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Archive for the ‘Servant Leadership’ Category

5 Ways to Thank Administrative Professionals

Posted in Excellence, Integrity, Servant Leadership, Serve, Trust, tagged , , , , , , , on April 24, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Regardless of the focus of your work,  many of us interact in some way with an Administrative Professional. As Wednesday is Administrative Professionals’ Day, it is a perfect day for us to give back! To say thank you to someone with a real servant heart.

Today, there are more than 4.1 million secretaries and administrative assistants working in the United States, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, and 8.9 million people working in various administrative support roles. More than 475,000 administrative professionals are employed in Canada. Millions more administrative professionals work in offices all over the world.

If you are an Administrative Assistant…THANK YOU! I have found in my years in the marketplace that a talented “Admin” has an enormous impact on an organization. As a general rule, Administrative Assistants are smart, organized, have a servant heart, have good communication skills, know how to say no, can manage multiple projects simultaneously, and most of all they are trustworthy and of strong integrity.

WorkMatters would like to honor one Administrative Professional today by donating one ticket to our May 4 WorkMatters Leadercast here in northwest Arkansas! Be the first to send us an email and we will be honored to make that happen.

If you work with an Administrative Assistant, here are a few tips to say thank you:

  1. Simply walk up to their desk and tell them how grateful you are for the important work they do.
  2. Nothing says thank you like a DaySpring or Hallmark card or e-card!
  3. Give them an inspirational book with a personal note written on the inside cover.
  4. Take them to a thank you lunch with their boss/es.
  5. Providing training opportunities (like the Leadercast) through continuing education, self-study materials, or seminars.

Administrative Professionals…your work matters!

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.    Ephesians 6:7


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10 Attributes of a Humble Leader

Posted in Bible, Faith and Work, Humble, Servant Leadership, Serve, Seven Pillars of Faith and Work, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

All of us want to be humble leaders. It sounds good. It sounds right. But pride is a mighty warrior. It fights for the enemy. And we so easily fall prey to the enemy.

Some of us seem to be born with more humility than others. Some of us have great mothers or fathers that modeled humility. But most of us get out in the world, especially out in the marketplace…and humility doesn’t seem to win. It doesn’t seem to get promoted. It doesn’t seem to get talked about or noticed.

So pride drives until we GET humbled. Then, we begin to open our eyes. We develop a vision for a greater purpose for our lives and our work. The Bible begins to show us that humility has value!

Our friends at Catalyst have shared some great ideas on working to become a humble leader. If you are intrigued with these ideas, click over and read the Catablog for the details.

10 ATTRIBUTES OF A HUMBLE LEADER

  1. Dangerous trust
  2. Sincere investment
  3. Gentle, but strong
  4. Readily admits mistakes
  5. Forgives easily
  6. Quickly diverts attention
  7. Remains thankful
  8. Recognizes limitations
  9. Shares authority
  10. Invites feedback
Marketplace Scripture:
“For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.”
Luke 14:11

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You Care? You Serve!

Posted in Encouragement, Faith and Work, Friendship, Influence, Relationships, Servant Leadership, Serve on February 7, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Rob Hey continues his outstanding and practical teaching on what Serving looks like at work.  Print this and and put it where you will see it everyday when you get to the office!

This week at work, I took a close look at what I actually accomplished in serving others. My personal goal has always been to be able to serve others without making it a task.  It should be something that comes natural and part of my daily routine.  It is so easy to get absorbed in “self” and what we want to accomplish.  This week I’d like to focus on 5 ways to serve others which are a little out of the ordinary that we may not have thought about when it comes to serving.

  1.  “Be A Friend to Someone Who Doesn’t Deserve It”.  We know who these people are at work.  What we don’t know is what is going on in their lives.  Maybe they’ve made some wrong choices and need someone to help them get on the right track.  Reach out to them because you know that nobody else probably will.
  2.  “Put Away Your Cell Phone in Conversation”.  We are all guilty of having the cell phone right on our desk when we visit with people.  Even if we don’t answer it, if it rings, beeps, or vibrates, we take our attention off the conversation even if it is brief.  Make it a point to tell them you need to turn off your phone because their conversation is important to you.
  3. “Allow Others to Speak Before You”.  In a meeting you have scheduled, start by asking everyone to share their thoughts and ideas before you speak.  Let them know you want to hear what they are thinking, listen intently and take notes.  I truly believe taking notes when others are speaking shows a great deal of respect and in turn, they understand how important they are to the conversation.
  4. “Buy Someone Lunch”.  Take a day in the next week to look for someone at work that you can take to lunch.  Not the same people you go with on a regular basis, but someone out of your comfort zone.  Who at work looks like they are struggling?  Who always eats in the cafeteria or break room and you know probably can’t afford to eat out?  Find that person and just invite them to have lunch with you.
  5. “Hand Write a Thank You Card”.  One of my favorite things to do at work on a regular basis is to recognize someone through a card or note.  It can be recognition for anything as long as it is genuine.  “Congratulations on winning that award, Good Job on the presentation yesterday, I was really impressed with the way you handled that situation, I’m really proud of you for earning that promotion”.

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Serving and Selling Eggs?

Posted in Servant Leadership, Serve, Seven Pillars of Faith and Work on July 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

We write, teach and equip frequently on the subject of Servant Leadership. It is Jesus’ leadership model and therefore something we take very seriously. It is certainly one of our Seven Pillars of Faith and Work.

Servant leadership is simply about serving others. Humbling ourselves to help others. Sometimes that takes place inside the workplace. Other times we can use our work to help others in need.

Many of you will remember one of the most lethal tornadoes in U.S. history ripping through our neighbor to the north in Joplin, MO. Not long after the tornado, our Young Professionals ministry ENGAGE, organized a trip to Joplin on Memorial Day to serve those in great need. It was overwhelming to see the extent of the damage and resulting needs.

God used that trip in a very powerful way for one of our ENGAGE leaders. Read this excerpt below of her story (NWAOnline.com):

Candice Haines had an idea while on the ruined streets of Joplin, Mo., just days after the May 22 tornado that killed 159 people.

“I talked to one elderly gentleman named Ken, and he was just standing in front of his destroyed house, and I asked if there was anything I could do to help him,” Haines said. “He asked what I did, and I told him I sold eggs.

He said that he loved eggs and that before the tornado he had eaten one or two every day.”

At the time, Haines, 26, was taking off work at Rogers-based CCF Brands to volunteer with a church group to help out in Joplin.

“This elderly man told her that Haines he would really love some eggs, and I guess that idea kind of percolated in her head,” said Zach Tusinger, a Joplin lawyer who attended school with Haines at Drury University in Springfield, Mo.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about this guy,” Haines said.

So she contacted the American Egg Board, which has organized many community breakfasts through its Good Egg Project, and she began planning one of her own.

“I took a small idea and hopefully we’ll make a bigger impact than getting eggs for just him and his neighbors,” said Haines, whose mother, Jami, is a teacher at R.E. Baker Elementary School in Bentonville.

The idea certainly grew beyond that. The breakfast, scheduled for Aug. 20 at Missouri Southern State University, will likely feed more than 800 Joplin residents, she said.

What does servant leadership look like to you? Are you willing to act on it?

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What Leaders Do…

Posted in Leadership, Servant Leadership, Serve on June 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Today, we held our final Joseph Project meeting. It was bitter/sweet, for sure. For 2 1/2 years, WorkMatters has worked to “alter the journey of business people between jobs.” We have held 119 meetings and been blessed to see over 200 people find jobs through The Joseph Project (read their stories).

One statistic seems to get lost in the blessings of altering the journey of those between jobs. Over 40 leaders have volunteered their time to teach and inspire hundreds of people between jobs! Today we asked 12 of them to make one last return to coach and challenge and encourage a roomful that needed it.

What has amazed me over the past 2 1/2 years, is how passionate these leaders have been about serving those between jobs. They not only come and speak, but they hand out their business cards and beg people to call them. They ask what else they can do. A leading Recruiting firm’s leader said to me, “our entire company is at your disposal!”

I found it fascinating to watch these 12 influential leaders arrive at 8:00a.m. for breakfast, speak on a panel, then stay and work the room until 11:00a.m.

What does that say to you?

For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve…  Mark 10:25

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Raising the Bar

Posted in Faith and Work, Servant Leadership, Serve, Seven Pillars of Faith and Work on March 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Serving is such a powerful element of living out our faith at work! Check out this cool article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on our WorkMatters “Raising the Bar” campaign to enable marketplace leaders to serve families in great need.

Office is awash in bars of soap

By Christie Storm Posted: March 24, 2011 at 5:15 a.m.

FAYETTEVILLE — The scent of Irish Spring is strong in the WorkMatters office. It’s not surprising, considering that it’s filled with about 4,000 bars of soap, and counting.

The collection is part of the nonprofit organization’s “Raising the Bar” campaign. The goal is to collect 10,000 bars of soap for the children and families served by LifeSource International in Fayetteville.

“We’ll keep piling them here until the smell drives us out,” said David Roth, president of WorkMatters, a faithto-work group with the goal of helping workers integrate their spiritual lives with their careers.

The idea for “Raising the Bar” came from Ernie Conduff, president and chief executive officer of LifeSource. Conduff shared with his staff the hope that somehow they could provide every family that came through their doors with a bar of soap. That would mean about 1,200 bars of soap for the month.

When Roth and his team heard about the need for soap they decided to get involved.

“We prayed about it and decided to adopt Ernie’s dream, with one exception. We had a bigger dream, that we would like to help 10,000 families have a bar of soap,” Roth said.

Now the office is filled with the shower-fresh scents of Dial, Ivory, Zest and Dove.

From single bars to entire pallets, participants of Work-Matters programs have donated loads of soap, as have corporations and the public. The culmination of the project will be during the May 6 Chick-fil-A Leadercast sponsored by WorkMatters.

The annual live simulcast from Atlanta will feature nationally recognized businessleaders, writers and television personalities, including Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts and financial expert and author Dave Ramsey. Last year, about 1,500 attended the event, and Roth is expecting at least that many this year.

And he hopes they’ll bring along a bar of soap.

“It’s an item people really, genuinely need,” Roth said. “And it’s something we take for granted.”

The soap will then be donated to LifeSource, which offers a variety of programs to help people of all ages, including adult education classes, a food pantry, counseling services, luncheons for senior citizens, summer camps for children and after-school tutoring and mentoring.

Soap and personal hygiene items are always in demand, Conduff said. That’s because the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program doesn’t allow participants to buy such nonfood items.

“They can’t buy soap, laundry detergent … because of that it’s a really huge need,” Conduff said. “If we ever get a few bars in, they are gone immediately.”

Roth said he hopes the group will meet the goal of 10,000 bars. He sees it as a way to help show WorkMatters participants how easy it is to combine their faith and work. It can be as easy as buying a bar of soap.

“The opportunity to help someone increase their dignity through a bar of soap is powerful,” he said.

Information about the WorkMatters “Raising the Bar” campaign and the Chickfil-A Leadercast is available online at Raising the Bar. Information about LifeSource International is at LifeSource.

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Leadership Lessons

Posted in Balance, Excellence, Family, Integrity, Leadership, Servant Leadership, Trust, Vision on February 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Mike Duke, CEO Wal-Mart Stores, is a leader many of us know and respect here in northwest Arkansas. It’s hard to fathom the challenge of leading the largest company in the world. He is humble, faithful and requires business excellence from himself and his associates.

Read these excerpts from a recent interview Mike Duke did with The Associated Press in New York:

Q. How do you balance the nitty-gritty of the business with looking at the big picture?

A. If I spend all of my day in the details as a CEO of a company like Wal-Mart, I think it would be trouble, because I wouldn’t really be prepared to speak to the big issues that the country or the world should face. But at the same time, if you spend all of the time at 50,000 feet, (you) really are not out talking to customers and know real people. … I think it’s often the interaction directly with customers in the details of their family and their issues is what inspires me to want to help solve the big issues.

Q. What ideals from Sam Walton do you embrace?

A. (Leadership is) about showing respect to every individual, about humility over arrogance, about listening and getting feedback from a broad array of constituents. It’s about a passion for customers and knowing customers firsthand, not theoretical, not through some data only, but by having personal, passionate communication with customers. And leadership is about striving for excellence. It’s about setting aggressive goals and not being afraid to go after very aggressive goals and targets. I think it’s even better for a leader to set an aggressive goal and come up a little short than it would be to set a soft goal and to exceed it.

Q. What should a leader value most?

A. Integrity and trust. If a leader doesn’t have the trust of associates, of customers, of shareholders, then all the other things, the ability to speak eloquently and to sing and dance and entertain, (don’t) mean a thing if a leader’s not trusted.

Q. Does work ever stop for you?

A. I do spend really focused time with my wife, my kids, grandkids, and so when I’m doing something or on a golf course, work has stopped. I’m not always thinking and working. … I think a leader has to really be a balanced, whole and healthy person personally in order to be the best leader on the job.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Colossians 3:23

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Social Injustice

Posted in Leadership, Servant Leadership on January 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

As you know, Monday was Martin Luther King day. I want to share a powerful message with you from Dr. King, with introduction comments from Henry Ho, co-founder of NorthStar Partnering Group. It is worth the read and should motivate marketplace leaders to fight for our communities.

Henry Ho:

“This is powerful stuff that should stir our souls.  While we have made great progress with racial equality since 1963 when this letter was written, it is important to note that we are not there yet.  There is more work to be done.  There are still many other areas of injustice in our communities and in the world that need our involvement as individuals and as a company.  I think this may be something that you would want to share with your spouse/friends.  If you have children, you may want to share these excerpts with them each year during MLK day and talk about it.  This would be like reading the Christmas story.”

Excerpt from Dr. King’s letter:

I cannot sit idly in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was “well timed” in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another mans freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro the wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating that absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

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Lunch Hour

Posted in Encouragement, Leadership, Missions, Relationships, Servant Leadership, Serve on June 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

We are busy aren’t we? Our lives are full. Our work demands more time than we have or want to give. Yet, something in us calls us to find a way to serve. To help someone in need. But it’s just one more thing…

Lunch is sometimes used for business meetings, or maybe to work out. Or, perhaps your lunch is simply a time for, well, lunch.

Have you ever considered using your lunch time as serving time? I discovered recently that my church in Fayetteville, AR, Central United Methodist Church, serves the hungry every Tuesday and Thursday. I went once during lunch, just to check it out. Now, I can’t quit going. It’s simple. The night before I empty a few things from my closet and throw them in the car. Then, I just show up and encourage.

I am amazed at the relationships God had led me into. Today, I took my 16-year-old son Dylan with me. He met Shariee (see picture), who has at least 60 poems she has composed. Each committed to memory, never written down, and delivered with incredible passion and heart.

Do you have a lunch hour to spare? As marketplace leaders, as believers, we are called to serve the sick and the poor. Give it a try. You will be amazed at the impact it will on your life and your leadership at work!

“There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”   Corinthians 12:5-6

P.S. If you know of any marketplace leaders who may have a heart, skills, or resources to help Shariee copyright and publish her poems, please let me know!

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Serving Here or There?

Posted in Servant Leadership, Serve on June 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

“The tent city we are focusing on is called the Sean Penn Camp, named after the Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who has come down to Haiti to help with the relief effort. He has organized his own tent camp, and it is considered the tent city with the best conditions. Though technically he is very under qualified for the job, Mr. Penn has done a better job than any other administrator at any other tent city, many whom are UN paid officials who do this for a living. He’s not a believer, but he has put his career as a successful movie star on hold so that he can help the people of Haiti.”  …Brendan Ho, currently serving in Haiti.

How is God calling you to serve? Do you need to put your “career on hold” so that you can serve?

Maybe… Brendan will be there for the summer. Jenny Schisler, from our WorkMatters team, leaves for a one week trip to Haiti tomorrow.

Butch Scruggs, who leads our Joseph Project ministry, has begun to visit the jail each Wednesday night with some other men from The Joseph Project. I have been blessed to serve the homeless on Tuesday’s at Community Meals at Central Methodist.

Do you need to put your “career on hold” so that you can serve? Maybe…but it seems to me that sometimes we get so caught up in trying to do something big, that we do nothing at all.

How can you serve someone in need today?

The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’  Matthew 25:40 

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