Leading the people, Managing the ministry.

While I focused the last session on leadership and the need to

work form Authority and not power to take people with you, the
leader still needs to have management skills or access to
management skills. I said in the last lesson that you manage,
processes, systems, methods, efficiencies, objects – things. That
you lead people and manage things. However in leading, life can
be made much easier if you also have a level of being organised
and know how to manage. For your organisation to be a witness –
you need both. If you are not organised so you do not deliver your
promises on time, what testimony is that. If you take to long to
supply a product, if your schedule for radio is not organised, if you
don’t know who is on air when, if you don’t know what your staff
are doing – these are management issues. But in dealing with
these issues - involving people – this is where leadership starts.

So, What does a manager do?

Well things like planning, recruiting, training, performance
standards, budgets, workflow, ensuring promises are delivered and
the quality is the best. People are usually involved so whether
they like it or not there will always be a level of leadership.
Maxwell talks about leadership as being influence. If you have
influence on somebody – you lead. Well you can influence with a
smile, a frown, an encouragement. People are led to take part in a
process, a system, a method. You can be a great manager –
getting the efficiencies and targets but a poor leader. However to
be a great leader you need some management skills.

So how does one motivate people to willingly be involved in

systems and processes to get a job done? Well, we spoke earlier
about the leader as a servant with authority rather than power.
This is the biggest motivator of all.

Bob Nelson said, Click “you get the best effort from others not by
lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within them.”
How?

Common sense and over 200 years of research suggests that

human actions are driven by consequences of behaviour.
Behaviour that is reward tends to get repeated. Think of the 2 year
old we spoke about earlier. So from these observations many
have concluded that ‘motivating’ people to action through reward

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and punishment is what motivation is all about. Carrot and stick.
This could not be further from the truth.

Example of the ‘I’ beam.

- beam on ground – walk across for R100,
- 2 meters off ground
- 20 meters off ground – R2000
- 200 meters off ground – R20 000 ,
- Between the tops of 2 tallest buildings in Pretoria. Wind blowing
and the buildings actually sway. High probability of falling off -
R200? R2000, R200 000, 2 million.
- If you saw your 2 year old on the roof of the other building an they
started to walk across form the other end? Graphic
Sustainable motivation comes form within.

I know someone who has a poodle called Oscar, and they have
been training Oscar for some time. Let’s say in a moment of
madness you went out and a bought your wife a poodle and you
come in and it is lying on your favourite chair – the one you use to
watch Rugby from. So you give Oscar a swat with the newspaper
and the offended Oscar yelps at you but quickly jumps off.

Have you motivated Oscar the dog to get off the couch?

The reality is that the only one motivated in this scenario is you.
You want the poodle off your chair. Oscar would still prefer to be
on the couch rather than on the floor. You try and watch Rugby
form the cold floor and see how long you last! As soon as you
leave the house where do you think Oscar will be? So did you
swat motivate him?

Now some time passes and your wife threatens to leave you if you
keep swatting her precious Oscar. So now enlightened, and
motivated yourself with such a threat, you decide to entice Oscar
off with a lovely bit of crispy bacon. You are taking a positive
approach. Have you motivated Oscar to get off your chair? No –
the answer is the same.

You are the only one in the room who is motivated. Oscar still
wants to be there – preference would be the bacon on the chair!

You see true motivation is about lighting a fire within people. It is

about influencing and inspiring people to action and getting their

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internal generator running. Motivation is people moved to action
because they want to act. They want to give their best and their all
for the team. This has nothing to do with whether they are
employed, volunteers, junior or managers. Remember you can not
change anyone. The best you can do is influence their future
choices. How did Jesus motivate the disciples and early
believers? Was it the carrot or the stick? Neither – that fire within
was build and lit. H.G. Wells the famous author, historian and
atheist said, “I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must
confess that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably
the very centre of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant
figure in all of history.”

Many years ago behavioural scientist Fredrick Hertzberg

conducted research into behaviour motivation at work. And he
came up with 2 categories, Click satisfiers and Click motivators.
Satisfiers, or maintenance factors, are things that people Click
must receive from their employer in order to expend the minimum
effort to do the job. These include things like Click wages,
benefits, working conditions and some basic safety and hygiene
factors. Once satisfied, merely increasing a satisfier does not
motivate people to work harder. So if an employee is already
satisfied with the benefits they get, they will not work harder if they
get offered veterinary benefits? (Remember they stopped hitting
Oscar – he is now obese.) However, if people are not satisfied with
one of these maintenance factors, they may not expend even the
minimal effort.

Motivators on the other hand are Click those factors that stimulate
people to put out more energy, effort and enthusiasm in doing their
job. And a danger we have working in Christian organisations and
being Christian leaders is that we expect the employees to be
motivated because of there commitment to God. We read about
how slaves should be towards masters, how people should work
as unto Christ – and we expect personal conviction and the Spirit
of God to motivate people and keep them happy. When they are
not motivated and they express discontent we quietly question
their walk with God. You and I can not exploit brothers and sisters,
should we not, as Gal 6:10 says:
do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of
the household of faith.

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You can not, because another is called to a role or position, expect
them to just put up with mangers and leaders who are not
functioning as Christ would have them behave. Nothing excuses
us form not treating people as Christ would have us do. No
position, no title, no matter how busy you are or how bad your day
is going. There is no excuse.

So we still need to motivate people and motivators include Click

recognition, praise, appreciation, opportunity for growth and prove
themselves, challenge, meaningful work and job satisfaction.
Hertzberg found that it you increase the motivator people are
stimulated to give more. So by giving of yourself, by as Paul says,
“pouring yourself out as a drink offering” to people, they give more
to you.

There are also numerous studies that show a sharp contrast

between what managers perceive as being most important to
employees and what employees actually say are most important.
Managers generally say employees want, money, followed by
promotion or development, and then job security. Money is
always found at the top.

When employees are asked what they want from their work,
studies consistently show that money is no higher than number 5
on the list. Other factors such as appreciation for work done,
feeling ‘in’ on things, sympathetic boss to personal problems, job
security, enjoying what they do, utilising their skills, feeling what
they do matters all rate higher.

Look at this short video clip as to how this person tries to use
satisfiers to motivate. Dealing with complaints.

A study done by Wichita State University found that the most

powerful motivator is personal, instant recognition from mangers.
In fact the study concluded that the most effective ways to
motivate employees are: Click
1. personal thanks from the manager
2. written thanks from the manager
3. promotion for performance
4. public praise, and
5. morale-building meetings.

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These studies showed that 58% were seldom, if ever, thanked by
their manger for a job well done.

You see it takes less personal energy and effort to increase a

satisfier than it does a motivator. Because a motivator requires
you to be involved. For you to sacrifice, to serve, to meet the
deeper-level needs in the people. The old proverb says, Click
“my pay is my right. Click Your praise is your gift.”
When there are any labour problems or issues it is about failed
relationships, not money. Money is what is often quoted as it can
be measured, is tangible and can be fought for and you either win
or loose– but things like trust, appreciation, respect, kindness and
caring defuse all this, but how do you measure these. If you had
these and relationships were healthy you would never get to the
former – labour problems.

Think of marriage, which is an organisation of 2 people joined

together in purpose. In the USA about 50% of these organisations
fail. Do you know the No.1 reason given for the failure? Money.
Financial difficulty. Do you believe that? That means that those
who are less off have a much higher risk of divorce. So poor
people must be incapable of happy marriages. Failed marriages
are the result of failed relationships.

We know that money is not the key motivator - as many in our

field, that of spreading the gospel are poorly paid or volunteers that
don’t get paid – yet they still come to work.

When it comes to volunteers, maybe like the research mentioned

earlier – we the managers don’t know what volunteers list as
important. We have our own list and we think that because we
have come to work for the ministry and given up the potential of
well paid jobs that we are more committed and therefore feel more
responsible.

We often feel beholden to volunteers and are too scared to upset

them in case they leave us short of help. So we tread carefully-
and just by doing this we start to treat them differently. As not part
of us as slightly outside the group.

We try and appease them and often don’t hold them accountable
for a job poorly done, being late for work, not keeping to
commitments etc. This should take place whether they are

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employees or volunteers. Love them, don’t treat them differently –
the word talks about treating people equally. If you have
employees that are underperforming, then as a good and Godly
steward you should deal with this. The reality is it is normally a
management or leadership issue rather than the individual under
performing. “Oh, we can not expect volunteers to be held
accountable – we are just grateful they give us some of their time.”
Good, then stop patronising them and treating them as less than
human and help them feel they are actually contributing effectively
to the cause and not just being entertained. Just keeping them
sweet so that they may also continue to give money.

The motive here is fear and nothing permanent will get built this
way. What casts out fear? Perfect love. What is perfect love –
what does it look and sound like? This is how you are expected by
Christ to lead, which will stop fear dead in its tracks,
4
Love/leadership is patient, love/leadership is kind; love does not
envy or boast; it is not arrogant(humble) 5or rude (respectful). It
does not insist on its own way (selfless); it is not irritable or
resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,(forgiving) but rejoices
with the truth (honest). 7Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never ends.(committed)

If we do not lead volunteers this way and we do not expect good

work and excellence, this shows that we do not value the work
they are doing as important, as we let things slide. Or it could be
interpreted that we actually don’t value the ministry that we are
involved with as important.

Because of the lack of measurable and achievable goals, the

sense of progress, of trying to improve, and achieve or being part
of something is often lacking. So volunteers often have to
motivate themselves. They don’t feel part of something , they are
an appendage. They need a sense of purpose and belonging that
goes passed just being an extra pair of hands that the organisation
gets for free.

These are basic management things. Make sure the workspace is

organised and people know they are coming. Ensure they are
trained and helped to do a good job, Are there clear targets and
goals. Do you expect them to start on time and what is the effect if
they don’t? Then you need to lead them also – have the decency
to treat them as valued members of the organisation.

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A little research shows what else motivates volunteers, other than
the sense of doing something for the Lord? Click

1. Good leadership. Leadership that does not have power over

them but authority (influence) with them.
2. Being brought into the mission and purpose of the
organisation and believing that what they are involved with is
something special, something important.
3. Regular, even monthly, public recognition and appreciation
for contributions made to the team or organisation. To feel
needed. Involve them in team meetings and company
communications that are not sensitive.
4. To be part of a team committed to excellence, This means
that they are trained and developed, even as volunteers, to
better serve and meet the mission of the team or
organisation. Excellence in everything form answering
phones, to writing letters, to efficient packing processes –
what ever it is that they are involved in. And
5. to be part of a special community where one can share joys,
dreams , sorrows and concerns. Where real love can be
shown in the team.

If you are not prepared to love, be humble and actually lay down
your life for your workers – to be inconvenienced and concerned
about their lives – you are not worthy to lead. So then lead and
manage properly. Very few quit their job, they usually quit their
boss.

If you are assured of your divine calling, if this is settled, then there
is no reason to hesitate to do what God has set before you. “The
frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and
women of caution.”1 Yes, have some caution around you and
listen and take on board but caution should never curb vision when
the leader knows it is from God.

If you are not assured of your calling and you seem to be out of
place, struggling a bit, or if you need vision or vision affirmed I
would like us to pray for you.

1
Archbishop Mowll’s wife

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Pray for people – get them to come forward and lay hands on them and
pray for them. (Need people who will be willing to pray alongside me –
Graham, Perry, Ian W, Chuck, Hal – 2 Tim 1:14 and 2 Tim 1:6-7 – fan
into flame that which is within you by the laying on of hands.

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