One Sided Relationships |
Sep 26, 2009 |
Tired of one sided relationships? You know those where you seem to give and give and the other individual seems to take and take. I don’t know about you but these really drain me!
The other day when I took my little girl to the park behind our house, I got into a conversation about this with another parent who had brought his daughter to play as well. He told me about a ten year relationship that he had with a friend in which he had grown so weary of. He said his friend always needed to be supported, encouraged, etc. At first he wanted to help this guy but after ten years it was beginning to take a toll on him and his family. He even gave his friend a job, but soon he began to complain that he wasn’t given enough work (or pay) so he could buy some of the finer things in life. The relationship is now to the point that this guy takes no responsibility for his life whatsoever. My friend wants to end this relationship and move on.
I believe each of us might be able to relate to my park friend’s situation. Have you been there? I know I have.
Let me ask you few questions about this situation from a different perspective. Is your organization treating your champions this way? Always placing its ills onto your champions? Do all that your champions hear from you are the woe is me appeals?
If you are doing this, might I suggest that they, your champions, will want to run away too!
In our June “Lapsed Champion” workshop we taught about developing organizational covenants. These covenants are a way that organizations can prevent these types of relationships from happening. Covenants aren’t only about what your champions can do for you, but what you as an organization can do to support (and equip) your champions as well. Covenants help develop mutual accountability relationship where leaders of organizations and their champions spur each other on to greatness.
For more information about what an organizational covenant is, please connect with a Mission Increase Foundation Giving and Training Officer in your area for more details. Also, check out our upcoming series of workshops in your area so you won’t miss out on some of the valuable tools Mission Increase provides to organization about champion development.
