3/5/12...At times, the Toil is such an annoying albatross. Let me explain what I mean. Over the last couple of months, we have focused more on the People development side of Mini-Business (see diagram of 11/28/11 entry). We hired a local organizational development specialist and she has done a remarkable job with our people, not only encouraging the Team Leads, but also providing valuable insight into leading people and running meetings. Over the last two years, myself and a colleague have coached well over 200 meetings. Some of these meetings were great, some were horrible, and the majority were just average. What has been encouraging is with the added training and development side, the meetings lately have gone very well. On a scale of 1-10 I would give them an 8 whereas before it was more hit or miss around a 4 or 5. One thing I have learned is how important the fun factor is in energizing a group meeting. Doing an icebreaker or something to laugh and get the blood moving before a meeting starts really helps the quality of the meeting and bonds the participants more.
With that said this morning's meeting with one particular team went back to a 6 where I am used to quite a few 8's lately. I was a little disheartened as well as the Team Leader. The Team Leader to her credit planned a good agenda, put icebreakers in, had great content, but alas things did not quite go as hoped for. One, it was snowing so some team members did a no show. When 4 of 11 people are out, it sets a bad tone from the very beginning. After all, teams require all members to be there to be a team. Also there were some issues regarding team members who were getting moved around to other machines, etc. etc. At the end of the meeting, when doing an evaluation for the group regarding how the meeting went, I asked the question, is there anything we can do better next time to make a better meeting. Ugghhh, and uh oh. One member's response was EVERYONE in the organization was "burned out" from Mini-Business. Wow! What a statement! EVERYONE. And then the lady next to him said she liked Mini-Business, just everyone needed to be there for the meeting. Hmmm...
What hit me later was this: The previous Friday, I told a story to future coaches regarding my early career and how my story was woven into Exodus Chapter 18. I left that day feeling great, as in one, I got a rare opportunity to share my spiritual journey and two, I actually got to use something in the Bible in a business setting. Fast forward to this morning:
What became apparent to me was this. Adding the fun factor into teaming was necessary and great, but alas even it will not be enough. Within myself there is a longing for something more than this world can offer. Therefore I will always be discontent with something. That is not to say I want enjoy different seasons or moments in time, but deep down a longing (hunger) remains. The longing in words sounds like this: There has to be something better than this. As a leader though, what do I do with this when leading others? If I have this deep longing, what makes me believe that those I am leading do not also have this same longing. The truth is they do. The Toil that has been promised to me beats me down, and beats those I lead down. My only hope and their only hope is in the next world. Until then, all we can do is slog through the bad and average times and cherish the few enjoyable times on the far side of the bell curve.
Flashback to this morning: What does this say about the person this morning who makes a grandiose statement that EVERYONE is burned out, when in fact the lady beside him says no she is not. What does this say about him? I think the Toil has worn him down. I do not know if he is a believer or not. What I do know is this. No matter what I or we do as leaders will ever be enough. For Christians, all I can do is point their deep rooted longing towards their Savior, and encourage them that while here on earth, it is to the glory of our Father to point others to Him. For non-Christians, all I can do is tell them no matter how good we make Mini-Business, it will never be enough, because there is some deep seated longing within them that I cannot ever fill no matter how many fun factors I put in, icebreakers, team building, listening to them, solving issues and complaints, etc. My heart sinks for the non-Christians.
After all what a terrible way to live. An entire life spent in complaint, distractions, chasing, maybe even addictions, trying to fill a longing that the world cannot satisfy. If we as Christians face the same dilemma in longing, at least we have hope and grace in Jesus Christ from our complaint, distractions, chasing, and addictions. For a non-Christian, what do they have? This world...
I shake my head at this realization. I pause. My eyes lower to the ground and my heart sinks...
This is gut-wrenching.
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