Unseen Aid

I listened this morning to the BYU devotional speech given by Donald Parry on July 31, 2012.  In his speech he quoted from Henry B. Eyring's speech "O Ye That Embark" given October 2008.  This quote had a great impact on me.

"I know that the promise of angels to bear us up is real. You might want to bring to memory the assurance of Elisha to his frightened servant. That assurance is ours when we feel close to being overwhelmed in our service. Elisha faced real and terrible opposition:

“And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

“And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

“And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”²

Like that servant of Elisha, there are more with you than those you can see opposed to you. Some who are with you will be invisible to your mortal eyes. The Lord will bear you up and will at times do it by calling others to stand with you."

This reinforces what Price Pritchett says in his book, You2, a favorite book of mine.  He says that once we set our vision, unseen aid will come to us to help us achieve it. 

Effective Strategic Planning

The posting yesterday was from the booklet Business As Unusual. Today's will also be a "gem" from this booklet. Pritchett says that "one way of maximizing effectiveness is to operate with clearly defined goals and objectives." He says that it is beneficial to concentrate on quarterly, monthly, and even weekly performance targets that will help us reach long-term goals. Pritchett adds that wee need to keep our spotlight on the short-term goals and give a generous amount of feedback regarding progress toward the achievement of these goals.

I don't believe this is new information except for the fact it is critical that we have short-term goals (quarterly, monthly, weekly, and even daily)--and give constant feedback-- if we are to achieve our long-term goals.

We have invited Tyler Norton who did an excellent presentation at the charter school confernece to come to our next Board meeting to teach us about strategic planning that fits beautifully with Pritchett's insights.

Shaping Versus Grading

Periodically I receive a free book (more like a booklet) from Price Pritchett. Yesterday I received one called Business As Unusual. I love these booklets because so much wisdom is packed into short one page chapters. One of the chapters I particularly liked in this booklet was titled "Creating a supportive work environment." Pritchett mentioned something I had never considered. He said, "So concentrate on shaping employees' behavior, instead of grading people's behavior. Be a coach, not a judge or umpire."

He goes onto say that doing this "creates an atmosphere where people flourish, and where change can take root." I would add that this also fits right into our commitment to create an inviting environment.