School is back into the swing of things and as we enter into October, we approach the middle part of the semester. Some schools will hand out midterm grades to inform students and parents, how things are going and if there is any need for adjustments.
If you were like me when I would come home with my midterm or my report card, I would hand it to my parents and they would peruse over the marks. If there was an ‘A’ or ‘B’ on there they would say, ‘You have an ‘A’ in Math, good job!” Or, it would be, “a ‘B’ in Geography? That’s pretty good.’
But, then we would move onto any marks that were a ‘C’ or lower. We would talk about why I was receiving the grade, we would problem solve to find solutions to raise that grade, and we would discuss why it was important to get that grade up. We would spend a much greater amount of time ‘discussing’ the value of raising my low grades rather than talking about how good of a job I was doing to receive my high grades.
Now, I realize my parents did as most parents do. This is a standard way of handling report cards and school grades, however, it has also had lasting negative effects on all of us who have gone through this process.
You see, what this has done is teach us to focus those things that we are not good at rather than the things we are. We spend more of our time overcoming our weaknesses rather than developing our strengths. Which means our strengths, the areas we are naturally good at and have the potential to be do something great with, are placed on autopilot and left to randomly grow over time.
What would happen if we zeroed in on our strengths and spent our time growing them? What if we dedicated a year to just our strength development, how different would your life, your family, your ministry, your community be?
What about our volunteers and our staff members? How would they be different if we focused on placing them in positions and giving them responsibilities that were flowing from a place of strength?
Their sense of fulfillment would go through the roof, their perspective on their own personal calling and place in the Kingdom would be clearer, and their confidence would be infectious.
Take an inventory of yourself. How much of your time is spent operating in areas of your strengths?
How about your staff and volunteers? What percentage of them are just in positions because that is what the church needs, but are not operating in places of strength. For volunteers, having a sense of fulfillment in what they do is a huge indicator of their longevity as a volunteer in their current position, and sometimes in any position in your church.
Do you want to take your church to a new level of effectiveness? Start assessing the strengths of your team and volunteers, and get them in positions they are naturally gifted at.
If you are already utilizing the gifts of your staff and volunteers, share how in the comments and spark ideas for the rest of our community.
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