ARE:A Renewal Enterprise

Do You Help Others Play Well Together?

Do you play well with others? There are a lot of voices today encouraging you to ask yourself this question. HR expert, Susan M., says "accomplishing work is largely about the relationships you develop." Citing Toyota as a current example, the folks at Working With Others warn that not playing well with others can kill your brand. And Steve R. at All Things Workplace argues pretty convincingly that in terms of professional success, it's more important than anything else, including intelligence, abilities or performance. We wouldn't disagree.

When it comes to leadership in an organization, however, we think there's an even more important question:

 Do you help others play well together?

How are you telling your story?

 Happy Birthday, Chicago! 

Incorporated on March 4, 1837, today is the 173rd birthday of one of the world's most remarkable – and one of the nation's largest – cities. 

One of the local papers in Chicago is "celebrating" today with a photo montage of memorable and notorious moments. The truth is, we had to stop looking about half way through the show. While there are a few pics showing the city's good side, most of the photos in this montage highlight the bad and the ugly: mobsters, murderers, and mayhem. 

Really, guys?

Don't Let The Crazies Take Over The Playground

Don't underestimate the importance of cultivating healthy relationships in your organization. Leadership blogger Jon Gordon reminds us today that research has found successful marriages have a 5-1 ratio of positive interactions. Similarly, workgroups with a 3-1 ratio of positive interactions are more effective. 

It's not all just about being happy-bunny at work, though. Pretending that all is wonderful when it's not is no better than scowling your way through everyday, ignoring all the good stuff. Gordon reports that workgroups with an 11-1 ratio of positive interactions are less effective. 

The point is: Leaders cultivate healthy relationships. i.e., positive and honest. 

Love One Another

These are very tough times for a lot of the organizations we care about. Thanks to our friend Colleen for reminding us that the most powerful force in the universe is love. And that love grows when people laugh and play together. She sent us a link to this great video of The Pink Glove Dance. The staff at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center clearly had a lot of fun putting it together. Their goal was to generate breast cancer awareness throughout their system. We're thinking it was good for them, too. And it's just the thing some of us need to be reminded that even when facing the most difficult issues of all, when you come together in love good things happen.

Love one another today.

 

Cultivate Love With Gratitude

Take a few minutes this week to look around at the people you work with and serve beside. For whom and for what are you thankful? Be sure you let somebody know.

Your People Need You

A few people who have attended a "Treasure in Clay Jars" workshop this fall thought they heard us say leaders are unnecessary. They couldn't have been more wrong! So, why did these people hear that? Because we are strong advocates of more decentralized, collaborative work environments. In fact, we believe this way of working together isn't just preferred; in the emerging future, we believe it is inevitable. And some people assume there's no role for a leader in a decentralized organization. Ha!

A whole lot of people can tell other people what to do (the old model of leadership). But it takes real skill to recognize, tap into, and unleash the creativity, intelligence, and passion of the people you're working with (the new model of leadership). And that is the kind of leadership our businesses, nonprofits, governments, and religious organizations need today.

This is for all the lonely people

One of the things we're finding as we've been out on the road this fall is that a lot of people get the difference between a consumable and a renewable way of living and working together – in other words, instead of acting like dollars and cents are the bottom line, they want to spend their lives doing what matters – but they're not sure how to get started. 

What's Your Story?

One of our favorite story tellers is a guy named Brian Andreas, whose colorful drawings and simple stories can be found on cards, furniture, wall hangings, tote bags, and just about everything else you can imagine. His little company is called Story People and they'll deliver a story to your email inbox every day, if you ask them nicely. (Actually, all you have to do is sign up for this free service at their website.) Today's story goes like this:

stable as long as nothing else in the whole world shifts (so don't get your hopes up)

That's a great story for anyone who is trying to lead an organization or a community they care about into this emerging future. The world is changing at lightning speed; no one and no organization is immune. We're not even sure why anyone would want to be. But we know it can be scary.

ARE Launches ARE Books(TM)!

You may wonder what we've been up to and think that it must not include writing. But if you think we've taken a vacation from writing you'd be very, very wrong.

The team at A Renewal Enterprise has been furiously writing in order to get as many of the new books in our Renewable Organization for Faith Based Groups series ready for our fall tour. It has been a team effort where the team has discussed, outlined and written in collaborative ways - using Google docs as a collaborative platform to let several people work on the same book at the same time. It has been a dynamic and creative time for the team and we've discovered an excitement for our work that is amazing!

It looks like we'll have 7 new books out in print by early October including the overview book for our work, called The Future Starts Now: The Renewable Organization^TM for Faith-Based Groups. Watch for it because if you think that what God is up to in the world matters and that an effective church will want to be involved out there, you'll discover that this book genuinely breaks some new ground.

We have also decided that in order to release these books, ARE needs a publishing imprint. Today we filed to register ARE Books^TM as an imprint for A Renewal Enterprise. We're a publisher now! And the first set of resources to come off the press will be ready by early October in time for our Fall Tour of the US and Canada.

We are pumped about what we've developed and think we have some things to share that are cutting edge and different than anything else out there. If you live near one of the cities in our Fall Tour, you may want to check out the Treasure in Clay Jars: Renewable Organizations^TM for Faith-based Groups workshops and look for our materials. We'll be launching our new resources, opening our online store, and be a publisher - all in the next few weeks! Whew!

Gut Check Time

It's gut check time.

A couple of our favorite authors have an article in this month's Fast Company magazine in which they report the results of a University of Toronto research project showing that those gut feelings you have are far more reliable than rational thought when it comes to ethical decision making. The bottom line is that you can talk yourself into or out of anything, especially if doing the "right" thing is pitted against doing what seems to be in your best financial interest. Your gut is a way more reliable voice to follow.