Faithfulness
Part Eight of “The Intangibles: They Make You or They Break You”
By David Drury
Faithfulness may seem like a strange inclusion in the list
of intangibles. Certainly, there are
fewer obscure nuances to faithfulness than many of the other intangibles. Faithfulness is even listed as a Fruit of the
Spirit, for goodness—also listed—sake.
How could faithfulness be an intangible quality we cannot observe on a
resume? Well, I suppose one sign of
faithfulness is the length of tenure someone has at prior positions. If someone changed jobs every 18 months for a
15 year period we might worry that they were flighty or
uncommitted—indeed—unfaithful. But it
might equally be a case of someone being so skilled and effective that they
kept getting promoted or offered jobs with a much greater platform and
leadership capacity that matched them.
You just can’t fully see if someone is going to be a faithful team
member by looking at their resume or interviewing them.
So, what is faithfulness in a team member anyway? What sets apart those with faithfulness? Let’s examine what happens when you are a
faithful member of an organization.
When you are faithful:
A faithful worker is first of all someone you can trust to
stay the course. Faithful leaders have
the opposite dynamic—their people sense they can give it their all and
contribute to the final destination with significance. Those that work with a faithful person
benefit from the consistency they provide.
Those that work for them have the sense that the direction they set will
be firm. A faithful and consistent peer
leader is so appreciated by the team.
And faithfulness in someone working for you is like gold: better a
faithful leader who will consistently deliver than one that is all over the
map, with as many failures and balls-dropped as successes and game-winning
shots.
When you aren’t faithful:
One well-known Chinese Proverb gives some good advice: “Fool
me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” When you entrust something to someone and
they are unfaithful with it your trust for them diminishes greatly. Many people react the same way to a leader as
they do a lover: unfaithfulness is unforgivable. Unfaithful leaders often adopt the latest fad
or change course mid-stream. Their
decisions sift beneath you like walking on a sand dune. Many leaders change course so often that
their followers get “change-weary” and begin to hold new direction at arm’s
length, remembering how much they put into the prior direction and now it is
pulled out from under them. Few things
are more frustrating than a peer, leader or follower who isn’t doing enough of
the heavy lifting—this makes you feel like more of the weight of the piano is ending
up in your hands. When you aren’t
faithful it erodes nearly all your other good qualities.
How to become
faithful:
Well, faithfulness may be one of the most “spiritual” of the
intangibles. That’s why Mother Theresa said,
“I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.” Perhaps we should just pray to be more
faithful and receive this fruit of the spirit.
However, we should also work towards… perhaps you’ve already been given
enough to be faithful and you just need to work at it in these ways:
-
Look
back at the things you started over the last 5 years. How many of them have you
completed? How often do you finish
well? Evaluate your own faithfulness.
-
Set
out to finish old projects before starting new ones.
-
Look
to help others finish their goals before setting new ones for yourself—become a
“faithfulness-provider” for your organization.
Be a follow-through resource.
-
Instead
of thinking of new vision or direction, get your old charts and slogans out—think
of a way to re-cast the vision for those items, rather than dreaming up new
ones.
-
Repeat
your goals to yourself weekly or monthly, type them out or write them out on a
legal pad often to remind you of your initial plan.
-
Set
evaluation meetings with your team or supervisor where you examine if you’ve
been faithful to what you’ve said you were going to do.
How to spot &
reward someone who is faithful:
As a leader of an organization or a supervisor of a team you
already know how much faithfulness counts and have likely been burned by a
shooting star follower who looked great for a time but flamed out too often. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is better to
be faithful than famous.” Be sure to mirror
that truth in who you honor in your team.
Take time to thank and give team awards to those
faithful ‘behind the scene’s’ leaders and workers on your team—that raises the
value of faithfulness in your organization. Also notice not only the big successes or
huge growth areas and events… but also notice those who have just gradually and
faithfully grown their area over a year or two’s time. Pick a surprise moment to show the whole team
this growth on a graph and emphasize the faithful work by the team member who
led it. Every team should also reward
longevity as well—this isn’t just a gold watch at retirement… it’s much more
about marking milestones of achievement.
Don’t just make this about years of service… reward how long someone has
run a particular program or provided a particular service. Sometimes people just stick around in an
organization for decades and don’t get much done. Reward those who have consistently and
faithfully improved something for years.
Also take time to celebrate when someone has faithfully ended or orchestrated
a “sunset” for a program. Celebrate the
years of faithful leadership and service that enabled that area to work as it
has… then allow it to end beautifully just like a
sunset. Then the team is ready for the
next place of faithful leadership and service.
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_________
This is part eight of The Intangibles. Come back for more on each intangible. Click here
for the introduction to this series.
© 2007 by David Drury
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