Saturday, January 26, 2008

Dare to Prepare at a Higher Level

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Dare to Prepare by Ronald M. Shapiro...
to make it before you give it.
Preparation gives you a greater sense of control, confidence, and dramatically heightens self-confidence, effectiveness and satisfaction. Shapiro has an eight step process and preparation checklist.

What's your destination. Understand your objectives. What and Why? What do you want to accomplish and why are you doing it? The best work is done with a clear understanding of its purpose, value to you. Clarify, refine and re-define. This brings you to see more clearly your next step, tasks, goals.

Someone, somewhere has probably done this before. Plan with precedents. Be the historian, detective to find who has done something like this. It also provides credibility especially when persuading someone on its importance.This helps you clarify objectives and defining course of action. The force of history behind you gives you power.

What's the forecast? Know the alternatives. Now you look forward to predict outcome options. What alternatives and results could you live with. Consider the positive and negatives of potential outcomes. Multiple outcomes could satisfy your objectives. Know what you could be getting in to and what you will do, with a variety of options.

It's in your best interest to know their interests. Probe and find out their interests. Be interested in them. Link these in your presentation to your objectives.

Look before you leap. Set your strategy. Strategy is simply the steps you take ... one, two, three... to achieve your objectives. You analyze precedents, interests and alternative outcomes. Strategy preparation is a big part of the value of preparation... i.e., don't rush to strategy, prepare. Include the heart, technology, and always relate parts back to the whole. Then after strategy comes your team, timeline, and script.

When the rubber meets the road. Do a timeline. When you create a line (graphs, flow chart) with projected dates lined up alongside key steps or milestones. It catches a sense of importance. Why does a timeline create importance? 1. instills a sense of trajectory into you work. 2. a good source for collaboration. 3. control the course of a project so it isn't controlling you. 4. fleshing out how to accomplish tasks. Timelines help to bring clarity to the preparation process. (The book has several great examples.)

The right parts for the right people. Pick your team. Know your team member's skills and match them to appropriate parts of your game plan. They can help define objectives, ponder precedents, and set strategy. As you move into scripting, the team broadens insight strengthening the script.

What you say and how you say it. Write the script. Write out how events will turn out and its various scenarios. Script questions and potential responses. Note where people may question and prepare response. The Script culminates all the preparation process. Most resist the script and timeline part the most. It is the hardest part, but makes your project concrete. That's why involving the team and making it fun is vital.

Use it to cover "what if's" and how to respond.

Mistakes will be made, preparation develops you in the art of adaptation. Prepare thoroughly and strategically and conquer. Preparation is a craft. "The sheer act of preparing... for a speech, presentation, a negotiation, or team meeting... has brought me amazing satisfaction." Shapiro concludes.


The Preparation Principles Checklist:


Challenges you Face...

Situation Summary Objectives...

Define your goals.
What would you like to accomplish in this transaction or in dealing with this challenge?

Precedents
Transactions or experiences that can influence a model for guidance. What have you or others done to deal with similar situations? What are some examples of results from those situations?

Alternatives
What are the various outcomes you want to consider? To what degree do they satisfy your objectives? What could happen if things don't work out? What are their options if the other party chooses not to work it out with you?

Interests
What objectives or desires does the other side have beyond their stated positions. What do they want... need... that you might be able to address?

Strategy/Next Steps
What is your plan? What steps does it involve? When and how will you probe?

Timeline
Lay out the time period during which you want to accomplish your objectives. When can you be expected to accomplish what steps in the process outlined in your strategy?

Team
Are you doing this alone or with others? What's everyone's role? What do you know about the other side's participants? Biological? Information? Authority? Their personalities?

http://www.daretopreparebook.com/


Here is a Spiritual process on how God fulfills His purposes through us.

Jesus said that
"Every plant not planted by God will be up rooted."
(Matthew 15:13, NLT)

It is so important our plans and processes are grounded in what God is planting through us. That we receive His seed of Spirit, Nurture His seed in His Spirit and garden His seed until it bears fruit through us.

The process of vision fulfillment has this as its process in Spirit.
1. God Gives us the vision. This comes in prayer and spending time soaking in His Secret Place, the Inner Chamber, The Most Holy Place.
2. Then we pray the vision as God has given to us. We again do this in His Most Secret Place.
3. Going again, and continually, in the inner Chamber of Spirit, God then gives the steps or strategy for moving to the vision.
4. As He paves the way, and shows us the way, His strategy, we know He is going before us. This creates a sense of confidence in us. Our faith is stirred and with faith all things are possible. The vision builds in vibrancy and strength in our minds advancing the faith that works miracles.
5. Walking in this confidence, excitement begins to overwhelm us. An excitement walks with all actions and the steps He has directed us to take. All this is a day by day thing. To find the vision in prayer, bathe the vision in prayer, and be given the steps to take through prayer.

Here's the secret to the whole thing:
First, we develop the skill of entering the Most Holy Place, His Inner Chamber where we rest in Spirit in God in His strength, desires, incomprehensible power. We mold into being One in Spirit in God's Spirit.
Second, when we unite with another who does the same, we then live in the unity of Spirit the Bible announces as the ultimate Power of the universe. His creation as One in Him as One, is world changing power. We learn all this in the Inner Chamber.

It all starts in learning the skill of prayer and letting the Spirit teach us the art of prayer, which happens in prayer. We learn the art of prayer by the Spirit, when in prayer. That's what Jesus was saying when He said, "The Spirit will teach you all things."

This is the ultimate preparation. When we prepare in Spirit, we get the vision of God, collaborate in Spirit in igniting the vision, and get Spirit Intelligence on how to take the steps, He has prepared, to execute the vision.
Note:
http://jesusisus.blogspot.com/2005/11/flame-of-spirit.html

Just remember: "Every Plant not Planted by God will be uprooted."
Ignore the power of God and His intimate Spirit working in and with you... you may be rolling out a vision that will tumble down the hill as you try to climb the mountains of attainment without God creating the path up the mountain.This is the day of preparation as the Bible Speaks of. A day is a time of preparation.

Jesus' body was prepared before his burial, before it then rose into life.
Preparation comes before life is again given.
"This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath.
As evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body."
(Mark 15:42, 43, NLT)

Paul, the Apostle, said we are to be prepared and know if the time is right or not. "Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not."
(2 Timothy 4:2, NLT)

Knowing these things comes in prayer preparation. Prayer is our preparation. It gives us our steps and insights on what to do next, when to do it, and building of our faith to know we are walking in His Power.

Preparation is constant. As Jesus said to keep oil in your lamps because you don't know when you will need it, need all of it.
Matthew 25:1-13.

Stay in prayer, go to God's Spirit and lean on this every day, learn from this every day. Keep your Spirit full by staying in His Spirit continually and don't let things around you pollute it. Keep pure oil of Spirit in you. It comes each day fresh, strong, and potent, when you go into prayer and clean your vessel. It needs cleaned each day.

Stay prepared. That is entering His Presence Daily and Hearing His Voice, and letting His Word refresh in you. Our preparation in Spirit is vital to a walk in Spirit. It is inconceivable that we would attempt to walk in Spirit without Daily preparing ourselves for the walk. A day is too intricate, with too many unexpectancies.

We don't know and can't control everything. So we need Spirit daily to guide, empower, and handle the difficulties we face... before we face them. The Spirit protects, changes, and re-maneuvers situations according to His will. We have this dynamic going on in our lives when we walk in Spirit.

We walk in Spirit when we Prepare In Spirit
prior to all we face in a day.
You confidently ask what you will and He will give it,
when His Vision is you,
all Powers of God in the Universe are with you.
They are part of you; they are you.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Meatball Sundae to New Spiritual Biz Process

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? by Seth Godin.
Seth Godin is one of my favorite authors on marketing and creative resonance in his style. He literally brings a smile to my face with his combined genius and mentally refreshing expressions. In many cases the obvious is not so obvious to us. We have new marketing opportunities and in some cases we are so excited about new technologies we have become specialists in making meatball sundaes... meatballs with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Not too appetizing. So we too are murdering the tastiness of some delightfully tasty media opportunities.

Seth goes into how to make the marketing work with a new look on how to present and prepare the product. It's a new marketing revolution going on. This revolution is putting the right products, with the right approach through transformational organizations. We are thinking transformation in what we are making and how we are making it.

We want shortcuts and Meatball Sundae gives us the fast path to these
14 new marketing trends.
The simple premise for today is...
make what you can sell.
Organizations need to match the medium.

Trend 1. Direct communication and commerce between producers.
Organizations can create products for their customers, instead of
searching for customers for their products. There's a need for speed.

Trend 2. Amplification of the voice of the consumer and independent authorities.
Everyone's your critic, listen, respond, blogs are the voice of the people.

Trend 3. Need for an authentic story as the number of sources increase.
You got to get their story straight.

Trend 4. Extremely short attention span due to clutter. Complex messages rarely get through.

Trend 5. The long tail. Consumers reward providers who offer the most choices... the big hit products are fading.

Trend 6. Outsourcing. Intellectual property based on talent and efficiency.

Trend 7. Google and the dicing of everything.
Google can get you right to the page you want without going to "home's" door first.

Trend 8. Infinite channels of communication. Even newer forms of publishing, communication, interaction coming in this already cluttered world. If you can figure the chaos out, you can thrive. Find the people who care. It's the niches that matter. Build your market from your product with the niches who care.

Trend 9. Direct communication and commerce between consumers and consumers.
As social networks become more powerful, consumers gravitate to each other.

Trend 10. The shifts in scarcity and abundance.
Create and sell something scarce and you earn a profit. What's scarce? Spare time, attention span, trust, trained workers, open space.

Trend 11. The triumph of Big Ideas.
New marketing in a noisy marketplace demands something bigger. It demands ideas that force people to sit up and take notice. It can even be the little things made big like service.

Trend 12. The shift from "how many" to "who."
You can now tell who is hearing (or talking) about your message.

Trend 13. The wealthy are like us.

Trend 14. New gatekeepers, no gatekeepers.
Everyone's approachable...You Tube is for you too.

"Ideas that spread through groups of people are far more powerful than ideas delivered at people."

It's a movement--ideas spreading through a community lead to change.The net makes it easier for a movement to take place.
http://www.sethgodin.com/

George Barna, famous pollster for religious trends, has recently published findings of a survey that has interesting implications on trends in the Spiritual area and business. What has been called the Charismatic movement in our culture appears to be on a significant up swing.

What this apparently indicates is that Supernatural giftings of Spirit are prevalent in everyday life. There is an acceptance and belief that these can be a functional part of our lives. Gifts such as prophecy... where a person hears from God which gives Divine insight into future direction, based on Spiritual insight and not any real-world known knowledge. Gifts of healing... that someone can pray for someone and they can be miraculously healed, beyond what medical science says is possible. Gifts of miracles...that people can pray with faith to a level that events can take place without humanly possible explanations. Gifts of knowledge... some know things without being told, such as a person's true motives or information about others. The gifts of living naturally Supernaturally are becoming more and more into acceptance.

Those who "believe Charismatically" have grown in the last few years from 30% to nearly 40% among religious groups...and still showing momentum in this area.

Note:
http://www.barna.org/

This trend is also overlapping in the business function. That is, if we can hear directly from God, what would this do for our businesses. What if we sought Divine intelligence, Divine assistance that creates Supernatural results... beyond our abilities on a regular basis.

The following is a business operating process that would induce this into reality...using Spiritual Powered process. It is a dramatic shift of the way we think and do business. It also fits the market shift trends being observed by those on the marketing watch today. The Body of Christ model for business (based on Jesus' and Apostle's teachings).

The Spirit-Powered Inner core.
Two or three need to be in close Spiritual harmony. As Jesus had his inner circle, a business core needs established that can have the same close kindred Spirit as Jesus had with His inner core...note when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to the mount of transfiguration. We too, when in close Spirit to each other, create a transfiguring core.

Each of the inner core, need to hold close relationship with the Holy Spirit,
spending personal time in the Inner Chamber of God. This is essential and cannot be bypassed. The depth of this is then reflected in the power when we come together.

To hear the voice of God, each part must be shared with each other...
the spark of God's voice is ignited then. It's here we fall short in living in God's Power in business.The inner relationship core strength is not established and each person falls short in their own responsibility and diligence in entering the Holy Chamber of God.

Joint worship does this. When the core group enters into prophetic worship, that is worship to exalt and to hear from God, when this is employed it brings the group together. The Inner Chamber surrounds the group, the Most Holy Place of His Presence is entered. This is not practiced by very many in business. This is the core, the nuclei of power.

We must first create harmony in our relationships within God's presence
and then wait to hear from God. Unhindered harmony must also exist among each other. If not, it won't work. Silent differences hid in the heart, or not dealt with or remedied, will kill Spirit power. Lack of love, understanding, acceptance, feeling superior, lack of respect, differences kept to each one's self ties Spirit's hands. This is a case for why corporate or group worship is important to do first. Spirit heals, causes differences to be aired and healed. Relationship differences are the biggest culprit of hindering Spirit to move in power. This can't be stressed enough.

This is the key to everything. We must love each other unconditionally. Only Spirit can made this possible. We are incapable of loving... we are superficial. Only Spirit can Love and We are compelled to let Spirit control our whole being and love through us.

Next, note taking of what the Holy Spirit is saying to each person is vital to record what you hear from God. Spoken thoughts should be recorded for all to review what the essence is of God's Spirit speaking to them. In this stage mission and vision is provided to the core group. Vision and mission needs to be recorded and then pondered by the group. Again, this should go back to each to reflect on in the Inner Chamber when they personally enter the most Holy Place.

Then these questions need answered.
What is to be done, and how, and who should do it?
This is what we would call the action steps with the strategy of Spirit as part of it. The Holy Spirit provides a strategic process. In this Strategic process, the specifics come to light (Divinely Inspired) on how to go about it, and why it is important to do it a certain way.

Next is having in place the prayer intercessors, the worshipers inside and the prayer (or faith) warriors to see the battle through. Key gifts to put to work are the prophetic to guide on the process... to give Spiritual insight and Spiritual Intelligence for the mission processes, the task development and task assignments.

We move now to Gift identification, assignment, and mobilization.
Gift training, skill training and process training are essential. One gift is the Healing Gift to be part of the prophetic, intercessory, warriors in prayer. These form a ring around the core group and function in tandem with the core.The gifts for relationship healings and physical, emotional healings are vital. People have many physical and emotional ills that need Divine renovation. Everyone is affected by this limitation "of the flesh" as the Bible calls it... which is the physical body's operation, the mind's neurosis, and personality quirks we all have.

Skill development (in both the naturally needed skills and Spiritual Gifts, along with process) to ignite the Spiritual Gifts in each to perform tasks Supernaturally comes into play. Going back to the core worship and prayer, this is where the gifts are implanted, and then developed for visible manifestation in doing the tasks determined to fulfill the mission, vision coming out of the inner circle meetings.

Then each part (department, area) follows the same pattern....
As the business organization grows each section needs to follow the same process,
of an inner core,
outer ring,
combined worship
and task reviewed and fulfillment.

Along the process, pastors who ministry to people's needs keep a watch and guide the ongoing part of the process. It's management in ministry to occurrences which inevitably arise as the processes are put in motion. As the evangelists proclaim the mission, servers get it done, and task engineers (gifts of administration) keep systems of fulfillment running smoothly, we have completed the Body of Christ system in full operation.

To Review,
the process in a nut shell then is...
core group (two or three one in Spirit... totally)
personal entering the Most Holy Place
Corporate, as a group, enter the Most Holy Place
Vision,
mission revelation.
Support of Prophetic, intercessory, warrior, healers in an atmosphere of worship...
group inner chamber involvement.

Note: Andrew Murray, The Spirit of Christ
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/776424.htm

Task and people assignment.
Identify the talents and Gifts available to fulfill or what God will implant on someone so they can fulfill assigned tasks.
Task skill training and Spirit skill training.
Identify and mobilize the tasks congruent to talent, skill, Spiritual Gifts.
Organize to the strategy given while in the Inner Chamber, The Most Holy Place.

Each segment, department, area, do the same process to complete their tasks within their gift and talent sets.

It is a constant inside-to-out process.
After each action is put in motion, go back to the "inside to out" formation.The repetition of this keeps it alive, fresh, it limits being blind sided and getting stuck in a pattern, when constant innovation is constantly necessary.

Always back to the Inner Chamber personally and as a group daily.
"The Disciples were in prayer constantly; pray without ceasing."

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

What Does the Spirit Savvy Biz do?

We share great ideas from current
great business books, magazines, blogs.
We search and find relevant business/Spiritual principles for you.
We read, research and share some of their best ideas
in a summarized, straight-to-the-point form.

We all are busy.
We want the facts, insights as fast as possible.

The Spirit Savvy Business gets to the heart-of-the-matter quickly.
It shows you ways to use Spiritual Principles within solid-business principles.
You get tried-and-proven business ideas in a nutshell,
wrapped in Spiritual Truth.

For personalized, customized business applications,
Contact:
Dale Shumaker, 1304 E. Republic Rd. , #139
Springfield, MO 65804
417-224-3517, 4spirit@gmail.com



Spirit Savvy Business Development
Services provided:


Personal

Business book summaries with Inspired Spiritual applications.
The Spirit Savvy Biz Power System,
The Advanced Entrepreneur series,
The Small Business Builders System.
20 biz book summaries for $20 organized and emailed directly to you.
Numerous special packages available from over 70 selections from
two years of book summaries.

Executive Resource of Business trends...summary service

Personal in-house summaries and biz info briefings

from current best-selling biz books to you,
your group, at your place. ( around $100/month)

Business Development
... the ultimate mission

Spirit Savvy Business training and development service.

Personal, customized week by week biz principles
assisting you in integrating the best biz principles with Spiritual
power in your business. For those who see their business as God's
Tool for building the Kingdom of God in the Marketplace.
(from $200/month and up)

For your Best in His Kingdom,
Dale Shumaker

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Judgment... making great calls

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Judgment, How winning leaders make great calls. Written by two leadership gurus, Noel M. Tichy, the notable professor, and Warren G. Bennis, known for his leadership authority, they show us how some leaders make great calls and why others don't. Judgment is the essence of effective leadership. It's an informed decision-making process encompassing three domains... people, strategy, and crisis. It involves a three-phase process... preparation, the call, and execution.

Most good calls are made over time within a good process that
produces sound judgment. Harvard Business Review did an excellent job on breaking this down and showing the inter-relating process. Note their summary.
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?articleID=R0710E&ml_action=get-article&print=true


Time

--Preparation. Sensing and identifying the need for such a call.
Making and aligning the right people
--The Call. Based on the timing for a judgment call and sufficient input with essential involvement, they make the call.
--Execution. When the call is made, resources, people,
capital, information, and technology must be mobilized to support.

During this time you learn and adjust which is a necessary
"redo" part. Here you go back to aligning, mobilizing the right people and if necessary, re-sense, re-identify the need.

The "redo loop" is what insightful leaders master, do well, to
make the call be the right one that works. Thus processing a good judgment call.

This then is applied to three judgment domains... people judgment
calls, strategy judgment calls, crisis judgment calls. Within this to make great judgment calls leaders hone their skills of creating compelling and practical storylines. These connect diverse elements in an unfolding stream of events. They enable leaders to deal with scale, complexity, and uncertainties. They provide a platform for subplots throughout all levels of the organization.

So a judgment call is made in context of the
storyline... making a case for change. How we are going. How we're going to get there. Within this are ideas, values, and emotional energy.

Sustained good judgment includes character and courage,
a moral compass, holding themselves accountable, valuing self-respect while maintaining their standards in face of obstacles.

They then go into detail on making good people judgment calls,
strategy judgments and crisis judgments.

After 248 pages of detailed case studies to illustrate and support their points, an 80 page workbook is provided so you can do it too... Handbook for Leadership Judgments.

This makes it possible for you to complete the process with a structure to reach the final stage... interacting effectively with different constituencies.
The knowledge needed includes
:

Self-knowledge
, personal values and goals

Social network knowledge, those around you daily

Organizational knowledge, people at all levels

Contextual knowledge, stakeholders (customers to special interest groups)
Noel Tichy's website
www.noeltichy.com

It was said of Jesus that He always knew people's thoughts and motives.
Jesus made great calls to perfection. He was was continually ahead of people's thoughts and ambitions.

"Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them,
"Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?"
(Matthew 9:3-4, NLT)
"But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area..."

(Matthew 12: 15-16, NLT)
"But Jesus knew their evil motives. "You hypocrites!" he said.

"Why are you trying to trap me?"
(Matthew 22: 18, NLT)

His answers were so unique because he knew their hearts
and what they were getting at. Even though he knew what others were thinking He would many times ask them questions about their questions. He made them question their own questioning. He in a sense made them go deeper into their thinking.

Some things people ask us are sincere and some are trying to
trap is with our answers. This is so prevalent in the business world. People try to manipulate us with our words. If they can get us to "say" something they then hold us to that. So some questions are insincere for the purpose to trap us into an answer they want. Jesus knew man's hearts and He knew before hand what they were doing, so He was cleaver in how He answered them. We need to do the same.
Note: Snakes in Suits:
http://spiritsavvybiz.blogspot.com/2006/07/snakes-seducing-unsuspecting-suspects.html

His judgments were always sound because everything He did,
He did in consultation with the Father, His Father in Heaven. Jesus refused to do anything without consulting the Father.

This process of
seeking God's will, God's purposes and God's direction is what made him so unique. He was humble in doing this, classified himself as a servant and did everything to serve God and to serve man. He existed to serve God's wishes, His Father in Heaven, His purposes.

"I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has
commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say."
(John 12: 49-50, NLT)


We can carry with us the same judgment abilities. This judgment of
Jesus was Supernatural, because He knew man's Thoughts. He said He will tell us all things and things to come. Spirit gives us insight beyond our natural abilities. All we have to do is seek Him and seek His Thoughts and He will share them with us. In the Psalms it says that God knows the secrets of the heart and He knows the thoughts of man. Which in most cases are futile, inferior to His. They lack good judgment.
(Psalm 44:21, 94:11)


In God's presence He will speak to us and tell us the secrets of the heart, that only He knows. All this He promised in the Scriptures. "Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come."
(Jeremiah 33:3, NLT)


Torrey talks about how we can have Super-insight, the judgment of God.
How do we gain the Supernatural judgment of God, His Wisdom?
James 1:5-7 answers this.
1. We must be conscious of and fully admit our own inability
to decide wisely. Our education and intelligence is inferior to God's.
2. We must sincerely desire to know God's way and be
willing to do God's will.
3. We must definitely ask for guidance.

4. We must confidently expect guidance.

5. We must follow, step-by-step, as the guidance comes.
How it comes we do not always know, but be open to it as we will recognize it as God's guidance when it comes. God's guidance is clear, bold and powerful. (How to Obtain Fullness of Power by R. A. Torrey.)

It is for us to use today. If, and when, we know God's plans, stride in His purposes, we have the assurance of walking within His Power, His Super-intelligence, His Super-Powers, His Confidence of knowing Our God walks with us.