Welcome to the December 4th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week
The week started as it had been for the past few weeks - chasing after a lot.
And it ended the same way - me being grateful for the answers and solutions we got on some of the pressing issues.
The big thing difference was that some of the funds I had been chasing after came in on Friday morning.
It allowed me to execute some of the plans I had promised the team.
I started our weekly Friday meeting by apologising to the team that I had not been able to keep my promises from the last meeting.
No matter the reasons, they deserve an apology.
And an affirmation that they would be done.
The weekly meetings are my additional layer of accountability.
Every week, I make commitments to myself and the staff.
At the meetings, I show up to report on it and take their questions.
Keeping my accountability will create the culture of accountability I want to permeate the organisation.
Things I Learnt
1-When Your Clients are Family Members: An old friend called me up during the week.
She had called to speak on a professional matter. Our conversation delved into family matters.
She was having problems getting her kids active during the daily devotions in the morning she was having with them.
One of them is a teenager.
So, I asked, “why not move it to evenings?” She responded that she was usually tired from work to do that.
I decided to ask how long she runs the devotions. I was flummoxed when I heard “20-30 minutes”.
We talked some more and she told me that the kids had even requested for it to be in the evenings.
At this point, I decided to go “consultant” on her.
I asked if her client told her that they wanted something done in a particular way, wouldn’t she try to adjust?
Just because the clients are her kids doesn’t mean they don’t have a voice in this matter.
Next, I told her that aiming for 20-30 minutes every day is overkill.
“Do 5-7 minutes on weekdays and 20-30 minutes at weekends only” was my recommendation.
A win-win in my books - the kids get the time they want and she keeps it short enough so she doesn't fall asleep.
It’s not the length of time we do these with our kids that builds a lifestyle of it for them. It’s our consistency in doing it.
2:Closing the Door Gently: I had to send an email to say "No" to a project opportunity.
It's in another country and a couple of years, time and money had been invested in it.
Even though we were saying "No" to this opportunity, we still wanted to work with this partner and there were still future opportunities.
But not on this project.
I sent the draft of the email to our local partner - she said it was not aggressive enough.
According to her, "we need to let them know how much we have invested in this opportunity and how they have wasted our efforts to get to the finish line. This email is something that can be taken higher up so they can know how to treat foreign investors better"
And so began my extended chat.
I explained that no one likes a visitor to tell them that they are bad. If we still intend to do business with them, I needed to say "No" in a way that still keeps the door open.
She agreed. She would say the more difficult things when she met them.
Face-to-face.
Citizen-to-Citizen.
I sent my "keep-the-door-open" but saying "No" response.
My biggest reminder.
Don't let the citizens make you forget you are still a foreigner.
Treat the citizens better than they deserve.
As long as I am a foreigner.
And want to do business with them.
And that’s what she should aim for.
Our family members are clients too. And we have to aim for impeccable service delivery
Postscript
May you walk in the wisdom of God to know how to treat people more than they deserve. May you treat them as much as they are worth to God. Amen
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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