Category: Leadership

Company product and services post lockdown – will it be different?

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
woman in yellow tshirt and beige jacket holding a fruit stand
Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

I am certain that everyone is a bit anxious to get back to what we called a normal life after the lockdown is lifted. However, what we ‘deemed’ normal will no longer be the same post COVID. It has been over 40 days since we started and the impact of the virus to our society and businesses is extensive.

Let’s begin with personal positives. When the world took a pause, we got the chance to spend more time with the people we love and care about. Most of us were too busy earning a living. We were also wasting a lot of time in traffic prior to the lockdown. I personally know people whose family is asleep when they leave for work and asleep again when they got home from work. People were also too busy to set aside a few minutes of quiet time with God. Their concept of a relationship with God, prior to lockdown, is attending weekly services. Attendance to a weekly service was sometimes not consistent. However, during the lockdown, I pray that we were able to spend more time praying and developing a stronger relationship with God.

There are also challenges in our country. A majority of the businesses had to pause operations. This resulted in zero revenue for the company and no work no pay for us employees. This is particularly concerning even more for those of us that have people relying on us; family members and regular support to other people. For companies, like groceries or providers of ‘necessities’, their employees are able to earn a living but are exposing themselves to possible infection.

Now the million-dollar question is “how will business owners reposition their businesses?” For a number of companies, no contact and no congregating policy will impact their revenues. I would imagine that CTO’s and other executives in charge of IT will have to accelerate the companies Digital Transformation from years to a matter of weeks. If they don’t have a clear Digital Transformation Strategy until now then I cannot imagine how their business will cope with the new normal.

There is no question about the immediate need to automate services. It has to be clear, communicated, and planned. Companies that still refuse or are slow to decide will clearly be left behind.

The question is no longer ‘do we implement a digital transformation program’. The question now is two parts;

  1. How fast can we implement our digital transformation strategy?
  2. How can we align our products and services to leverage digital technology?

During this pandemic, I tried purchasing my groceries online. However, the experience proved to be frustrating. Our more popular online groceries are not up to the challenge. There were two so-called online groceries that accommodated by transactions all the way to payment. When I was about to pay, the online grocery advised that there were no slots for delivery. Why did the system allow me to reach the payment and delivery portion if there was no way for them to deliver? I wasted at least 30 minutes. Very poor customer experience design and management of the site.

Here is an opportunity. If there is a company out here in the country that can create a truly reliable online grocery and partner with a reliable delivery company then you are golden. A TRUE online grocery does not yet exist in the Philippines. The ones that are available are poorly designed and managed. Once a reliable online grocery (great customer experience and quick delivery) plays in this market then the rest of the mediocre ones will start fading away. I cannot wait for that to happen.

Another possible opportunity is an online service for running errands. These can be errands from buying flowers to searching the internet for the best comfort food restaurants in Quezon City. There is a similar app in Android. However, they charge way too much for an hour of service. Considering the traffic situation and distances of the errand, the cost can be prohibitive. If an errand service business model can be designed to be low-cost and scalable similar to the business model of Grab then maybe that’s something worth using by the public.

Here is what I am trying to say. If business owners simply stick to their pre-COVID business model then it’s highly possible that the model won’t work as successfully as before. What business owners need to start considering prior to the lifting of the lockdown is ‘how should my business model look like in order to take advantage of the New Normal?’ It’s not an easy question to ask. However, there is clear peril for the companies that do not bother to ask this question.

How will you position your products and services in the New Normal? The answer would be different for different companies and industries. Clearly, for the educational industry, online learning will be the main driver. For the retail industry, e-commerce may be one way of mitigating the risk. However, the e-commerce platform should be reliable and easy to navigate. The retail prices should also be lower than ‘brick and mortar’ prices since the cost of selling their goods is lower.

This is the time to get into a Design Thinking exercise or something similar. Design Thinking is an exercise that was created years ago by an Innovation company. Companies that use it are able to come up with innovative customer-centric solutions to their challenges. Design Thinking can also be conducted with careful preparation using a digital platform.

Time is gold, take a careful look at your company’s product and service. The world will not adjust to us. We need to adjust to the changing needs and situation of the society and the world.

Back to my question ‘Company product and services post lockdown – will it be the different?’

An open letter of thanks to our Teachers

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2020-03-30 at 12.04.40 AM

Good day to all the teachers in the Philippines. My name is Jordan and I am with Vanguard Transformation Partners. We are the training and consulting arm of the Coffee Bean Group of Companies.

I am also the father of an 11-year-old boy. His name is Axel and he goes to school at the Greenhills Christian Fellowship International Christian School (GCF-ICS). I am fortunate to be given the opportunity to be a hands-on father so I truly understand the challenges and the heart that teachers have for their students.

A few years ago, a friend of mine was in the business of providing educational videos for public schools in the country. As I went around, I really felt and experienced the heart and personal challenges of our teachers. Your work is not really just work. Your work is a calling. A calling to build a better country. A call to prepare the next generation of citizens and leaders.

Being in a similar industry has also given me an insight into the challenges faced when trying to develop or transform people. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few. Developing our youth to be responsible, capable, nationalistic and God-fearing citizens is not an easy task.

We understand that developing the right mindset of our students is key to their future. It is key to the behaviors they will develop. It is key to their future. It is key to our future as a nation.

It is sad that sometimes that you, our teachers, are not given enough credit or recognition for your calling. In these trying times, you suddenly needed to put together a solution to ensure the continuing education of our children.

To us parents, you are already heroes before this pandemic. You proved once again your heart in building a strong nation through our youth. My son’s school did not have any online learning facility before this massive event. However, they were able to learn Google classroom technology and start migrating classwork in a matter of days.

I pray that the verse from 1 Chronicles 28:20 helps you in these times.

“Be strong and courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.”

Like the verse says, Be Strong and Courageous and continue doing a great job.

Thank you so much.

10 Things I observed in these trying times

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

observe It has been over a week since our lock-down in Metro Manila. The recent events have given people time to think about what is happening around them. The events made us think about what is really important in our lives. It gives us time to pray, be aware, spend time with love ones. I decided to jot down a few things I have observed in these trying times around the globe.

  1. God has removed all our excuses for not taking the time to pray.
  2. The goodness in people has shown in the sacrifices of our front liners who take care of the affected casualties.
  3. The goodness in our public citizens has also shown in their volunteer work for the care of our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
  4. The goodness has cut across boundaries, just as the virus passing through boundaries. I was pleasantly surprised to read the news that China shipped medical aid to us.
  5. ‘Tambay’, a Filipino word for ‘staying at home and doing nothing’ was normally frowned upon. Now, ‘Tambay’ is required from all of us and actively promoted. Hopefully, it’s only for a short period of time.
  6. Big countries, big companies, big egos can be brought to a halt by a tiny virus.
  7. Prayer can be exercised more as intentional rather than being occasional.
  8. Technology can bring millions of people together for a common goal like never before.
  9. Our Philippine President is a prayerful man.
  10. There is hope for unread books after all. They are now being read.

How about you? What have you observed about yourself and the things going on around you?

At the end of the day, all we can do when feeling helpless is to get on our knees and pray. With a pandemic of this magnitude, only God can give us comfort.

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV

Stay safe everyone and follow the guidance provided by our leaders.

7-Point transformational tips

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

suzanne-d-williams-VMKBFR6r_jg-unsplash.jpg

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

There is no silver bullet for all transformational needs. Every company has its own culture, needs, peculiarities, uniqueness, management maturity, leadership competencies that affect what approach will be successful.

Even though we often hear about how a big percentage of transformations fail, we should also look at the positive side. How did the smaller percentage of companies that have successfully transformed do it? What was their secret recipe? There is something in common about the way successful companies executed their transformation programs.

Here are my thoughts.

Tips to a successful transformation

  1. Clear and well communicated Vision. Answer the question “Why do we need to transform?”

What will the company look and feel like at the end of the transformation program? If the leadership cannot or does not paint a clearly articulated picture of it then how will the company know if it has reached its transformational journey? Too often companies jump into the transformational bandwagon without taking the time to paint this picture. Successful companies do not transform for the sake of transformation. IBM CEO Lou Gerstner clearly painted a picture of IBM moving from a computer selling company to an IT Service Provider. They transformed from selling boxes of computers (which they were losing money) to selling services. This clear transformation saved IBM from bankruptcy.

The organization must also understand the ‘why’ behind the transformation. If this is not clear, at least two negative things may happen. Employees will think that this is just the next ‘flavor of the month’ program of the executives. They do not see the burning platform behind the need to change. The other outcome for not explaining the ‘why’; employees will speculate why the company is transforming. Things like ‘we are going bankrupt, we are being merged with a bigger company, we are down-sizing’ and other negative rumors will start spreading across the organization.

  1. Core cross-functional process improved. Creating change teams. Core process to be re-built around company values.

Products and services are delivered through 3-5 Cross-functional Core processes. Companies that starts losing marketing share or incur high customer attrition is usually partially caused by faulty cross-functional core processes. These core processes may have been efficient when the company was starting or was smaller than it is today. However, the growth and direction of the company may no longer be reflected in its core processes.

One of GE’s strength under the leadership of Jack Welch was its ability to improve its core process. Six Sigma was implemented across the different GE affiliates. The initiative was sponsored and fully supported by the group CEO. In the earlier days of Jack Welch, executives were expected to understand and run Six Sigma programs. The program was so effective that is was merged with Toyotas LEAN program. The result is the popular Lean Six Sigma. In a nutshell, Lean Six Sigma is about reduction of a core processes errors and cycle time. Let’s take a simple example; customer service. A customer is better serviced if the company has minimal mistakes in its service and the delivery of service takes little time. This can apply to products as well. Delivering products with less or no defect at the shortest possible time is an advantage to any company.

  1. Bottom-up problem solving

Problem definition is best done from the field and not the boardroom. Too many times, I have witnessed decision making being done by people removed from actual customer touch-point. They are done through personal views and opinions. To make things worse, decisions and problem definition is being done in the absence of data.

In transformation programs, we often forget that problems will be surfaced and needs resolution. Two things to remember in problem-solving. One, we need to involve people closest to the problems. They feel the problem and often know the root cause. We just need to have the humility to ask them. Two, we need to equip them. There are several problem solving and decision-making tools. We need to equip employees with these techniques. It’s similar to asking employees to build a birdcage and yet not provide them the training and tools to carry out the job. A client of mine did a similar tact years ago. This huge retail company was in the middle of a massive change. They engaged us in customized change management & psdm (problem-solving and decision making) programs. They ran these in dozens of batches for company managers.

  1. Alignment of Structure/Systems and Staff

Transformation will always cause realignments. We need to take this into careful consideration. Organizational structures need to be reviewed in light of the transformation. Systems and processes need to be updated in light of the transformation. Staff and job profiles need to be reviewed and updated in light of the transformation. Transformation programs need to be implemented with sustainability in mind. Transformation needs to be designed for the long term and not short-lived.

For sustainability, we need to take these three things into careful consideration. Most transformations fail or are short-lived because these three things were neglected or not taken seriously.

  1. Inside-out approach

In order to transform your company, you first need to transform your people. We don’t mean compliant transformation. Compliant transformation means that people ‘transform’ for the sake of compliance. It’s temporary and superficial.

Transformation must make the drop from the head to the heart. It starts with logic but makes its way to our emotions. If the transformation program does not make that drop then it’s simply compliant and not sustainable. It will be just another fad that executives are trying to implement.

Transformation workshops need to be designed to transform lives. Transformed lives sustain transformed organizations. This is what we (Vanguard Center for Leadership) are good at.

  1. Top-down.

This is the classic ‘walk-the-talk’. We cannot have our leadership talk about transformation and yet do not embody it. Transformation workshops need to start from the top. I had luxury supermarket client before that reached out to me for guidance on an interesting topic. The French CEO said that his company was good at creating strategies and plans. However, execution was another thing. They were terrible at it. Plans would get delayed, project managers would get lost in the handover, project costs would sky-rocket. The CEO needed a simple Project Management/Change Management and PSDM (Problem Solving and Decision Making) program. We provided them a template driven and simple Effective Execution program we used in a large Middle East Bank I used to work for.

As a good leader, the CEO got himself and his first level executives trained in the program. This is clearly ‘walking the talk’. He then set-up a Projects Office (as per our guidance) to make sure that all projects followed the process and their progress is reviewed on a regular basis. All his store management team where then trained on the same program he attended. This way, they talk the same language. Two years later and with another CEO sitting at the helm, the company is still using the methodology and the governance is still in place.

  1. Culture integration

You cannot have your transformation program going in one direction and yet sustaining a culture moving in another direction. Transformation programs must be designed to change culture. I remember a great British Manager saying ‘culture is what you allow to grow.’ It is people that defined the culture of a company. To be more specific, it’s the leaders and how they behave that molds a company’s culture. This is the very reason why we need to have a top-down approach. This is the reason we need an inside-out approach.

There are other things to consider in a successful transformation. For instance, we did not tackle the need to reflect the transformational goals in the performance management system of a company. Aligning transformational goals from top-to-bottom is essential. We also did not tackle the identification of the vital few measures to help us keep track of progress. What measures matter and how should we quantify them. For instance, improving customer complaints by 70% does not really make much sense. It would be better to say ‘reducing the average monthly customer complaint from an average of 700 to less than 20.’

Each transformation journey will be unique. Let’s begin it with the 7 tips and you will be off to a better start with your transformation program. Transformation is never easy; however, we hope that the tips will make it an easier journey for you.

Feel free to reach out if there is any topic in transformation you want us to cover.

Click here for the podcast version.

HR function is both strategic and operational

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
people discuss about graphs and rates
Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

I was surprised to hear a senior HR Manager suggesting to a company CEO that all he needs is an HR Manager to look after HR operations. The CEO was advised that he does not need a strategic thinking HR Director. This is often a short-sighted occurrence in HR and other company functions.

We often think that HR is simply an operational or administrative function in an organization. A finely tuned HR Operations can make a big difference in the work environment of a company. I would agree to.

However, as leaders, we need to take care of the business both today and prepare it for a better future. HR plays a critical role in preparing the company for a better future. HR, in its best form, is a strategic business partner that is part of the strategic planning process.

Let me break it down into simple steps:
1. A business strategy will always have additional two components. It will have a change management component since strategic initiatives will always incur a change in the company. Second, strategic initiatives will most likely have an HR component.
2. The strategically thinking HR Director can extract the HR requirements from a business strategy. This is then turned into HR initiatives or projects that are aligned to the respective business projects.
3. These HR projects are then implemented together with the respective business projects.

People related questions that usually arise in business strategies are:
1. What competencies do we need to develop or acquire for the new strategies?
2. What competencies do we need to look for in hiring people?
3. What changes to our goal-setting process do we need to consider with the new strategies?
4. What do we do with team members who are not able to take on the new roles or competencies required by the business strategy?
5. How does a successful adaptation to the new role affect people’s career paths and promotability?
6. What communication activities do we need to roll-out to explain the people related initiatives resulting from the business strategy?

There are a number of people related activities that are needed to be taken into consideration when mapping business strategies to the people agenda.

That is one side of the HR Strategic thinking coin. The second side is what best HR practices are currently being used by successful companies? How can we adapt them to suit our company culture and status quo? How do we roll out the customized version? How do we time the roll-out and who is accountable for the different components of the project?

HR Operations takes a look at the current HR Work. At best, it also tries to improve the current way of work in HR. HR Operations looks after today’s HR activities.

HR Strategic thinking takes into account aligning the people agenda to the business strategy. It also seeks to implement best HR management practices in the workplace. HR Strategy looks after HR and the business in the near future.

Both HR Operations and HR Strategic thinking is needed for a successful business.

You can listen to the podcast version of this article by clicking here (jordansviews.com)

Six tell-tale signs that our leadership superpowers may be dipping

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
photography of a person pointing on something
Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

When business is booming and the economy is raising our revenues, it’s easy to perform our role as a leader.

The key behaviors are easily manifested and evident to all employees. “Walking the talk” is easy. Leaders even preach the attributes of a good leader to their direct reports. They also enjoy dropping quotes from great leaders of the past.

However, challenging times tend to test our leadership resolve. Difficult times can test the values we preach. Such hard times can test our leadership competencies. It is in these moments that we need to hold on stronger to ideal leadership competencies and behaviors. This is the time where our people look up to us for guidance and to set an example for them to follow.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” James 1:2-3

It is in these moments that we need to understand and observe ourselves. We need to pay close attention to our leadership style. We need to be critical of how we behave towards our current situation and towards our people.

From experience consulting for different company leaders in good times and in bad, here are a few signs to watch out for. If you start seeing any of these manifests in your leadership style then it’s time to take a pause and assess why you are behaving the way you are behaving. Assess how your leadership behavior is helping or hindering your current situation.

  1. We start to de-priorities the development of our people.

In times of blessings and times of lack, people should always be our most important asset. We cannot have people as our most important asset in good times and in bad times bring them down the pecking order. It will be our good people sticking with us that will help us through difficult times. We may need to reduce our manpower in downtimes, however, let’s make sure we keep the good ones. Great companies invest more in the development of their people instead of cutting down the training budget. Management guru Peter Drucker said, “If you think training is expensive, try ignorance.”

  1. We start blaming first and ask questions after

Democracy reigns in good times. Everyone has an equal voice in good times. In bad times, we sometimes shift to finger-pointing. Instead of asking the question “what happened, what’s the root cause, how can we correct it, how can we prevent recurrence”, we default to “who is to blame for this?”

Such a work environment causes people to be afraid to try anything for fear of reprisal. Nobody also wants bad news to trickle up for fear that the messenger of bad news gets the ax. By the time senior management gets wind of an issue, it has already ballooned into a big problematic snowball.

  1. We fight industry trends

What got you there, won’t get you to the next level. Too many times, I have seen the reason for a company’s success turning into the reason for its failure. Company founders hold on to their original success formula. Software companies using the same antiquated programming approach even though it has been made obsolete by the industry. Retail businesses refusing to create a hybrid digital/brick-and-mortar model. People standing on street corners marketing their products and services using old-fashioned flyers.

Do we really think we can beat industry trends? Blockbuster thought that they can keep the lead by ignoring Netflix. They filed for chapter 11. Kodak refused to move to Digital cameras since their massive growth was fueled by film-based technology. They filed for chapter 11. Did Barnes & Noble think that building more stores would win the hearts of customers that are moving into digital books? They filed for chapter 11.

  1. We start losing high-potential people and retain the bad apples.

When signs of bad leadership start to manifest itself in the workplace, it’s the good employees that jump ship. These high performers know their market value. It’s the none-performers that tend to stay. Why? They have no place to go. Now take a balcony moment and check your business. Your company is currently under a lot of stress and the people you have are mostly non-performers. The good ones went out of the front door.

  1. We don’t openly bring faith in the workplace

Deuteronomy 8:18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth; that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

When we succeed, we often think it was purely on our own accord and effort. We think that the growth of our business stems from our intelligence and tenacity. What we forget is that our talents, opportunities, blessings, wealth, valuable employees, valuable clients, favorable market trends, education, parents, family name and so on came from our creator. None of our success is purely ours to solely claim. Why is it that we do not openly acknowledge or practice our faith? Are we ashamed to be seen as an obedient follower? Are we ashamed to show that we rely on a higher power for our business?

Captains of industries with an openly strong faith in God have grown their business to billions of dollars in annual revenues. You have Dan Cathy (Chik-fil-A) grew his business to 2,363 stores with annual revenues of $10.5 Billion. You have Dave Thomas, CEO of Wendys with their 800 stores. James Cash Penny with 2,000 JC Penny store locations.

Clearly, faith in the workplace works.

  1. We start mixing personal and professional views

When times are good, leaders can separate their personal from work views. Even if they do not like people at a personal level they can work with them.

When times are tough, the line between personal and work views starts to blur. The leader’s personal views start to cloud their work judgment. Dealing with good people with opposing views starts to get painted in a bad light.

Once they have a bad view of good people, everything these people say is taken in a negative context. Good people that are marked as (personally) bad eventually leave the company.

There are other tell-tale signs of a leadership 180-degree turn. These are just examples of signs to look out for. With God by our side, we can maintain our positive Leadership behaviors in good times and in bad.

You can listen to the podcast version of this article by clicking here (jordansviews.com)

“Change before you have to.” — Jack Welch

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

transformThe premise of the book ‘What got you here won’t get you there’ from Marshal Goldsmith is that whatever formula you came up with to get to where you are may no longer apply for the next level of your journey. This applies to both work and career alike.

For instance, you sharpened your selling skills when you were still selling insurance products for a Bank. Your boss decides to promote you to a sales manager position. You were tasked with overseeing a team of ten insurance salespeople. The sales competency you developed through the years may no longer completely apply to your new career opportunity. You now need to develop your management competencies.

The same goes for organizations. Let’s take the retail industry as an example. Retailers like department stores and book stores grew their business by expanding their brick and mortar presence. A major component of their strategy is to be everywhere their target market is. It was part of their marketing strategy for brand recognition.

However, in recent years, the retail business has morphed into a hybrid of the physical and digital world.

In the coming years, the ability to adapt and change quickly will be the hallmark of successful retailers. The focus will be on maximizing inventory turnover. Supply chain processes will be scrutinized for constant improvements. Customer experience still reigns supreme. Customers are now expecting quick deliveries and a merge between online and in-store shopping will become the norm.

Organizational transformation requires people transformation. Organizational transformation requires authentic leadership. Organizational transformation requires igniting people to perform at their full potential.

Organizational transformation starts now. It starts before you need to. Transformation begins before you are forced to start.

This is where, we at Vanguard Center for Leadership, can add value to your organization.

Lessons from Jesus in the Boat

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

Jesus-sleeping-in-boat-at-peace-in-stormOn that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:35-41

As we go through life, we will always have storms and trials all around us just like the storms around the disciples with Jesus on the boat. In the passage, the disciples were panicking and fearful of their lives. They were afraid of the raging storms around them. It is very ironic that despite having the Prince of Peace with them, they allowed their fears to get out of control. They even doubted Jesus as they woke Him up saying ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’. Jesus replied ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ Surprisingly, the disciple’s faith was still in question even after being with Jesus for some time.

If we look at our lives, it’s pretty much the same thing. We allow our external earthly situations to disturb our inner peace. We react to the world around us relying only on our limited capabilities. Even when walking with Prince of Peace – the Son of God, we still allow ourselves to be disturbed, worried, angered by what’s happening around us.

The verse shows us that we are always with Jesus so why should we be worried? Why should we be overly concerned when we are in the ‘boat’ with Jesus? How much is our faith in our Father above?

In times of trials and tribulations, let us center the peace in our hearts knowing that we have Jesus with us. Let us lean on our father for our worries. Let us walk in faith knowing that God is a good God and in control all the time. Let us wake up in the morning knowing that God loved us first. Let us remember that God loved us even during our sinful worst. God loves us so much that He sacrificed His one and only Son to die for our sins.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalms 18:2

Let us center our peace in God and not allow the storms around us to take control of our life. Let us stay calm and sit with Jesus in the boat.

Love & Acceptance, Identity and Performance

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
man wearing white and blue shirt jumping on white avai table
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

When I was in my 20’s, I had the tendency to focus on my performance at work. Not having the privilege to have a college education has driven me to perform twice as hard as my peers. I needed to prove my worth in the companies I worked for back here in the Philippines. I derived satisfaction from the job titles I was able to earn. I felt love and accepted by my family for every promotion I got.

However, the time came that I felt the pressure and stress of trying to maintain such a high level of performance excellence. I was afraid that I would lose both my identity, value, love and acceptance if I slowed down. I felt trapped between the stress I created for myself and the performance I needed to maintain in order to keep my position. This was all before I turned to God.

Turning to God made me realise that I was already loved and accepted. Turning to God made me realise that my identity is defined through my relationship with God our father. Being at peace with this, I was able to perform at my best without the fear I used to carry in my mind.

Our current education system is designed to have our children focus on performance. Performing academically and/or in sports have been centre to our educational system. Our children’s identity are somewhat defined by their performance in academe or in sports. They feel the love and acceptance of their family, classmates, teachers and friends when they excel.

We carry this trait as we grow older into adulthood. We bring this behaviour in the workplace. It becomes very important for us and our future that we perform well at work. The job titles we earn becomes a ‘badge’ of honour. We link our identity to the role we play in the workplace. Our identity is linked to our being a doctor, lawyer, senior manager, Vice President, CFO, CEO, HR Head and so on. The love and acceptance of the people around us is linked to our identity. It’s very similar to when we were in school.

If left unchecked, this can cause us problems in the long run. What if, for whatever reason, we are no longer able to perform at our peak? What if we move out of our prestigious role in the company for a job with a lesser title but more meaningful work? What if we retire from our VP role?

In essence, this is our performance flow:
Performance -> Identity -> Love and Acceptance

At a recent Authentic Business workshop I attended, I realised that the flow is completely opposite of what it should be. The true flow must start from Love and Acceptance. We first have be centered in love and acceptance. We are loved and accepted by our maker. Finding peace in the love and acceptance of our father above is a truly refreshing feeling.

Once we are centered in God’s love and acceptance, our identity is also clearer. Our identity is defined by our relationship with our father above. Our identity is defined by the purpose that God gives us.

Rooted in God’s love and acceptance defines our identity. Our identity now fuels our performance. We perform at our best because we are loved and accepted. We perform at our best because our identity is not rooted in the world around us. We perform at our best because our identity is rooted in God’s love and acceptance.

God’s love and acceptance -> Identity -> Performance

Let us all perform at our best to honour the provider of our talents and opportunities. Let us all perform at our best because our identity is rooted in God’s unwavering Love and Acceptance.