The story is told of a man on horseback riding up to a group of men digging a trench with one man, the apparent leader, barking orders and threatening punishment as the battle wearied soldiers were digging. The man on the horse asked, “Why aren’t you helping them?”

The man retorted, “I’m in charge. These men do as I tell them.” Then he added, “Help them yourself if you feel so strongly about it.” The man climbed down from his horse and worked alongside the men until the job was finished.

Afterward the stranger congratulated the men for a job well done. Then turning to the “leader” the horseman stated, “You should notify top command the next time your rank prevents you from assisting your men and I will come up with a more permanent solution.” It was at that moment that the leader recognized the stranger as none other than General George Washington.

One key in quality leadership is helping others to perform at his/her best and assist in improving their skills. Threatening, criticizing, or treating others as less than you is not leadership. You can play leader, ridicule and criticize people or you can get in the trenches with them and demonstrate true leadership. Respect is earned and the very best way to earn respect as a leader is to get in the trenches (so to speak) and work alongside of your employees/volunteers.

Respect is earned through positive interactions with employees/volunteers. A good rule of thumb is to treat others as though they could surpass you in workmanship and leadership ability. Don’t treat your employees/volunteers as lower than you. Treat them with respect and watch how they flourish on the job and in private conversations. You can be guaranteed after that night in the trenches, those men would gladly do whatever George Washington would ask. Why? Respect.

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

“My Pleasure!” Certainly, if you’ve eaten at any Chick-fil-a restaurant, you’ve heard those words – multiple times during each visit. And, in my opinion, each employee is sincere as he/she speaks those words. How do they do it? Well, Chick-fil-a raises their own employees in an incubator. No, of course not. Part of it is training. But there is much more to the sincere spoken words than training alone.

Chick-fil-a has created a culture of appreciation and affirmation, from the corporate offices to each and every store. If those doing the hiring, training, leading, and managing do not exemplify the appreciation and affirmation attributes necessary, the employees will not either. The same is true in your environment be it at the office, on the factory line, running cable, in your church or other organization. If you desire an effective, productive environment, you must create and exemplify a culture that demonstrates these and other qualities.

The more a person is affirmed, the more he will feel appreciated. The more one feels appreciated, the more productive he will be. Each time you express appreciation for one of your employees, volunteers, you are affirming him/her. Appreciation and affirmation lead to productivity and happier employees (volunteers).

While working in retail management, I could tell the type managers/leaders in every store simply by observing and interacting with the employees. I did not have to ask any questions about their “boss.” Employees actions, voice tone and inflection are tells of the type manager/leader to whom they report.

As I read, research, and speak with leaders of productive organizations I find one of the common denominators is an attitude of gratitude from the leaders to the employees/volunteers. It seems the more leaders affirm and show appreciation to the workers, the more productive the workers are. Not only productivity, this attitude seems to rub off. The employees/volunteers also demonstrate an attitude of gratitude and appreciation toward their leaders and clients/customers.

Creating a culture of appreciation and affirmation doesn’t take a degree or years of classroom study. It simply requires practice and a genuine spirit. One leader told me, “We say thank you a lot.” Appreciation does not always mean spending money on promotions, steak dinners, and doughnuts (although those are nice). This organization, like others, found that simply saying a genuine “Thank you!” carries more weight than a box of doughnuts.

I agree and attempt to do the same thing. I say thank you a lot – and I speak genuinely when I do. When you see someone doing something right – even if it is her job, say “Thank you.” When you see one person helping another, say, “Thank you.” When you see someone pick up a piece of trash, even a small gum wrapper, say, “Thank You!” Creating a culture of appreciation and affirmation takes more than a thank you. But it is a great place to start. Affirm those you lead each day.

What will you do this week to improve and demonstrate your attitude of gratitude? Don’t stop after one week. Creating a different culture in your organization begins with you and requires an ongoing lifestyle from you.

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

He was not a doctor, lawyer, or what some might call a white collar professional. Standing just over six feet tall, rugged looking with a well-tanned, leather-like skin and calloused hands, Irven worked for the railroad cleaning up train wrecks and repairing damaged track. Though many people never knew the physically draining work to which he was accustomed, he was more than known and loved by many. Long after he retired, at the age of ninety-three, Irven passed from this life to his eternal reward.

While he worked for the railroad from a teenager to his retirement forty some years later, the railroad was not his calling. It was his occupation. His calling was to show love and compassion to others, teenage boys in particular. At his viewing and since, several of us stood around telling stories of him picking us up on Saturday morning and driving us to church ball games, parks, or just to get a soda.

We talked of camping trips, picnics, spelunking, and so many other outings with Mr. Schanie. Not only the fun times, we recanted how Mr. Irven Schanie had influenced our lives even fifty to sixty years later. You see, Mr. Schanie had found his calling in life and he strove daily to fulfill that calling, whether it was teaching on Sunday morning, working in someone’s yard weeknights, riding us around in his little Volks-Wagen wagon, coaching baseball on Saturday or any of the many other things he did for us. It was always about helping, teaching, and guiding others.

There is a little more to the equation in the title. Victory in life is understanding your God-given calling, daily striving to attain your greatest potential, while helping others reach for theirs along the way.

There are many young men, hundreds, who were touched by this one man. And it is all because he knew and lived by the above equation. Each person has a God-given calling, something they were purposed for. We each must uncover our calling and grow to understand what it means. Yet, more than that, we are to strive daily to reach our full potential to leave a positive impact. And all the while – all our life-long journey, we are to help others discover their calling as well.

Where do you find yourself in that equation? Do you know and understand your calling? Are you striving to be your best every day? Whose life are you impacting – leading them in discovery and implementation of their calling? What will you improve today?

Perhaps to his co-workers and neighbors he was Irven, but to several hundred men of various ages he was and will always be Mr. Schanie, teacher of life’s victory equation. 

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

I recently had the opportunity to share with a church leadership team the difference between leading and springboarding. Too often springboarding is used in place of leadership in churches and other organizations. If you have ever watched competitive pool diving, you know there are two diving apparatuses used.

One, the springboard has elasticity. It moves up and down as if toggled on a spring, giving the diver greater advantage for elevation off the dive. The diver walks to the pool end of the springboard and begins shifting his weight up and down engaging the springboard in a similar motion. Once the board is moving at the desired rate and height the diver pushes off with both feet leaping, as the board springs him into the air, he twists, turns and flips before landing in the water completing his dive. As spectators we do not know what is coming until the diver leaves the board, springing into action.

It is intriguing and just short of amazing to watch these experienced athletes and their springboard dives. It is not amazing or intriguing to watch as pastors and other leaders use a springboard approach in the guise of leadership.

To lead is to guide or to bring people along with you on the journey. Throughout history, be it organizational, military, or government, great leaders have achieved success and productivity bringing their people along, training them up, encouraging, equipping them for what is to come.

Can you imagine a military general recruiting people for a journey, but never equipping them for battle? How long would an army like this last? Not long enough to make it out of the first battle. Yet, this is what many leaders, pastors included, attempt, then wonder what went wrong.

If leadership is guiding, bringing people along with you, why do so many spring ideas and plans on people without warning or preparation? Example: In many churches attendees do not know where the church is going, what is next, until the pastor announces on Sunday morning that a major change is happening and it is taking place this coming week.

People are in attendance each week in anticipation of seeing the church grow. They are (in most cases) desirous of seeing the church thrive, but they need to be led not thrown off the diving board unexpectedly. When we spring ideas on them and expect them to automatically, immediately adapt and accept, we are not leading. We might be forcing our own expectations, but not leading.

As leaders we must be careful to bring our people along. Like a military organization, we must train and equip our people until they are ready for battle (change). Because we have thought it through or discussed it with our inner circle does not mean our congregation is ready. As an athlete prepares for years to compete at rising levels, we must put in our time bringing along those who are inexperienced in the nuances of moving our organization forward.

People will follow a leader into battles unknown. Unfortunately, many leaders leave their constituents in the dark. What changes need to take place in your life to become more of a leader and less springboarder?

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

Without warning the large stone broke free and rolled down the short hill and onto the road, blocking all traffic. This was a stopping stone for anyone traveling that particular road until crews could come and remove the large stone. Heavy equipment was brought in to remove the stone. One company that assisted in the move was a stone landscaping company.

Once the stone was moved from the roadway the company agreed to break it down into smaller pieces and move it from the side of the road. Two months later the large stone was now in pieces about 12 to 20 inches across and 2 inches thick. 185 of those pieces were donated and used to line out pathway in a local park from parking lot to shelter. The large stone, once an obstacle, became steppingstones for a better trek for all to use.

In life and in leadership we have a choice. We can be a stopping stone or a steppingstone. The first one hinders people from becoming what they could, from achieving their purpose. The second, assists people and provides a walkable path to their full potential.

The way you treat people verbally, mentally, physically, and spiritually affects their emotional being and their perception of the road ahead. Always speaking to and addressing people negatively is similar to rolling large stones into their path. Whether it be harsh cruel language, repetitively telling someone they are not good enough, or excluding them due to education, size, ethnicity, or looks, these are all negative input into the minds of those you lead or interact with. When we do not give what is needed to succeed, we become stopping stones.

Not only what you do, but what you do not do will also make these negative deposits. When we neglect to encourage a loved one or someone we lead, we are planting negative thoughts in her head. Therefore, we are rolling large stopping stones in front of her. Instead of stopping stones, we need to be laying steppingstones for those around us – those we lead and those we love.

People need words of encouragement, acts of reassurance, and touches of inspiration. Ask yourself, “What brings me the greater satisfaction to keep moving forward?” Your thoughts will likely include being recognized for your accomplishments. While normally we do not strive for recognition, God has built within us the innate desire to receive acknowledgment.

What will you do this week to lay steppingstones for those you lead and love? What will you say, what actions will you take to assist others? Not only words of encouragement, what steppingstones can you lay to help others on their path to fulfilling their God-given purpose? Don’t be a Stopping stone, be a setter of Stepping stones!

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

One area of interest and study in the last couple decades for me is how the brain works. In fact, I consider some of it fascinating. Studying how the brain works can assist you in understanding people and how they think and act. You begin to understand the why of people’s behavior.

In some respects, your brain works like a garden. If I want to harvest beans, I plant beans. If I want tomatoes, I plant tomato seeds. I do not expect to get tomatoes from my beans planted. A garden produces what is planted in the garden.

The brain works likewise. You’ve likely heard throughout your life “Garbage in, garbage out” that is if you put only garbage in your brain, you’ll get garbage out. Your attitude, actions, and speech will be the same as what you take in. This not only applies to what a person puts into his/her brain, but what he/she is exposed to from other people around her – including the leaders in her life.

If, as a leader or influencer you are constantly spewing negativity, then negativity is being planted in the brain of every person you interact with. If you are always pouring out praise and positive statements, you are planting positive seeds in each person’s brain. What happens next is also like a garden.

The second garden likeness of the brain is what happens to the planted seed. When I plant a bean, I do not expect to harvest one bean, but many. When I plant a single tomato seed, I expect to harvest multiple tomatoes from the plant that seed produces. I plant about 20 tomato seeds or seedlings each spring. From these 20 seeds my wife and I enjoy several weeks of good, garden fresh, ripe tomatoes. In addition, we can enough tomatoes to last until the next year’s harvest. Not only tomatoes, we also can, tomato juice, pasta and pizza sauce, and salsa. From those 20 seeds we reap a harvest multiplied by a hundred-fold or more.

For every negative seed planted in the brain a similar crop is multiplied. God causes the growth in a garden. The imagination causes the growth in the brain. For every negative thought planted by a leader or influencer, the imagination multiplies that into a garden of negativity. The only harvest from a tomato plant is tomatoes. The only harvest from negativity planted is negativity.

Likewise, leaders who invest positively, plant positive seeds in the brain which will produce positive results. If you desire positive and efficient productivity from those you lead and influence, do all you can to plant positive seeds.

It does not take long to be around someone to realize what they are planting and what is being planted in their own brain. What will you strive to improve in your planting in the minds of those around you this week?

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

In our society today there is an unwritten belief that leadership and strength are synonymous. While the premise may be true, there is strength in leadership, great leaders have come to understand the needed strength for effective leadership. Many leaders are still seeking.

There are leaders who believe he/she must be dominant in physical strength to keep others in line and productive. Showing off physical strength or prowess does not impress workers, nor will it motivate. Likewise, there are leaders who believe they must possess a mental strength over others in order to keep them in submission. Perhaps similar to an abusive husband over his wife. He does not have to speak to keep her in submission. It does not take a genius to realize this will not motivate people to work.

Others believe a dominant vocal strength will bring about productivity. This can appear in three different ways. 1) Using big “college degree” words, fancy language. Truth is, if you cannot relate to those you lead in words they understand, you’re not going to motivate them to productivity. 2) cursing, using harsh, belittling language. Belittling language never motivated anyone to do anything productive. Neither has cursing. 3) Hard, aggressive, threatening language. This is a military style leadership “Drill Sergeant.” While this type leadership may work in the military with recruits, it rarely gains respect in the corporate world. Without the respect of those you lead, you will not truly lead, only holding a position of leadership.

There is another, a much greater strength to be exercised in leadership. No one can doubt or question the strength of Jesus Christ as He dealt with people, friend and foe during His ministry. Jesus was such a master at leadership strength that He could deliver it with compassion or confrontation. In Matthew 7: 24-25 He said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”

To see the strength of these words and all Jesus had spoken in the previous 3 chapters, The Sermon on the Mount, is to read the final verses of chapter seven: “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, ²⁹ for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” They were astonished/amazed. Why? Because He was teaching them with authority which apparently the Scribes did not. Jesus had an air of compassion and concern about Him. Everyone in His presence could sense His teaching was different. His teaching was for their benefit, not His own.

What can you do this week to improve your leadership and communication with others to be more like this style of Jesus?

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

Is prayer dynamic and exciting or dull and dreary in your life? Most believers would say, “dynamic and exciting,” even when it is not. The truth is prayer will be whatever the believer (pray-er) allows God to make it in your life and the life of your church. Prayer can be the most soothing, exhilarating part of a person’s life when you pray with a heart for truly knowing God’s will.

In much of our praying lives today we have turned God into more of a Santa Claus figure. We come with our list of things we want, expecting God to deliver. Prayer is two-way communication between you and God. It is not only about telling God what you want. The expectation of prayer should not be getting God to agree with me. True prayer is me sharing with God and listening for His response, advice, and guidance for my life. Instead of getting God to agree with my wants, prayer is about me aligning my desires with God’s will and His desires for me.

Do you have a vibrant, personal prayer time? Is your prayer life meaningful, fresh, with a fragrance of love and acceptance?

I wrote a piece several years ago stating the time spent in prayer by active church going believers is twenty-seven minutes each week. This included prayers at church, praying at meals, and before bed or in our first waking minutes. I do not remember now where I found that research but this is what we might deem stronger believers.

Let’s break this down and we’ll round it up to 30 minutes. There are 168 hours in a week and two half hours in each hour. Thirty minutes per week is 1/336 of your week. Not ten percent, not 1/100^th, 1/336^th of our time in communication with our God. If we spent 30 minutes each day it would still only be 1/48^th of our time. Just imagine what God could do – God-sized – if each believer would spend 30 minutes each day in true heart-felt prayer discerning God’s Will, desiring to adjust our lives to meet God’s desires.

Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do today I have to spend four hours in prayer just to get everything done.” What a difference in attitude than we carry today. How about you? What is your prayer life like? What can you do today to draw closer to God in true God-seeking, heart-felt prayer?

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

I recently read the testimony of a CEO who stated that early on in his role he believed the CEO had to be the smartest person in the room. He now acknowledges that was a mistake. If you have to be the smartest person in the room, you are not leading well. In fact, it is possible if you are leading with this mindset the only thing you may be leading is toward a train wreck.

The need to be the smartest person in the room is not leadership. It is an ego issue. An effective leader understands he/she is not always the smartest person in the room. An effective leader will surround himself with capable, open minded, free thinking individuals who will contribute to the solution and the decisions to be made.

A leader who feels the need to be the smartest person in the room alienates team members and co-workers. This mindset often leads to leadership by criticism. The need to be the smartest person in the room causes the leader to doubt the capability of team members and workers. Therefore, criticism becomes a leadership style. Leadership by criticism has never built any work bridges between a leader and his/her workers. Criticism belittles and therefore stops the flow of creativity and production. That’s right, production will slow even in the best of workers.

Criticism in leadership is nothing more than a lazy attempt at leadership and ineffective. Ineffective leadership always leads to lower productivity than the team is capable of and lowers morale. Lower morale will in turn reduce productivity even more.

As a leader, become a life-long learner. Read, attend conferences, ask and watch others. Learn from peers in similar organizations, and from those you lead. When you open yourself to learning from those you lead, you will be on the road to becoming the best leader possible for your organization and those people you lead.

One way to learn from those you lead is to encourage them to be life-long learners as well. Help them by giving them opportunities and effecting learning (self improvement) as a priority in each of their lives.

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

Five of us walked into a busy restaurant. We were told we’d have a 20-30 minute wait. Since we were at a large convention this seemed to be not so bad an option. However, 30 minutes came and went. Then 45, 50, 55 minutes, one hour and five minutes after entering the restaurant, we were seated. It was not only our party of five. Every group was waiting this long. But alas, finally seated we ordered (some of us, me included, had to change our order due to out of stock menu items). We ordered, waited, and waited, and waited. We had submitted our names on the waiting list at 6:28 and received our food at 8:26. It was a late supper, but we did eat.

I share this true story because it has several comparisons to many churches – and other organizations as well. While the restaurant was known for good food and I’m certain they were trying to keep up, there were several issues. The largest of which was there was not enough workers to carry the load. This is all too often the case in churches. Only in churches members (workers) are not getting paid. Therefore, they sit back and expect others to genuinely greet people, clean tables, prepare the meal, serve and take care of others (metaphorically speaking).

Jesus said, “The fields are white unto harvest (there are many people waiting to be seated at the kings table), Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the field. He didn’t say recruit workers, bring them in, and send them out to work. We are to do this, but we are not to sit back and wait for others to do the work. The implication is they are already here, send them out. Get to it. People are hungry, not only for bread and burgers, but for love and acceptance. There is an innate desire in each of us to be loved and accepted. This is the level of psychological need where people enter your church.

We stayed and ate at the restaurant that night. But I do not know how eager any of us would be to return anytime soon. The same is true at church. People come in looking to be accepted, seeking a place to belong. Yet, research has recently shown people attending churches for the first time sensed only superficial greetings from church members. Church members greetings were not genuine, authentic.

What can you do personally to move your church to be a more accepting, genuinely authentic, welcoming body to all newcomers?

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