Controlling What You Can Control…a Balanced Approach to Organizational Success!
In my posting prior to this one I discussed leadership versus management, if you have not taken time to read that leadership lesson, I encourage you to do that first by clicking here. It will give a bit more insight and maybe give this posting a bit more context of where I am coming from. I will also refer back to that post some, so it will give you a frame of reference as well. 
Previously, we discussed the 10% that is not going well in your organization and the 10 times longer it may take to identify, fix and change the behavior behind the 10% not going well. Why is controlling the 10% so critical to your organizations success? The answer lies in the fact that there is so much outside of your control that you absolutely have to control the things you can control. If you are only controlling 90% of the 100% you can control, then you and your organization are not hitting the maximum potential of the organization. And eventually that will be discovered and someone will be in place that will control 100% of what is controllable. Organizational success is based on 10% of what is outside your control and 90% what you do control. If you don’t control it someone else will.
Are You A 9-1-1 Leader Or A Manager?
9-1-1 Leadership. How do you know if you are a leader or a manager? Certainly if you Google this topic you will get a laundry list of different articles or answers. There are many well known spiritual leaders who have written numerous books on leadership; my favorite being Bill Hybels. I would like to take an approach that comes from personal work experience as well as a biblical example. I have never heard it explained the way I will attempt to in this blog. I like to call this the 9-1-1 approach to leadership. The “9” stands for the 90% that is working correctly in your organization day in and day out. Let’s face it, not everything is broken on a daily basis. If you are a positive person it is easy for you to identify the areas that are hitting on all cylinders. The first “1” stands for the 10% that is not going well and is causing you headaches. Some organizations recognize the 10%, while others do not even know the 10% exist. And the last “1” stand for the up to 10 times longer it will take to identify, fix and change the behavior behind the 10% not going well.
So back to the initial question, how do you know if you are a leader or a manager? In my opinion, if you focus and spend a majority of your time on the 90% that is going well…then I would call you a manager. However, if you spend most of your time and energy in the 10% area that is not going well…I would call you a leader. Managers keep the organization rolling and steering the ship on a day to day basis. They are there to “manage” what processes/policies already exist within the organization. They quickly identify situations that start to slip or get out of whack with what is the norm. Managers have typically been handed a proven solution and told to carry on the way it was designed.
How Does God View His Children?
I have the privilege of bring my four year old daughter to work with me every Tuesday and Thursday before I drop her off at her pre-school early learning program. The early learning program is in the same building I work in. She is the second of four children and the first girl of the bunch. On these mornings it is just her and I and we get some one on one time that I just love to have with her. We have a routine where I get her up and I fix her hair (not very good I might add), get her dresses and then pack her lunch, usually peanut butter and jelly and put it in her pink Barbie lunch box. We stop at a local gas station and I get a coffee and she gets to pick out any donut she wants. We arrive at my work office and she pulls a chair up next to me at my desk and she eats her donut while I answer a few emails. The other day while this routine was happening, I sat back and just looked at her and thought…these are great times. You see during these times my daughter is so sweet, loving, obeys and just a real joy to have around. We tell each other we love each other and she hugs on me, she draws pictures on my whiteboard, drinks chocolate milk etc. Donuts and chocolate milk, I know what you are thinking, but this post is not about my parenting choices for breakfast food. Anyway, hopefully I have painted a picture that this girl is an angel during these one on one morning’s we get to have and I just love it…would not trade them for anything. Read more
Which Chair are You in?
I would like to begin with saying I recommend that you visit the “My Testimony” from Blue Ridge Community Church to the right and watch all three videos which will cover this topic of a “Chair 3 Christian” in more detail. It is roughly 25 minutes long for all of the parts.
In many of my blog entries I have openly discussed that I grew up in a Christian home. I thought I was a Christian only to realize later that I did not have a personal relationship with God. I have a passion to share my story, because I believe it is much more common than others care to acknowledge. A majority of those people do not realize they may not have the relationship with Jesus they claim to have, just as I was unaware for years. I am certainly not casting judgment. However, if I can grow up in a Christian home, attend and graduate from an evangelical university, work for that same evangelical university, closely with a great leader, Dr. Jerry Falwell, and not have a personal relationship with God, then it can happen to anyone. In the book of Matthew, Matthew spent a lot of time on this subject of alerting individuals to the danger of thinking we are saved when we are not. (Matt 5:20, 7:21-23, 13:20-21, 13:47-50, 22:10-14)
I heard a message one time with a “4 Chair” analogy. The speaker started off by saying “the good news is, that all of us in this room sit in one of these four chairs. The bad news is, not all of these chairs are desirable positions to be in.” He then went on to explain each chair in detail.
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