Welcome to the May 26th 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
When God makes your plans slow, just adapt and do the next thing you can do.
This is the sort of experience I had to live out.
And it's fun.
It has shown me the importance of "The Peace that passes all understanding".
Yes. In those times, this peace helps me pivot without complaining instead of fretting.
The nature of resting in God's ability to make His plans for me come to pass.
I will live by the seasons He opens.
And do all I can to maximize the doors He puts in front of me.
Things I Learnt
1 -Giving Feedback That Feeds Growth: During a one-on-one meeting with one of the team members I oversee, she told me that I don't give as much feedback as she expects when she does a good job.
In her words, I don't acknowledge her results as much as she expects.
Let me give a bit of context.
Her team lead had resigned due to health reasons.
This team was not originally under my purview. It was thought I would provide better executive oversight to develop the team, so that's how it came under my purview.
The lady has less than three years of work experience and is still learning a lot.
I have to get my hands into the everyday grind of training, coaching, and pushing her to become better.
To help her learn faster, I reduced the power distance significantly between us. She could ask me any clarifying questions.
Her fishing for more compliments on her performance was her way of trying to find out if she was on track.
I was happy - she was asking for what she needed to get better on the job.
I have to remember to do it more.
2 - The Relationship Leverage: Relationships only become valuable when you nurture them. Nurturing them is hard work.
But the fruit they produce can be so rewarding.
I got some of the fruit of nurturing relationships during the week.
I reached out a few weeks back to one of the friends I had made during a business prospecting trip to her country.
I asked her if she would be willing to read a preview copy of my book and provide feedback on it. I didn't get a response from her.
I had decided I would not send more than one request to anyone to ask for a review. So I didn't ask her again.
Her birthday was during the week. In my usual practice, I sent her a personalized birthday greeting. She responded and apologized for not responding to my earlier request.
She expressed willingness to read and review the book. She read it, liked and called to ask if she could send it to another person I had met during my trips.
It turns out the guy is now an ambassador in another country. He also wanted to read it and asked me to send it to him instead. He read it and reviewed it within 24 hours.
My practice of nurturing relationships by sending personalized messages, including birthday messages, paid off for me.
A sidebar here - she didn't tell me her birthday date. The first time I travelled to her country, we had to make a local flight. She coordinated everything. When we brought out our passports at the check-in counter, I spied her birthday on her passport.
As it would turn out, her next birthday would be a milestone one. I called her and told everyone else at our office. You can imagine her surprise when all the members of the executive management of my company that she had dealt with called her to wish her happy birthday.
And I have continued to do that even though we didn't go forward with the deal we were in her country for.
Another way I build my relationship leverage.
Postscript
May you be consistent in the small things that nurture the people around you. 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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