A Thread in a Tapestry Part 2: Tools to Understand Who I Am in the Context of My Community
In last week’s blog, we discussed understanding ourselves as threads tightly woven by God into a tapestry of community and purpose. This week we’re passing along some great resources and practical steps to pair with part 1.
God gifted each of us with unique skill sets, talents, and abilities to speak into the lives of others. In celebration of that, we have chosen some resources that have helped others 1) identify the gifts and abilities God has given them, and 2) navigate how to use those skills in workplaces and communities.
Without further ado, let’s look at some resources.
Understanding ourselves in BAM
First things first, a great way for someone to understand how their personal calling to business might play out in the context of what God is doing around the world is for them to attend a BAM conference. The BAM Global Summit (online) is coming up this week and provides excellent opportunities for people to discover opportunities to contribute their skills and experiences and hear how God is using others with similar callings to fulfill His Kingdom’s purposes.
BAM Global conferences are community-driven and centered on connection. People all over the world come together to share stories and exchange experiences. As we listen and share we begin to develop a greater understanding of the grand tapestry God is weaving around the world through BAM. For some of us, we may begin to better understand the ways God has been preparing us and what He is calling us to do. Having this sacred time to sit with God and hear from the global church body practicing business for His kingdom is a great opportunity to reflect or launch into something new. We leave with fresh ideas, strategies, and a better understanding of how we fit and how we can impact others.
You will also find some great articles on this topic under the categories of Launching and Landing and Human Resources here on The BAM Review Blog.
Understanding how you interact with cultures
Cultural Intelligence Center – Many of us live in a non-native cultural setting. As BAMers, we’ve got a heart to relate and interact with cultures that are different from our own, and most of us know the challenges and stresses that can come with that. Working with cultural differences within a business team can be an even more daunting challenge, which is why we’re recommending the CulturalIQ resource. This resource helps you understand how you and/or your teammates are naturally inclined to engage with other cultures. It focuses on developing a greater sense of self-awareness so you can maximize your ability to work multiculturally. It begins by measuring your confidence within multicultural settings, your understanding of other cultures, your ability to plan for interactions, and then your ability to adapt. After taking the assessment, you’re given strategies crafted for the specific behaviors of you and your team.
Making the best use of your instinctive approach
The Kolbe Index – This assessment doesn’t measure personality or intelligence. Rather, it measures how you instinctively approach tasks you’re given. We all operate a little differently, some of us jump straight into a new project, perhaps using sticky notes to just have all the essential facts. Others are meticulous note takers who prefer to know all the facts about a subject of interest before diving in. Both are strengths, but we’d probably drain our “dive right in” friend if we assigned them to six months of extensive research.
When taken by a whole team, the Kolbe Index can help to highlight which tasks would drain which team members, which team members would be inclined to work well together, gives practical advice on how to communicate with our teammates, and more. It’s a great resource for making more informed decisions about how to manage our individual or team’s time, talents, and strengths as you work together.
Playing to your strengths
Stengthsfinders – Most of us are familiar with the Clifton Stengthsfinder test, as they’ve been one of the leading workplace and personal assessment tools for decades. If you haven’t used the Strenghtsfinder assessment before and are wanting a tool to help you understand what you bring to the table, it’s one of the best places to start. The assessment returns your top strengths, other areas you’re strong in, and then the pain points and strategies for mitigating weak points. The assessment will help you and your team to understand how you tend to approach change, relationships, time and resource management, conflict resolution and problem-solving, and more. It emphasizes playing to your strengths and maximizing them to reach your full potential.
Understanding your role
FiveFoldMinistry – The idea behind the Five Fold Ministry test is that we are called to bring the gospel together, not as individuals but as a church body. This short online assessment helps you identify which ministry gifting you might be most strongly connected to. As importantly, it highlights which gifts you’re less closely connected to. Identifying those ministry areas you’re less connected to can then prompt you to search for and champion others in your team who compliment you. It helps us to appreciate, in a very practical way, the different giftings God has given people – and how we are to serve others as a church body, raising up disciples together.
Understanding your personality
Birkman or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or Enneagram – Maybe it’s not for you, but many have found these personality tests to provide great insight into how they interact with others and the world. These tests also give insight into how people are inclined to interact in workplace scenarios. If you’re a fan of these kinds of tests, we recommend taking some time to read articles about how the different types of personalities tend to behave in workplace settings and relationships. A great way to do this would be to do a quick online search for a particular personality test and add “in the workplace”, or if you’re wanting a little more direction, check out any of these resources: Birkman for Team Effectiveness / Enneagram for Work / Myers-Briggs for Career.
As we continue to seek to better understand ourselves within our communities, it’s important to remember that these resources are just tools to help us gain insight about who we are and how we interact with others. They’re not meant to define us or put us in a box. Ultimately, our identity is found in Christ and our value comes from being children of God. These resources can simply help us to better understand how we can use our unique gifts and abilities to serve others and further God’s kingdom. Let’s continue to seek the Lord as we navigate our place in His mission, within our community, and at work.
We invite you to join us at the BAM Global Summit this month to see your thread in the global BAM picture. More information below.
BAM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2023
THURSDAY 27 APRIL
Join us this April at the annual gathering point for the global business as mission movement…
Gather with the global BAM community at the BAM Global Summit 2023, online on Thursday 27 April. The Main Stage presentations will be broadcast twice, live for both the East and West hemispheres. In between will be a joint schedule of breakouts and multiple opportunities for networking.
Shay acts as the communication assistant for the BAM Global team. As a full time content creator and web developer, Shay uses her skills to partner with community-building organizations.
