Simple intentionality…

Recently I was watching the pro football documentary series "Hard Knocks" and in the final episode of the season with The New York Giants, the show covered how the General Manager does professional evaluations with his staff each season. (See video below)

It was fascinating because you can see how an organization who's main mission in the big scheme of life is to win football games, operates with such intentionality when comes to taking care of the staff...

Checking in, encouraging specific skills and talents, helping individuals improve in their work and lives...Development...

I think it’s this simple intentionality that employees and staff long for in their organizations… The times I have thrived on staff teams that I was a part, it was because my supervisor was intentional about this and did the work leading the conversation with intentional questions and accountability and specific encouragement…

As I have conversations with young adults getting their first jobs, especially ministry jobs, I advise them to look for a leader who will do this type of development as an absolute, because without it you will live on “lonely task island” like Tom Hanks and end up with only a volleyball to talk to…or maybe worse…blogging…

In the second act...I am going to seek intentional development. (See video below)

Comments

Why the second act?

I turn 45 years young this year and there is something about it that just feels different. I used to think 40 was a defining birthday but at 45 it really seems that it is a hinge point in life, that the next chapters are going to be dramatically different. Some of the events of the past year have set the table for a very distinctive change…I have two kids in high school now…I have been married 21 years…I have had 15 different places of employment since graduating college (part time and full time)…I was fired from a job this year and I have to start all over…(more on that in a future post)…I find that I agree with Dave Matthews when he said when he got older he “gave less of a __ about anything, and at the same time more of a __ about everything”. A season of paradox is forming. There is this brief intermission period to think about what’s to come next, to reflect on what’s been done in the first act and hopefully not repeat mistakes but celebrate the victor...

New Normals...

One of the most consistent - inconsistencies in life, is change. I first heard the term “a new normal” when we first had kids and the huge change to your daily life that comes with feeding and changing diapers and lack of sleep and new anxiety, of course also cuteness, cuddles and coos that are a cool new addition to the routine. But if you’re thinking, “it will be like this forever”…get ready. Just when you think you have found your stride...just when something seems to be long-term and a routine is in place…it changes. I think it's almost better now to think in terms of seasons. A season of consistency here...A season of stability there...and then...wait for it...New happens... New schools, new phases, new teammates, new bosses, new locations, new friends, new communities, new priorities. I have been someone who values the un-changed. As Garth Algar said "we fear change"... But fear of change is irrational, like fear of sunlight. It is going to happ...

The Second Act

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