Every day, great ideas flow from our employees. Owners and managers who believe they have nothing to learn from their staff should consider how King David managed his army: “Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader” (1 Chronicles 13:1). Considering the size of David’s army, that was a lot of people to ask. We will gain important information we need to keep our business intact.

Many of us are bombarded with requests for meetings, many from people we don’t know very well. The meetings probably won’t be productive, at least from our viewpoint. 

Nehemiah encountered this circumstance and he responded with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3, NIV) Four times messengers brought the same mess and four times Nehemiah gave the same answer, he couldn’t come. (Nehemiah 6:4 NIV)

Many times we encounter individuals who talk big and brag about everything they are going to accomplish.  A scripture I reflect on in these situations is: “The king of Israel answered, ‘Tell him: One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.'" (1 Kings 20:11 NIV)

There is a tremendous difference between people who act and accomplish and those merely talk about it. An effective doer asks key questions: What is the objective I want to achieve? How long will it take me to achieve this goal? What is the price in time, money and effort?

I try to coach or mentor 1-5 businesspeople at a time.  I believe this is part of my calling. I want to strengthen others in business and use biblical principles in my mentoring. My perspective is that most business owners and leaders don’t see themselves as mentors. Some large corporations may have structured programs for mentoring, but most do not.

For example, you can read a sales book, attend seminars and even engage in expensive training as a part of a mentoring program. These may provide an excellent return on your investment. However, there are many aspects of sales that you cannot learn from a book or training session. Selling involves reading the prospect’s body language, discerning what the customer wants and reacting to questions that are not predictable or can be scripted.  I read that no battle plan survives the initial contact with the enemy.  Similarly, most sales plans don’t survive much past 60 seconds into a customer contact.

Committees and local boards are always looking for new members who will go to their meetings and share the workload. Most of the time, I decline to join committees. However, I may offer to assist or cooperate with a committee in a specific way.  I just don’t have to go to endless meetings.
 
When someone does ask me to be on a committee, I ask several questions.  What do you want me to contribute to the group? How are the meetings conducted? Do you follow an agenda?  Is there a time budget for the meeting? Are there clear objectives for the gathering?