Faith Before Work By Dr. Rob McKenna

The Leap of Faith That Changes Us

If faith is that leap to believe something we can’t prove and trust in something beyond ourselves, what are the implications for developing leaders? Our faith is the start and then the work begins. Once we understand where our faith is grounded, all of the working parts of our lives look so different. Our awareness of the specifics of our development as people and as leaders is completely transformed. 

Faith Changes Us

If our faith calls us to accept our belovedness and at the same time value and love those around us, how does that change our perspective on the purpose driving our work? Now, everything, including our paychecks, our systems, our profits and losses, our wealth, our leaders and employees, our volunteers, our marketing, parenting, marriages, and health all exist in service of our faith.

That daily chosen faith and release to the God who owns it all changes every meeting on our calendar into a moment to see and serve another. Even our awareness and development of ourselves as leaders is transformed because it’s no longer only about us, but about us in relationship to them. And, here’s the catch, we must avoid the temptation to see the outcomes as the purpose, but instead to hold the outcomes and the measures of our progress that are so important as lightly as possible. We still hold them, but we hold them loosely. As soon as we begin to work for the sake of those outcomes and not more simply toward them, faith is either integrated or put in the back seat.

It was never supposed to be there. It changes everything, and even how you think about your own learning. 

Faith Changes Our Perspective

In a lived reality where my faith in God comes before the work, how does my understanding of my competence look different? What does it now mean to understand my own motivations and the motivations of others? How does goal achievement look different? We are still asking the same basic questions about why we are here, what we are good at, how to motivate others, set goals, grow our organizations and businesses, identify our blindspots and what we need to learn, but now the purpose behind our development in those areas has a whole new look.

Our leap of faith not only renews our lives in a Providential way, it literally has the capacity to completely revolutionize how we see and do everything. Faith is never integrated with our work. Intentional and chosen faith in Jesus Christ overrides our default to put our works and ourselves first, and changes everything.

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Dr. Rob McKenna, is the CEO and Founder, WiLD Leaders, Inc.  Named one of the top 30 I-O Psychologists alive today, Dr. McKenna is passionate about developing leaders and about transforming the way we see the people in our organizations

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