We work in different firms/organizations/companies etc and we see different people come and go. And you wonder why folks don’t stay in a business long enough, and why they quit.
There are a few reasons:
Untrustworthiness: First of all, working with someone we don’t trust is a miserable experience. We lose the trust of others; when we act inconsistently in what we say and do, seek personal gain above shared gain, withhold information, lie or tell half-truths, and become closed-minded. Trust is like a mirror; when it’s shattered, it can be pieced back together again, but the cracks are still quite obvious.
Incompetence: Secondly, the way to inspire confidence in people is not with charm or charisma,
but with competence. When a leader is incompetent, she takes the focus off the organization’s vision and values, and places it onto her own behavior. If people working for an incompetent leader have a high degree of skill, they continually worry about their leader messing things up. If they don’t have experience, they won’t know what to do. Either way, productivity, efficiency and morale suffer.
Insecurity: Lastly, good leaders do two things;
a) they develop other leaders and
b) try to work themselves out of a job. Insecure leaders never do that. On the contrary, they do not want to train people to reach their potential and be more successful than they are. In fact, they don’t want them to be able to succeed without their help. Anytime someone who works for them rises too high, they actually see it as a threat. People want to work for leaders who fire them up, not put out their fire. If they perceive that their leader is more concerned with maintaining their authority and protecting their passion, they’ll eventually quit and find someone else to work for.
A man who has friends, must himself be friendly – Proverbs 18:24 NKJ
No matter how good a leader you are, you’ll eventually lose people. When the relationship is over, you’ll go one way and they’ll go another. Sometimes, the decision may be difficult to understand and subsequently, you’ll try to cling on to them and control them. When you can’t do that, you’ll be tempted to cut them off, isolate and criticize them. If you are this type of leader, there is good news! You
CAN do things to make yourself the kind of leader people want to be around, and when the time comes for them to leave, they’ll do it looking back with joy.
Six principles:
1. Take responsibility for your relationships with others. When a relationship goes bad, initiate action and try to make it better
2. When people leave you, do an exit interview with them. This helps you discern if you are the reason that they’re leaving. If so, swallow your pride, apologize and take the high road with them
3. Put value on those who work with you. It’s great when people believe in their leader; and it’s even greater when their leader believes in them!
4. Put credibility at the top of your leadership list. You may not always be capable as there are times when every leader finds herself way in over her head
BUT, you can always be trustworthy
5. Recognize that your positive emotional help creates a safe and secure environment for people. Therefore, think positively, practice right conduct towards others, and follow the golden rule
6. Maintain a teachable spirit and cultivate your passion for personal growth. Keep learning so you can continue leading!
I heard a really simple, yet challenging teaching on Sunday about the "Race" we are running. While this is something that we are in some way or form doing, we hardly take the time to assess our journey. A lot of us have a goal in mind, or have a target as to where or what we want to be in life. The distance between where we are today and where we want to be, is what I call the "Race". The basics are obvious: starting point and finishing point, but the space between both is the hardest part. Some of us are currently in our starting point, some of us are somewhere in the middle or away from the starting point but I doubt that any of us are at the finishing point.
The starting point is where we make the decisions, its where we set some goals, its where we anticipate the end, its where we are fired up! It is here that we pick a purpose; and then train towards that purpose. Then, we set off! And we somehow shoot off into the future....and we then, begin to face different challenges, obstacles, roadblocks, crossroads etc. How we handle these are very critical. At this point, we might feel the need to compromise or we might feel a little bitter with life or the people in our way or both :). We start losing sight of the goals we set in the starting point. We start bending a little here and a little there. We start losing the grace of God, due to the seed of bitterness that we have allowed to germinate in our hearts.
We tend to forget that we are in a training season and the training eventually produces a reward, if we stay focused and unwavered. We start giving ourselves up to things that are not proper to our bodies; and to things that can and will contaminate our physical and emotional state. Before we know it, we are no longer training to win the race....we are now trying to run the race.
Training is beneficial to the spirit, mind and soul; because it produces discipline! Training teaches you to deny yourself of what your body wants, and only feed it what it needs. Its like a diet...you naturally want to eat what will destroy your body, but you really should eat what will help you fulfill your long-term goal.
It's just like in a race, the last lap is the most important. This is where your training is tested. It is the determinator of your training. How focused can you get? Can you hang on until the end? Will you give up and give in? Will your habits along the way, up until this point, cause you to be disqualified?
It's just like our faith. Our faith is always challenged along the way, but what will you do with that challenge? Will you submit to this world? Will you stay focused and stand your ground? Like the Hebrew boys in Daniel 1. They openly decided NOT to partake of the King's meal, as it was not appropriate for their diet. In fact, it was contaminated and they chose to decline.
Ladies, whatever goals you have set for yourself, or whatever life-changing decisions that you have made, or whatever steps you have decided to make; remember to stay on track...stay in your lane...as your race is yours and yours alone and MUST be completed. You cannot afford to be disqualified!
Self Builders:
