STORY TELLING: WHO ARE THE BEST EMPLOYEES?

In a business we look at employee performance in terms of corporate objectives as they in Action Plans down the whole corporate ladder. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to do this analysis without the cart before the horse? Acceptable and especially excellent outputs of people are more related to their character, their work ethic and their attitude to the other people they interact with within and outside the company. The company has external suppliers and customers; each individual on the company is an internal supplier and an internal customer. After a lifetime in manufacturing this author is convinced that if the right ethical principles are part of everybody’s character than each customer, internal and external, will be satisfied.

Let’s set the stage for this story that illustrates the contrast of these principles. Chuck and Jack were two receiving clerks in a midsize company. They were responsible to take care of all the paperwork for incoming parts for the assembly line and to inspect incoming material for defects. Charley and Joe were their internal customer, working on that assembly line, using parts and tooling that Chuck and Jack received.

Chuck was meticulous, almost to a fault. He learned to enjoy what he did and took pride in his work, no matter how menial it was. He was cheerful, not complaining and took note of the people he worked with. He aimed to please everybody. When he found out that Joe’s wife gave birth to a premature baby, and they were having a rough go of it, he stopped at the hospital on his way home to check on them, at least weekly during the months the baby was in trouble. He found out they were having financial trouble because of this he took up a collection for them. When Charley’s car broke down he picked him up to get him to work.

 

Jack’s emphasis was on speed, he worked hard to get more stuff out to the line than any of the other receivers. Jack was also a chronic complainer with no cheese to go with his whine. For some unknown reason, he always had it in for Charley. He would intentionally not deliver crucial parts to him so that Charley would have to go after them, loosing time and slowing down the line. When a defective tool came through he was sure to pass that Charley. When they passed out the envelope to collect money for Joe he put in a playing card with the note, “Here, have fun.” When Charley’s car broke down Jack snickered, “The dumb jerk.”

When it came time for annual evaluations who do you think got rewarded for a job well done?

Matthew 34-36   “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.’

37-40   “Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ (The Message Bible)

Moral of the story:

The cart before the horse is look at Jack’s output without regard to character. His internal customers, especially Charley, were not happy customers and because their work was impeded by things Jack did, there may have been late deliveries, adversely effecting external customer delight. Do the leaders of this company take more note of character and work ethic than at the surface measurements of an employee’s output?

PLEASE DEAR READERS, BE A BLESSING. No, don’t send me any money. If you are blessed by this way of telling a familiar story, if your creative juices are sparked about how to share God’s heart, or any meaningful reaction, please do more than click the like button on LinkedIn or Facebook. Your input is as important to the other readers all over the world as the words that I write. Write your comments in the box at the end so that I can easily publish them for all to see regardless of the source of the link.

STORY TELLING: THE RELEVANCE OF FINANCIAL WEALTH IN THE BIG PICTURE.

Jesus always used parables and He will help us to do so we can communicate in a way people can relate to without feeling like you are "preaching at them"

If you have never been to a third world country, and not the nice tourist places, your life is missing a dimension in terms of understanding real poverty. I highly recommend everyone take a short term missions trip to places where poverty is extreme. The poorest of the poor in the United States live better than the people in many parts of the world. Attitudes and the outlook on life vary just as drastically no matter where you go or who you meet. This story takes place in a land where there is that severe extreme between rich and poor, perhaps where there is a caste system creating continuous and extreme poverty for many. Any similarity to real names is purely coincidental, these characters are factious and no reference to ethnicity is inferred no intended. The life lesson is perhaps the most important lesson one can ever learn.

PLEASE DEAR READERS, BE A BLESSING. No, don’t send me any money. If you are blessed by this way of telling a familiar story, if your creative juices are sparked about how to share God’s heart, or any meaningful reaction, please do more than click the like button on LinkedIn or Facebook. Your input is as important to the other readers all over the world as the words that I write. Write your comments in the box at the end so that I can easily publish them for all to see regardless of the source of the link.

Ethan Rom was an extremely wealthy CEO of a gigantic industrial construction company. His company built the complexes for oil wells, pipelines, natural gas and also the buildings used for power generation throughout the world. He had a big car, beautiful wife and three spoiled brat kids. He was a ruthless business man, using every trick, legal or not, to get jobs and build without regard to codes by bribery. Although he travelled much of the time, his office was in a classic building that had once been a castle on the outskirts of the city.

Every time Ethan drove through the gates leading to his office building, he would stop to wait for the gate to open, lower his window and spit his chewing tobacco at Lazzitt Burk. Lazzitt had been crippled while working on one of Ethan’s construction projects and, unable to work again, lost everything. Lazzitt sat at the gate playing his mandolin, case open in from of him, hoping people passing by would throw him some money so he could buy food for himself and his family. Sometimes his young daughter Shamie would accompany him, singing with the sweetest voice and dancing. Although her clothes were worn out and dirty by upper class standards, to Shamie her dress was the prettiest dress in the world.

Years went by and nothing changed, except that Ethan’s attitude got worse and Lazzitt mellowed with age. Lazzitt always had a certain calm about him, an inner strength that was a source of encouragement to his family and friends. Day after day, year after year Lazzitt would see that fancy car come to the gate, listen to the obscene put-downs and see the spit hurled his way. Ethan’s language got worse in his later years, he was a bitter, grumpy old man not content with anything and disliked by most. One day there was a massive earthquake. Thousands perished, many more than would have if Ethan built those building to code. Lazzitt and Ethan were among the dead. The day of reckoning for these men had come. The sources of their attitudes became apparent.

 

Face to face with eternity, Ethan panicked. He pushed God away all his life and now he was facing the consequences. He saw an eternity before him that was so much worse than the conditions Lazzitt lived in, no one can imagine such eternal horror. He cried out to God to send Lazzitt with something for him to drink, even one sip of water to give him some relief from the heat and stench. The response was a resounding “NO WAY, you had everything you wanted before and Lazzitt had absolutely nothing. You gave him spit and obscenity for his great music and warm smile every day, you complained about him to everyone you talked to day after day, after day, after day. Worse than that, you pushed me away all your life. I tried to reach you with My love day after day, after day, after day for many years. I took it personally every time you spit at Lazzitt. Now you want me to help you? Sorry, it’s too late for that, you ignored thousands of chances.”

“OK God,” Ethan pleaded, “I understand but how about sending Lazzitt to warn my family. My kids are just like I was, my brother is worse. “

God’s response scared Ethan even more when HE said, “I’ve been reaching out to them all their lives just like I did you, let’s see if they ever respond and accept MY love and let ME help them turn their lives around.”

“Oh, but, but, but, God, surely if someone came back from death and told them they would get the message.”

Again, God’s response further crushed Ethan when HE said, “If they won’t listen to what God loving people say, if they don’t recognize MY glory in creation, if they never respond to my loving arms stretched out to them they will not respond even if a dead man comes to life and talks to them face to face.”

Face to face with eternity, Lazzitt was overwhelmed with joy. Lazzitt had walked with God since his brush with death in the accident and his nurse introduced him to the Lover of His Soul. Lazzitt’s daughter also died in the earthquake. Now she was beautifully clothed in the whitest white dress, adorned with jewels and gold, as they joined with the angels singing and dancing before their Heavenly Father.