The interviewer on the street asked passersby, “How would you describe faith?” The responses varied little. “It’s what they teach you at church in religion class.” Or, “It’s what’s in the Bible.” And occasionally you’ll hear, “It’s what you believe.” All of these responses are vague and perhaps a little scary. Scary in the sense that they are vague and telling that most people, even if they were raised in church, cannot describe one of the most important virtues of Christianity or other belief systems.

In the western hemisphere, the word faith is mainly related to religion. When you ask people what they believe faith to be, you most often will hear statements about religion similar to those above. When you look up faith in the dictionary you read 1) complete trust or confidence in someone or something. or 2) strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. The Holy Bible says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)

I believe faith to be my trust in a Holy God who loves and cares for me to lead me into eternal life. While I cannot see around the next corner, I trust God who can see around the next ten corners. He knows my entire future and I trust Him to lead me through the blind and tough spots of the world to something better, though I do not know what they may be or what I will go through to get there. Faith truly is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen!

Will you let faith…

…be your courage?

…be your strength?

…guide your decisions?

…be your guide?

…build you up?

…be your support?

…bring you peace?

…engulf your thoughts?

…shine to others?

…extend your circle of care?

…lead you out of your comfort?

…lead you out of routine?

Lead you away from your fears?

Once you can let faith conquer these areas of your life, you will not only lead a faith-filled life, you will experience a JOY filled existence as well.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

Mephibosheth was the grandson of Saul, the first King of Israel. His father was Saul’s son Jonathan. As grandson of the king, Mephibosheth was used to living in the palace, eating at the kings table. When he was only five years old, his father and grandfather were both killed in battle. David, an adversary of King Saul, but friend of his son Jonathan, would become the next king.

Crippled by a  fall

Mephibosheth was crippled by a fall while his maid (nanny) was running to escape an approaching army that she assumed would kill the child. Note, she was doing what seemed right, trying to save the life of a child. However, in doing so, she stumbled. Mephibosheth was crippled for life by the fall.

Likewise, we, mankind, have been crippled by a fall. Our fall was into sin. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” Because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we all, all of Adam’s descendants, have been crippled from birth. Crippled to the dregs, the residues of sin. Because of this fall, Romans 3:23 tells us that All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Living separated from the king

Mephibosheth’s maid carried him to Lo-debar, to live in hiding from the king. She feared for the young man’s life since David’s armies had defeated Saul’s armies and both the young boy’s father and grandfather, King Saul had been killed.

This too represents us. Without God, we are living in our own Lo-debar, our desolate place. We may feel that we are doing well. We have a family, home, good job, etc. But without God we are always searching for something more, that missing link. That missing link is to sit at the King’s table, to eat and fellowship with the King Himself.

Forgiveness and a call to the king’s table

David forgave Saul and all in his family that had attempted to bring harm to David. To show his forgiveness and that he harbored no hard feelings, he brought the last living family member of Saul (Mephibosheth) to eat at the kings table – “always” scripture says.

This was not just having someone over for one meal. David said Mephibosheth would dine at the kings table every meal as long as he lived! Perhaps David saved Mephibosheth’s life. In Lo-debar it is possible that there was little food to eat.

Our God, our King, provides for us a table from which to dine that goes far beyond filling our stomachs. God has forgiven and saved us to have continual fellowship with Him. To dine with Him forever. Greater than the greatest table ever set before you. And food is only the beginning of God’s table.

While this story depicts an allegory for God’s love to us, it also demonstrates our responsibility to those less fortunate than us. It is upon us to reach out and help provide for those in need.

The story of Mephibosheth can be found in the Holy Bible, 2 Samuel 4:4 and chapter 9:1-9

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

In a recent post I wrote about using redirection of behaviors as a means to reach effective production. Redirecting behavior is almost always a greater way to get desired production and results. Wise leaders use redirecting when a person or team has not yet learned or is not practicing behaviors which produce desired results. Perhaps the opposite of redirection is reprimand. Though I believe reprimanding is by many leaders used too often and in a wrong and hurtful manner. Hurtful not only to the individual, but also to the organization.

The answer to the title question, “Is Reprimanding Useful?” is yes, when delivered appropriately. A reprimand comes as the result of a negative action. Though many negative actions can be corrected with a redirection of behavior instead of a reprimand. A redirection will produce greater results and effectiveness than a reprimand.

A reprimand should be used in situations which have resulted in safety negligence or acute resource loss. Ken Blanchard says, “Use reprimand only when an individual or team has already proven that they can do what you want done, but they are now falling short of it.” (Everyone’s a Coach, Harper Business, 1995) A reprimand is in order when the matter is motivational (lack of).

When issuing a reprimand, always point out the strengths of the individual. Example, “Robert, I’m telling you this because I know, and you know too, that you are capable of doing this (whatever Robert failed at).” Point out his/her positive attributes and contributions to the organization. Acknowledge that you’ve witnessed Robert accomplish the desired requirement in the past.

A reprimand should be used to correct behavior, it’s true. But reprimands should always be used to build up and motivate the individual to strive for improvement, refocusing and successful effective production.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

On a December evening myself and another coach met with a church that was in despair. We first met with the pastor who was discouraged and questioning whether or not he should remain as pastor of this failing church. It was revealed to us that this once thriving congregation now had maybe 15 in worship on Sunday mornings, including children. Even in the pastor’s short tenure, people were leaving. Things looked grim. Within two months the reserve funds would run out and income would not equal debts.

We met on this December evening and coached the congregation (about 10 in attendance) attempting to encourage them to explore the possibilities for the future and the blessings God had laid in their lap. We led them to discover their strengths as a congregation and to brainstorm the possibilities in front of them. Then we challenged them to enter into special times of prayer for the next four weeks. These prayer times would need to be different, deeper than normal.

Four weeks later we received a call from the pastor, reporting of what had been happening at the church. They had been meeting on Sunday evenings in someone’s house for special, concentrated times of prayer. God was moving. Their Sunday morning attendance in the most recent three weeks had risen to 45. That’s a 300 percent increase – tripled! He went on to share of several great things happening in the congregation. Rather than despair, the pastor had an air of excitement in his voice this time.

I recently received a photo of that church’s fellowship hall decorated for a Valentine’s banquet. The photo was full of people. The room was bustling with activity. What made the difference in only two short months?

These results were not because the other coach and I were superstars. We’re not. Well, I guess I should let the other coach speak for himself, but I’m no superstar. What we did was ask questions that guided the church to think in a different direction than they had been used to. The difference was made when the pastor and congregation got back to the spiritual roots of focused prayer and a new mindset. A new attitude toward God’s service.

Coaching as a leadership style is not about ambition, pride, personality, talent or giftedness. It is about believing in others enough to do what you can within your power to help that person perform at his/her best. Successful coaches instill in others, over time, the desire to always strive for improvement, even after their time with the coach has ended. Everyone of us is given coaching opportunities throughout our lives. What will you do this week to become an effective, people-building coach?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

In any conversation about the importance of organizational and leadership values consistency of ethics would certainly need to be addressed. First, let’s attack the consistency portion of this thought. Consistency of ethics must be practiced by the leadership of any organization (family, church, fortune 500 business). Consistency is the harmonious, steady, reliable and stable actions demonstrating appropriate integrity of moral beliefs throughout all situations by leaders of any organization. Leaders must first practice this consistency before it will trickle down and practiced by all of the organization’s members.

While ethics is described as the display of morals, beliefs, and integrity of a person or organization, every person sets his/her own personal code of ethics. In today’s society this is overwhelmingly rampant to an unhealthy extreme (in my opinion). While the dictionary’s definition of ethics is the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior, a relatively general set of ethics has historically governed human life and culture. Today, ethics seems to be whatever any individual sets as his or her own.

One feature of ethics is not eroding another person’s self-esteem. Many in leadership have forgotten or lost this trait of ethics. Beating down another person in any fashion is a breach of ethics. We hear a lot today about bullying. Bullying is a breach of ethics. This type of breach of ethics plays out in society in every type of organization imaginable. As leaders we must learn the difference between reprimanding for building a person up or tearing down. Redirection and reprimanding can both be undertaken while assisting the individual in moving to a higher standard. Anything less is akin to bullying.

Every consumer-driven business and organization believes their customers and employees are important – or at least this is their stated belief. Yet, the way the customer and employees are treated is the tell-tale of the true belief of the leader or organization. When customers (employees, volunteers) do not believe they are being heard or treated with respect, morale plummets and they will leave your organization. Customers shop elsewhere. Employees will look for other employment opportunities, and volunteers leave your organization to find one which they believe will appreciate their service and contribution.

In your area of leadership, what will you undertake this week to improve your consistency of ethics to encourage and enable others to better themselves and produce effective results for your/their organization?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

As a leader you set the standard for performance in your organization. There may be several ways to set this standard, some healthy, some not healthy for the organization. If you desire a healthy organization, then as a leader you must demonstrate healthy performance through your every interaction with employees/volunteers.

The performance of those around you will seldom rise above the performance level of the leader. While you may not be doing the same work, your actions and reactions will set the true performance standards – and they might not be the organizations stated standards. Negative performance from a leader will not produce greater performance from those throughout the organization. Negativity does not breed positive action.

Leaders need to comprehend and appreciate a few ideas about performance standards. What is it – exactly – that you desire to measure with the performance standards you set for the organization? Are we setting performance standards for quality or quantity? Some set performance standards to evaluate employees. Others still to provide coaching and training for performance advancement.  

As you think through the performance standards for your organization, ask yourself and your leadership team, the following questions:

1.      What are our expectations from the performance standards we set? (What outcomes do we want?)

2.      Are willing to live up to and exceed the performance standards we set for others?

3.      To what extent will I (we) as a leader encourage and assist others to exceed performance standards?

4.      To what level of consistency will our actions and interactions be in communicating true performance standards?

5.      How will our response as leaders be communicated both verbally and non-verbally?

Raising the performance standard levels for your employees/volunteers means first raising the bar in your own leadership. Are you ready and willing?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

Each person’s every act of performance necessitates a response. Be it a daily routine or a significant change of behavior, every act of performance does generate a response. As a leader you communicate a response even when you do not respond. And each response communicates. The question becomes, what are you communicating. It may not be even close to what you believe to be communicating.

There are basically four types of response rendered for someone’s acts of performance. First, an affirmative response of encouragement. This is where the person is recognized and congratulated by superiors for his/her performance. Congratulations can come in the form of personal praise from a supervisor or the organization leadership. It could also come in the form of remuneration or reward. Contrary to the belief of some, most people prefer the first to the latter. While money or other rewards are good and I doubt many would not accept those, the greatest reception is of recognition by supervisors and leaders.

The second response type is a negative response. This happens when an employee/volunteer falls short in his/her performance and a corrective action is needed. When the negative performance action is met with only negative responses from leadership, correction is seldom established. Negative responses from leadership almost always result in negative reaction from the employee and his/her performance. Poor or negative performance can have negative consequences but should not be met with only negative response. This will never build to better performance.

The third response is corrective. A corrective response occurs when performance is sub-par and some behavioral change needs to transpire. In his case the leader attempts to guide the underperformer through a redirection of his/her behavior patterns. A corrective response from a leader carries a more positive nature to the underperformer. Therefore, he/she will be more prone to attempt the needed adjustments.

The fourth response is no response at all. Of all the responses a leader can give, no response is the gravest of all.  Giving no feedback or response to good or bad behavior promotes poor behavior patterns, shuns good behavior, and will certainly lower morale among all employees/volunteers.

Do you want to positively impact and influence the performance of those in your circle of influence? Performance is greatly influenced by responses and reactions of leaders. What will you do this week to positively impact the performance of others around you?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

Not the mood you are in, but people’s performance should determine your response. Our mood affects our attitude and affects our actions and response to others. Leaders often squelch good performance and lose good performers by allowing our mood to control our response. This is outright poor leadership. Our response to any situation should not be determined by our mood, but rather by the performance of others.

Leadership specialist, Ken Blanchard says, “Consistency is behaving the same way in similar circumstances.” It is important to take notice of the word similar in his definition. Consistency is not behaving the same way in every circumstance. It is behaving the same in similar circumstances.

If you are running a production line and a new employee makes a mistake that costs the company three hours of shutdown and hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, you would not treat this situation the same as another employee who saved the company $10,000. It would be ludicrous to think so.

Consistency as Blanchard describes it is responding in similar fashion in each comparable situation. When something praiseworthy is accomplished, you praise in similar fashion. You do not give one employee/volunteer an all expense paid getaway and the next person a free pencil. Likewise, you treat those who mess up, who make mistakes in similar fashion.

With this consistency you are giving your employees/volunteers a special gift of predictability. I have served in ministry and the corporate world alongside others who always feared their higher-ups, not knowing what to expect. This is not a morale builder. It is in fact a morale-buster. People leave corporations, even the good performers are more willing to entertain other offers and leaving your organization.

Certainly, with this type of consistency your high performers will strive for even higher achievements and your under achievers will be more open to redirection and more apt to “get it right.” When an error is made, learn to redirect. Redirection is a powerful way to positively impact a person’s performance.

Your mood and attitude should never determine how you respond to others. This is a difficult leadership trait to master. Yet it is one all leaders should continuously strive toward. The great coaches and leaders have discovered this consistency is appreciated by both high achievers and low achievers. What will you do this week to become a leader of this type of consistency?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

A friend of mine, Greg Hill, whom I went to high school with, was recently inducted into the Kentucky Track and Field Hall of Fame. I am very proud of Greg for this achievement. He deserves it. Greg was a multi-year state champion and record holder, a three time All-American at LSU and collegiate champion with AAU records to his credit.

I too was a sprinter, but not for my school. I was the fastest student on my church track team winning at meets. I ran well enough in gym class at school to be recruited by the school’s track coaches. But I would not join the track and field team at school.  My main reason – Greg Hill. Hear me, it was not anything Greg did, nor was it even about Greg. He was, and is still today, a friend whom I admire for his accomplishments. The fault lay with me. I wouldn’t join the team because I knew I could never beat Greg in a race. I used Greg’s athleticism to keep me from being my best in high school as an athlete.

I do regret that decision and my stinkin’ thinkin’ back then. Today, I want to encourage and even push others around me to be their best. You might say it’s what I do for a living. I have learned and practiced over the years (long since high school) that to help others to be their best, I must pursue the same for me.

Do you want the people around you to perform at their best, to be the best they possibly can? If you want others to be their best, you must first daily practice and strive to improve to be your best. If you are a leader, you will never lead people beyond your ability. Therefore, continual striving for improvement is essential. Athletes and sports teams do not become winners relying on yesteryears practice. Winning athletes and teams push themselves everyday for growth, for improvement.

What produces winning teams in sports or business, even in families, is the willingness to produce continual practice systems and procedures that align with the vision of the entity. Don Shula, retired NFL coach of the Miami Dolphins, said, “Everything I do is to prepare people to perform to the best of their ability.” Whether it was his coaching staff or the players on the team, Shula knew that a team will not perform on game day any better than their best day of practice.

As leaders in the business world, the church, and our own families, we need a similar resolve. Our children, employees, and volunteers will never rise above the structures of practice we build into the culture of our organization (or family). If we allow slothfulness in our organization, it becomes habit. And slothful habits keep people from reaching for the heights they can achieve. I’m living proof, those slothful habits can be broken!

Looking back, I can now say that if I had competed with you, Greg Hill, you would’ve helped me become a better athlete and a stronger person in my teen years. I am grateful to God that He has straightened my thinking and I now let the Greg Hill’s in my life build me up.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

My father was, in my opinion, a master mechanic. He could work on anything from a toaster to a multi-story H-Vac system. For a few years he operated a small appliance repair business (on the side) out of our basement. He worked on toasters, irons, and other household appliances – before the throwaway age. No matter what it was, my Dad could take it apart, find the malfunctioning parts and repair the mechanical unit. His last position was as foreman of building maintenance for the University of Louisville, Medical Campus which included General (University) Hospital. As a child I lived in amazement, maybe even mesmerized, by his ability to “fix” things.

We all have natural abilities. While I personally believe these to be God-given, we must work at them to increase our ability to our greatest potential. Some are artists. Me, I have difficulty drawing a straight line with a ruler. Others are mechanically inclined, wordsmiths, cooks, on and on it goes. Some of our abilities are passed down from our parents. Have you ever sat down to consider your own personal natural abilities?

While preparing a workshop on natural abilities a few years back, I began thinking about my father and his ability. My thoughts turned to why I did not inherit any of his “fix-it” genes. It seemed all my brothers had some of his knack. My youngest brother followed closely in Dad’s footsteps, working in maintenance for a large hospital complex, eventually serving in a supervisory role. My second oldest brother is a master with cars, mechanically, body work and painting. My oldest brother received some of that giftedness and used it on helicopters for the military. Even my sister evidenced that fix-it mentality and giftedness.

But what about me. My Mom would share with others, “If you need something fixed, call Jim (my youngest brother), don’t call George.” I mean, when your own Mother…

As I was contemplating these “fix-it” abilities and my lack of them, God asked me a question. I had asked God why my brothers and sister received this fix-it gene from my Dad and why, it appeared,  I did not. The question He asked me in return was, “What do you do for a living?” As I contemplated the question, I quickly realized the answer, as if a light went on in my head.

I work with churches and organizations helping them find a better path to increased effectiveness. I assist organizations by helping them dissect the working organisms, find the ill-functioning parts, and building the best working order for the organization. I realized that day that I did receive some of that fix-it gene, just not with my hands on a machine.

We all have natural abilities. It is our responsibility to develop those abilities to the best of our potential. What are you doing to increase your abilities and use them for the good of others?

 George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.