Blog: IYH: 60-69

When working with employees to reach their goal one needs to take a certain look at what is needed and this part explains five helpful tips that you can teach your employees, volunteers, and ministry workers. There are five basic skills 1) Communication, 2) Initiation, 3) Direction, 4) Education, and 5) Delineation. Starting with communication this is something that needs to be constant, but not overbearing in the sense that they think you are micro managing them and they need to know that they can ask you questions. The only stupid question is the one that's not asked. Initiation is the being able to start the process, to be willing to volunteer yourself for projects knowing that this will not only benefit you, but others around you. Direction is simple, by showing others where they need to go or what the best path for them to take you give them a vision. Direction is key when working towards a common goal. Education is the means of having proper training so your employees know that they have been equipped. Delineation is the ability to allow your employees to make contributions and not putting the organization at risk.

This section is pretty self explanatory honestly, it just highlights what you need to instill in your employees, volunteers, staff, and so on to have a successful organization, but the reality is here is how many business miss this. The five skills that the book highlight are good, but my experiences don't really line up with them, but there are definitely aspects of these five that I've learned in my life and they have helped me when working with others toward a common goal. One job stands out specifically this summer where me and two co-workers were helping this lady pack her belongings so she could move back to Texas. My boss who just happens to be my friend leaves me inside to help them as I am the more experienced packer/mover which allowed me to make decisions on what goes where and work closely with the client and her mother. I had all the skills necessary to accomplish the tasks that were before, it was rather humbling in the sense because not only did the client trust me, but my friend did which was great because the job went smoothly. Everything this sections talks about I would say is much needed in the working world and in our churches because sometimes I think we forget about our staff at our churches and they may not be sure of themselves when they get tasked with a big project. But this is applicable to every day life as well, to mentoring and I would even say raising children.