Stephen R. Graves's Blog, page 10

Rock Solid Hiring

I write a lot about hiring because I get a ton of questions about hiring from my clients. I also write a lot about hiring because I am convinced that great hires eliminate massive amounts of problems and create immeasurable opportunity. According to multiple studies, new leadership hires fail, about 50% of the time, in the first 18 months.

Hiring is tough work. When Jim Collins famously wrote, “Get the right people on the bus,” he wasn’t saying to just throw talented people onto your team without considering your needs.

He also definitely wasn’t saying, “Hire a bunch of people that your gut tells you are great.”

But that’s exactly how many executives hire. Most leaders think they need to hire from the gut, and they assume that their leadership abilities and their knowledge of their company makes them a great read of people.

Most executives are wrong.

They’re great at running the company, but they can get sold by a great salesman. Or by an honest guy who matches their enneagram number. Or by a woman with impeccable integrity who, in the right situation, would have been great.

Most research shows that people are, in fact, pretty poor at hiring, and I think it’s because people hire from the gut instead of having a good process.

Over the years I’ve made some bad hires and some good hires, and I’ve developed a process to help me tip the scales in my favor. I’ve shared it below in hopes that it helps you and your organization.

Step One: Build a Clear and Accurate Job Description

Job descriptions often fall into one of two ditches. They’re either too generic, largely copy-and-pasted from the last hire, or they’re too nuanced. You read them and think, “These sound like cool people, but I have no idea what I’d actually do on a Tuesday.”

The solution? Be specific on a job description—What exactly is the work someone will be doing? What education or prior experience is needed for them to excel? What are the non-negotiable leadership traits? What are the measurables of success? If there are unwritten expectations, write them out. If it’s a new role and the person who fills it will be envisioning the future, find language to point them in the right direction. Then, run the whole thing against a standard workweek and make sure the big chunks of an average week show up in the job description. Do not hire someone without a clear and accurate job description.

Step Two: Follow an Interview Process

This is often when leaders shortcut their own intelligence. They will meet with one candidate and fall in love with them or get sold immediately.

The initial interview steps are qualifying those candidates who actually float to the top because of their resume or a strong recommendation. After that, they move above the others because they best embody the job description, not because they love to fish, have a great personality or know your cousin Johnny.

If you find yourself overwhelmed with resumes reply with a form email asking 2 or 3 specific questions and use that to determine who moves forward in the process. Questions like:

In a sentence, what was appealing about this job description to you?What are the top 2 things you’re looking for in a new role?What is your familiarity with _____________?

Work the process, as Nick Saban likes to say. The process is your friend. Let the process carry the weight of the winnowing.

Step Three: Interview Multiple Candidates

CEOs are great at talking themselves into things. They have to envision the future after all, so they meet a striking individual and envision a future where he or she fits with the company. Their strengths perfectly fill the holes of the company, after all, and their weaknesses? Well, we’ll work through those over time.

I have lived on the belief that you should hire slow and fire fast for decades. I know there are exceptions but generally I believe it to be best.  Non-profits and entrepreneurs are notorious for reversing this guideline. Someone seems like a great fit because of their corporate experience or their buy-in to the mission, and before you know it, they’re hired.

Slow the enthusiasm train down. Commit to interviewing multiple candidates. There is no perfect candidate, and whether you end up hiring someone else altogether or just learn from the strengths of other candidates, it is worth your time.

Trust me. Multiple candidates are a good thing. After all, Tom Selleck was the first choice to be Indiana Jones and Han Solo.

Step Four: Employ a Decision Process

When you get down to your top 3-4 candidates, measure them against each other and an objective matrix. Build a matrix ahead of time as a scorecard, and build your interview process with that in mind.

If at all possible give them something tangible to do to help prove up their capabilities to fill the role you are hiring against. If nothing else, create a case study or something to discuss.

And, do some background work on them. You are already running a risk with ‘historical competence transference’. I can hear you saying – what the heck is that? It is the confidence that they can do here what they did over there. We look at someone’s resume, or we hear their success stories of working somewhere else and say “wow!” However, you’ll need to consider what unique things made them successful in their prior role, and are those things in place with you? 

What questions do you need to ask? Who do they need to interview with? What do you need to ask their references? What skills do they need to demonstrate in the interview process?

It’s okay to have “intangibles” as one of the categories on your scorecard. Just make sure it’s not the only category.

Conclusion

In his book, Who: The A Method for Hiring, Geoff Smart says, “The average hiring mistake costs fifteen times an employee’s base salary in hard costs and productivity loss.” Fifteen times.

In his estimation, the difference between a superior hire and a below-average one is the difference between a subjective decision and an objective hiring process. Short version: don’t hire from your gut. Sound familiar?

Try it out. I can’t guarantee that if you follow these four steps, you’ll win every time when it comes to hiring. But I can tell you you’ll win more than you lose.

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The Four Audiences of Jesus

Feeling pulled in different relational directions? If so, you’re in good company. The same thing happened to Jesus. Literally.

Consider this scene. Jesus has just healed a demon-possessed man, and He is now walking in a crowd. A man named Jairus approaches Jesus and asks Him to come heal his daughter, who is very sick. On the way to Jairus’ home, a sick woman touches the hem of Jesus’ coat and she is healed. Jesus stops, wondering who touched Him, and His disciples rebuke him. Just keep moving, they say.

Time and again, others are trying to set the agenda for Jesus, but in reality, Jesus is in control and is purposeful in whom He influences and how He does so. 

Two thousand years later, influence is still a hot topic. Harvard Business Review made influence its summer spotlight topic a few years back and titled the section “Influence: How to Get It, How to Use It.” My friend John Maxwell has made a living on the topic of leadership and he always says, “Leadership is influence.”

As the master influencer, though, Jesus gives us a great template to consider. Jesus had four audiences to craft His message toward, but He didn’t use the same style, strategy, or even the same words across the board.

Let’s check it out.

The Uninterested Outsider

This is the crowd—the multitudes of all sizes and shapes and conditions. They were attracted to the miracles and to the possibility of what Jesus might be, but mostly, they were thinking about their own lives. Sure, there were a few antagonistic outsiders, but the majority of outsiders were simply members of the crowd.

Jesus’s approach to the crowds was to engage, to care, and to be consistent. He walked through their towns, talked with their children, and preached His messages. His primary message to these outsiders was to listen, watch, and consider.

The Interested Observer

Jairus is one example of an interested observer, but perhaps the best example is Nicodemus.

How does Jesus approach these interested observers? The “up and outers” like Nicodemus find Jesus asking pointed questions, using Scriptures, appealing to their minds and curiosity, and challenging their hearts. The “down and outers” found Jesus caring and responding to their felt needs.

While the packaging looked a bit different with each individual, the message was the same: accept and believe.

The Committed Learner

After Jesus healed the demon-possessed man, the man was willing to follow Jesus anywhere. Jesus told him to live out his faith in his hometown, but He told others to come with Him. We know that there were at least 70 of these close, bought-in followers. They believed Jesus’ claim as Messiah and Jesus challenged them to let that claim affect their lifestyle.

Jesus’ primary message to these learners was along those lines: trust, follow, and personalize the message. 

The Starving Heart

Jesus’ inner circle of twelve, or maybe even three, knew Jesus at a level of deep intimacy.  They were desperate to have a relationship with Jesus that set them apart from the crowd, and Jesus obliged. 

He worked with them on matters of the heart, customizing His message for them. He gave them nicknames.  He allowed them to interrupt His private time and they worked together for three years. There are great books out there like A.B. Bruce’s Training of the Twelve and John MacArthur’s Twelve Ordinary Men that describe Jesus’ work with the twelve, but put simply, Jesus’ primary message to these few was to follow closely, live it out, and replicate it.

Summary

So what does this mean for us? Well, at a spiritual level, it tells us to push in to Jesus. Jesus challenges each group to go to the next level of depth.

But I think there’s also an important model of influence here. You might not use titles like “the interested observer,” but each of us has concentric circles of influence. We allow a few people to get really close to us, but as we move to the outer circles, our time and influence with those people diminishes.

Your ability to have optimal influence is largely tied to your understanding of how to nuance your life message to the various people orbiting your influence.

Who are the people in your circles? Take a minute and draw out the people you could potentially influence.

Next, consider how you will nuance your approach and message to each group. Like parents who love each child the same but nuance their messaging for different children, we all need to differentiate our messaging for the different “audiences” of our lives and message.

Some require clarity, while with others you may choose a more indirect and invitational message.  You will be more transparent with some than others. 

With each, however, you need to be intentional. Influence is best wielded with purpose.

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High Performance Through the Roof

About a month ago I was sitting in my office, on yet another Zoom call, when a black cloud rolled in. It was not one of those figurative black clouds like a tense relational moment or a catastrophic balance sheet. It was an actual, literal, black cloud.

A few minutes later, it sounded like my office was under attack. I didn’t know if I should immediately end the call and seek shelter, or appease my curiosity and go look to see what in the heck was happening. So, I ended the call, popped out to my deck, and looked down at the ground. Hailstones the size of golf balls and baseballs (I’m not exaggerating) were pounding the ground, as well as my cars, trees, mailbox, and anything else that was unprotected. It was so bad that when we checked our cars after the storm had passed, we found perfectly rounded holes in some of the windshields.

I called our insurance agent, and he sent someone out to look at the cars and the roof. The cars were repaired pretty quick, but for the roof, we got something of a “Get in line, buddy” response.

It took no time for someone to evaluate my roof and confirm that it indeed needed some work. From then on, every few days I’d ask my wife what’s going on, and she would answer, “Just wait. We’re in line.”

A couple of weeks pass, and then, out of the blue, some guys show up unannounced with ladders and shingles. They head up to the roof, arrange several neatly stacked groups of shingles, and then they leave.

Another week goes by. The shingles are just sitting in their stacks on the roof. And then we got “the call.”

My wife texted me at work, “Roof guys coming in the AM. Cars need to be out of the driveway early.”

The next morning, a few minutes after 6:00, two big dually trucks show up carrying a ton of equipment, a handful of workers, and a massive trailer with sides. I was outside with my dog Lola, and the boss walks up and gives me the lowdown on the day.

“We’ll be here all day. We’re stripping off 12 tons of shingles and loading it into the trailer. Let me know if you have any questions.”

And they were off. I was transfixed. It was one of the most impressive displays of a team at work that I’ve ever seen. Really!

Guys headed up the ladders like spider monkeys and started pounding away with hammers. Another couple of guys started circling the house the whole time, picking up any loose shingles that got dropped and keeping all the cords and hoses untangled. The guys on the roof were actually tied to someone on the other side of the roof as a sort of human safety chain. Every single member of the 12-15 man crew clearly knew his role. No one was hanging around daydreaming, no one was in the wrong swim lane, no one was unsure about what to do next. Everyone was contributing equal effort.

Hammers, nail guns, drills, engines, generators, ice chest, Bluetooth speaker. It was structured and wild at the same time, monotonous and hypnotizing.

Fifteen hours later, they shut off the music, packed up, and headed out. The old roof was gone.

The next morning, the two trucks are back just after 6:00. It’s down to six men this time (and it’s a different crew than the tear-down crew), but these guys are equally effective. They’re working so hard I wonder if only one of the six gets to keep his job at the end of the day.

I had to run out for a bit, and when I got back in the early afternoon, they’re gone. The new roof was installed, and the clean up was done.

Like I said, it was one of the most impressive team performances I’ve seen in a long time.

Let’s be honest: part of me just wanted to tell you this story because I was so utterly fascinated. But I also think they demonstrated some things about teams that apply in any industry. Let me suggest six lessons from the roof:

There was a leader who obviously had clearly laid out the tasks and expectations. I’ve written elsewhere about the fact that the best managers give clarity, and that truth showed up here in spades. People only implement what they understand and buy into.They had a proven playbook. Sure, they had to contextualize stuff to each roof, but they weren’t creating a plan from scratch every time. They had a proven process and system to deal with repeated tasks.Each individual carried his weight. People knowing their roles and being capable of carrying their load is crucial to speed, quality, and safety. One guy was a runner—on the ground all day just circling the house and keeping things going, taking old shingles to the dump truck, keeping all the air compressors going and ropes untangled, etc. If he’s gone or moves too slow, the whole system gets backed up. That was true for everyone, though. Every role was indispensable.They were thinking, not just moving and doing. John F. Kennedy once said, “The time to repair a roof is when the sun is shining.” I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking about my hail damage, but the idea is clear—don’t just work; think. These guys followed the shadows so they didn’t have to work under direct sunlight. They packed the tools in the right order on the truck. They probably even had a pump-up playlist for certain parts of the day.  They had done their prework. All the materials were in place days before the army of hammer swingers showed up. They were not making it up as they went. This was not their first roof.They were good at the “soft stuff”—the little things matter in how your work impacts people. Roofing is no different. Someone had obviously trained these men on how to invade a family’s space correctly. Everyone was friendly but not too friendly. They cleaned up with excellence afterwards. So often, someone is great at job tasks, but they never reach high performance because of the soft stuff—the inability to act with empathy, the inability to connect well with team members, customers, and clients.

These guys exceeded my expectations. And I have to be honest with you—that rarely happens to me in any circumstance.

It almost makes me root for another hailstorm. Not really!

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Without Wax

I distinctly remember the first time I received a handwritten letter from Prof. Though I don’t recall the subject of his note, I very clearly remember his signature, one which has served as an invaluable lesson and a guide in my life. For decades Hendricks signed all his correspondence the same way: “Without Wax, Prof.”  

The phrase ‘without wax’ is derived from the Latin words sin (without) and ceras (wax). According to tradition associated with the phrase, “without wax” was used as a mark of authenticity by ancient Greek and Roman sculptors. Because many artisans used colored wax to hide cracks and chips in their sculptures, those artisans who refrained from the practice allegedly marked their pieces with the stamp “sincere / without wax” to signal the integrity of their work.

Though there is little historical proof that the phrase is actually the root of the English closing “sincerely” (sin cersa) we often use in our correspondence, Hendricks didn’t particularly care. When he signed his letters this way he wasn’t weighing in on an issue of etymology, but was subtly acknowledging the powerful imagery associated with the phrase. More specifically, he was pointing to the importance of sincerity and realness as a foundational principle for life and work in a culture consistently marked by shallowness or fakery.

Insincerity just can’t hold the water

A vase or jar that was cracked and then plugged with a quick fix of colored wax would inevitably melt when sitting in the elements of sun and wind. Then, when the owner wanted to store oil or water in it, the leak would be exposed and the precious liquid wasted. The vessel was exposed and those who sold it.

Every leader must regularly decide whether to practice a life of cover-ups and charades or a life of authenticity. Authenticity is closing the gap to the best of our ability between what we say we are and who and what we really are. It is certainly tempting to practice on-the-spot, surface patching of our chips and cracks. That shallow mending, however, just doesn’t stand the pressure that life throws at us.  

Make sure to forge a sound foundation

Anyone who has ever ventured into the world of home ownership likely remembers the home inspection. One of the first items an inspector examines is the home’s foundation. If the foundation isn’t sound, the rest doesn’t really matter. Worrying about the gutters and water heater when the frame is bound to tear apart is meaningless energy.

Even foundations made of the highest quality materials can develop minor cracks. We all have cracks. That is part of being human. Some cracks are moral weaknesses or failures. Others are insecurities, doubts, and fears. Am I smart enough? Talented enough? Experienced enough? Like a conscientious homeowner, we should regularly take inventory of our foundation.

Build a life to last

Building and maintaining an authentic foundation is no small task, but in a world where most people are looking for the next big thing, authenticity, particularly in leaders, never goes out of style. It is always relevant. It is always worth the effort.

Like scores of others I have adopted more Prof-isms than could be shared in a short blog. “The measure of you as a leader is not what you do, but what others do because of what you do.”  Or,  “Your career is what you’re paid to do; your calling is what you’re made to do.” Or, “All people are born originals but most die a copy.”

Prof, though, did more than just give me some clever quotes. He inspired me to leave a legacy of consequential weight. He also reminded me of the incredible imprint others have had on my life. Take a minute and shoot a text to those who have mentored you and just say thanks. Then, recommit to a life of sincerity “without wax.”

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4 Insights to Navigate the Foggy Road Ahead

Certain occasions in life create clouds of confusion, fear, and unsettledness. Our current global fight with the coronavirus pandemic pushes each of us to find our physical, emotional, and spiritual footing.

Nearly three thousand years ago, a young new king in the Middle East found himself overwhelmed. In 2 Chronicles 20 we see Jehoshaphat of Judah dazed by enemy nations marching against Judah.  The text simply says —“Jehoshaphat was afraid.”

This moment in our time and history finds us dazed and confused. I spent some time this last week reviewing how the young king handled moments of chaos and confusion. I see four “tips.”

Resolve that it is OK to be perplexed and confused. Don’t just grit your teeth and pretend there is nothing going on. Don’t stick your head in the sand, ignoring reality. Taking our confusion to God in honest prayer is a sign of a healthy spiritual life. C. S. Lewis’ helps us here: “lay before God what is in us…not what is supposed to be in us.” Stop beating yourself up if you’re afraid, confused, overwhelmed, etc. That is part of being human.Find the voice of Jesus in the midst of all the noise. Tune your heart and head to something other than just the latest statistics, dramatic news, and prognostications. As we all know, it’s a very noisy world. The volume of words flooding us daily is overwhelming. Don’t misunderstand me, though. Yes, we should not ignore the wisdom of the medical professionals, economic experts, and even experienced friends. But don’t make that your most trusted advisor alone. Tune your ears to the promises and guidance of Jesus as well. Listen for hope. Jehoshaphat went heavenly, and it boosted him above the sheer human solutions to life’s biggest questions and dilemmas. Get some higher wisdom.Go back and rehearse the things you know to be true and foundational. Hit rewind and rehearse the faithfulness and goodness of God in the past. Reiterate the truth that God has guided and protected us before. Remind yourself that you are not alone and your Creator God loves and cares for you. This is one of the great practices of the people of the Old Testament. They constantly reminded themselves of their faithful God. A grateful heart is a powerful muscle.Take the steps of action but learn how to leave the results to God. This is accepting two realities – you have responsibility but at the same time, you don’t have ultimate responsibility. Learn how to live with a practical mindset of God’s sovereignty. Learn how to have a peace bigger than your situation and circumstances. Learn not to obsess with outcomes as if they only belong to you. Learn that even the smartest among us can only see so much of the road ahead.

In his book, Better Under Pressure, Justin Menkes notes that the best leaders are those who flourish under pressure, as if pressure itself is a given. 

Jehoshaphat flourished, but in an odd way. He flourished by admitting his fear and then still acting by leading his people through the fear.

Pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that many of our troubles come because we listen to ourselves instead of speaking to ourselves. In this moment, Jehoshaphat spoke to himself. He didn’t have all the answers, but like any great leader, he would lead the way in finding them out.

Jehoshaphat’s moment of greatest fear became the moment when he shines the brightest, though. The king leads the people in humble prayer, honestly confessing, “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” 

May that be our prayer today.

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Survey, Stack, Swap

Does your stomach start churning when you survey the avalanche of work waiting for you? Perhaps you let out a defeated sigh that first time you check your email each morning or power up your phone after a long flight.

What are your most natural reactions to being overwhelmed? Irritable? Short-tempered? Intense? Withdrawn? Focused? Competitive? Retreat?

These feelings were at the center of a recent conversation I had with a young CEO who was struggling to grasp a simple lesson, one with which many struggle—You can’t do everything.

Everyone has a Capacity Limit

There is a good chance you consider yourself a master multi-tasker, someone with the ability to intuitively sort, prioritize, and juggle a lot of balls. You work efficiently and with skill, and you work hard. Guess what? You still can’t do it all. Regardless of how high the ceiling of your personal capacity is, there is still a ceiling. Like a tabletop overflowing with plates and bowls or papers and reports, there is always a finite amount that you can hold. This is true for everyone.

The size of your tabletop might be larger than most, but it still has edges that must be honored. The amount of responsibility that you can handle might be significantly higher than your peers, but there are still limits. Expanding our capacity isn’t the focus of this discussion (although it is a valid issue, and has been thoughtfully addressed by others, like Tony Schwartz at HBR). Managing that capacity is the issue here. This is critical because we will eventually realize that even with all the time management tricks and technology tools, we still all have a limit.

So how do we determine our capacity? The simple answer is that when things start falling off, when you start dropping the ball, you have probably reached or surpassed your capacity. A more thoughtful approach, though, is to consider the quality of the work you are doing along with the broken plates or unmet deadlines. If we can’t complete a job or address a need with skill, we don’t have room for it.

Double-check What we are Stacking

Once we determine our capacity, we then turn our attention to the type of material on our table and how it is arranged. We can fill the table with whatever we want, but ultimately there are more important items that should get space first.

In short, this becomes a matter of priorities and strategy. Those things that are most important to us and most critical for success should get space first. Not everything  in life and work is of equal weight.

Unfortunately, we often confuse urgency with importance and load our table with an array of tasks that actually bear little strategic weight. Michael Hyatt wrote a wonderful, instructive blog on this some time ago, but I also recommend asking yourself a few simple questions in regard to the items on your table:

What is the strategic weight of each item? There is always a certain degree of busy work in our life, but we must also be conscious to identify those items that “move the needle” in the important areas of our life.Are you doing the things that only you can do? For most leaders there is a factor of things that uniquely belongs to them and that others can’t do. The rest is stuff they should be pushing to others. How much of your job can others do?Are the priorities of your life proportionately represented? Is adequate attention given to faith, family, work, and fun?

The Fine Art of Swapping

Very few people actually stay within their margin of capacity.

This is where most people get in trouble. You stack things higher and higher, until they begin to fall off your table. When things start to fall, instead of clearing new space, you look for a more creative stacking strategy. At some point, you turn into the young dad packing the car for a beach vacation. I don’t care if you have a master’s degree in geometry; you aren’t going to fit nine suitcases, three coolers, and fifteen beach chairs into the trunk. You have to take something out to get something else in.

When we get to this point, the only way to add new items to our table is to swap. We have to be willing to lay one item aside to make another item a priority. This is always a difficult proposition, especially for young entrepreneurs. We hate “either/or” choices and have built a strong muscle of “both/and,”  which works for some things in life—but not capacity discussions. The trick is to continue to return to the original filter, which determines space allocation at your table.

Survey, Stack, Swap

Unfortunately, capacity isn’t a question we can answer once and for all. It cannot be permanently checked off our list. It requires frequent reflection.

With that in mind, I encourage leaders to periodically assess their capacity by evaluating the three areas we have discussed:

Survey the tabletop—Take an honest inventory of your priorities and the skill with which you are addressing them. Keep in mind that the size of your tabletop is not static, but will likely fluctuate through seasons of life and as you increase in skill and strategic abilities. Be aware of this and get comfortable with the size of your table.Stack and re-stack—Though I stated above that more creative stacking strategies are generally not an effective solution, as our capacity fluctuates, it is often worthwhile to practice a little stacking. Add some small pieces here and there and see how it goes.Swap – Ultimately, it always comes back to swapping. You eventually have to pull the trigger and say ‘”no” to one thing in order to say “yes” to another. 

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The Purest Driver of All Great Performance

Last month, I was attending the Praxis Imagination Summit (and of course by attending, I mean that I was sitting at my desk watching a screen).

During the course of the Summit, my friend Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes made this statement: “I’m realizing that for years my energy was really built on sadness and anger.” Elizabeth is the founder of the Akilah Institute and Davis College, a global network of universities in emerging nations. If you look at her resume, you’ll see that she’s a big-time achiever in life. She’s been recognized by Newsweek and Forbes, and her work has been profiled on ABC, PBS, CNBC, and more.

But these days, she’s taking a look back and trying to re-orient and re-build a bit. It’s not that she wants to move away from fighting for the marginalized. It’s that she wants to be more rooted so that she doesn’t burn out or become bitter. She said she wants a more reliable and trusted center.

Her story rocked me. I brought it up in every breakout session at the Summit, and I’ve brought it up with several coaching clients in the weeks since then. I couldn’t stop thinking and asking people about their motivation for their work.

Why do you care?

Why do you care about excelling at work? Why do you work a little (or a lot) extra? Why do you want to make your community a better place? Why do you care about being a good parent or being healthy or anything for that matter?

What motivates you?

A couple years ago I wrote a book called The Gospel Goes to Work, and in the conclusion, I talked about the concept of motivating people. Basically, you’ve got three options—incentives, coercion, or inspiration.

Managers, as well as companies and organizations, generally build around one of these three motivations. They hunt incessantly for a pure motivator and driver. But what if, instead of trying to motivate employees, we challenged them to a broader vision? That’s what I want to advocate for, and it’s pretty simple.

I’m convinced that stewardship is the purest driver of all things performance.

Stewardship

If you Google stewardship, the results are generally going to fall into one of two categories—church finances and taking care of the Earth.

In both cases, the point is the same—you have something that’s not your own. The Mennonite theologian Lynn Miller put it this way, “Stewardship is the act of organizing your life so God can spend you.”

You’re not the owner; instead, you’re the steward, the caretaker, the manager—entrusted with something in order that you might use it well and in line with what and how the owner (God) designed it to be used.

I agree with all of that. But what if we broadened stewardship beyond the money and the planet that God has given us? After all, hasn’t He given us more than money and nature?

Consider the workplace. What if you approached your work, your performance, with a mindset of “I don’t own my role or my abilities”? How would it impact your performance to know you were part of something bigger than yourself?

I think it simultaneously ups your efforts and releases some pressure.

Again, stewardship is the ultimate driver of performance. When I see myself as a steward, I work harder because I know I’m representing God well as the Giver of my gifts. I seek to refine my gifts because God is continually growing me and knows my gifts better than I do. I embrace collaboration because I don’t seek all the credit for myself anyway.

And I also can rest a bit because I can trust that it is God’s job to deliver the ultimate results.

Consider Elizabeth Dearborn Hughes. Her motivation of anger was wearing her out, and it would show up more and more in the way she treated people, her ability to take a break, and more. But when she realizes that it is God’s desire to rescue the poor and marginalized, she can limit herself to playing her role using her gifts.

Interestingly, a 2017 study by Inc. found that the number-one driver of performance was empathy. Essentially, the study found that one’s connectedness to someone outside of himself or herself drove performance more than anything. I totally agree and think if that connectedness is to the Giver of all things, it drives performance even more!

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is a story Jesus told about a business owner who went away and left his resources in trust to three men. The first two men invested the owner’s resources wisely, but the third man literally buried the money he’d been given for fear that he would lose it.

When the business owner returns, he says to that third man, “Why didn’t you use it? I’d rather you lose it than not even use it.”

The point is that to be a good steward involves using your gifts and taking some risk. You’ve got something. You’ve been given something. Now go out and use it. Let the idea of stewardship drive some performance.

Conclusion

In his book With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, Skye Jethani writes, “Faith is the opposite of seeking control. It is surrendering control.”

Stewardship is the same way. It is surrendering control because you realize that you never had it in the first place. Like when everyone bows when the king appears.

And then you joyfully get to work.

At the end of the day, the question is “What fuels your energy?” Why do you put forth the effort you put forth? As a CEO, an employee, a collaborator, a producer of content, a parent, a friend, whatever it is—everybody is fueled by something.

The answer might be a bit painful, but the question is worth asking.

Are you fueled by a desire to prove you’re the best? The angry sense of injustice, like my friend Elizabeth? The desire to advance and get more authority? The desire for appreciation or praise?

Any of these things might fuel you for a while, but over the long term, the best fuel is a mindset of stewardship.

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Collective Wisdom

We are enamored with experts and their expertise. Expert analysis from expert analysts. Expert testimony from expert witnesses. Expert advice from expert consultants. Given the choice, we nearly always seek the opinion of the expert. We want the expert, the guru, the genius, to weigh in, to point us in the right direction, and to chart our course.

In his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki proposes that this predilection for experts stems from a belief “that valuable knowledge is concentrated in a very few hands. We assume the key to solving problems or making good decisions is finding the one right person who will have the answer.” In short, we believe that if we can find the right “guy”—design guy, IT guy, marketing guy, finance guy—then our problems will be solved.

Surowiecki, however, contends that the strategy of “chasing the expert” is at best, misguided. Instead, he encourages us to “ask the crowd.” He proposes that collaborative thinking is more likely to provide the most effective answers and insights because intelligent groups can “aggregate and provide collective judgments that represent not what any one person in the group thinks, but rather, in some sense, what they all think.”

Now, before you start sweating nervously about that social media expert you just hired, let me be clear that I’m not proposing that informed individuals are of no value, and for that matter, I don’t believe Surowiecki is either. Rather, I think Surowiecki’s research hints at some truths that I’ve discovered throughout my career about the importance of collaboration and the danger of allowing one voice to drive the agenda.

Push for dialogue over monologue…
You may remember from some of my other blogs that I had a brief stint as a high school coach after I graduated college. While I certainly wasn’t destined to be the next Bear Bryant, I did enjoy my time coaching and was fortunate enough to glean a number of insights that I continually use in my career as an executive coach.

One such insight came during our annual coaches’ meetings, during which we firmed up our offensive and defensive schemes for the coming season. Each meeting seemingly started the same way: the offensive or defensive coordinator would grab the chalk (yes, this was before the ubiquity of white boards or electronic tablets) and start mapping out their respective scheme.

So long as either coach kept the chalk, their plan was bulletproof, their own personal version of Beethoven’s 9th. Every play the O.C. sketched ended in a touchdown. Every defense the D.C. put together resulted in a forced turnover or goal line stand. It was only when each coach relinquished the chalk to their counterpart that the weaknesses in either plan became apparent. Like Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Even the most sophisticated, well-researched strategies and initiatives are flawed. When we refuse to give up the chalk, when we demand to be the only voice, these flaws can go unnoticed until they become significant problems that require drastic responses. The longer we demand to hold the chalk, the less likely we are to create something brilliant, and the more likely we are to produce the next New Coke or, more recently, Movie Pass.

Step back from the podium and listen to another voice. Dialogue is the best way to test a risk, secure legitimate feedback, and map a winning playbook.

Listen, but push back when necessary…
When we do, in fact, give up the chalk and take on the role of listener rather than presenter, the manner in which we listen becomes particularly important. For example, have you ever considered how the skill of a presenter, or even your preconceived notions about that presenter, affect how you receive their message?

Often, we tend toward one of two extremes. Sometimes we think so highly of an individual’s credentials or we are so impressed with their skill as a presenter that we buy everything they say lock, stock, and barrel. I call this the “infomercial effect,” and it is the only way I can explain someone deciding in the middle of the night that their life would be significantly better if they owned a pair of scissors that can cut a penny.

On the other hand, we can be equally biased in the other direction. We can arrive at a presentation assured that the presenter has nothing of value to offer. Whether this is because we are so sure of our own abilities or because we doubt the aptitude of the presenter, we either dismiss everything they say, or spend our time eagerly looking to disprove their opinions.

Neither of these tendencies is particularly wise or fruitful. The former tends to overlook flaws, while the latter fails to capture the wisdom of others.

Instead, we should strive to critically listen, honestly weighing the merit of a message, pushing back when necessary, asking for clarification when confused, and ultimately gratefully accepting wisdom, even if it isn’t our wisdom.

Strive for collective wisdom over expert opinions…
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.”

Every leader can attest to the truth of this particular Proverb. We have all mapped out a plan that seemed perfect, only to have someone alert us to a glaring weakness. Unfortunately, we have also likely charged ahead with a flawed plan, dismissing criticism, only to realize our mistakes too late. Experts, geniuses, and gurus are not exempt from this trap. They too have blind spots. They too miscalculate.

This is why striving for what I call “collective wisdom” is so important. Collective wisdom isn’t simply the most popular opinion (as the astronaut Mark Kelly once joked, “None of us is as dumb as all of us”), it is blended wisdom. It doesn’t mean that we simply take everyone’s opinion and mash them all together. Rather, it means that we strive for meaningful collaboration, marked by meaningful dialogue. It allows the strength of each person to shine through, while also allowing those strengths to prop up one another’s weaknesses. Perhaps most significantly, it forces us to put down the chalk and listen.

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