Welcome To About Sales Growth Specialists

Overview

Kise, Stark, and Hirsh, authors of Discover Who You Are, provide tools and resources for the individuals who develop teams, organizations and ministries. These tools help all participants discover answers to questions regarding one’s uniqueness and purpose: Why am I here? What do I do best? What am I passionate about? What do I value? What are my priorities?

Gaining clarity about how one is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139) helps to facilitate the idea of our being a “living sacrifice” walking in humble servant-hood, using our gifts to advance the Kingdom of God (Romans 12: 1,2).

Kise et al. observe that we live in a time when people no longer look to the institutional church for their spiritual needs (17). This creates an opportunity for business leaders to practically demonstrate the veracity of the Gospel and to add value to their communities. The more Christ-followers realize they are called to be the Church in their work environments—to integrate the secular and the sacred—the more effective they’ll be at expanding the Kingdom of God.

In discussing the unique attributes of each person—their life gifts, spiritual gifts, personality type, values, passion, and priorities—three themes emerge which unite the material:

God created us and therefore highly values us,
God created us uniquely, and
From the foundation of the world, God had and has a purpose for each of us to do (23).

Analysis

The purpose of this reflection paper is to analyze the principles in Discover Who You Are in light of Biblical/management concepts of Accountability, Identity Clarity, and Goal Alignment.

Identity Clarity

Discover Who You Are addresses the subject of Identity Clarity, understanding one’s uniqueness. When people become clear about who they are and how they are uniquely gifted, they find what Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute, describes as, “your unique mission in life:” “To exercise that Talent which you particularly came to Earth to use, in the place(s) or settings(s) which God has caused to appeal to you most, and for the purposes which God most needs to have done in the world.”

Identity Clarity is a powerful management philosophy for Christian business leaders. Much of business interaction is subtly based on the evolutionary you-are-one-step-above-monkey’s ethos vs. the idea that people are uniquely created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). To lead and manage in such a way that we recognize that people are uniquely gifted and crafted ensures we show respect to those we work with, and that we practically live the second commandment, according to Jesus in Matthew 22:38 to love others as are ourselves.

Goal Alignment:

In the ideal world, there is alignment between Gods’ purposes and the purposes of the individual and the team or organization: is this too idealistic for real-world living? Is it idealistic to think that our passion could be met with your business? Is it possible that employees’ passions in life could be satisfied through their jobs within our companies?

Kise and colleagues talk about the obvious “big” goal alignments: someone passionate about legal injustice who chooses to work for Legal Assistance. On the other hand, they also talk about the not-so obvious and yet powerful connections. For example, the authors ask, “If everyone in your law office is over-worked, could your passion be setting policies and billing structures that allow for more balance in life? The point is one of stewardship: We are not to worry about our lack of talents and capabilities: we are simply to steward what we have” (202). Jesus challenges us in Matthew 25: 14-29 to realize that ultimately, all are accountable to God for the use of their time, talents, and treasure.

Accountability:

In everyday language, accountability is doing what we say we are going to do. Simply let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No” be “No” (Matt. 5:37). When we know and are comfortable with our unique combination of strengths and weaknesses, we know what we can say “yes” to and what is outside our realm of comfort and expertise: we’re empowered to let our “Yes” be “Yes”.

As managers and leaders, we must recognize the gifts of those who work with us and hold them accountable to realistic standards based on their giftedness. For example, if I have a top salesperson who is great at people interaction, but may not be detail-oriented, I may ask for a minimum baseline behavior with certain reports. For the more extensive work, however, I may hire assistants or encourage him to hire his own assistant. Therefore it is important when building a team to know the unique gifts and talents that the position requires...and then hire accordingly.