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Archives for March 2018

How to Make Your Feedback Better with 19 Words — And How This Relates to Justification by Faith Alone

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This is a great, short video by Dan Pink on how to make your feedback better.

What’s the answer? I’ll give it away (but be sure to still watch the video): Tell the person:

I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.

Why is this?

Because high expectations — and believing that people can meet them — motivate performance. High expectations but not believing people can meet them actually decreases and sabotages performance. As do low expectations.

This is incredibly well-backed by research. It’s called the “Pygmalion Effect.” I actually did a presentation on it in college, because I thought the name was funny. We all got a good laugh. I had no idea that it is actually one of the most powerful forces for human motivation that there is.

So don’t miss it — use it in your management and life. Not just because it works, but because it is respectful and the right way to treat people. Belief in people motivates. So does acceptance. If you say “you must earn my trust and acceptance by first performing,” you will diminish performance.

Last thing. For the theological folks (like me): There are echoes of the doctrine of justification by faith alone here. If God were to say to us “you must work hard and then you might earn my approval,” we would be sunk. We would never know when is enough, or if the goal post will keep changing. This uncertainty would make it too risky to engage in the hard work — as it may not pay off. And if it does pay off, we would be able to boast before God — thus putting ourselves at the center.

But because he says “I accept you through faith alone in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10),” we are actually motivated to excel precisely because we know we already belong to him. We know we cannot fail to have his acceptance through faith, and that makes us want to serve him because we are secure.

If we aren’t sure we belong to Christ, we will fear our good works will never be enough, and at the end of the day, that kills motivation.

It is interesting that good management practice echoes good theology.

How Management Training Can Help Address Global Poverty

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This is an excellent post by Joe Carter, called How Managers Can Help Save the World.

He notes that most short-term missions trips do not empower those being served or lead to lasting impact because they simply give a fish, so to speak, rather than each how to fish.

Together with this, he notes that one reason for the productivity gap between poor countries and wealthier countries is often overlooked: management practices.

Hence:

A potentially more productive short-term service project would be to use the time to help teach businesses in developing countries how to be more productive. Many of the millions of Americans who go on mission trips have some experience in management, or could at least be trained to teach basic management skills. In many countries the productive gap is so large that almost any knowledge we could pass along could be transformative.

Christians long ago recognized that for long-term spiritual success, missionaries had to train up pastors and teachers from within a country. Perhaps it’s time we applied that same thinking to improving the long-term material success of countries in need. By sharing our abundance of managerial knowledge, we could teach others how to be more productive—helping them create wealth for themselves and their neighbors.

Well said! Read the whole thing. And as a starting point in learning good management practices, the book The First Time Manager is very helpful with many of the nuts and bolts. For a slightly more advanced look, see my article Management in Light of the Supremacy of God.

What Does it Mean to Glorify God?

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Most Christians agree that our purpose in life is to glorify God.

However, we can also struggle with having a clear idea of what that means. Which makes it hard to apply and give direction.

Hence, it is helpful to understand more precisely what it means to glorify God. There are lots of ways to do this. One that I’ve found helpful recently is this: To glorify God means to give him weight. To give him ultimate significance and centrality in your life and actions.

In other words, to glorify God means to act in ways that show he matters most in each decision you make. It is to have ultimate regard for him in all that you do, coming from love for him.

I’d like to give some examples here, but what might be most helpful to illustrate this is for each of us to ask ourselves: what is something we did recently that gave God weight? And then ask: how can we do more things like that?

Winning at Work

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This is an excellent message by Chip Roper, one of the best current thinkers on faith and work, delivered recently at the New York City chapter of the New Canaan Society.

It’s called “Winning at Work.” In it, Chip hits on two different types of work we do. First, there is work we do simply because we have to. This is work as a means to an end. Second, there is work we do because we want to. This is work as an end in itself.

Many of us have much of the first kind of work in our jobs and in our lives. There will always be some of that. But to be most effective (and fulfilled) in our work, we need to move our roles to consist more and more of the second kind of work.

Here is a great summary from the New Canaan Society newsletter:

Chip asked us to remember when the idea of work became real for us. For Chip it was the chores he was assigned as a child: that was work as a means to an end, work you have to do to get what you want.  But there was other “work” Chip voluntarily embraced growing up—constructing forts, putting together pushcarts, building treehouses.  Lots of sweat and effort, but no obligation.  This is work as an end in and of itself, work you want.  What if you think of your work on this continuum, somewhere between the chores and the treehouse?  Where are you most days?  When Chip found himself stuck on the chores end of the spectrum, it was a signal that he wasn’t winning at work anymore, and that he needed to consider significant change.

And as an aside, I recommend the New Canaan Society for Christians in the workforce (there are many chapters throughout the country, and especially on the east coast).

I also recommend the excellent organization that Chip leads, the Voca Center. You can read his blog at Marketplace Faith.

Apply to Join the Launch Team for My Next Book!

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My next book, How to Get Unstuck: Breaking Free from Barriers to Your Productivity, releases May 1.

We are now creating the launch team, and would love to have you be a part of it!

What You’ll Get

As a launch team member, you will receive:

  • An advanced reader copy of the book (you will receive a portion of the beginning of the book via email once the team has been selected).
  • Access to an exclusive Facebook group for discussion and collaboration (along with several videos and perhaps Facebook Lives that I will do)
  • Regular updates via email, including exclusive content, videos, etc.
  • Information about upcoming events, interviews, etc.

What You’ll Do

We expect launch team members to:

  • Read the book upon receipt
  • Discuss & engage with the book’s themes and content via social media
  • Leave a review (Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, ChristianBook.com, etc.)
  • Share about the book with their friends and followers in person or via social media (we’ll equip you with tools to share)

How to Sign Up

Sign up to join the launch team here, and we’ll select 300 applicants!