It's All About the Big V

VOLITION

Definition and description:  Freewill decision making.  Choices, good and bad, are ours to make.  The freedom to make those choices is contained in our soul.  The ability to act on our decisions is dependent on the subject and a multifarious array of physical/mental abilities/limitations.

Our entire existence on this earth is to exercise our volition.  Man was originally placed on earth with only one bad decision available.  It was a real choice and it was planted squarely in the middle of his world.  

All decisions we make: good or bad, big or little, pleasurable or unpleasant, coerced or uncoerced, thoughtful or impulsive, educated or ignorant, significant or seemingly insignificant, as well as knowingly or subconsciously are all on us individually.  We are responsible for our decisions, good or bad.  We must be willing to recognize this responsibility before we can grow-up and move forward in life, both physically and spiritually.

Usually, life happens along the course of a series of decisions rather than individual, isolated, unconnected, choices.  Eve didn't just happen to be in a mood one day and accidentally ran into a talking serpent.  A series of choices were made that led up to a time in her life that she felt comfortable talking to a pet and imagining a life beyond Eden.  Enough so that she could be convinced by an animal that she could be "like" God.  Likewise, "Sophie" didn't magically appear before a soldier with her two children in tow and a decision to make.  There is always a series of choices made that lead to where we are.  

Good decisions don't ensure success and bad decisions don't necessarily end in failure but I'm sure the odds in Vegas reflect they usually do.  Not that betting in Vegas is a good decision…just say’n.

The most significant decision in any person's life, and probably the only one that truly matters, is "what think ye of Christ?"  Beyond that one decision is a lifetime of no less real decisions but whose significance pales in comparison, no matter their impact on your life or the lives of others. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved...," is the complete and total summary of the decision man must make for his eternal status.  Not believing in an eternal status of heaven AND hell, does not negate their existence but it will determine your eternal residence.

 One very important caveat, there is a doctrine concerning the age of accountability.  People, typically very young children, who have not reached the mental capacity to make this "most significant decision," are not held accountable and thus whisked straight to heaven upon death. Let’s continue down this rabbit hole just briefly.  Given the brevity of any individual's life on earth, in comparison to eternity, babies who die don't miss much...those of us emotionally tied to them may suffer immensely from their death but they don't.  God may have special punishment set aside for baby killers but as He did with Christ's crucifixion, He makes the end result of the death of an innocent victorious for His benevolent plan and those in it.  But, however comma, Bee Tee Dubya...while the injured or slaughtered little ones are cared for by His benevolence, the perpetrators of these hateful crimes never escape His ultimate justice...ok, nuff said.

Volition is protected universally by four Divine institutions under the Laws of Divine Establishment: the human soul, marriage, family, and nation states.  These institutions and the Laws of Divine Establishment are designed to protect our freewill and perpetuate the human race through time.  Mankind and freedom prosper and flourish under these Divine institutions while tyranny, decadence, and death reign in their absence.  Volition is always the key...GOOD protects it while EVIL attempts to destroy it.  Decay in one or more of the Divine institutions will result in the erosion of our freedom and the healthful exercise of our volition.

There are evil forces, both seen and unseen, in our world intent on capturing our will for their own nefarious purposes. This is done by exerting undue pressure and influence.  The typical appeal begins with an attempt to have the emotions override our reason or mentality.  Emotions such as fear or anger can override rational thought and leave us vulnerable to the undue influence of a tyrant or the violent mob.  The tyrant promises to protect you from what you fear while the mob turns your anger into a blind rage and violence.  Peer pressure and groupthink can have a more subtle but nearly as effective emotional appeal to forego exercising our own reason/rational considerations.  Drugs also play a significant role in making some people unduly vulnerable to the will of others.  Whether recreational or prescribed (psycho active), drugs can alter our ability to think straight and generally heighten emotional input into our thought processes.  Once our volition has been unduly influenced, we are enslaved and God’s grace becomes our only hope.  

Regardless of outside influences and their strength/appeal, we are all responsible for the choices we make.  The principles laid out in the divine establishment laws are to protect our freewill by providing an authority structure to enforce discipline and teach self-discipline.  This enforced discipline, to a certain extent, also helps keep our bad decision-making in check while fending off some of the influence from the bad decisions of others (e.g. criminal behavior).  The love part of our relationship with God requires us to love Him of our own freewill and hence, He has established these Divine institutions to protect our freewill known as volition.

When exercising our volition, God, the triune God of the Bible, always provides us with real choices.  He doesn't make up test quizzes that have no impact on the future or our lives.  He, God, already knows the decision we will make but the decision is no less real AND no less ours to make...and consequences to bear.  One of the most interesting, to me at least, and very real historical decisions that stresses the "realness" of the choices God provides, is the Messiah.  God told the Jews that He, the Messiah, would come and what to look for when He arrived.  While many understood who He was during the first advent, the Jewish nation as a whole rejected Him.  God's offer of a physical king from the line of David to rule the nation and the world was real during Christ's first advent.  However, as was also predicted, the offer was rejected and instead the choice was made to execute Christ as a treasonous criminal (in the minds of the religious Jews of the day).  The choice was real, the decisions were respected, and the consequences were in keeping with God’s plan.

God's work and will is not hampered by the bad decisions of humans.  From the ruinous consequences of our bad decisions, we see God give rise to some of the most glorious triumphs we encounter.  Christ's ultimate death on the cross paid for all of the sins of mankind thus making God justified in not counting sin against us in the final judgment.  We can be sure that Christ will rule as prophesied just not when His rulership was first offered.  The rejection of His initial offer didn’t alter His plan.  Our bad decisions may affect us negatively, as in the fall of Jerusalem but those same bad decisions didn’t so much as slow the progress of God’s plan, as in salvation made available to all who believe.

The seeming plethora of options for so many decisions we make in life all boil down to a binary choice, trust God or don’t.  Regardless of the overt decision with all its nuanced inputs and the mind numbing research we put into it, it always boils down to the same question:  in whom do we trust for the final result?  Our entire existence is to make the choice to either trust God or to trust anything or anyone else.

The temptations are real, the suffering is real, and our physical circumstances are real, so we must apply our best judgment to our decision making in life.  Hard work, good diet (as good as is available in your given situation), fiscal responsibility (as appropriate), life partner (if applicable), and so on and on and on...these all should be given priority in our thoughtful decision making.  However, our binary choice remains the same, do I trust God's result for my decision or not.

I will interject here with a reality check for those who may believe that “God’s result” is all sunshine and rainbows.  First, God will place His result on my decision whether I trust Him or not.  Second, suffering from bad decisions is entirely different from the suffering incurred for blessing though both are painful.  Third, decisions and the results of those decisions have eternal consequences as well.  So, “God’s result” is what got Christ nailed to the cross which doesn’t necessarily look like sunshine and rainbows from a strictly human viewpoint.  

Two historic accounts can be instructive regarding individual decisions and how they interact with God’s plan; David vs. Goliath and the saga of Balaam.  While both resulted in victory and blessing for God’s chosen people, David was motivated by his love for God and Balaam by his love of money.

In David's case he understood the divine perspective that an enemy of Israel was mocking God's chosen people and in doing so, mocking God.  He also understood that it was God's fight and someone should step up and meet the challenge with the one true living God as their strength and protection.  During the process of volunteering to be the one, David faced challenges, from mocking siblings to the offer of the king's armor.  He ultimately made his decision based on the training God had provided him while tending the flock (I Samuel 17:34).  He rejected the claims he couldn't do it because he was just their little kid brother and seeking attention.  He rejected the offer of conventional warfare battle gear in which he had no training.  Instead he chose to go head to head with the enemy; using the skills he had learned, from the training God had provided, and left the results to God.

Balaam, on the other hand, decided to use the strength and power of the one true living God for personal gain.  Balaam accepted the earthly offering of wealth to use his divinely acquired skills against God's chosen people.  The end result was still God's and victory for His people.  Balaam, like Eve, had no problem listening to and speaking to an animal while in the midst of making a horrendously bad decision…just say’n.  

“It's my problem so I need to be the one to fix it”...kinda but no.  We need to face our problems head on, take responsibility, and make good decisions toward fixing the issue.  However, God is in control of the eventual solution and must be trusted in providing the best possible outcome, pleasant or unpleasant.  Also, many of us expect God's decision to line up with our expectations.  Don't.  God's plan, laid out before the foundation of the world, had to consider ALL of the circumstances surrounding your life as well as all your weaknesses/bad decisions.  He also has considered the impact on those around you and the angelic hosts watching, in other words, your witness…both human and angelic.  Overt failure while applying our best judgment is a very real test of our binary choice, trust God or not.  Don’t convert an overt failure into a lack of trust but instead, examine your options and press ahead, trusting God.  Also, don’t beat your donkey like Balaam in an effort to claim success when God has clearly said “NO”.

Conventional wisdom applied to faith in God comes up with an epigram like "God helps those who help themselves."  In reality, some of God's most notable "helps" have been for those who were unable to help themselves...Red Sea, Lions' den, fiery furnace, etc..  On the other hand, we should never use faith as a crutch for laziness.  Many have taken the stance that faith means to sit back and let God do His thing.  While there are instances where God has said "Stand still and watch the deliverance of the Lord," it's not said to someone sitting in a recliner, playing video games, and 3 months behind on rent.  Typically, it applies to someone struggling to overcome a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.  Choose struggling over laziness but trust that it will be God that gets you where you need to be in life.

So, all this talk about volition and making decisions baits the question, how do I know a good decision from a bad one?  Learn the truth by studying His Word.  As you grow in grace and the knowledge of God, you will be able to apply divine principles to decisions in life.  In the meantime, we all are born with a conscience and therefore have a basic idea of right from wrong…do what is right and avoid what is wrong, trusting that God has your best interest in mind.  As you continue to learn and grow from your daily Bible study, you develop a greater trust in God and a broader scope of divine principles to live by.  Good choices are based on good information. 

To close, I would like to offer a bit of incentive.  Please bear with me while I make my case.  Eternity is forever and forever is a VERY long time.  People who end up in hell are there forever.  People can be evil and cruel during this lifetime but it’s less than a drop in the bucket compared to eternity.  If you have an annoying neighbor who actually kicks his dog and blows the snow out of his driveway and onto yours, do you think the penalty should be eternity in the lake of fire?  Your witness is derived from your choices and the lifestyle they project.  The last thing you should want is to display your Christian life as something to be avoided.  We should live our lives to be a witness for God as if that neighbor’s life (more precisely, his ETERNAL residence) depended on it.  Ultimately, it’s his decision to spend his eternity in heaven or hell but our attitude should never conclude he should “go to hell” because, that is God’s to judge and He has ALL the facts.  Our trust in God and our spiritual growth is the best witness there is and if your witness allowed just one person to not spend eternity in hell it would be a crown jewel to cherish.  We should all make it our goal to CHOOSE WISELY.

Faith, Hope, and Love

I will preface this blog with a statement of fact...I'm not a pastor-teacher, theological/Biblical scholar, nor claim to be some spiritual giant.  So, here we go...

    Our viewpoints in life change over time through experience, education, physical abilities, and interactions with others.  Hopefully, as we age, we become wiser and our viewpoints are more tolerant of the nonessential differences (e.g. ethnic, political) and less tolerant of essential differences (e.g. law and order, respect for privacy).  We should also become more gracious in our treatment of others.   The same should be true when it comes to our our spiritual maturity.  The more we learn from our Bible studies and grow in grace, the less we should be concerned with the flaws of those around us and the greater our focus should be on God and on sharing the gospel. 

As we grow spiritually, we also grow into a deeper understanding of God’s original intent in

His communication (the scriptures). That being said, I believe God’s word can take on a broader more encompassing meaning which I think of in terms of hues, similar to the way we think of color hues. God's word can cast various hues of meaning depending on the viewpoint of the reader. This viewpoint is affected by numerous aspects of the Christian life including: level of spiritual maturity, circumstances of life (e.g. prosperity vs, suffering), whether applying it to a group or an individual, and dispensational distinctions (e.g. Israel vs. the Church). So, often the apparent change in meaning is often simply a broadening of application or changing of the hue, if you will. To me, this highlights God’s ability to communicate His will for our life in a highly efficient way; one verse. one interpretation, and multiple applications.
As an example of this change of hue or broadening of understanding is the subject of faith in God. It became one of the most influential discoveries for me. The idea that faith was more than the path to our positional, imputed righteousness (salvation) but it also counted to us as experiential righteousness (Christian walk). The positional truth of being “in Christ” means we share his perfect righteousness which allows God to give us eternal life in His presence. In addition, exercising our faith in God and His promises in our experiential life as a Christian is counted to us by God as righteousness.

One illustration is given to us by the apostle Paul in his letter to the believers in Rome. Abraham’s post salvation (salvation identified by his circumcision) faith in God’s promises was counted to him as righteousness (Romans 4:5).  It was at this point of doctrinal recognition, that faith in God (Him, His Word, and His Grace) became my mantra and Hebrews my book of choice.
At some point along the way, I Corinthians 13:13 drew my attention. Since the time I had begun to focus primarily on faith and grace in my own life, I had subsequently come to believe that hope was merely a stronger exercise of faith. A more absolute form of faith, or full trust in God if you will, and one that assured actionable conduct (e.g. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac while continuing to believe God would create a great people through him). If that is the case, hope being a stronger version of faith, then Paul’s list of three, putting Love at the top as Christ specified in Matthew 22: 37-39, led me to believe the three constituted echelons or stages of Christian maturity. 
At first blush love doesn’t seem to fit as a form of faith, since faith seems to be passive and love is thought of as active. The more I considered the three “stages,” the more I realized their progression was a natural one. While faith requires no human effort, it’s growth becomes hope, which spurs action, and eventually becomes a manner of living, expressed by love. So it is faith in God and His grace that allows us to obey His commandments to Love God and love others.
In keeping with the idea of passive and active, we should consider the roles in the Christian life that stem from our two positions, as a believer priest and as an ambassador for Christ. The strength of our positive witness to the world, both seen and unseen, is wholly dependent on the level of our spiritual maturity. Our priesthood allows us to grow in grace and faith through our intimate relation with God. Our ambassadorship is our charge, by God, to be a beacon of light in this darkened world. The growth wrought of our priesthood and the faith exercised in it becomes a brighter light of ambassadorship in Satan’s world. 
Another interesting "discovery" helped reinforce my belief in these as stages, or progressions, of spiritual maturity came from the order and subject of the books Hebrews through John’s epistles. Hebrews preaches faith, James talks of faith strong enough to incite action, Peter describes faith tested (i.e. strengthen to its strongest), and John speaks of the resulting love.

I realize this example of an apparent hue change, to I Corinthians 13:13, is rather drawn out. It might behoove me to offer another example of broadening understanding without too much commentary from me. So here it goes...one promise that pops into my head that always seems to mean more as we progress in our spiritual understanding. That promise is the one clearly stated in Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." We've all claimed this promise with a short term view however, as he held securely to that promise, I know Jacob couldn’t see Christ’s birth when Laban saddled him with Leah yet, the entire world celebrates the descendant of Judah no less than twice a year.

Superficial Change

One of my goals in writing about leadership is to hammer home the need for a solid structure of integrity. Building a foundation and supporting structure of virtuous qualities is necessary if you want to live (and lead) by principles. Living and leading by principles allows you to be constant and stable regardless of the circumstances. This stability adds calm reassurance to those you lead and enables you to provide an environment in which others can flourish. Does all this sound like a workplace with a respected boss and generally contented workforce? It should.

You’ll notice there was no talk in the previous paragraph about charisma, servant leadership, empowerment, or any other popular leadership trait or technique. There is also the rejection of the “fake it til you make it” concept in terms of leadership. The vast majority of published articles I’ve read deal directly with what I would call superficial change. They espouse changing a behavior or tricking your mind into a particular viewpoint. These changes may be seen, at least initially, as genuine and representative of the sort of leadership qualities that are currently admired. I believe they are a cheap fix with a short term payoff (if there’s a payoff). Sorta like borrowing money from a loan shark to bet on a horse (your friend gave you an inside tip).

Real progress in any sense isn’t labor-free or effortless, nor does it happen overnight. Adopting a popular or trending idea on leading your team is much like downloading a fad diet to lose weight. Over the years you’ve developed a particular taste in foods and a lifestyle with a particular daily activity level. The truly best and most long term effective way to trim pounds and keep them off is to decrease intake and increase activity levels. Gradual modifications in your daily diet and exercise routine will allow you to remain “who you are” only better. As you gradually work to change/improve your personal qualities with respect to leadership, you are able to maintain whatever stability you had to start with, the genuine you, while stepping up your game.

For example, I’m a retentive, control freak. That’s my personality. To ignore or change that would deny who I am and destabilize me. Many retentive, control freaks become micro managers which is an unproductive style of leadership (if you can call it leadership). If I suddenly decide, based on a current trend, to empower my team members to make decisions and control their work without my direct and involved (spelled “controlling”) oversight, I will become an unstable basket case. One of the worst bosses to work for is an unstable wreck, maybe worse than a micro manager. You can’t deny who you are, you just can’t let it negatively affect your leadership.

If your effort, to improve as a leader, goes into building your integrity and setting an exemplary example, you’ll build character. That character can then help you develop ways to delegate without the feeling of losing control. As you observe your integrity example taking hold in your team, you begin to develop a trusting relationship. This trust in them makes it easier to relinquish some control. It is an amazing feeling of stress relief to let someone you trust carry some of your burden of responsibility.

My retentive nature is manifest in my proclivity for organization. I have an emotional experience when I build or encounter something that is well organized and user friendly. However, it’s not everybody’s forte. Basic training in the Air Force required everyone’s locker to be neat and organized (to an exact specification) but that’s a military thing. As a boss you can’t court-martial your employees for a messy desk and you shouldn’t want to. You must build an appreciation for each individual’s strengths. It takes time and doesn’t happen by using some trending leadership “trick.” My efforts were focused, eventually, on understanding the method of organizing used by each individual so I could follow along and appreciate it for what it was (provided it met company standards). If they showed no organizational skills, I tried to avoid assigning them jobs requiring advanced skills in organizing.

A big thing to remember when you have this retentive, controlling personality is you need to know your priorities. There are certain things that I feel require greater organization and control than others. I can more easily relinquish control on lower priority items without feeling the stress of losing control or the urge to retract the delegated control. Practicing this delegation of low priority items/tasks while establishing your communication techniques (unobtrusive oversight), allows you to build a system that keeps you informed of status, like the progress of a project, without micromanaging. Again, it involves more than just a superficial change. Step-by-step and sometimes inch-by-inch, you develop your capacity to delegate. You gradually figure out how you’re going to monitor progress without meddling.

There was one task I took control of before I even had the authority and was never able to bring myself to relinquish control, the duty roster. Scheduling was always of such an importance to me that I was unable to trust that anyone had the right combination of both integrity and skill...because...I have never experienced anyone else’s schedule that wasn’t both disorganized and rife with favoritism. People’s time-off is extremely important to them, almost as much as their pay, so it was always a huge priority for me to get it right. This example probably makes very little sense to people who work weekdays, 9-5, but I’ve mostly worked schedules that included 24/7 coverage with a minimal crew. It was always challenging. Technically, I can’t say I “never” stopped writing the duty roster because I did eventually let go but by then I was a civilian and working a day job.

I’ve only described two negative personality traits and ones I, quite frankly, didn’t just instinctively know I had to overcome. By overcome, I don’t mean diminish or change but redirect so they work to my leadership advantage. The control freak in me learned to exercise oversight instead of micromanaging tasks and my retentive nature learned to organize the workforce instead of the work.

Just to make one more point about the danger of embracing trending leadership tips and tricks. When you read these leadership articles and you look around at the leaders around you, you may not recognize the techniques you just read about. If your boss has a particular personality that tends toward an authoritative leadership style, what would a collaborative work environment look like? It could happen. It may not have the warm fuzzy feel you were expecting but it can exist. If the boss doesn’t try to put on a superficial facade of a different leadership style, the collaboration won’t come off as phony but it may not look like the textbook example either. We all need to learn to play with the personality cards we’ve been dealt and just learn to play them effectively.

Instead of enduring the stress of trying to keep up the facade of a superficial change in our leadership style, we should build that foundation of integrity, embrace the strong points of our own personality, educate ourselves on what makes people tick, and allow time and experience to mold our leadership into something comfortable for us and our team.

Motivation and Morale Part 2, Goals & Accomplishments

I have to digress before I even begin because I continue to be annoyed by the flagrant pandering of the unknowing. They want to present leadership as something you can learn by being inspired and mentored. They also emphasize inspiration and charisma as the keys to a leader’s success. It drives me nuts and I know it shouldn’t. Mankind has, in large numbers, always been partial to quick and easy answers, ones that use magic instead of hard work, diet pills over discipline.

The other problem I see is the type of individuals attracted to leadership. Leadership should be the result of preparation and achievement. Instead, many people see it as a goal or achievement in itself. They lust for the power and/or approbation they associate with the leadership role. To  achieve their goal they appeal to those above them through their deference and attention (pandering to the boss’s need to feel power and get attention). This technique works on those that share their desire for power and approbation. Once they’ve achieved the promotion, they enjoy the power position but feel insecure, and rightly so, about their abilities. This makes them demanding bullies not leaders.

Preparing for and performing of your leadership role requires work in two areas. First, you have build your character to be rock solid in its integrity and principles. Recognizing what is right and sticking to it even if it’s not expedient or popular. Also, recognizing what “principles” are really only personal sensibilities that can be waived to accommodate another’s sensibilities. Second, you need to learn, through study, the art of leadership. The do’s and don’ts, the dynamics of the relationships between leader and follower, and what makes people tick, these are all part of the study. These two areas require hard work and objective study unlike charisma and inspiration.

So on that note.

I want to continue looking at tools available to supervisors pertaining to morale and motivation. I covered the effect of job assignments in the post Job Assignments and Morale. It is important to have the appropriate people assigned to the appropriate jobs to be able to boost morale and increase motivation through accomplishments, which is the subject of this post.

Another damn illustration using football.

The ultimate objective to any football game is to score more points than your opponent. So, we have our mission statement as it were. Day-to-day operations fit nicely into an analogy of the offensive struggle of the football team. Since motivation and morale are huge factors in a team sport like football, the offense has a lot of subtle, and not so subtle, lessons it can teach. I only want to touch on a couple of simple ones as they relate to motivation and morale.

  

The typical motivation of the offense, when it’s on the field, is to put points on the board. Scoring a goal would be analogous to reaching a goal you’ve set for your team. It provides motivation much like your paycheck provides the motivation to get out of bed and into work each day. If your team isn’t focused on a goal then they’re just on the field running plays. You can expect a lackluster performance. They have no real motivation.

Motivation, scoring of a goal or at least putting points on the board, is the first piece. It provides some focus. To be successful play after play, you must keep the team’s morale up. The morale of the offense is closely tied to the achievement of first downs. This keeps them on the field so they can work towards their goal. It’s much the same for your team. Having a sense of accomplishment while working toward your goal is important for morale.

Build it into your plan.

As the leader, you are the one with the directions to the destination. It is your job to keep the team moving toward that destination. The path you choose (many times dictated from above) to get your team to the destination must have waypoints. You must figure out interim points at which you can mark success. These are then broken down into individual and team markers. Achieving team goals allows you to reward the team and cheer them on to the next success. If the team fails, you must accept the responsibility and make the appropriate adjustment(s) to ensure future team successes.

However, each individual player contributes at a different level. Success or failure of meeting their individual contribution goals is their responsibility. Your job isn’t to ensure their success but only to provide them the opportunity for it. Identifying individual success (or failure) at the individual level, allows you to discriminate between the levels of contribution. Nothing is more annoying to your top performers than indiscriminate praise. Team members must always recognize that it’s a team effort but one-on-one feedback can address their performance’s contribution to that effort. In any case, you’ll need to be aware of each individual’s contribution. Don’t make them responsible to keep track for you either.

It’s a team win but what did we win?

Regardless of how much or how little, a positive contribution to team success is a morale booster for everybody and motivates everyone to strive for the next success marker. One key element in success as a morale booster is the team’s understanding of how the success fits into the overall scheme of things. They should at least know how it furthers the mission. Let me illustrate.

In combat a hill can represent a tactical advantage because it provides a vantage point from which you can control the surrounding area. If the mission is to take control of a region and one of the goals is to take the nearby hill, troop morale will get a big boost, and the mission will be be advanced, from successfully taking the hill. The entire unit is praised for the success and individual medals may be awarded for superior contributions or sacrifice. It also will motivate the troops to advance to the next objective. BUT, as we witnessed or learned about in history class, that isn’t always the case. In the Vietnam War, all too often missions were unclear. Struggles to take possession of a hill were rewarded by orders to abandon the captured real estate. For their contribution to the effort, troop were sometimes awarded the label of “baby killers” by friends and family. Successful combat operations actually had an overall negative effect on morale. You don’t want that for your team.

Mission and goal setting.  

Your mission is often dictated by the nature of the business you’re in or by those above your paygrade, or both. Coming to a full understanding (and taking ownership) of this mission is your first step in communicating the mission to your team. How well they understand will show when you and your team begin to develop the waypoints on your path to your destination, mission accomplishment.

Your team’s involvement  is vital when establishing the interim goals, those measures of success along the way. They will be responsible for the heavy lifting so it’s only fair. It is also the best way to get them fully immersed or immersed enough so that, even if you don’t get 100% buy in (and you may never get that), you may at least improve their understanding of where they are headed as a team. They are also the ones in the trenches which can sometimes provide them with unique insights.

Much like the quarterback, you may be focused on the play you’re running. If that’s a handoff to the running back you may not see the pass coverage. You want the wide receivers to give you the lowdown on any hole they may have spotted in the pass defense. Based on their input, you may run a pass play but, at the end of the day, you have to ensure you take full responsibility for the plays that are called. You can’t blame the wide receivers if a pass play fails just because they said you should throw one. It can pit teammate against teammate which is never good for morale. Hopefully, you got the correlation to deciding on your department’s goals.

Not a bureaucratic exercise.

So remember, when you’re trying to dream up a mission statement or crank out some department goals, it’s about motivation and morale. Instead of worrying if you have sufficient funds for elaborate monetary rewards to maintain good morale, focus on something that affects morale on a day in and day out basis, not just around Christmas. Also, get your team involved, it’s for their own good (whether they like it or not). The clearer they see where you’re leading them and how the goals help them get there, the more effective goal attainment will be in boosting morale. As an aside, it will also encourage some to develop shortcuts...just be prepared.

Unless you’re a cult leader, I say screw charisma.

The point I’ve been trying to make is that motivation and morale is more closely tied to goals and their accomplishment than the emotional claptrap of “inspiring” your workers to new heights. It allows you to focus on your work rather than developing some special, nebulous superpower or that manipulative emotional intelligence. Kill two birds with one stone. Give your boss the required mission statement and goals while giving your team a roadmap to improved motivation and morale.

Motivation and Morale Part 1, Cost Free Alternatives

There is a great deal of literature on how to motivate followers and what needs to be done to boost morale. Too often these revolve around personality traits you’re encouraged to develop or must possess genetically. From charisma to team hats, conventional wisdom continues to not offer any real advice to us “normal” humans to deal with other “normal” humans. I believe the two biggest morale boosters and motivators aren’t something you can buy. You have to work for them.

Being Genuine?

“You must be genuine” or “you must be sincere,” I see this in printed literature about leadership all the time. To most, I imagine, it means something emotional and requires we “feel” a certain way. I don’t agree. If you have made it your job to complete the mission and you believe it’s your duty to get it done the best way possible because it’s you’re responsibility, I submit to you the following. It’s easy to be genuine about all the parts of the job that you perceive will aid you in your quest. You don’t have to “feel” happy to genuinely appreciate contributions to that success. Your recognition of your team’s contributions will be genuine, sincere, and specific. You will also be sincere in your desire to boast morale, motivate your team, and build a stronger workforce.

But I ain’t got the money.

Motivation and morale is built on a day-to-day basis and isn’t as much about monetary incentives as it is about appreciation and recognition. Pay and benefits generally get your workforce in the door but after that their effect on daily motivation and morale drops off sharply. What really has the greatest effect doesn’t cost extra money and includes things you should be doing anyway. They do, however, require a concerted effort on your part and as the cliche goes, “that’s why they pay you the big bucks.”

Orange - Stressed, Nervous, Mixed, Confused, Upset, Challenged, Indignant

Do you need to be wearing a mood ring?

First and foremost is your demeanor. Consistently relaxed and professional should be your “mood” everyday and all day. You can be high energy and still be relaxed, they are not contradictory. Nothing raises stress levels in your people than an inconsistent or “moody” boss. If you’re consistently relaxed day after day and without regard to circumstances, your team will learn to relax as well. Some more than others but certainly as a group. They will follow your example in dealing with each other as well. However, please do not confuse relaxed with lackadaisical. Not being uptight is a far cry from not caring about the task at hand. If you’re supervising the restaurant crew during a dinner rush, you want them on their toes but not stressed because the boss is wigging out. Use those stressful situations to demonstrate calm professional behavior under pressure.

If you have a problem remaining calm when under a stressful situation, it may be that you’re too focused on how the situation is affecting you. Instead, focus your attention on the team and what you can do to help them step up while under this pressure. Always be mindful of the fact that you’re setting an example, good or bad, which will be reflected back to you by your team members.

Simple recognition.

The second most effective morale booster is your expression of genuine appreciation. This is typically expressed verbally as “Thank you.” It may be simple but it’s a huge motivator and morale booster. Of course, just running around saying thank you doesn’t work. In fact it cheapens the expression to the point of ruining your credibility.

Using the criteria of “genuine” established above, let’s apply it to your show of appreciation. You have begun to establish in your mind the elements that contribute to your goal of mission accomplishment. This mindset enables you to identify team contributions and how they fit into achieving the overall goal. Now it’s just a matter of showing your appreciation when something is done that deserves to be recognized as an achievement, big or small. You genuinely appreciate it for what it is and can be specific when expressing your thanks.

...that’s great but...

I have always been able to say thank you and act appreciative. I’ve generally been genuine about my appreciation for the effort involved but not necessarily the result. The obstacle I’ve had to overcome is their failure to meet my personal standards and expectations. It never helps to say “Thank you but…” because it makes the thank you worthless. Yet, it’s difficult to show genuine appreciation for work that doesn’t meet your high personal standards. These run the gamut from the simple “wasn’t as good as I would’ve done,” “took too long,” and “ran over budget,” to “barely met the minimum requirements” or you’re “too worried about how it makes you look.” It’s an issue that has to be worked out or the troops will pick up on it sooner rather than later.

Since our thank you’s have to be tied to a specific “what” and be directed at activity that advances our cause, we have to establish reasonable and achievable standards to that end. These standards, when met, advance the cause and therefore qualify for recognition and genuine appreciation.

...you want your credibility like you want your credit score, as high as possible…

“Thank you” is an easy expression to use and, as I stated earlier, can have a huge impact on morale and motivation. Much of it’s impact comes from the credibility of the one saying it. If you’ve established your integrity as one of high degree, then your word is seen as honest, your appraisal as significant, and your praise as something to be sought. If you have shown a distinct lack of integrity, your “thank you” won’t carry the same weight and may even be viewed in a negative light (e.g. only butt kissers get thanked).

The other credibility comes from the “Thank you’s” themselves. Besides being specific in regards to “for what,” they must be appropriate and deserving. “Thank you all for attending this (mandatory) meeting,” is not a credible show of appreciation. Random post-it notes left in a desk or on a computer monitor that say “Thank you” are not credible. It may credible and morale enhancing (for your wife) to send your wife flowers with a note that says “Thank you for being you” but, in my mind, it’s lazy to tell your team members thanks without a specific, credible, and deserving reason. In other words, while liberally sprinkling “Thank you’s” around you should also be judicious in their application. You want them to maintain their credibility. You want your troops to recognize that they are meant to point out a positive contribution to the mission.  

Cost free and status blind.

These two elements of motivation and morale don’t cost any money. If you have little or no control over the personnel budget or monetary incentives, you still have some powerful tools to boost morale and motivate your team. You can also employ these regardless of your title or position. In fact, the sooner you start practicing them the better you’ll get. So, whether you’re entry level or first-line supervisor, you can use them to the mission’s advantage.

If you’re so inclined...

Millennial Money Tips

Stability in a leader is a must. Ethical, moral, mental, and emotional stability provide an atmosphere of stability in the workplace. A leader must consider the effect of their personal life on their professional life. Instability in one’s personal affairs will bleed over into the workplace. Financial instability can be one of the worst. It pressures the leader to make decisions to protect his job above all else, morals and ethics included. Working to reduce or eliminate undue financial pressure is a good first step. It should begin long before you don the leadership hat but it’s never too late to start.

Much like the pop culture leadership “tips” I see posted I have also observed a few conventional wisdom money tips as well. One wish I have for all forms of advice, financial advice included, is some realistic explanation and examples. To me it seems as though popular lessons, or advice, always include the “what” with little or no realistic and practical “how.” The old adage of “save for a rainy day” is good advice but how? When you’re so broke that your heart skips a beat over finding a quarter in the seat cushions, how do you save money? Consider the “typical” graduate who could use some solid and practical financial advice. This graduate will probably be taking an entry level position at just over $10 an hour (or still be working their pregraduate minimum wage job).

I’ve jotted down a few techniques I believe can help someone when they begin to piece together their financial house.

Put it down in black and white.

Putting together a system to calculate your total annual commitments (loan payments, housing expenses, insurance, transportation expense, etc.) combined with realistic/probable discretionary spending (food, gas, partying, etc.) is the first step. I suggest putting it all into a spreadsheet. Match that against your projected annual income. Then when you’re offered benefits in lieu of pay, you can work through some of the conventional financial norms surrounding these employment perks to see if you can afford them.

Show me the money.

Drowning in student debt and essentially living hand-to-mouth means money IS the number one priority, for now. Promotion potential, extra days off, flexible scheduling, or any other “currency” won’t pay the bills. You need cash to pay down your debt and get yourself out from under your indentured servitude. There is an exception to taking as much cash as possible. It’s called the company match on a 401k. Maximizing this is a must because it’s MORE money (increased income) and can help relieve the stress of not saving more of your paycheck each week. Since you probably don’t save at all, this fills that void for now.

Build your credit.

Building good credit is a must. The reason for needing good credit extends beyond buying a house or car. It influences the cost of your auto insurance among other things. It can also influence your potential employer’s decision on whether to hire you. Here again the size of your paycheck weighs in. Premier health insurance doesn’t count toward credit nor does an extra week of vacation. Staying current on your loan payments and paying down your debt will also help you maintain good credit.

Another popular way to establish credit is through the use of a credit card. One trap of the credit card is how easy it is to think that the extra $5 you’re spending on an item won’t be a big deal. Debit cards don’t let you overspend, they don’t hit you with a $35 late fee, and they don’t lure you with a low monthly payment. However, they don’t help you build good credit. The trick is: save up cash for a purchase, pay for it with a credit card, then use the cash to pay off the card. Builds good credit without “accidentally” overspending or paying any interest. This even works when buying groceries just be careful not to spend more than you have set aside.

Buy or rent?

Without alternative funding, most recent college graduates won’t qualify for any sort of home loan because of: the lack of stable job history, insufficient income, and a low credit rating due to lack of credit history (except for those student loans). Besides, buying a house locks you into that location for a minimum of 5+ years which you’ll need to build sufficient equity so you can at least break even when you sell. If living at home with the folks isn’t an option, be reasonable in your expectations for housing. Weighing transportation costs against housing, you may find better housing for less money further out of town.

Saving money.

It really is important to begin saving money from the start. Long term savings can initially be achieved with your 401k contributions but eventually you’ll need to do more. My suggestion is this: use 50% of your next pay increase (I always figured it after taxes) and all subsequent raises. This way you enjoy some quality of life improvements with part of the raise and begin your long term savings with the other part. If you have massive student loan debt you may want to use a large part of any raise to pay down your debt first but always use part of any raise to improve the here and now, it’s good for morale, your morale.

I suggest you use your spare change to help build up short-term savings, an “emergency fund”. Your target should be roughly $2,500. Major car repair, initial housing costs if you have to move, or cash to help you through an unexpected job change to name a few. Even if it’s nothing more than change less than a quarter, you’ll be surprised how fast it adds up. In our house, we’ve reached the point of not spending any change less than a ten. Once you reach your goal, or emergency fund amount, you can direct your spare change toward paying down your debt or saving for a car.

The crux of the matter.

Regardless of your monetary status, it always pays to live within your means. If you have to borrow to buy it (except for a house and maybe a car) live without it. Your goal should be one of fiscal responsibility and becoming as debt free as possible. It provides you with a freedom that feels great.

Supervisor Role in Career Management

The supervisor’s role starts at production. To maximize our production we must delve deeper into the dynamics of team leadership and begin the process of motivating the workers beyond their weekly pay. We also have administrative tasks associated with the position of supervisor. Most, if not all, of our supervisory job, the leadership and administrative, includes using our personal and professional judgement in making decisions. These judgement calls can be subjective and arbitrary or objective and principled.

It's the principle of it.

Developing principles to live by and practicing them until they become ingrained habit will allow you to focus on your team more than yourself. Decision making becomes easier because choices that don’t line up with your principles aren’t even a consideration. Your team should begin to anticipate your decisions, because they see the principles behind them, and be able to make appropriate decisions for themselves.

As you prepare to move up to the next rung on the supervisory ladder, you need to be keeping track of what principles (as practices) work and which don’t work and why. I compiled my list of leadership principles very early on and was surprised at how many things on my list didn’t actually work when I put them in practice. I found that much of my list needed to be written in pencil rather than carved in stone as I had first assumed (arrogance of youth?). Even those leadership truths I believe should be carved in stone still need to be tweaked based on the environment and the personnel involved.

For example, as I noted above, I like people to learn the principles I use for decision making and apply them. However, some are too insecure to make decisions for themselves. They need someone to weigh in and take the responsibility for the decision. They’re the expert but they lack the confidence. I will assume the responsibility, at least early on, so they can move forward but eventually they must learn to shoulder those decisions, it’s a process.

Another example is the principle of “pulling your weight” or doing your fair share. My goal is to assign work fairly so I don’t overburden the hard worker in favor of the lazy one. This is rarely 100% possible to put into practice. Applying the principle however, just requires a little tweaking. First step I take is to begin the motivating process with the lazy ones. Performance counseling and standards guidance help to develop the paper trail if nothing else. Next I work on the reward piece for my star performers. Rewards help compensate the worker while the paper trail either motivates the lazy to step up their game or step out the door.

Eventually you’ll begin to recognize the principle in the practice. In other words, the practices you observe commonly have a principle behind them. It’s up to you to decide which are good and which you want to shy away from adopting. As you establish the principles from which you lead, you will need to marry them with the practices you use in your leadership role.

One principle that I feel is extremely important is providing advancement opportunity for those on your team. While not all of the members on your team will be ambitious enough to desire advancement, it is necessary to have a plan for those who are. The military, by its very nature, requires its members to work towards advancing in rank and responsibility. It also lays a good deal of responsibility on supervisors to mentor their troops toward that end.

Give them a reason for self improvement.

By setting an example of a supervisor mentoring the troops for growth and advancement, you establish an environment where people know they can get ahead by developing the qualities necessary for the next step up the chain. They will start to pay attention to the kinds of behavior that will be needed should they get promoted. You may even find they will want more responsibility while actively seeking your guidance on areas of improvement. The best outcome, to my way of thinking, is the removal of their need for self promotion and turning it into a greater team focus.

Unfortunately, in today’s world there’s a large emphasis in “managing” your own career. To me that speaks to the blatant disregard by those in charge for those they employ. For most of my military career I believed it was my supervisor’s job to look out for my career and my job to watch out for those under me. It was heartbreaking to find out that nearly every one of the E-9s (highest enlisted rank) I met, got to that rank by “managing” their career. It was reflected in their self important leadership style. However, it’s not unique to the military just more personal to me.

Another bad example.

This idea of career management was rudely thrust in my face during a Leadership graduation luncheon. I was there as the supervisor of one of the graduates. The keynote speaker was an E9, Chief Master Sergeant, and I couldn’t believe my ears. Instead of speaking about the responsibilities of a leader or supervisor, which these airman would soon become, he spoke about his career management. He described how he manipulated the system to get the right jobs at the right bases to facilitate filling the right resume boxes. Nothing about stepping up and filling the roles most needed by the Air Force. Nothing about duty, honor, integrity, or responsibility but just a bragimony on how he scammed the system to get ahead. How could anyone respect such a self-serving prick? I feel that way every time someone starts bragging about how they made it to the top by working the system rather than by working.

Bad career advice?

I realize that in today’s environment you can’t rely on your supervisor for career advancement. In some cases, they stifle it to prevent losing their best while recommending promotions for those they want to see go away. There are also those who try to help by giving advice on how to work the system. I’ve even had boss’s suggest I neglect my job and my family so I could pursue activities that would enhance my career opportunities. Obviously, they didn’t say I should neglect either but what they suggested would have caused just that.

What I am saying is that I believe supervisors should begin figuring out how to help their people advance within the system. They shouldn’t demand their people make it easy for them by doing their own square filling. I’ve had deserving airmen that couldn’t seem to score high enough on their tests to make the cut off. Through simple observation, I had learned, about halfway through my career, that there was one sure fire way to get a strong performer promoted. If I had hardworking star performer that should get promoted, I would assign the individual to the weather radar coordinator position. That, in turn, would force me to send that person to weather radar school. The first testing cycle after they graduated would see them make a high enough score to get promoted. It worked every time.

Not my first career choice but hey...

Help them grow.

If you’re paying attention (Look Around!, Listen Up!, and Tune In) you could end up knowing your team members better than they know themselves. This gives you the unique ability to watch for advancement opportunities for them. You’re generally more aware of openings in the company because you’re exposed to more departments and their hiring managers. You have a better sense of what advancement opportunities would be a good fit for which team member. Your familiarity with their strengths, weaknesses, skills, and temperament allows you to make solid suggestions. However, I don’t ever think it’s appropriate to direct someone to another job because they have performance issues and you want them off your team. That’s just wrong. If they find another position in the company and the manager is aware of the issues, okay, but just passing along a problem is not right. It sets a bad example.