spirit is perhaps the most powerful discipline of all because it empowers all the rest; the bible reading, the quiet times, the prayer times and even the worship times. If I look for Him, in every situation, He will be found. If I wait to find Him in my quiet time tomorrow, He will likely have moved somewhere else over the course of the day and I failed to follow because the “work” became mine, separate from Him, separate from the Spirit. Nothing we do is or can be separate from God. That is the answer. He will walk where I walk if I walk where He leads me. It is as simple as that, and for this day and this week, the leading may be to respond to the demands of work, but if I walk with Him in the midst of it all, I am walking in the Spirit.

Kingdom living requires that we follow the Spirit. It requires our spirit to align with His. It requires us to allow Him to lead, to see everything through His eyes and it requires us to respond. It will take discipline. The tyranny, the problems and even the accomplishments of the business day will either force us to lose track of Him; going our own way and hoping to get back on track next Sunday; or they will be the reminder that He is in our midst. We just have to open our spiritual eyes and ears.

“Jesus, may we see with your eyes, hear with your ears; feel with your heart; as we walk in the Spirit this day.”

You’ve likely read this passage many times. It is not esoteric or mysterious, just very hard to do. Why? Because business leaders, whether you own it or manage it, have to plan, organize, delegate, monitor…must lead others to get it done and here Jesus is telling us to flip it around. The greatest are the least, the least the greatest.

For me, I have figured out a simple way to know if I have flipped my leadership thinking to Jesus’ way. If after taking any of these “world normal” leadership actions I have any sense of smugness, pride, self-satisfaction or desire to be recognized, I know I am in the worlds’ way.

On the other hand, if I am not comfortable being seen as something special, not wanting or uncomfortable with the praise of men, then I am likely on the right path. Great leadership never seeks its’ own rewards. It seeks to serve others and in that serving accomplish great things. Be blessed.

Imagine Jesus answering! “I provoke people to righteousness. I cast out demons. I serve others. I sacrifice. Soon I will die for you because though I have never met you, I love you more than anyone in the world.”

I want to change my answer. I can’t cast out demons, but I can meet peoples’ fears and crashed hopes, encouraging them to go on. I can’t heal the sick but I can comfort them. I can provoke people to consider Jesus in a loving and positive way by my life, not just my words. Finally, I can serve.

I think I’ll answer, “I follow Jesus. How about you? So, what do you do?”

Be blessed.

In business success is measured in three financial ways and as much as we try to avoid it, the big three always come back to haunt us. Success is mostly defined by profitability, cash flow and a good balance sheet. Accomplish success in financial areas and then…add those things that God considers success. I hate to admit it but my experience over the past 20 years working with Christian led companies proves this true. Is that how God measures success? I doubt it.

But if we aren’t focused on sustainability and viability, which are measured financially, then how can we stay around to focus on God’s purposes? It’s a dilemma I admit but is it possible that we could run a successful company in God’s eyes and go out of business? I believe it is not only possible but over the course of generations it is highly likely. “My ways are not your ways”, says the Lord. Kingdom focus is not a guarantee of financial success.

So at the end of the year, how should we measure our success through God’s eyes? Is obedience to accomplishment of a business plan a measure of success? If it is only measured financially, the answer is no. If it measured over a greater period of time and measured with eternal values, then we can miss one measure of success and hit His. Over time, I believe God will balance the two and will use financial viability and sustainability not so much as a measure of success, but as merely a test; a test of where our hearts are. Whatever we treasure will be where our hearts are and wherever our hearts are focused will be what we treasure. Let’s treasure people; serving, loving, growing and encouraging them, and sharing the love of God with them in every possible way we can. That is what God will call success.

We all know what God says, “fear not”, but there is more to it than that. He also says “ My peace I give to you, not as the world gives it. In this life you will have MANY trials.” When I read that I am amazed at my own sense of faithlessness.

How often I have called the easy things, the closed sales agreement, hitting the revenue goals and P&L numbers or a strong balance sheet as the blessings of God.

In reality the greatest blessings in my life have been when I was afraid, could not do something on my own and surrendered to Him. He always… always… showed up and it always turned out for my good. Yes even the bad stuff God has made good stuff.

If you lead people, what do they see from you, peace or fear? What do your customers and suppliers see? If they see the peace that makes no sense (surpasses understanding), then they are seeing the faith of the spiritual man.

If they see fear, they are seeing the fear of the fleshly man. Let’s change that.

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

First we have to ask, “how much of the failure to meet expectations is really on us?” Amazingly I have found that a large number of employee failures are a result of my own problems with unclear expectations, poor communication or simply asking someone to do something they were either not capable of doing or did not know how to do. Before we can institute clear consequences for employee failure, we need to deal with our own failures or else we are making someone else, someone under our authority, pay for our own failures.

For the most part people want to succeed; they want to meet expectations. Employee motivations move toward pleasing people, not disappointing them. Given that, and given that I can often share in the blame, what are the consequences of failure? The first should never be to place blame but to agree on the extent of and cause of the failure in the first place.

A perfect recent example involves a sales employee whose behavior became increasingly disruptive and whose results fell well behind goal. The initial consequences were a reprimand and probation for the employee, and clearly communicating expectations for the future. He was given the opportunity to provide reasons for his behavior so we might remove them. Some of his were legitimate and some were excuses. We dealt with the legitimate ones.

The initial consequences were designed to help him avoid the ultimate corporate consequence for an employee, termination and to point out the seriousness of the problem. I was amazed when he told me no one had ever mentioned these things as a problem in the past yet everyone I talked with who had led him in the past was well aware of the issues.

Sadly, the disruptive behavior continued and the ultimate consequence of the failure to meet expectations was his termination. The key to the process was first to set consequences that could bring a positive resolution, to provide “clear expectations” by drawing a line in the sand, while removing the potential leaders problems that he could point to as reasons for his negative behavior. If the newly communicated expectations were met, then only good things would come from that. If they were not, then as a leader I could in good conscience implement clear consequences. As hard as it is to terminate an employee for any reason; it is much harder when they can legitimately claim, “this isn’t fair”. At the end of the day, the test of whether we have set clear expectations and followed through with clear consequences if they are not met is fairness. It may not bring you popularity but it will bring you in line with how GOD handles it when we fail to live up to HIS clear expectations.

Job descriptions and performance reviews are supposed to be about setting and evaluating clear expectations, yet all to often they only add to the confusion. Sales roles are the easiest and the hardest to clearly define because it is all about hitting the number right? Well to GOD, hitting the number is not as important as “how” the number is hit. He is more concerned about attitude, behavior and our thinking than he is the end result. Why? Because the right thinking, the right attitude and the right behaviors will lead to the best results, in the long-run.

So when we set expectations for employees, let’s make sure to help them understand more than just the goal or result, but to also understand the thought process, attitudes and behaviors that will bring those results about. When you combine expectation of behavior with expectations of results, you are left with the need to fill the gap, since for the most part people need to be coached to produce exceptional results…through exceptional behaviors.

What are they?

• Planning. Know what you are trying to accomplish
• Perseverance. Never, ever, ever…give up said Winston Churchill
• Priorities. From a sale perspective go after the important ones not the easy ones
• Preparation. Prepare yourself (Training, education and skills development). Prepare your customer. Sometimes it take re-educating the customer about who we are and what we offer. Prepare your time. Redeem the time. Every day is full of potential and yet we see too much of it wasted in unproductive and often destructive behaviors.
• Thankfulness. (What, you thought they would all start with P?). Without an attitude of thankfulness, everything we do or cause to be done is like blowing sand or chaff. Praising the people, not for hitting goal, but for hitting goal the right way. Praising GOD for all good things. Praising our peers for being fully engaged in helping us succeed. Praising our boss for helping us become better, for providing the resources we need to succeed and providing a GOD-clear vision of where we are going.

While everyone who worked with her knew the problem, there was still a sense of tension after it was announced because it causes others to ask about their own position, a quick glance over the shoulder to see if this is going to become a pattern. Since there is never a perfect FIT, most people can see their own MisFIT in the job they are asked to do; and most do the job well anyway. There is no prefect match of person with position.

But, I digress. The real issue is the one that deals with the terminated employee and her perception of a kingdom leader (me) and a Kingdom Company, the organization I work for. If I thought she could be developed, this would never have happened. Sadly, she had the capability to be developed, but not the attitude that she needed it. The gap in her misalignment with our vision and strategy was too wide to ignore. Only after it came to the point of termination did she, in desperation to save her job, acknowledge the gap. She failed to see or acknowledge the impact her misalignment was having on the entire team.

I share all that to let you know that we tried. We tried to counsel, cajole and train; all to no avail. The gap was too wide. The problems were too large and the time too short. This was a pretty critical role and critical time for that role to perform. Thus, she was terminated and it was justified.

Now, here’s the rub. Did I do what Jesus would have wanted me to do, or did I take the easy way out? Should I have struggled through in the name of Jesus or let her go? It is hard to fire someone in the name of Jesus, right? He forgave and forgave and told us to forgive again, yet after only a couple of attempts the axe fell on this employee.

I have come to realize that for all the times I have not acted, thinking I was applying the grace principle, I was actually playing God, getting in His way as he dealt with the heart of the employee I was protecting. I am not GOD. I may be His ambassador, but when I become the arbiter of His will, then I will get in His way. It was after much prayer and anguish that I realized this had become a pattern in this employee’s life, a pattern of pride, of knowing better than others and an incongruence between where she was and where she thought she was.

If it was this pattern and incongruence that kept her from seeing her need for Him, for His grace and for the life He could live through her, then the only way for her to face is was to face it. It was in the spirit of and in the trust in Jesus, that I made the decision. While she may not see it, she did know that it was done in love and with a heart for her own growth. While I doubt she left the office feeling that way, I have prayed and will pray that GOD will use this as a “drawing” to His heart. After all isn’t that what we are called to do?

Let me know how you handle this kind of situation, how you handle firing an employee who fails to perform consistently or is a MisFIT within your team?

(Note: MisFIT occurs when the strengths, temperament, experience, abilities and attitudes of an employee do not align with the job we have asked them to perform. Training and development, counseling, coaching or mentoring can often close the gap, but ultimately we must decide if there is a FITness or if there remains a MIsFIT.)

So what’s the difference? If it is a good goal isn’t it a GOD goal? Most of the time I have discovered that it is not. Maybe it is just me, and my desire to create something better, bigger or more unique at work. I think this is much bigger than me.

Churches set good goals and too often wander into areas where GOD is relegated to a back seat to good goals. Christian business owners and leaders often do the same.

Remember the “Prayer of Jabez” frenzy? “LORD, enlarge my borders; make my tents bigger; let me do great things for you.” If Jesus had though the prayer of an obscure Old Testament guy was that special then why, when asked, “LORD, teach us how to pray”, didn’t he say, “Good question boys, let’s go back to scroll 37 and read about a man who really knew how to pray”.

“Our Father, who is in heaven…”

Jesus starts the prayer acknowledging the GOD of heaven and earth. When we set goals we may start with Him and think we need something bigger and better, thus our goals, even good ones, may not be GOD ones. Think about it. If you set a goal and find it is not achievable, why is it so hard to change it? Why is it so hard to accept the fact that we may have gotten ahead of GOD in the process? There are probably hundreds of reasons but the two I have suffered from are that I would be seen as having failed (pride) by those who I am accountable to. And, and this is a big and, I may have set a stretching goal, knowing GOD wants me and those I lead to stretch and grow, but it wasn’t really a GOD goal.

Peter thought protecting Jesus in the garden was a good goal; and it was. The GOD goal was the cross. Learning to hear His goals for our companies and our people versus our goals will make all the difference when we set the goal, since that is often where we go astray.

Pride or getting ahead of GOD; these have been my most common problems with good goals and GOD goals. Sound familiar? I’d love to get some feedback on GOD goals versus good goals you have experienced. Is it just me, or is this a recurring problem within Kingdom Companies?

I have noticed that when good things happen, we give God the credit. When bad things happen we tend to find someone to blame; often ourselves and everyone involved. The more complex the “bad thing”; the more blame to go around. Blame is akin to condemnation, which has become the best tool of the enemy and in today’s business climate, the enemy is having a field day.

As a company owned by Christians succeeds, God often gets a few dollars, (maybe even 10%); we give him praise and glory when someone notices as a way of witnessing for Him and we generally bask in the blessings. After all, we have been promised that we would prosper. The economy is good and we have been wise decision makers along the way.

But let the economy tank and business begin to fail, possibly even go out of business, and far too often Christians attack one another, blame one another and in general find someone to blame. If God gets the credit, shouldn’t He get the blame? Let’s change the wording a little from credit and blame to “cause”. If God causes the good things to happen, or allows them, then He causes or allows the bad things, right? He is in complete control of everything and we can do nothing of any worth unless it is through Christ. Nothing!

I can rest in the reality that God either causes or allows everything, but is never surprised by anything. What then is my response? Abide in the midst of the tough times. Do not allow the enemy a foothold for finding fault in others; blaming mere men and women for divine intervention. Give Him praise and glory regardless of the result. Trust that He will never leave me or forsake me. Try to build up those around me who are as deeply impacted by a business failure; some having lost their livelihood and some blaming themselves for having played a part in the demise.

Praise God…things are tough!

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” James 1:2

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