Express Your Preferences

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Ephesians 5:10

I am facilitating an executive staff meeting with a team that is trying to solve a critical issue facing their company. They are sharp people, but they are crippled by the unplanned absence of their president.

Every suggestion is met with something like, “He won’t like that.”

This team had a very clear picture of what the boss disliked, but when I asked them to focus on what the boss liked, they came up empty.

It wasn’t their fault. They had to practice “avoidance planning,” because they only knew what they were not supposed to do and where they weren’t supposed to go.

It’s your duty to show your team what pleases you.

Give them a clear picture of what you want. For example,

“I’d like to see more of this.”

“This is working; let’s build on it.”

“I wish we could have more of that.”

Imagine being a taxi driver with passengers who only told you where they didn’t want to go.