Thursday Three For All: Lowercase Ministry, New Hires, and Mr. Rogers
It’s Thursday, kiddies: the day when I roll out a few things I’ve been reading over the past week. Three of ‘em, to be exact. Enjoy. (Remember: click on the big bold print to read the entire article.)
The Importance of Doing lowercase ministry In An ALL CAPS World
(via @KarlVaters) True story: the other night on Facebook, someone said they were going to delete their account because they are sick of the “lack of outrage” they see online. (Uh…not sure if we’re on the same online.) Karl talks us all down off of the ledge by reminding us that not everything needs to be yelled about. So obviously you should READ THIS RIGHT NOW AND DON’T SCROLL PAST IT.
If you spend any time on social media, you know that a message in ALL CAPS feels like yelling. It doesn’t make the content feel more important, just more obnoxious. It doesn’t draw you in, it pushes you away.
It’s the same with the way we express the truths of the gospel. When there’s an excess of noise, another yelling voice isn’t compelling, it’s irritating.
Plus, the message of the gospel is far more often a lower case message of hope, peace and truth than an uppercase message of PANIC, ANGER and FURY.
To Retain New Hires, Meet with Them in Their First Week
(via @harvardbiz) We’re in the process of reworking our new staff orientation, so this article was particularly timely. How are you doing in your new hires’ first week?
First impressions in the workplace really matter — and not just to the employer. New employees can begin to formulate impressions about organizations from the get-go, influencing their decision to stay with the company in the long term. Poor onboarding experiences can lead to unnecessary and preventable turnover, the cost of which can be as much as twice the employee’s annual salary.
It’s difficult to measure whether your onboarding efforts are succeeding, however. At Microsoft, where we hire thousands of people every year, we lacked a good way to measure the perceptions of our onboarding experience, aside from trying to draw conclusions from attrition numbers.
In an effort to better understand what we thought of as “early attrition,” we turned to an obvious opportunity that had been overlooked. We started to simply ask employees about their experiences. We created a survey and reached out after their first week and then again after 90 days to learn about new hires’ experiences and first impressions of Microsoft.
When Things Don’t Always Go Right in the Neighborhood
(via @laughingsquid) If you only watch 90 seconds of a video today, make it the first 90 of this one. (But stick around for the interview…it’s brief and great.)
photo credit: Jason Mathis
