Taking the Next Hill
I don’t know about you, but I am the type of person who needs a challenge or a hill to climb to get motivated. I have found this to be true in both my professional and personal life and now I find it true in my spiritual life. In my professional life I love coming into a challenging situation with the odds stacked against me. Many times in these situations whatever task is at hand is not the popular choice with the masses. So, I typically find myself swimming against the current of the mainstream. These types of situations usually require confronting the current culture or environment that is already embedded in a work situation. To me, I see this as a hill; it motivates me, keeps me engaged and challenges me to work hard, set goals and see the changes that take place slowly over time. I have experienced this several times in my career and it is not a quick fix. It takes both time and I remaining constantly engaged to see it through. Staying constantly engaged is the key to success in this situation. With my personality and the need to “take” the hill it is not difficult to stay engaged.
It Is Tough To Find Good Help!
Many organizations around the world are finding it increasingly difficult to find good help. As a hiring manager, I have experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to find an employee who is both dedicated and motivated. That being said, finding an employee who demonstrates the below three characteristics on a regular basis is easier said than done. Let’s look at the three main areas employees tend to fall into.
1. How is your employee behavior?
In past blogs, I have already discussed “changing behavior”. Employee behavior can be good and bad. Does your employee make personal phone calls, surf the internet, read the paper or make idle chit chat with co-workers during working hours instead of calling your customers or performing their duties? Are your employees performing the right behaviors on a consistent basis in order to give your organization the best chance for success? I would say from my experience it is very rare when you have an employee who does not need to be held accountable for their utilizations over the course of an eight hour work day. I am not advocating total control or micro-management, but I do believe it is the leader’s role to know during the course of a work day if the employee’s actions were legitimate or not legitimate toward their utilization. Let’s face it, in most cases, not all, our human nature naturally tells us to coast or relax a bit when no one is looking. This very statement leads me onto area number two.
Are You Ready For Some Football And Chick-fil-a?
Well the 2009-2010 football season is upon us. This is the best time of the year, the fall weather, college football on Saturday, Pro football on Sundays and the thought of apple cider in October. What makes this year even more special is my two oldest, Dawson and Peyton are really into football this year. They are just learning the positions, the names of the teams on how the game works. During preseason football, we would all pretend we were going to bed at 8pm, then when the two younger ones were fast asleep, Dawson, Peyton and myself would sneak down stairs and watch the first half of the game. What a great combination, my favorite time of the year, my favorite sport and my favorite past time…spending quality time with the kids. I can’t wait until all four of them get to the age where they can stay up late watching ESPN Saturday night college football.
I will note, I did stay up this past Saturday night watching Alabama roll VA Tech 34-24. VA Tech is my team, but they did not look good offensively at all. Still it was a much better showing than their in-state rival UVA, who was thumped by a 1-AA team, William and Mary 26-14. Here is a quote from one newspaper on the UVA loss…” The loss was brutal. Unacceptable. Embarrassing.” The current UVA coaching staff is such a blessing to us Tech fans…keep up the good work.
Look at my beautiful little princess with her Chick-fil-a football gear on (thanks to the Flames Kids Club) and her football tucked under her arm where the baby dolls use to go. Are you ready for some football? The Kennedy’s are.
By the way, what does Chick-fil-a have to do with the title…absolutely nothing other than the stickers on my daughter’s face and hoping to drive some SEO hits to my website.
Nothing Good In Me, Change from the Inside Out
I have absolutely come to the conclusion that there is nothing good in me apart from God. The bible talks about this in Romans, yet God is really taking the blinders off on this area of my life. I have heard many pastors preach on this and have heard others quote it, but I never really believed or understood it until the past few months. It has become clear to me that everything about me…work, family, church and relationships that I unmistakably have nothing to offer, NOTHING. I am filled with selfish ambitions, greed, pride, anger, envy and lack of tolerance. Sounds pretty harsh seeing it on paper, doesn’t it? For the most part the people that I come in contact with may not observe these traits about me all the time, but I know they exist deep down inside. More importantly I know they drive my daily actions and decisions.
In the past I tried not to go too deep with my thoughts or analysis of myself. God has made it clear that that is not good enough and He has brought me to a place where I am starting to see what He sees in me. Not a pretty sight. Our goal should be to be like CHRIST, and my goal has been to be just good enough to feel okay about myself or escape God’s displeasure with me. Even with that, God is now showing me, that it is not an attractive sight. I once heard a pastor say “that we are all capable of anything that has ever been done on earth before, apart from Christ”. And I am starting to believe that is absolutely true…apart from Christ I have nothing to offer Him.
Praise the Lord, that slowly but surely He is changing me from the inside out. I’m thankful for grace, and forgiveness, and for the wisdom to realize that I’m as imperfect and as capable of the lowest of the low as anyone. I have to learn to constantly check my priorities, motives and habits that drive my actions for the day.
Romans 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
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