Faith without Good Works...

…faith by itself is dead

if it doesn't cause you to do any good things

(James 2:17)

I am so glad that February is over. Within my circle of friends, it seems to be the peak to seasonal affective disorder (SAD), where otherwise high functioning, productive leaders fall into this funk about the current state of their lives. Perhaps it is the lack of sunlight or the inclement weather that zaps the energy, leaving self reflective time to feel sad. To prevent myself from having the winter blues, I purposely use the inside time to journal about where I am and what I plan to do (when the weather breaks) to reach my goals.

Every product or practice began as a thought. I remember when I started to have serious thoughts of leaving my corporate job. It was during a period of the frustration when my natural work did not feed my passion. I thought about an exercise that I learned at a leadership conference. The attendees were asked to consider the following questions:  

What drives you?

What disturbs you?

What do you disturb? 

Your passion and purposed work should reflect what triggers you to want to do good things.

Wanting to do good works is a first step that must be followed up by actions that demonstrate wanting and planning to achieve the goal. It is natural to become overwhelmed with the details of how and when, or the doubts of fear or failure. That’s why drive and passion so important in a faith journey. In the words of Margaret Shepard: sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith. Keep pushing to move forward.



Image selected from the “Because of Them, We Can” Campaign
http://www.becauseofthemwecan.com/

So it is March and I have shifted into consultant mode. When my friends call and the conversation feels depressive, I turn into a coach: What drives you? What disturbs you? What do you disturb? Stop thinking about and do something. You will never get past the sadness of not living on purpose. What are you claiming by faith and working to achieve in good deeds? Feel free to comment, or, send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

 

 

Repeatable Good Works

…the same yesterday and today and forever.

(Hebrews 13:8)

My favorite Maya Angelou quote is “when you know better, you do better.” I am learning some things about myself in this process of walking in my purposed work. One thing that I have realized is that I have to have order and structure. I get up at the same time every morning, I start my day enjoying two cups of coffee while I record my daily reflections, and I follow what’s on the calendar. The other day, I had a 6:30 am teleconference scheduled. One of the participants called me at 6:15 to ask about the dial-in number…before I finished e-journaling and drinking my second cup of coffee. After the call, I was driving to my next appointment and wondered why I prefer to do things the same way.

In a manufacturing environment, we say that a process is in control if you can predict the outcome. How do you increase the probability of success? The best method is to develop a repeatable process, where the functions are performed the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This allows you to monitor the progress, measure the performance, and make adjustments for further improvements. This same repeatable process methodology can be applied to address everyday life problems.

When I first made the commitment to blog, I was concerned about the time requirements to post consistently. We happened to have a visiting preacher at our church, and ironically, I had a hard time following his sermon. He delivered on style and pageantry…it’s just that my preferred learning method is for the preacher to present a three point message (introduce the subject, give three to four supporting facts from the bible, and close). This is the same process that I learned for writing good essays in elementary school. As I started to write more blog posts, I realized that I was following a similar pattern that allows me to have the order and structure I need for consistency. Since I practice writing daily, I noticed that I have reduced my process time for blogging from over three hours to less than an hour to come up with a topic, write the blog, edit (although I tend to update grammar mistakes throughout the week) and hit PUBLISH. The next frontier for me to conquer (besides grammar edits) is identifying a consistent day of the week to post, in lieu of this busy family and business season!

When you know better, you do better…the same principle applies in business and customer satisfaction. Customers prefer to transact with people and organizations that are consistent in the delivery of goods and services. Why? Because it allows them to predict the outcome and the probability of getting what they expected. Repeat customers tend to share their positive experience with others who could benefit from what you offer. Over time, the predictable outcome is an increase in activity, and prayerfully, revenue for the business.

How do you use order and structure in order to have consistency in your relationships with your family, co-workers, and customers? Feel free to comment, or, send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

The Gift of Good Works

A person's gift opens doors for him,

bringing him access to important people.

(Proverbs 18:16)

Do you know the origins of the modern day handshake? I cannot say for certain, but all indications are that the gesture dates back to ancient times. One explanation is that in historic times, an outstretched handshake signaled that neither participant was carrying a weapon. In other words, I come in peace, to do you no harm. I started thinking about handshakes yesterday as I participated in a business development meeting and wondered how I gained access to the audience and the people in the room.

In my head, I hear the words: You were born with grace. That grace is your gift, a divine enablement that gives you confidence to do the work you are purposed to do. So, I sit in these meetings with companies that are much larger than Latrobe, who have more resources, yet I have no trouble communicating what we bring to the table. One of the exercises in the business development accelerator is to be able to visualize, write, and articulate the future state of your business three years from now. In other words, I have access to this audience, not because of who I am today, but because of what we are being prepared for…GREATER WORKS!!!

 

I used to be afraid to share my vision with others, thinking that someone might steal my idea and implement it before I could. As I learn more about grace, I realize that because my talents are enabled from On High, I do not have to worry because what God has for me is for me. My gift works only for me. Sharing the vision demonstrates confidence that I trust and believe what God He is doing through me. And when people see my confidence, they want to help. My divine gift, what I was purposed to accomplish, opens doors for me and allows me to meet the people who are pre-destined to enable these good works.

I have been graced to have audiences with influential people to discuss our vision for educating and training through workforce readiness initiatives. These are the decision makers who have expressed a need to fill manufacturing or industrial jobs, either today or in the near future, and have the ability to hire. We agree on the next set of shared deliverables and expectations and we shake hands, signaling that we are not carrying weapons (or competing). In this instance, concerns of harm are replaced with a shared desire to help both companies succeed and to improve employment conditions in our community.

Each of us has a gift or a talent that was divinely designed for His purpose. I challenge you to work your gift, operate in your grace, and watch it manifest into good works. What is your gift? Feel free to comment, or, send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.

Falling on the Road to Good Works

…for the just falls seven times, but rises up again!

(Proverbs 24:16)

I got a text on Mother’s Day congratulating me for making “it” look easy. By “it”, I assume my friend meant juggling being a woman of God, a wife, and a working mom. While I am honored by the acknowledgement that she thinks I am doing a good job of it all, I want to remind everyone not to let the look fool you. As a good Southern girl, I was taught to smile and act as though everything was perfect. This followed me into adulthood, where I learned to act as though I had my superwoman cape on underneath my business suit, trying to do all things while making “it” look good and easy to everyone else. I got the reputation of being a fixer, so when I decided to become an entrepreneur, I continued the act, and proceeded like I could juggle all of my new responsibilities without any help.

The problem with juggling too many balls, or responsibilities, is that if one thing slips, epic fail or catastrophe is almost certain. I have spent so much time trying to prove myself that I sometimes forget that it is ok to ask for help. As I write this post, I do not know whether to credit Madeline Albright, Oprah Winfrey, Donna Freedman, or someone one else with this saying that has helped me to find balance in my life: You can have it all, just not at the same time. In my own experience, I was at the brink of failure (mentally, professionally, and financially) before I admitted that it was time to ask for help.

Starting a business for me was like getting married. In the beginning, during the honeymoon phase, everything looked easy, as though I could juggle all of the responsibilities. Getting married was the easy part, but after a couple of years, I soon realized that the real work was staying married. We surrounded ourselves with other married couples, of various ages and stages of their marriages, just to share experiences and to provide a sanity check that our journey was normal. Without specifically asking for help, these couples became our Marriage Board.

After starting my business, I made some avoidable mistakes, primarily, because I did not want to ask for help and have anyone think I was a failure, or a fraud. I am a survivor, so I learned a valuable lesson that allowed me to rebound stronger and wiser: I needed advisors. Large organizations have corporate boards to provide guidance and insight to avoid making catastrophic business mistakes. Throughout this journey, I know that everything will not go according to the strategic plan and that some failures are unavoidable. To help me manage the risks, I have an Entrepreneurial Board that consists of seven people who challenge me with checks and balance and boundaries:

• A seasoned mentor who has built a successful business model in industrial manufacturing
• A financial advisor who keeps me out of trouble with the taxman and in good favor with lenders
• A spiritual friend who reminds me that I am exactly where I am supposed to be
• A creative genius who dares me to color outside the lines (inside joke)
• A youthful mentee who has the same drive to change the world that I had in my twenties
• A retired collaborator who imparts wisdom and constantly asks about my exit strategy
• A soulmate who allows me to dream in living color but keeps me grounded in the present

So to my friend who says that I make “it” look easy, I say thank you, but rest assured it is not easy. I make a lot of mistakes every day. But as Pastor Donnie sings, we fall down, but we get up…on our road to good works!

A Vision of Good Works

Where there is no vision, the people perish:

(Proverbs 29:18)

 It is spring time. In the business community, it is also a good season for strategic planning. Strategic planning is evaluating the current business plan and developing long range goals for future business expansion. In other words, it is defining the business direction and making decisions on how resources will be allocated to successfully accomplish the strategy.

I started my small business based on a strategic plan. Like many corporate-minded people, I based the plan and allocation of resources on past experiences in order to project initial expectations. As I started looking over the portfolio and the initial business plan put forward in 2010, so much has changed. There are some areas that exceeded expectations...and then there are other areas where I question what I was even thinking… Nor could I fathom that in 2013 that we would still not have fully recovered from pre-2009 levels. All I can say is that as a result, I’m stronger, I’m wiser, I’m better, and most importantly, I’m still here. I made it through because as an entrepreneur, I was graced to change and evolve, based on customer expectations. And that's what business is, providing goods and services that customers need and are willing to pay. Going through this process also revealed that it is time to update our infrastructure, so that customers know what we offer by our website, telephone, marketing material, and messaging.

Through this process of operating a business and walking this journey of faith, I have learned the power of devine revelation of His word, His Spirit, and His Providences. My spiritual guide to strategic planning comes from Habakkuk 2:2-3:



>>> Write down the vision, make it plain on tablets,
>>> so that anyone who reads it will understand.
>>> The vision is for a future (appointed) time.
>>> There will be delays, but patiently wait.
>>> In time, the vision will be fulfilled!

From a natural perspective, customer responses sometimes drive business strategies into new directions. Today’s customers want to know what they get by doing business with you, instead of your competition. What does your company, or brand, promise? After completing my new strategic plan, I was so excited that I immediately contacted my marketing guy and requested that he begin thinking about the creative  pieces needed to communicate the evolution. I am standing on the promises that the vision for Latrobe will be fulfilled!

Strategic planning is not just for businesses. The same processes can be applied in your community and in your family. What long term goals to you want to accomplish and impart change? Do you need a process or provoking thoughts to get you started? Consider this illustration of The Cascade of Strategic Choices presented by the Monitor Institute.

If this process is beneficial, please share your story on how you used it to develop your vision of good works by strategic planning. If you like these blog posts, please share and invite others to share!