Effectiveness Vs Ineffectiveness

Every Monday morning, we have a meeting among all the directors and staffs (full time and part time) in our head-quarter. We would start with praise and worship, reading the word of God, and then we’d continue with Monday meeting. One of the most interesting topics that I would like to share with you is about effectiveness. Every company, organization, and even ministry needs to work effectively. Yet, there are reasons behind every effectiveness and ineffectiveness. We did a little survey among ourselves, and this is the result that we gathered.

Most people become ineffective because:

1.  They like to procrastinate. The word “procrastinate” according to LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English means to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it. People who like to procrastinate will suffer in the end because they have to catch up with a lot of things which should have been done earlier on. An effective way to fight this procrastination is by making a plan or a schedule, and stick to it.
2. They do not share the same belief. For instance, a company requires all its employees to be energy-efficient, such as turning off the lights or air conditioners that they don’t use. Some employees just can’t understand why they have to be troubled by minor things like that, especially if the company is making a lot of profit. Good communication is needed here, to make sure everybody understands why a certain policy is being enforced.
3. They have too much entertainment. We live in an era where we need to be updated with all sorts of current information from all over the world. We have facilities like satellite TV, internet, email, Face Book, Yahoo messenger, Blackberry messenger, Live messenger, Friendster, Tweeter, etc. These are all good means of keeping ourselves up to date. But we must not get addicted to it, and make sure we don’t spend our working time chatting with some long-lost friends that we just found on the net. We need wisdom from the Lord to be discipline in this, to be productive in our working time.
4. They have no passion or excitement. They feel bored with whatever they do. Even if they do their job, it’s not the best that they can give. This type of people needs to catch a clear vision. They must know the purpose, why they do the things they do, thus they would be able to love their job. Jacob worked for many years to get Rachel to be his wife. But all those years only seemed a few days to him, because he knew the purpose of his work (Genesis 29).

5. They are not feeling well. When we fall sick, we don’t feel like doing any work at all. Even if we show up to our office, we would be so lethargic and sluggish. What we need to do is to get well. Maintaining our health can be done by practicing healthy life style. Make sure we have enough rest, eat quality food, drink plenty of water, and exercise regularly. It is also important to keep our heart cheerful. “ A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22 – NKJV).

6. They have no commitment. People who are not committed to their work will easily give up when faced with challenges. It is hard for them to focus and to be faithful in what they are doing. This type of people needs to understand that God sees our work on earth. The Bible says that when we do our job, we should do it as if we are doing it for the Lord and not for man (Ephesians 6:7).

7. They like to complain. They complain about everything. They complain about the weather, the traffic, the government, the crisis, their husband/wife, their children, etc. They complain when they have too much work (they feel manipulated, not get paid enough to do all the projects that are assigned to them). They also complain when they have too little work (they feel intelligently insulted because they are under challenged). What they need is self control. Instead of just complaining, watching the days go by, they should really be doing their work. If they can switch the energy which they use for complaining to doing work, it will be wonderful.

Let us learn from these points and endeavor to be the best that we can be. Eliminate all unnecessary things; transform whatever ineffectiveness to become effective. “Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward.”  (2 John 1:8 – NLT).

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