Author Archives: Bill Stipp

Being Blessed

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God has truly blessed us each and every day. As leaders we have been given a wonderful gift; the gift to lead others in their vocation. We have an awesome responsibility to provide our co-workers with direction to meet stated goals, to share our knowledge with them, to learn from them and to help them achieve all that they can. God is working through us so that they will not lack anything as they too, go to work for us. Our good work has put us in a place of influence. We influence business decisions, team direction and the growth of others. When you take a minute to think about it, that can become very overwhelming but isn’t that what we signed up for when we accepted our position? God knew that we were able to meet the challenge because He has been with us from the start, whether we knew it or not.

Deuteronomy 2:7 “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands… The Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.”

How has the Lord your God blessed you in the all the work of your hands? Maybe He put people in your life to show you the glory of His name. People to teach and mentor you in your vocation to reach this position. Many people will say “it was a stroke of luck that I was assigned to that project, without it I would never had gained enough experience to be considered for the promotion.” We should really be thanking God for that experience; it was His way of ensuring that we didn’t lack anything. Have you thanked God for what He has done for you lately? Our Father would like to hear it from you; this is not the time to think “He knows”. One of the biggest challenges in leadership is found in the old saying “it’s lonely at the top”. We may never hear what a great job we’re doing from those that work with us but God has surely blessed us with this work of our hands, be sure to thank Him for those blessings.

Let the fun begin!

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One of the many hats I wear is one of a Military contractor, specifically the U.S.Army. Tomorrow, I’ll embark on a three week journey to, hold your breath, Central Indiana. I will be participating in a National Level Exercise (aka, War Game) for our Homeland Defense Forces under the direction of the Joint Task Force – Civil Support command, an arm of the US Northern Command. The exercise will include 4000 soldiers from around the country and about 1500 contractors and support personnel.

My “plan” is to blog regularly about what we are doing in support of the exercise. I need to apologize up front over the general nature of the posts as I’ll speak in generalities due to the security of the mission. I will be functioning as an Assistant Area Commander over seeing multiple civilian command posts. The troops work for these CP’s as they work to complete their missions. The US Military can only operate on US soil under the direction of civilian commanders except during a war. We are providing that layer for them.

I hope you will keep reading during this time, it should be interesting and a complete change for what I’ve been doing the past few months.

Serving Others

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Some in leadership positions believe in the RHP principle; rank has privilege. They believe that since they are in charge that certain privileges and rights are solely theirs; that others serve in support of them and at their will. This of course, could not be farther from the truth. Our job as leaders is to provide our people with the tools necessary to do their job; these tools include physical property and the knowledge and understanding to get the job done. We cannot support them if we aren’t working for them and they can’t support you if they aren’t equipped for the job at hand. Over the years, a lot has been written about the concept of servant leadership; when you lead others by serving them and helping them to be successful. A manager has the freedom to do what they want to and they can choose how it’s done; it’s the privilege of being a manager (having rank). If however, you are a leader, you will not use your freedom to indulge in RHP (sinful nature) but will serve others as you lead them.

Galatians 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge in sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”

We all enjoy freedom and God has given us the ability to make free will choices. Free will means that we are not bound to anyone or anything, but we need to remember the first commandment – “You shall have no other God”. Do not be bound by your love for material things, possessions, positions, money, etc. You are free to choose to give your love to God and serve Him. Do not indulge in the sinful nature and avoid the traps of living today. We should serve one another in love. Jesus gave us a great example of serving others in love. He knew what people were thinking, he performed miracles, he was presented gifts and he was free to roam the countryside. He served in love, He taught along the way and showed us the way through His life. Most importantly, he gave himself for us as the ultimate demonstration of being a servant leader.

Communicate Understanding

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Good communication skills are critical to the success of any leader. Leaders must not only hear but be heard and when this doesn’t happen, the trouble starts. There are several communication techniques that work fairly well and all that focus on the needs of the receiver, not the sender. As the sender of information, your goal is to have the receiver understand the message and be able to do something with it; learn from it, use/apply it, store it for reference or reply to it. As a leader you have the responsibility to ensure that your messages are being understood. Sometimes we can see in the receiver’s eyes or on their face that they didn’t clearly understand what we wanted them to. We have to send it in a manner that they understand.

If the message is of great importance, a good tool to use is one in which you have them repeat it back to you in their words to confirm understanding. This form of mirroring occurs naturally in our mind and should not be construed as an insult if you deliver it with care. The best way to reach your people is to find out how they need to be communicated with. Some people like plenty of detail, while others just want the big picture and will take care of it from there. Do you know how you need to be communicated with? Some leaders are so busy that they request things via e-mail or report and others want short, yet detailed verbal encounters. Every person is different and you are no exception, make sure your people know what you need while you are finding out what they need.

Proverbs 16:22 – “Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it…”

The bible teaches in Romans 10:9-10 us that the gift of eternal life comes from believing in Jesus Christ and professing that faith to others. What is your understanding? How well do you know the promises of God in the bible? The bible urges us to seek greater understanding of God’s word and use the examples given to us by Jesus as a guide for our lives. How do we improve our understanding of the Word? Daily devotions, bible study and regular worship are great places to start. Find the tools that work for you. It may take a lot of searching for you to find the right devotional or bible study but when you do, seize it and work to seek understanding. Study bibles offer a great glimpse into the meaning behind the Word and the connections that are made between bible verses. You’ll spend a lifetime seeking understanding, remembering that it is the “fountain of life” and you’ll have all of eternity to enjoy it.

Inspiration

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Whether you say counselor, teacher, mentor or instructor they all mean the same for a supervisor/leader. You have a responsibility to develop the skills and knowledge your personnel. People want to progress in their positions and are generally interested in learning; regardless of their position. As a leader, people look to you for help with problems or seek your input as they try new things. Your responsibility is to help them problem solve; not solve their problems but help them work out a solution. It might be easier to simply do it but you will not allow them to learn; you must be the teacher or counselor. Teaching requires great patience and a commitment to helping others achieve success. Think back to your favorite teacher/mentor, what made them great? Chances are good that they were: caring, interested in you, passionate about the subject, inspiring or willing to share their knowledge. Do you do that for your people? They will appreciate it and you’ll see benefits from improved morale, higher productivity, improved creativity and generally a problem free work place.

John 14:26 – “But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

The great counselor, called teacher by many was of course, Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was telling everyone of “one greater than I” whom the Father would send to continue teaching and ultimately pay for our sins with His life. Despite the teachings of Jesus, people still remained doubtful. Even after his crucifixion and resurrection people remain doubtful.  Since the beginning of time, God has been teaching by using man as an instrument of delivery; a living power point presentation. God has inspired men to do great things; Noah, Moses, John and Paul all did God’s work through His inspiration. God has put great teachers in our lives – some show us what to do while others show us what not to do. God has put you in a place to do great things so He can help others. Honor God by following Jesus’ example in your life, be the “teacher” for others to understand the hope that you have in Him.

POSTED 7/2/12

What came first – following or leading?

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Do people follow you because they have to or because they are inspired by you? What kind of an example of a follower are you to the people you are leading? These can be very challenging questions for us as leaders because sometimes we really don’t know if we are inspiring or not. Your people will send you small signals about your leadership. A positive signal might be if people come to see you when you unexpectedly walk into a room. Even more importantly, do you go to them on “their turf” or must they always come and see you? As the leader, when you go to see them in their territory, it puts you on level ground with them, which should put them at ease. Do you give people room to do their work or explore alternative ways to get the job done? Fostering an atmosphere of innovation by allowing people time to explore and be creative will pay dividends in morale and may produce efficiencies or new products.

What kind of follower are you? Do you demand from those you lead something you won’t give as a follower yourself? What message does that send? We should always try to lead by setting a good example. Being a leader isn’t easy because it requires that we not only lead but that we follow too!

Matthew 4:19 – “Come, follow me,“ Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Jesus provided us with great examples of leadership. He was a great follower – he fulfilled the prophets, followed the commandments and His Father’s will with perfection. We will never be perfect but we can use Jesus’ examples in our lives. When Jesus said “I will make you fishers of men” we know it is his way of saying: I will give you the tools, the strength, the time, the understanding, the guidance and an example to follow so that you, my disciples, will lead people to me. Despite His followers set backs, Jesus was always there to pick them up, help them understand and lead another day. How are you doing with this? Are you a fisher of men? The Lord has blessed you by putting you in a leadership position, remember what Jesus did, how he lead, and put that to good work.

So, you’re a writer?

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I might be on to something here. So far I have been published in two text books and I am under contract for two more. Technical writing is fairly easy because it is, well, technical. I enjoy the process of creative writing and look forward to spending more time doing that. I just heard that I’ll have an article that I wrote printed in Fire Chief magazine this August. I wrote about the military’s ability to respond to natural and man made disasters. It will be cool to see my name in print for a magazine with tens of thousands of readers.

I also submitted my first short story for consideration in a collection of short stories in an Anthology. The West Valley Writers accepted my work and we will be publishing it this summer. It’s a little story that I started here about the hired killer John and his “girl friend” who is not what he thought she was. It will be available on Amazon and Nook but look for more on that.

My book is moving slowly but I do have some interest by the publisher of Guideposts. I hope to be ready for editing later this year.

My Wife is so lucky…

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Sounds like a great follow up to Father’s Day about what an awesome husband and father I am. While I might think that, here’s the real story:

Last year we took a cruise with Royal Caribbean on the Freedom of the Seas to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We took the kids, as we always do, on this Eastern Caribbean adventure. My wife likes to play bingo and not only won one cash prize but she also won a cruise for two playing bingo. Since we took the kids on OUR anniversary cruise, we decided to go on this “free” cruise without them. We left Florida to head for Labadee Haiti, Falmouth Jamaica , Grand Cayman Island and Cozumel Mexico. We climbed Duns River Falls in Jamaica and took a Catamaran snorkeling trip in Grand Cayman. We had a great time relaxing, tasting wine, spending time together and seeing new places. Not only had I not been keeping up with the blog but I was away from home too. Day two of our adventure, my little bingo player won another cash prize. Four days later, she struck again and yes, she won “Win A Cruise Bingo” again ! So,  we’re going back on the same ship with the kids next May. To say I’m a luck man, is an understatement.

This catches you up on where I’ve been the past few months. Fortunately, I’ve kept my weekly devotionals coming.

What have you been up to?

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I started this blog experience as a way of not only promoting/polishing my writing but as a tool to keep up with people about some of the interesting things that I get involved in. That was 6 months ago, where did the time go? To say I’ve been busier than a one armed paper hanger would be be an understatement. Since my trip to Washington I’ve been to McAlester, Oklahoma and the Western Carribean. I’ve written a number of articles for the International Fire Chiefs and worked on a safety audit of a local fire district. I’ve also taught several classes for newly promoted or aspiring Battalion Chiefs. The City council is always busy at this time of year as we worked on completing a budget for the up coming year, totaling $311 million.

Let’s talk about Oklahoma. About 19 of us from Army North and ATEC Consultants spent six days in McAlester OK training the men and women of the 370th and 329th Chemical Battalions from Florida and Texas respectively. The exercise was requested by the Battalion Commander to give his soldiers an opportunity to learn more about chemical detection and mass casualty decontamination. Our job was to give them a realistic experience and offer training suggestions. There are two components to a Chemical Battalion – Decontamination (Decon)  and Reconnaissance (Recon). The Decon group simulated that a chemical plant was damaged by a tornado with several hundred people becoming contaminated. The Recon group worked in the simulated effected plant and needed to find the cause for what was making several people sick. We really challenged the companies and gave them something to think about for the future. After we completed the exercise we had time to visit the OKC Bombing Memorial the afternoon before we left. The buildings are still damaged to remind us what happened that day.

 

 

 

 

Bookended by two black granite walls, the reflecting pool makes for a nice memorial. One wall represents the time before the blast and the other is after the blast. The chairs are for those killed and the floors that they were on. It was very moving to say the least.

Enough for today, I’ll follow up with a short story about our trip to the Western Carribean.