Building
Quite often I walk out of chuch with some very wise counsel that applies directly to business. Today was no different. Our pastor was speaking from Galatians 6, and he talked about the importance of restoring those who have done wrong. And that restoration process involves (1) lifting up; (2) holding up; and (3) building up. His main point was that when someone gets knocked down because of a bad choice, then it’s important for the fellowship of the church to lift that person up, hold them up during a time of restoration, and then build them up so they won’t make that same choice again.
In business, we have the exact same choice. When one of our team members makes a bad choice or through their actions causes a significant problem for the company, how do we respond? So many times we end up making an example of that individual through our chatter and our actions, and because of our response, that person is permanently scarred and potentially even escorted out of the organization.
But what if we took the example that comes from Galatians and applied that to business as well. When someone makes an error regardless of how costly it is to the business, what if we (1) lift them up; (2) hold them up; and (3) build them up? The cost of terminating one employee and then hiring a new employee is substantial today. If we could mitigate those costs by responding in a nurturing and uplifting way when things go wrong, not only do we save the costs associated with replacing a team member, but we potentially gain a loyal contributor for life.
After thinking about this much of today, I want to be one of those who picks up, holds up, and builds up when bad choices are made or serious errors occur. And, since we all at times by choice or by accident create adversity through our actions, I want to be one who is picked up, held up, and built up when something I do creates concerns or causes adversity in my organization.