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Archives for April 17, 2012

Don't Waste Your Employee Training: Build on Strengths, Not Weaknesses

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The latest Gallup Management Journal has a good article on Why Strengths Matter in Training.

Here’s the summary:

Too many training and development efforts fall short because they don’t factor in employees’ talents.

And is some important data, for any who somehow think organizations can ignore the importance of focusing on their employee’s strengths:

Gallup research shows that people who know and use their strengths — and the companies they work for — tend to be better performers. In a study of 65,672 employees, Gallup found that workers who received strengths feedback had turnover rates that were 14.9% lower than for employees who received no feedback (controlling for job type and tenure).

Moreover, a study of 530 work units with productivity data found that teams with managers who received strengths feedback showed 12.5% greater productivity post-intervention than teams with managers who received no feedback. And a Gallup study of 469 business units ranging from retail stores to large manufacturing facilities found that units with managers who received strengths feedback showed 8.9% greater profitability post-intervention relative to units in which the manager received no feedback.

Companies that want to boost productivity and innovation must help employees apply their natural abilities to the day-to-day requirements of their role. Implementing a strengths-based approach often demands a fresh mindset; the old ways won’t do. The questions below can help employees figure out how they can best apply their talents in their role — and can help managers and leaders learn how to use a strengths-based approach to boost company performance.

Earthen Vessels on Kindle for Super Cheap

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Matt Anderson’s book Earthen Vessels: Why Your Bodies Matter to Our Faith is available on Kindle now for the super cheap price of $4.99.

This book is worth having. There is almost nothing out there on why our bodies matter to our faith and Matt Anderson treats the subject very well. He is, in my opinion, one of the best young writers in the evangelical world.

Here are a few blurbs:

“We evangelicals don’t think we care about the body, but we really, really do. And Matthew Anderson–one of the brightest lights in the evangelical world–helps us care, ponder, think and pray more wisely as we give our bodies as a living sacrifice to Christ.” —-Mark Galli, Senior Managing Editor, Christianity Today

“Matthew Lee Anderson…is a serious student of God’s Word and God’s world, and in this book he patiently and insightfully explores a theology of the body from numerous angles…I suspect that many of us will think differently–and more biblically–about the body as a result of this very fine work.”—Justin Taylor, ESV Study Bible

“On nearly every page you can find two virtues rarely combined: surprising new insights and good old common sense. Here is good counsel (solid, soulful, scriptural) about how to be humans, in bodies, under the gospel.”—Fred Sanders, Torrey Honors Institute, Biola University

“This book is for the church who is in the world. It is a truth-balm for a broken culture addicted to body image. Be challenged to forsake your “quasi-gnosticism” and embrace the divine dignity of your body so that you can worship well.”—Darrin Patrick, Lead Pastor at The Journey and author of Church Planter


Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?

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An article in The Atlantic. I don’t agree with everything, but it’s interesting.

Here’s the summary:

Social media—from Facebook to Twitter—have made us more densely networked than ever. Yet for all this connectivity, new research suggests that we have never been lonelier (or more narcissistic)—and that this loneliness is making us mentally and physically ill. A report on what the epidemic of loneliness is doing to our souls and our society.

And here’s a core part:

The idea that a Web site could deliver a more friendly, interconnected world is bogus. The depth of one’s social network outside Facebook is what determines the depth of one’s social network within Facebook, not the other way around. Using social media doesn’t create new social networks; it just transfers established networks from one platform to another. For the most part, Facebook doesn’t destroy friendships—but it doesn’t create them, either.

I disagree there. I have five things to say here, but I’ll only say three.

It’s true that Facebook alone doesn’t create friendships. But, as Christians at least, when we “meet” other Christians on Facebook, we are indeed establishing real relationships because we already have a relationship with them in Christ, apart from ever having met them in person. If you are a Christian, when you interact with other Christians on Facebook, you are interacting with a true brother or sister in the Lord — and what a great thing it is to know of them and be able to interact with them, even if it’s just electronically.

Second, I like Twitter better than Facebook and find that much more conducive to relationships.

Third, the real value of Facebook is when it is combined with travel. I have gained many new friends through Facebook, Twitter, and blogging not simply because of interacting with them on those sites, but because of then meeting them in person when I’m at a conference or wherever. Because of social media, I have met a lot more people when I travel than I otherwise would. And, because of Christ, those are real relationships and it is fantastic to meet and get to know more and more people in the body of Christ around the world.

While it perhaps comes close to pulling a Jesus juke on the article, I would say the problem is not Facebook or social media, but Facebook, social media, and anything outside of Christ.