I attended a bible study recently and it was good for the most part. Every one left feeling they knew the right things to do. It was evident that everyone understood the lesson however; as we prepared to end in prayer I felt something was undone. I continued to focus in on this feeling I had and it became clear.

It was a men’s bible study and men have a tendency to be so cerebral, intellectual, and logical. We had given the men the “what” but we failed to clarify the process of “how”.  Acknowledging a need to make changes or improvements is only part of the solution. Being aware of a need creates the potential for change but does not ensure that actual change will be accomplished.

Men have known the right thing to do since Genesis yet history proves that this awareness has not created a righteous civilization…

Are you still flexible enough to put your foot in your mouth? Most men are, even late into their years. I recently took a class on my job that dealt with leadership and problem resolution. The class left me with a few nuggets that were not only useful in the office but were also useful on a much wider scale. One of the key bits of advice that I knew I needed was how to give objective feedback. Objective feedback was defined as feedback free of the following:

Analysis

Commentary

Assumptions

Conclusions

Judgments

I am challenged with two items in this list, namely “Analysis” and “Commentary”. I, like the majority of men, have a propensity to be analytical when taking in information. As a matter of fact, I am not even sure if I know how to listen without analyzing. This is why the next item on the list is…