What You Do Best in the Body of Christ

Issue No. 233 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests that the answer to the “engagement gap” could be an intentional focus on the 3 Powerful S’s. And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

The 3 Powerful S’s

All of your favorite business books deliver the dismal statistics on employee engagement. StrengthsFinder 2.0 author Tom Rath writes, “Over the past decade, Gallup has surveyed more than 10 million people worldwide on the topic of employee engagement (or how positive and productive people are at work), and only one-third ‘strongly agree’ with the statement, ‘At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.’”

Also the co-author of Strengths Based Leadership, Rath adds, “In stark contrast, our studies indicate that people who do have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life in general.”

The authors of The Carrot Principle note that “according to a 10-year study of more than 200,000 employees, a whopping 79 percent of people who quit their jobs ‘cite a lack of appreciation as a key reason for leaving.’  Another 65 percent of North Americans ‘report that they weren’t recognized the least bit in the previous year.’” How tragic.

So…who’s gonna fix this problem—and how?

Next week, a dozen team members from a national association have invited me to invest a day with them and focus on what I call “The 3 Powerful S’s.”  Three cheers for a ministry CEO who understands the foundations of work and relationships!

The 3 Powerful S’s are: Strengths, Social Styles and Spiritual Gifts.  You know the strengths resources (StrengthsFinder 2.0 and other books).  You’ve probably taken one or more assessments like Myers-Briggs, DISC, Birkman, or even the four animals system. (What were they again? Muskrat, Chihuahua, Elephant and Platypus? I may have that wrong.) I prefer Social Styles (Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables and Expressives)—because those four words aptly describe the four styles.)

But the third "S" is the glaring gap in many churches and ministry organizations. We hammer folks who tilt towards bad theology, but don’t take seriously the delightful spiritual gifts distributed to every Christ-follower by our loving, all-wise Heavenly Father. We don’t pick our gifts—God does.

Pop Quiz!  Tell me the about the 3 Powerful S’s of your boss (or board chair): Top-5 Strengths, Social Style (or Myers-Brigg description) and Spiritual Gifts.  If you passed this test, then list the 3 S’s for your direct reports or at least three other work or volunteer colleagues. Did you pass or fail?

For years, I’ve offered a Starbucks card in workshops to anyone who can nail the pop quiz.  I still have the coffee card—and that’s a crime. Maybe even a sin.

What would happen in the Results Bucket, the People Bucket and the Team Bucket if everyone on your team knew and leveraged their own 3 Powerful S’s—and the Strengths, Social Styles and Spiritual Gifts of everyone else? It would be dramatic and God would be honored.

If you’re up-to-speed on Strengths and Social Styles, but have never invited your team members to take a spiritual gifts assessment, I recommend two books.  Both books include an assessment of about 135 questions covering 23 to 27 spiritual gifts, as described in the New Testament (Ephesians 4, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, etc.)

To order these books from Amazon, click on the graphics below for:

Option #1: What You Do Best in the Body of Christ: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts, Personal Style and God-Given Passion (revised and expanded—with assessment tools and discussion questions), by Bruce Bugbee.

Option #2: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts: The Easy-to-Use Guide That Helps You Identify and Understand Your Unique God-Given Spiritual Gifts (includes the bestselling spiritual gifts inventory), by C. Peter Wagner. 

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Bruce Bugbee writes, “God has created and designed us with a purpose in mind. We are ‘wired’ to care about some things more than others. We have been given spiritual gifts to competently accomplish ministry tasks.  We have also been designed with a personal style of relating to others and the world around us. We have been given a passion.”  So…knowing all of that, what has God designed you for?
2) If you have the spiritual gift of administration, it’s possible that you’re serving today as an administrator—but in an administrative area for which you have no passion. What do you have passion for? Are you leveraging the 3 Powerful S’s in your current career and/or volunteer role?

Chart Your Board’s Strengths - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

One of the big ideas in the Board Bucket, Chapter 14, in Mastering the Management Buckets is inspire board members to leverage the 3 Powerful S’s. When I consult with boards, I recommend that each board member take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment and then we list the Top-5 Strengths of each board member on an 11” x 17” chart.  The discussion is always electric!

What if…committee and task force appointments were assigned based on the 3 Powerful S’s. Whoa—that’s radical!

In March, at a national association strategic planning retreat, we discovered that two board members both had all Top-5 strengths in the “Strategic Thinking” domain. I had never seen that before. (There are 34 talent themes within the four domains of Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building and Strategic Thinking.)

So, we suggested that Betsy and Ed leverage their strategic gifts for two days—and the rest of us could play.  Didn’t happen. We all worked very hard—but, trust me—the other board members listened when Betsy and Ed spoke.

Next week at the all-day ECFA Governance Forum in Colorado Springs, I’ll be giving more details on how boards can leverage the 3 Powerful S’s.  Visit ECFA for more information on the October 20 forum, hosted by Focus on the Family.

 

For more resources on governance, including six book recommendations, visit the Board Bucket webpage.

JOIN US AT THESE WORKSHOPS!

Oct. 20, 2011 (Thursday) - 9 Governance Essentials for Nonprofit Ministries Forum, with Steve Macchia and Dan Busby (sponsored by ECFA and hosted by Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, Colo.)

Oct. 25-26, 2011 (Tues. & Wed.) – The Rolling 3-Year Strategic Plan Workshop (Sponsored by Neighborhood Christian Fellowship and Arrow Community Center, Covina, Calif., and hosted by Christian Community Credit Union, San Dimas, Calif.)

Comments

[Lance]

John, in response to your 2011 article, I have noticed that at my newest job, people are very grateful for every little thing that is done by any and everyone, I have changed shirts to go back to blue-collar work as I find it much more satisfying,

not that it is a strength of mine but that I am much better able to bring more to the company as a whole, the pay is adequate for my position and I do not miss at all the strife and power plays,

the spiritual aspect of the company is healthy considering DOD work could be otherwise if obvious constraints were employed, I find much value in non-contention where I am left un-opposed in my work,

my younger more ambitious brothers and sisters will gain much from my passive style of productivity, everyone is grateful to have a job and voice their appreciation to the Lord regularly.