“When you're introduced to a man, you are meeting the collective experience of every day he has lived from the first to the last.”
We are all a by-product of the lives we have lived up to this point. I left a very dysfunctional home and decided to take a path 180 degrees from everything I had ever known up to the point of my salvation in college. It wasn’t until I was married that I realized that the muscle memory of my life experiences would inexplicably and without intention, show up in my every day life.
One of the beautiful opportunities of our walk with God is that all of those experiences, even the worst ones, can be redeemed. As redeemed, they are monetized into a currency that allows us to live more powerfully and have greater impact on others.
““Every past experience is preparation for some future opportunity. God doesn’t just redeem our souls. He also redeems our experiences. And not just the good ones. He redeems the bad ones too, especially the bad ones. How? By cultivating character, developing gifts, and teaching lessons that cannot be learned any other way.””
All of those redeemed experiences are actually the most valuable assets you bring to the table. It is what is of greatest value in all of your employees also.
I have a younger friend who was contemplating taking a project management job. He was weighing the decision and rightly noted that there were things he like about the job and things he didn’t. There were things about the guy who had the job previously and how he did the job, that he didn’t agree with.
I told him about the Position Agreements we work on with our clients and the Results Statements that shape each one of them. What is most important is that a particular result is required from each position. Ideally, if it is the right person, you want them bringing unique and inspired ideas to how they accomplish the task at hand from their vast and unique experience.
I told him that I don’t know anything about building multi-million dollar custom homes, but if I had that kind of job, I would accomplish the essential things associated with that task, but add in what was unique and powerful about my particular perspective and experience. I would probably start with story and ask a lot of questions.
- I would want to create a timeline of every house they lived in.
- Did they have a fort or playhouse? What was that like?
- What was their first home? What do they remember fondly about it?
- Did you have any friends whose house you loved? What did you love about it?
- Where did you live next?
- What was the first house you purchased? What was it like? What did you love most about it? What made you decide to buy it?
- What do you want the culture of the house to be?
- When you dream of the future, who is gathered in the house, what room are you in and what are you doing? Do you see everyone inside our outside the house?
I would understand that if the home is going to meet their expectations at the highest level. If it is going to address the deep longing in their life, it will have to source the experience they have had in terms of homes and living and provide the hope of the life and experience with people they dream of finding.
But that’s just me. Everyone one of us, everyone you employ, has something unique and valuable to offer in terms of how they would accomplish any task. The necessary step is to agree with the fact that there is more than one way… my way… to do get something done well. There is likely a much better way.
- Do you bring what is unique about your life and story to the tasks in front of you?
- Have you done any work in terms of finding the redemptive perspective on the experiences from your life? We do that at Lifeplan.
- Have you permissioned those you love and lead to bring their unique nature and perspective to the tasks in front of them?