One of the distinctives of Rewarding Toil consulting is the 5th “M” of my methodology, that is “motivation.” Sometimes when we think about business motivation we conjure up thoughts of sales teams gathering for a hyped-up, pre-game pep talk. That’s not the kind of motivation I bring. My purposes in addressing motivation goes much deeper than that.
Business owners face many difficulties, stresses, and struggles in their efforts to lead their companies: a big client leaves, a key employee resigns, a work dispute escalates, revenues fall, or expenses increase. Sometimes despite their best intentions, business owners react to these circumstances rather than lead effectively through them.
Leadership requires a steady hand, especially in times of crisis. And a having a steady hand results from having a steady heart. How do you get a steady heart? By knowing what you are in business for in the first place.
Come to think of it, why did you get into business? Maybe you kind of rolled into business organically. Maybe your freelance work picked up and you needed some help and then decided to form a partnership or make a permanent hire. Thoughts of growing the business and making more money or doing bigger projects kept things moving forward. But then a crisis hit. If our motivations are unclear or too shallow, if our purpose begins and ends with the making of money or doing award winning work, these kinds of twists and turns can easily derail us.
So what should motivate us in business? The all important answer to this question is the reason why Rewarding Toil consulting sits at the intersection of my business experience and my pastoral ministry. Business motivation should be grounded in the same purpose and motivation the rest of our lives should have–to fulfill the greatest commandment–to love God and to love our neighbor. Hopefully, if you are honorably providing a good service or product for a fitting and agreed upon price, you are fulfilling part of the second–loving your neighbor. That is a wonderful privilege. Additionally, every time you pay your employees you are fulfilling this purpose in a significant way, again a wonderful privilege. But what of the greater of these two, loving God?
Unfortunately many people believe the expression, “money is the root of all evil,” is in the Bible. It’s not. “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,” is in the Bible (1 Timothy 6:10). When we think that gaining money is somehow inherently tarnished then it becomes almost impossible to conceive of our businesses as something that can please and honor God. But when we look deeper and see that the Bible has all sorts of positive things to say money and business (and one of the books in the Bible is all about this) we can gain a deep and abiding source for motivation that can withstand the shifting winds of the business world.
Sadly, in our day and age, religion has been so polarizing that even mentioning God in a business context can be dangerous. We want to separate religion and business like we do church and state. That’s too bad, because the Bible has profound, time-tested wisdom and insight for how we work and how we build businesses. So I do dare to go where most would fear to tread in addressing motivation from the Bible. Even if a client does not share my Christian beliefs the depth of wisdom in the Bible brings challenging questions which can lead to deeper reflection on purpose and motivation. And we need more depth if we are going to be effective leaders of our businesses.