KwaZulu-Natal HAND OF THE HARVESTER Complimentary copy Not for sale
Ethos, Ethics & Etiquette Showing Appreciation
Social media PROTOCOL
June/JULY 2012 ISSUE 13
In the workplace
Can Corruption be cured?
Ethical Leadership
FROM THE HEART OF A PASTOR
www.connectmagazine.co.za | 1
important tools
One of the most in business today is
NETWORKING
If nobody knows about your business you are
invisible
Networking group that is serious about Business Join a
and about keeping
Christ as our centre and foundation
Encourage, Inspire, Ignite & Equip
Keeping jESUS cHRIST AS OUR CENTRE
•
To grow, equip and encourage Christian business owners
•
To extend God’s Kingdom by using our unique market place gifting to bring finances into our local churches
•
To give exposure to each member’s product or service so that we can support and refer business to one another
•
To create a culture of excellence and integrity in Business
For more information call 084 548 4720 or email info@connectmagazine.co.za
CONTENTS is available at the following locations:
VOICE OF THE PROPHET
Amanzimtoti Sweetwaters Full Gospel Church Kingsway Church
HEART OF THE PASTOR
Durban North Living Waters Church Empangeni Christian Family Church Hillcrest GraceHill Church Focus On The Family Bookshop Christ Church Hillcrest Kloof/Gillitts Kloof Harvest Church Sarepta Church Kloof Baptist Church St. Agnes Church Kloof Methodist Morningside The Olive Tree Artisan & Well Hairdressers Lambert Road Baptist Church Musgrave/Glenwood Scripture Union St Olav’s Church His People Church Pinetown/Westmead Highway Christian Community Pinetown Baptist Church Doxa Deo NG Kerk Fourways Spar Pietermaritzburg African Enterprise The Coffeeberry Cafe All Saints Church Umhlanga Umhlanga Harvest Westville Church on Route 5 Westville Methodist Church Westville Baptist Church Westville Presbyterian Church Please let us know if you wish to distribute CONNECT magazine in your church or business.
Ethics: Don't follow the Rules
6
Ethical Leadership is Effective
10
HAND OF THE HARVESTER
Social Media Protocol The True Nature of Corruption and its Cure Appreciation in the Workplace Why is Family so Important?
IN EVERY ISSUE
Where to find CONNECT Letter from the Editor The Rest is HIStory Advertising Information
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
16 20 26 28 3 5 29 31
Business networking Business leadership training Risk consultants, corporate gifts, family church, underwriters Financial services, painter, electrician, life coach, business networking Printing, copy editor, graphic designer, networking systems Health, financial advice, pharmacy, attorneys Skills developmant Labour consultants, water storage, home industries building and maintenance, painting contractors, real estate, engineering
2 4 9 13 14 19 26 24
is produced by: Tracey Olivier - Editor tracey@connectmagazine.co.za Belinda Peck - Admin info@connectmagazine.co.za Elaine Young - Sub-Editor elaine@copyeditpaste.co.za Ruth Plowman - Art Director zngirl@gmail.com Sherrene Burnett - Advertising Sales 082 456 0348 sales@connectmagazine.co.za Steve Joubert - Ad Design steve.joubert@gmail.com and printed by: DNA Print (Pty) Ltd. nikki@jmsa.co.za Cover photo: Alistair Kerswell
www.connectmagazine.co.za | 3
I
t saddens me when I hear of Christian business people who deal unethically, practise bad etiquette and who leave their offices having torn strips off their employees or colleagues. We all mess up occasionally, but as Christians we should still be different from the rest of the world; we should still be the salt and the light. This includes not having lifestyles that look different depending on what day of the week we are on. And not living in two different realms – everyday versus Sunday – with different rules for each. Being salt and light begins with an individual leader’s heart, and extends to taking a stand against bribes, against bad business practice and against participating in the breakdown of the general healthy ethos of a company, community, family or country (see Steve Johnston’s article on page20). After choosing the theme for this issue, I looked up the meaning of the word ‘ethics’ and was interested to see that the definition included both ‘etiquette’ and ‘ethos’. We tend to treat them as separate issues when in fact they have the same root: our values as a business, as a community and as a country. I have often heard it said that bribes are a ‘cultural thing’ in South Africa, implying that we must just accept it as a norm. The “if-you-can’tbeat-them- join-them” mentality is the beginning of a slippery slope of corruption, maybe not largescale fraud but subtle ‘bending’ of the rules, even down to family level and personal finances. So where does the buck stop? Without bringing condemnation, our writers point out that we have the responsibility – and the power in Jesus Christ – to take a stand against corruption. In our own lives, in our own businesses, and in the society we live in. Each of the Israelite tribes placed a rock on the side of the Jordan after they crossed into the Promised Land. As each of us commits to doing business God’s way, it’s as if each of us is adding a rock to a growing pile erected in honour of our Father God. We’ll stick out, and we may lose some business, but we won’t fall when we’re built on solid foundations. Our generation will leave a mark of being unashamedly ethical – and we’ll last into eternity. Picture one pile of rocks – a community of believers committing to living God’s way – linking
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER Twitter.com/Connectbizmag
Salt&Light to another pile, then to another, and an unshakeable wall emerges. As Patrick Kuwana teaches in his Biblical Entrepreneurship course (coming up in July – see page 4), the cracks are already showing in the current economic system. Businesses that aren’t built on the Rock of Christ will come crashing down. As Christians, we can be doing all the right things but still be building on sandy ground. Our businesses need to be built on the Rock – on Kingdom principles, on a Godly foundation, on His justice and not our perception of what’s fair or just. It takes courage to go against the flow. How we do this is also important. A self-righteous attitude will do nothing for our witness or those around us. Just as salt is used to preserve and bring healing, and light is used to dispel darkness, we need to take our stand in love and walk our talk. Kim White points out that ethics is not about simply following a set of rules – it’s rather how we honour our Father and operate from the Kingdom of God (page 6). Gary Kelly’s wonderful article about values in leadership provides some practical tips on how to put values into action as a leader (page 10). Adele Benvie goes on to explains how leaders can show appreciation in the workplace (page 26) and help build an ethos of caring and encouragement. Charlotte Kemp also shares an important tip on correct social media protocol (page 16) to ensure that we treat our online friends and customers with the same courtesy we do our face-to-face ones. Connect Christian Magazine is taking a stand by taking part in the Unashamedly Ethical campaign and we have encouraged all our advertisers to do the same. Let’s be intentional about being the Salt and Light to the marketplace. Let’s be like the salmon who push against the flow and leap great rapids and manoeuvre around predators to carry life to their final destination. Let us be bringers of life to every business deal.
BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/connectbizmag1
www.connectmagazine.co.za | 5
VOICE OF THE PROPHET
ETHICS:
Don't follow the rules
Being ethical in business – is it really possible?
M
any people take a list of good values and make them their guiding principles. And for years this may work until a ‘real’ issue comes to light. Then, like the law, our ability to hold our standards will be tested, and sadly our ability to maintain our integrity is often compromised. It is the way of rules – it is the way of law.
6 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
When I think of Christian ethics, I quickly move to the topic of honour and sonship. In my view, ethics is not about rules; instead it’s about ‘position’ and ‘responsibility’. When we understand our position as sons in God’s kingdom – when we understand our responsibilities as sons bringing honour to Daddy and managing our inheritance wisely – then this changes our motives.
Image: iamwahid/scx.hu
I had an interesting breakfast late last year with the chief executive of a major New Zealand company. We got talking about maintaining integrity in the board room. He mentioned one instance where a conflict arose between two products supplied by the chain. The marketing and legal teams had devised a way of dealing with it – but at the board meeting the CEO announced that the company would ‘do the right thing’ instead, and settle the matter fairly rather than fighting. From a worldly perspective this was not a sound business decision. It was an ethical one though, based on the CEO’s heart. He was representing his daddy’s kingdom; he was representing his faith and demonstrating who he was as a son of God. I love the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus ran a pretty crooked tax system in his city and had become quite wealthy. Then he had an encounter with Jesus that totally changed his heart. After operating from a worldly perspective, Zacchaeus was suddenly able to see things from
a Kingdom-of-Heaven perspective. So what does it look like in heaven? For starters, there are no poor and no corrupt systems. So immediately after his encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus did something to help the poor AND fixed the corrupt tax system! The whole city was transformed and many lives changed for the better because of his Kingdomminded decisions. Yes they were ethical decisions, but they came from a heart totally transformed by an encounter with Jesus – they were heart responses, not learned actions. In verse 9 Jesus also calls Zacchaeus a “son of Abraham”. When we become sons we enter God’s family, His kingdom. From that perspective, as sons of God, we can release heaven on earth. Your kingdom come, Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
In my view, ethics is not about rules; instead it’s about ‘position’ and ‘responsibility’.
www.connectmagazine.co.za | 7
Bringing heaven to earth
We cannot bring consistent change to this fallen world by imposing – or keeping – rules of behaviour. Values and principles will always God’s kingdom of heaven does not come be compromised by political correctness, through lists of good behaviours and rules. society’s steady fall into darkness and the It comes when sons and daughters realise their enemy’s influence over the worldly system. position and authority in God’s kingdom and Change comes when we replace take responsibility for releasing it on earth a broken system with one that works! When – in their spheres of influence. Jesus honoured we replace this worldly system with God’s His Father by doing only what He saw his kingdom. When we reveal or speak or live out Father do. The Holy Spirit always brings a kingdom principle we are effectively blocking glory to the Father. When we, as sons and the worldly system and releasing heaven into daughters, make our lives that situation. and actions point to our That’s what sonship is – Daddy in heaven, then we taking our daddy’s kingdom also bring honour to Him. When we, as sons and advancing it into What is in heaven? our spheres of influence, and daughters, Now release that on bringing Him honour. earth. What are you doing make our lives and Because it’s actually right now? Is it releasing our inheritance as well! actions point to our heaven or conforming to worldly ways? What are Daddy in heaven, you speaking now? Are then we also bring your words building God’s honour to Him. kingdom or reinforcing man’s? Is your life revealing the heart of your Father in heaven or reinforcing the values of this world? Are you honouring the Father through your work decisions and actions? Don’t look for a list of rules to follow to be ethical… look rather at the heart of God, the Spirit of God, within us all.
Kim White Horizon Church, NZ www.dreamingwithpurpose.co.nz
8 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
HEART OF THE PASTOR
l ip ca h hi rs Et e ad Le
M
tive
ffec isE
any people in today’s society correctly argue that you cannot really measure values, and that they are therefore a rather nebulous concept to try to run an organisation by. However, it has been shown over and over again in business, in government, in churches and in families worldwide, that the practice of improper values most definitely has disastrous consequences. Therefore, it stands to reason that striving for correct values is an activity of top importance for every leader today in business, in social circles or in the church. In fact, striving to live by correct values is perhaps the highest attempt at wisdom a person or organisation can ever pursue.
10 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said the following in Proverbs 3: 3-5 (NLT): “Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.”
What is a value system?
A value system is a combination of ethical and moral principles that guide the decisions made by individuals or organisations. This ideology defines what is right or wrong and guides ethical behaviour based on those beliefs. A person’s values determine the outcome of his or her character and actions, even in situations where negative consequences might exist for doing the right thing. Moral decisions produce internal rewards when value systems and actions coincide. In summary, values are choices about what is important to us. It is the same for individuals as for organisations: inevitably, what we value is what we do. So really, we can write fancy value statements all over the walls, but it is the composite of our daily choices and actions that truly displays our values for the entire world to see.
• Values are like a compass.
We can write fancy value statements all over the walls, but it is the composite of our daily choices and actions that truly display our values for the entire world to see.
They give direction and guidance.
• Values are like a magnet.
They attract like-minded people.
• Values provide identity.
They define and identify the team.
Let me illustrate with a few word pictures:
This brings me to the real point: how values connect with actions. In other words, how do organisations, social institutions and churches actually implement the value systems that they are based on? There are many recognised ways of ‘instilling values’ in such organisations, but let’s not forget that if the leadership at all levels does not LIVE out these values on a daily basis, these values are worth no more than the paper they’re written on.
• Values are like glue.
Living your values
What can strong values do for a group of people working together?
They hold organisations, families and churches together.
• Values are like a ruler. They set the standard that we use to measure our performance.
So how do organisations ensure that their words match their actions? How do they actually live out the ethical principles they believe in? What is it that makes them known as “Unashamedly Ethical”? If values are the principles, standards and qualities we consider worthwhile
HEART OF THE PASTOR
and desirable, and on which we base our decisions, then ethics are values-in-action. Ethics can be described as the ‘rules of conduct’ that grow out of a particular set of values (think of medical ethics, or Christian ethics, or what is commonly known as the ethos of a company). Growing an ethical organisation involves two key leadership issues. Firstly, it is imperative to attract people who practise and portray high principles. This means leaders who live by the highest standards of honesty and integrity. Such people are few and far between in today’s society, but key to establishing correct organisational leadership. “More than anything else, followers want to believe that their leaders are ethical and honest.” Once such leaders of principle have been established at all levels within an organisation, the next step is to continually provide frequent and candid information to all involved. The continued sharing of both good and bad news within any organisation builds trust. It has been proven that even in big organisations, employees are well aware that everything won’t always be rosy – therefore it is key to share information that is straight and honest. If a pretty picture is all they ever see, they KNOW something is being hidden. If there is honest exchange of information between leaders and followers, this will
“More than anything else, followers want to believe that their leaders are ethical and honest.”
inevitably result in doing the right things right, thus leading to success in the process. Finally, ethical leadership will always place a higher emphasis on the individual rather than the product. If people are valuable, leadership becomes effective and great products are produced! Here is a list of priorities that need to be observed in the order they are presented below. If priority #1 is in place then priority #2 can be negotiated, and so on.
1. Respect for each individual. 2. Clear, honest direct communication. 3. Consistency in actions. 4. Creative team approach. 5. To seek excellence. Keeping these priorities in that order will result in a leadership approach that can be regarded as ethical. As 2 Peter 1:5-8 reads in The Message version, “So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.”
Gary Kelly Campus Pastor Doxa Deo Pinetown Campus gary@doxadeo.co.za
l ia ec spoffer Opening up your unique purpose, potential and possibilities through coaching
REFOCUS group (7 sessions)
advertise here! Contact Sherrene
082 456 0348
or email sales@connectmagazine.co.za to get our rates
Limited space (only 7 people allowed) 2 meetings a month over 3 months. Normally R450 per session, now only R350 p/p per session if you book from this advert. Starts: 12 June 2012, 7pm - 9pm
Tracey Olivier
A life purpose Coach with a passion for Marketplace Businesses
084 548 4720 traceyao@gmail.com
graphic design brand development (logos & stationary)
publication design
(magazines, books & brochures)
typographic art
passion for creating beautiful things
Ruth Plowman designer
084 88 22 110 zngirl@gmail.com
www.connectmagazine.co.za | 15
HAND OF THE HARVESTER
a i d e m l a i c o S
L O C O PRO T Why your company is n NOT a perso
W
ould you ever attempt to start your car with the key from your front door? And if by chance you accidentally tried, and then realised that you were using the wrong key, you wouldn’t try over and over to force the big, wide key into the small, thin ignition, would you? You would realise that the keys are meant for different locks. Both your home and your car are important assets to you but they are different, and so are their functions, purposes and means of access. You don’t attempt to force the key of one into the lock of the other and then use them in a way that they are not intended to be used. In the same way, Facebook personal profiles and LinkedIn profiles are designed for people not for companies. Whenever profiles request First Name and Surname and Gender, it is normally a clue that we are looking at people and not a
16 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
legal entity such as a company. It is not a clever idea to try and force your company profile into the personal profile because it is going to go wrong somewhere down the line and both Facebook and LinkedIn have plenty of opportunities for you to market your company. But if you use the tools the wrong way then it is going to appear clumsy and awkward.
For example, a LinkedIn profile is very specifically designed for individuals. You basically set up your CV and outline where you work now and where you were employed before. You also explain where you received your qualifications, where you went to school (university or college), what awards you won, what positions of responsibility you held and what skills you have. You also ask for recommendations
from people that you connect with on way that there actually needs to be a LinkedIn and who know you personally. human being to go to the registrar’s office None of that applies strictly to to say that they would like to operate a a company profile on LinkedIn. If I am business under South African law. But looking at Frank from Coca-Cola, I want however you set up that ‘person’ who to know about him. Coca-Cola hasn’t then sets up the Business Page, please received a degree from a university, know that the person’s private acquired a skill from working at information is not evident on a particular department in the Business Page. This is the an international biggest concern that company, won a I hear when we do prestigious scholarship training on this issue. Facebook personal that indicates an When you post on profiles and entrepreneurial your personal profile flair, or established about your wonderful LinkedIn profiles a professional weekend activities, it are designed for relationship and will not be posted to recommendation from your Business Page. If people not for the one person on you Like your Business companies. It is my contact list that I Page, then what you not a clever idea to really want to meet. post to your Business Coca-Cola is a huge, Page will, however, try and force your faceless, multinational be evident on your company profile organisation. I go Personal Page. onto LinkedIn to meet Why, beside the into the personal individuals. To LINK to fact that it is the right profile because it is Frank himself. Frank thing to do, do you going to go wrong will indicate that he want a Business Page works at Coca Cola but instead of a ‘Person’ as somewhere down I do not want to LINK to your business’s profile? the line. Coca Cola. Well let me explain as I LinkedIn has did to some Nonprofit however, made companies last week. provision for Coca Cola What if I am online over to do plenty of marketing on its site and a weekend and someone mentions, either that will be the subject of another article. on Facebook or by email, something about a charity that I think is really Facebook awesome. I find the Facebook page and The same goes for think that this is great; I want to follow the Facebook. Facebook has charity to find out more and see how I can Business Pages which are get involved. If this were a Business Page, specifically designed to I would simply click Like and immediately market your business. They need to be begin participating in the conversation. attached to a person in much the same I could comment. I could find out the
HAND OF THE HARVESTER
The whole purpose banking details and conversation awkward. make a donation. I Please consider of social media is could Suggest this page using a social media to make things as to my friends. coach or strategist easy as possible However, if this to ensure that your profile has been set marketing message for people to up as a ‘person’, I have online is on target. participate and to request permission Don’t put people off follow and pass to follow it. And then with bad protocol. I have to wait who on. Don’t put up knows how long before road blocks and someone gets around to checking emails, prevent them from to see if I am worthy supporting you. enough to follow the charity that is actually begging for money and assistance. By then I have lost interest and moved on to other things. The whole purpose of social media is to make things as easy as possible for people to participate and follow and pass on. Don’t put up road blocks and prevent them from supporting you. And part of that is, don’t use the tools in the wrong Charlotte Kemp way. If you do that, it makes for clumsy Social Media Solutions and messy social media that makes charlotte@socialmediasolutions.co.za 18 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
HAND OF THE HARVESTER
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matt 22:35-40 NKJV
20 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
I
t seems that hardly a day goes by in which we are not reminded of largescale ethical decay in our country. We see corruption in government and business, moral decline in our communities, and the increasing breakdown of the family in our homes. In response to this we have also seen projects or initiatives launched at government, business and community levels which attempt to solve this problem. But while secular initiatives like “The Moral Regeneration Movement”, “LeadSA”, “Corruption Watch” and “LoveLife” may have isolated cases of success, no secular movement will ever make a significant impact on the problem. This is a bold statement, but one which I believe needs
But while secular initiatives like “The Moral Regeneration Movement”, “LeadSA”, “Corruption Watch” and “LoveLife” may have isolated cases of success, no secular movement will ever make a significant impact on the problem.
Himself (Matt 7:11) and to be considered in the that too of Paul the Apostle light of Scripture. (Eph 2:1, Eph 2:5, Col 2:13), In the verses quoted and of others throughout above from Matt 22 Scripture. we see Jesus teach the Second, we learn all-important truth that from Scripture that the loving God is the first and fundamental sin behind great commandment – corruption is not greed or greater even than loving covetousness itself, but our neighbour. The glory rather idolatry (Col 3:5). of God in Jesus Christ is Corruption and unethical of greater value than the practices are sins of earthly comfort of human idolatry. A corrupt person beings. Now we thank God is one who places his or her that He is a God of justice, hopes for fulfillment and He is a God who cares for peace in money, rather than the poor and marginalised, in God. Jesus summed the and so loving God matter up in the Sermon inevitably leads His children on the Mount, saying, to loving their neighbours “No one can serve two too. But we must never masters; for either he will forget that social justice is hate the one and love the only of value as it works in other, or else he will be loyal to the one and the light of a love for the one true God. despise the other. You cannot serve God This understanding of our relationship and mammon.” (Matt 6:24) with God unlocks certain keys to solving Thirdly, corrupt living is unbelief. The the ethical dilemma of our times. writer of the Book of Hebrews gives us a clear First, with this Biblical approach to warning: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any ethics we understand that corruption is of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing not a function of man’s environment – as from the living God” (Heb 3:12). Corruption, if a change in environment will eradicate greed and covetousness are all signs of a lack corruption. Rather, we understand that of faith in the promises and corruption is a result of the warnings of God. The Bible fallen, depraved nature of promises that in Christ we every person. We are born This can have peace, our joy already carrying the sinful understanding can be full, our needs will nature of our first father always be met and that we Adam. It is not simply that of our relationship can walk in the knowledge some people act corruptly. with God unlocks of the love and care of No, it is that all people are our Father God Himself! corrupt, and that from certain keys The Bible also warns us birth. This is a hard truth to solving the that every sin will come for any of us to swallow, but into judgment and that it is the testimony of Jesus ethical dilemma
of our times.
HAND OF THE HARVESTER
light of all this? And so with regard to our “idolaters, and all liars shall have their original statement it should become clear part in the lake which burns with fire to the Bible-believing and brimstone” (Rev 21:8). Christian that secular lf we really believed all that, If we really initiatives will always fail and believed that if we to overcome corruption. “seek first the kingdom believed all that, No, our only hope of God and His righteousness, and believed that for transformation in our all these things shall be added nation is a revival of true to us” (Matt 6:33), what if we “seek first Christian religion, a revival possible cause would the kingdom of which will see the Gospel there be for corruption? God and His preached with “power from And so if the causes on high” (Luke 24:49) and of corruption are the total righteousness, all by which we see “the word depravity of man, his these things shall of the Lord run swiftly and idolatry of money and his be glorified” (2 Thes 3:1). evil heart of unbelief in be added to us” May God grant this in departing from the living (Matt 6:33), what our generation! God, then the only solution to corruption is Jesus Christ possible cause and the reconciliation He would there be brings between God and man. Only saving faith for corruption? in Christ can change the depraved heart of a man (Jer 31:31-34 and Eze 36:25-27), only saving faith in Christ can replace serving money with serving God, and only saving faith in Christ sees man’s heart turn to God with Steve Johnstone genuine faith in all His promises (Eph 2:8-9). International Coordinator How can a secular ethics campaign ever Unashamedly Ethical www.unashamedlyethical.com hope to achieve anything significant in the 22 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
What is the
Unashamedly Ethical campaign about?
The Reverend Joel Edwards, the head of Micah Challenge, based in London, recently wrote the following: “Corruption isn’t just bad ethics: it has a direct link to poverty and kills body, soul and spirit. It would cost the world approximately $210billion per annum to keep our global promise to reduce extreme poverty by half in 2015 but every year the poor lose well over $1 trillion through deliberate or indirect dishonesty. It means that our best efforts are being devalued by the dishonesty we ignore. Ignoring corruption is like investing your money in an economy with hyper inflation.” That describes well the price we as humankind are paying economically for corruption within the institutions of government and business. Add to that the physical, social and psychological damage so many have suffered through unclean living within society’s most important institution, the family, and you begin to get some inkling of the responsibility we have as Christians to intensify our stand against such things. After all, are we not the light of the world? Unashamedly Ethical is an international campaign promoting ethics, values
and clean living. The campaign is built upon three pillars, around which local communities form: 1) A challenge to people to make a public commitment to ‘good values, ethics and clean living’; 2) An online directory of all signatories (Connect Christian Business Magazine is a member) and 3) A presiding Ombudsman who holds all signatories accountable, and who will review written complaints against any signatory. Our goal is to form local communities of signatories all over the world, because community relationships are the heart of transformation. Join the global UE community by going to www unashamedlyethical.com to make your own public commitment to ethics, values and clean living. You can also join a Local UE Community or start your own – email info@unashamedlyethical.com for more information.
As a signatory of the Unashamedly Ethical Campaign Connect Christian Business Magazine would love to encourage other Christian businesses to take a stand too.
www.connectmagazine.co.za | 23
advertise here! Contact Sherrene
082 456 0348
or email sales@connectmagazine.co.za to get our rates
HAND OF THE HARVESTER
Appreciat ion in the Workplace
A
ccording to Gary Chapman and Paul White’s book, The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, employee turnover is one of the largest controllable overheads an organisation can have, costing the US economy at least 5 trillion dollars a year. According to the research they and other organisations have done, a lack of tangible appreciation within the workplace is the primary reason for employee turnover. Even though we do not have the statistics for South Africa, I would dare to say that the loss would be proportionately the same in the South African economy. Companies that show appreciation properly: •
retain their employees longer
•
reduce the cost of replacing staff and
• enhance the atmosphere within the workplace as there is a sense of stability and security with a stable employee infrastructure. Some critical points to remember:
26 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
1
Appreciation must be sincere and only given when truly warranted. Nobody likes ‘Appreciation Campaigns’. For appreciation to be truly effective, it must be personal and correctly timed.
2
Not everyone has the same Language of Appreciation. According to Gary Chapman and Paul White, there are five main Languages of Appreciation in the workplace:
Words of Affirmation Saying thank you when a job is done well; giving credit publicly when an employee has done something for the company; telling the employee how much their contribution means to the team and the company, etc. Quality Time
Having a cup of coffee with the employee; inviting them into your office to share their thoughts on an issue, allowing them time to share what happened on the weekend with you, etc.
Acts of Service
Offering to help a fellow employee when
they are trying to meet a deadline; making a cup of coffee for a fellow employee, etc.
Tangible Gifts
e.g. Bringing an employee something back if you went somewhere they like; buying an employee a book that will help them in their work; Team Building experiences where they get to go away for a period of time; paying for courses that the employee needs to go on, etc. Pat on the back when the employee has done well; shaking the employee’s hand to congratulate them; etc. Please be careful with this one. Employees that do not have ‘Physical Touch’ as their primary Language of Appreciation will not react well to physical touch. If you are not sure of their Language of Appreciation, watch how they show appreciation. Most people show appreciation using their own primary Language of Appreciation. If in doubt, ask.
3
Never miss an opportunity to show Appreciation. This is one of the greatest motivators .
Adele Benvie adele@successco.co.za
Something that is becoming more and more apparent to me is
the importance of showing appreciation in the workplace and in our personal lives.
Go to www.successco.co.za and sign up for SUCCESS NEWS. The May issue has detailed ideas on how to show appreciation in the workplace and in your personal lives in such a way that is optimally effective, depending on the person you are showing appreciation to. Sounds easy? It is easy, but it is also an art. Not everyone has the same ‘language of appreciation’
Photo: Fhotocromo/sxc.hu
Physical Touch
HAND OF THE HARVESTER
T
the way we do business! he Family is the very We have an increasingly first institution that God individualistic, self-centred ordained. In Genesis work culture where ‘what’s in it 2, just as soon as God finishes for me’ is more important than creating the universe and all ‘what I can do for the company’. life, and declares “it is good”, he And as that happens, loyalty, takes a look at Adam and says: honesty and integrity start to “It is not good…” play second fiddle to a ‘win-at-allWhat isn’t good? “ costs’ mentality that condones …for man to be alone”. backstabbing and indiscriminate So God joins Eve to Adam in self-promotion as ‘part of the marriage and makes them of one Why game’. The Survivor series flesh, and the first thing he says to teaches us a lot in this regard. them is: “Be fruitful and increase If we ran our businesses the in number”. And so, right from is way God wants us to run our the very beginning, before sin families, and if the members of came into the world, God ordains the family honoured each other the institution of the Family. for the important roles they Why is family so important to each play in the ‘team’, then God that it was a part of his plan companies today would be far from the first chapter of Genesis? more productive entities – and The concept of family was not people would feel that they something God imagined and belong, that they’re really cared created; God already existed in for, and that they bring real value a representation of family within to the corporate ‘family’. himself in the Trinity. Within the But if leaders don’t have Trinity there is already a type of family structure with all the a solid sense of family themselves necessary ‘family’ elements of – if they themselves don’t know headship, submission, love, help what it’s like to be part of and honour. I don’t want to try a complete, functional, loving to ‘package’ God into a mother, family – then it’s unlikely that father and child... but some of they will find themselves the roles that God expects from replicating this model in their these parties are exhibited in His businesses. Which brings us to own nature as the Trinity. the bottom line: while social So family isn’t just one and economic woes do have issa Thompson aspect of society that we mustn’t Photos: An a radical effect on the family, forget while we try to address all we need to recognise that they start with the the other ‘issues’ around is... it is next to God breakdown of the family. The breakdown of the Himself, it is the bedrock of society. It must family is a cause of these issues far more than it be the foundation from which we address all is a result of them. And it is the family that we other social issues. I remember someone once should be focusing on protecting and helping saying that where family is strong, AIDS is if we want to make a solid and sustainable positive impact on these other issues. weak – and where family is weak, AIDS is strong. This may be a radical statement but I believe it is completely true. In fact I believe it goes way beyond just AIDS, to crime and Graeme Schnell poverty and almost every major issue that Communications Director faces the nations of this world. It even impacts Focus on the Family Africa
Family
so important
28 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
How far can a Dream take you?
T
thing, but its quite another to see the Lord at he problem with dreams is that they are work despite the gifts we might have. good! Unlike nightmares, they don’t From the very first chapter, excitement reveal all the hardships, the struggles set in, and I literally could not wait to find out and the pain. I found this out only when my what would happen in the next one. The story inbox was empty, my first royalty check wrote itself, I merely filled hardly covered the amount it in the words. A man called cost to withdraw it from the Aram who has a dream bank, and the cupboard still The problem of a better place, is so had three boxes full of my with dreams convinced it is real that he books no-one had bought. sets off into foreign lands, The only thing in good is that they are kings and deserts to find supply was doubts! I had to good! Unlike it. The characters grew on constantly remind myself how me, even the villains! After it had all started, and how the nightmares, they about a year of typing on Lord had directed everything don’t reveal all a defunct laptop, with my up to that point. the hardships, wife giving it the thumbs A few years before, up, the rough draft was around a meal, a friend the struggles finally complete. Back shared a joke which sparked and the pain then there was no doubt. something that had been So convinced were we churning in my mind for a of this venture, and that while. It would be easy to say it was from God, that we began gearing up that I simply had a good idea and then started to publish it online, by ourselves, regardless. to write a book, but there was something We had no idea how, but we knew that it was deeper, more profound about how it took root meant to happen. During this time I pulled out in my heart. To be talented and achieve is one www.connectmagazine.co.za | 29
that threatened to sweep me away. one of my favourite reads, John Son of Thunder The launch was small, but fantastic, by Ellen Gunderson Traylor. Curious, I googled with such incredible feedback from readers. her. Daring, I emailed her. Stunned, I heard I garnered some rave reviews, and even an from her… with an offer to publish through her interview on SABC. Everything was running own company – Porthole Publications! along smoothly – I had set out to achieve Again, I could see that the vision placed a dream and done it! in my heart was taking I was on my way… shape. Another year of Aram’s story is based editing, designing covers, To be talented loosely on the life of and back-and-forth Abraham in Genesis – communication with Ellen and achieve is man who has nothing brought us to the point one thing, but its quite aelse to go on but a promise. where I could go and But, in fact, a lot of this collect the first shipment another to see journey of his hinges on of FOLLOW – a novel by the Lord at work actual experiences I had Terence Livingston. It’s despite the gifts gone through. One of the quite something to hold most poignant parts in the a dream in your hands… we might have. book is Aram’s struggle to feel it, look at it, and working in the Jihuru mines know that He is in control. for the fiendish Khai. For From my brother, who a few months as a foreman, I was based at a backed the project with much needed coal depot and the harsh conditions affected funds, to friends, family and church handling me enough to find their way into the novel. everything from photos, to catering, and The fine black dust clung to me and the heat right down to serving tea, the buzz of exhausted me, and every day seemed to anticipation was like a heady funfair ride 30 | www.connectmagazine.co.za
and trust that He had a reason to put it there produce a problem of its own. Little did I know in the first place. Even if it was only to bring that I would one day relive all those emotions me to a place to see my state and fall on my and turmoil. It was as though I was following knees so that Jesus could do a work in me… the footsteps of my main character. Often people who have read the book Once the initial hype had died down, come up to me and distribution difficulties comment on Aram’s arose, negotiations with encounter in the mines. bookstores stalled, finances A dream planted Perhaps it has touched so ran out, and the sequel – many because it is not just which I had finished in the by God is just that! his struggle, or mine – but meantime – sat gathering His dream He has one that we all go through dust on the shelf. The fact at some point in our lives. that I had been retrenched given to me to Questioning the Lord only a few months earlier meant share. Not mine to find out, like Job did, that our debt increased and His ways are not our ways. we had to start living off to hold, to have, Usually it is we who have welfare and handouts. or to bask in the lost sight of His will and The mines of Jihuru plan for our lives. In such a glory of. came back to haunt me. place, we lose our way only Aram’s struggle with God to find it… we lose our life became mine. His doubts only to find it again! about the actuality of his Has my book become dream echoed my own. a bestseller? Not yet… I felt trapped and betrayed! but if Aram’s journey in The fact that we somehow FOLLOW is anything to managed to pay rent, school go by, there is still some fees, eat and put petrol in the walking and working and car for over a year without struggling to go through, permanent employment was but the destination is well almost taken for granted, worth the wait. until I came face to face with a very hard and painful truth. A dream planted by God is just that! His dream He has given to me to share. Not mine to hold, to have, or to bask in the glory of. The pride I had to repent of was thick and dirty, like coal dust that gets into your pores and takes much scrubbing to eradicate. It was humiliating – humbling! Once again, I had to release this book, this Terence Livingston dream, back to the One who gave it to me, terencebooks@gmail.com
If you would like to find out more about Terence and where to get hold of his book, find his blog at http://terencelivingston.blogspot.com, or email him at terencebooks@gmail.com. www.connectmagazine.co.za | 31
ethic |'eTHik| noun [in sing.]
a set of moral principles, esp. ones relating to or affirming a specified group, field, or form of conduct:
adjective rare
of or relating to moral principles or the branch of knowledge dealing with these. ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting ethics or moral philosophy; also used attributively): from Old French éthique, from Latin ethice, from Greek ( h) ethik (tekhno)‘(the science of) morals,’ based on ethos (see ethos)