Ps 27:13 – I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. NIV
Worker engagement is a pandemic worldwide. About 80% of employees around the world are disengaged in their work. It’s just not exciting, and there’s no good reason to be passionate about work. There are three reasons for employees to engage in their work, three levels of life:
- Prosperity (Zoe) – When we start the best thing about work is the paycheck. It’s buys our lifestyle away from work where we get our happiness. Zoe like plant life. Water and sun make it grow. The paychecks and vacations give us something to look forward to. Our life comes from outside our work. Job changes are frequent at this level of engagement.
- Personality (Psuche) – The second level of engagement starts when we find a niche or promotion that fits our style or profile. Work can be more satisfying and fulfilling when we get to use some of our talents. We can put a little more of ourselves into work, but it’s still not “ours.”
- Purpose (Pneuma) – Currently, most businesses don’t have a credible spiritual purpose and don’t even know that one might exist. However, companies, like people, have a book or calling, and if it can be put on paper, and if it’s prophetically correct, a new door opens to a different level of life in the staff. We each carry a treasure in earthen vessels. When that treasure is tapped, and purpose is shared, people get really excited about their work!
Kingdom Business Culture – Imagine a business employer who could articulate his Kingdom purpose. What would happen? Instead of people clocking their time, or satisfying their ego, or deploying their gifts, they might decide to put the Kingdom first and engage in their ministry calling (and get paid for it and use their natural profile to do it).
Question? – From the owner’s standpoint would you want: 1) what people can give from their time, or 2) what people can do when they connect with their unique gifts? #2 would be a big improvement. But what if there was a third possibility? What if an employee gave you what God could do through them regarding exploits, creativity, initiative, and shared vision? What if they owned the vision because it matched the purpose God wrote in their heart? What if they came to work with faith that would move mountains and loved people? What if they worked with you instead of for you? That would be a whole different work culture – a Kingdom Business Culture.
What it feels like – Kingdom culture isn’t just a business pretending to be a church. Nor is it a theocracy where the purpose is handed down on tablets of stone, and we’re told to get excited about it because God is. Kingdom culture engages hearts. God has written His desires in our Hearts, and he wants our dreams to come true (Ps 37:4). He’s building His Kingdom through sons and daughters who co-labor with Him from the heart.
Listening to Hearts – Kingdom business is taking time to find the overlap between the purpose of the business and purpose in people and inviting them to engage in their/our Kingdom dream. A Kingdom business owner has a talent for listening and hearing what Father has written in the hearts of the people who make our businesses work. The price tag in transparent relationships and some 1-on-1 time, but the payback is moving people into a realm where they release their treasure, their spirit; the anointing that breaks yokes and multiplies fruit and cash flow. It pretty simple – Do you want a staff who work with anointing or without? Do you want a staff who work for you or with you?
Real world – The logo in the graphic belongs to Tobe Finch, the president of Happy Day Restaurants (13 restaurants, a catering division led by Alicia, 13 store managers, and 550 employees). Right now, he’s got a kingdom purpose that is igniting his staff. He’s also in the process of discovering their purpose.
What happens when he asks the three questions?
- What’s our shared purpose? What ignites you?
- What’s your dream? The desire God wrote on your heart?
- How can I help you take the next step to make your dream come true?
Answer – people feel respected and loved. No one has ever asked before: not parents, teachers, employers, pastors – no one. Purpose is the essence of Kingdom culture that helps people engage in their work and calling. Amazingly, Father is allowing people to build the Kingdom first and get saved second. We’re just doing what He is doing (Jn 5:19), and it’s really fun! The essence of the Gospel is that it’s OK to be yourself because you are created in His image to share His purpose and co-labor to build His Kingdom on Earth. The experience of doing it is more real than a sermon that explains it.
Here’s the secret of Kingdom Business: Tobe’s staff of 550 is not a church, but it is an Ecclesia. Let that sink in. They are being invited to bring reformation to their city and their region.
PS: Want to know if this could work in your business? https://linktr.ee/johngarfield
The Kingdom Business Culture Field Guide is an online course. You can get a free preview here.
Cutting Room Floor
2023-02-07 Engagement
From Gallop Polling – See how books/mind maps/Purpose pull sons into kingdom business engagement?
The engagement elements that declined the most from the pre-pandemic record-high engagement ratio in 2019 to 2022 were:
- clarity of expectations
- connection to the mission or purpose of the company
- opportunities to learn and grow
- opportunities to do what employees do best
- feeling cared about at work
younger workers experienced more decline in:
- feeling cared about
- having someone who encourages their development
- opportunities to learn and grow
- their opinions counting
- having a best friend at work
women saw larger declines in:
- feeling cared about at work
- having someone who encourages their development
- having progress discussions
And finally – Gallop plugging the Betenbough 1-on-1 strategy:
The manager must now hold one meaningful conversation per week with each employee — 15 to 30 minutes, about goals, customers, well-being, and recognition. This is the activity that prevents employees from feeling disconnected from the organization. We find this single habit develops high-performance relationships more than any other single leadership activity. Gallup analytics have found that managers can be quickly upskilled to have these ongoing strengths-based conversations that bring clarity and purpose to work — which is now deteriorating in U.S. organizations.
The “Kingdom Culture” bottleneck will eventually be managers engaging with employees on a meaningful level (by their definition). Like to help with that…
- Mindmap conversations around prophetic purpose in the working culture.
- The skillset to pull it off practically, relationally, and spiritually (when people are scattered between these three levels)
