Is it time for you to retrain?

What will you be doing to retrain yourself, or offer as a product to retrain others?

Good morning, New Zealand, as we wake up all the way to level two here in Aotearoa. Level two started, around about midnight last night. And that was an interesting time for us here in New Zealand. Interesting because we have now effectively reopened a whole series of businesses.

Now there are still some restrictions in place, of that it is very true. But what does it really mean to actually have this opportunity to go back to work? As New Zealanders, we're seeing a real desire to kick start the economy. And today happens to be the day that our government will also launch their next budget. And this budget should be a budget that should give us hope, a budget that we know is going to bleed red, because they're going to invest a lot of money to get things going in the economy.

What are your options if you need to be retrained from the hospitality or tourism industries?

However, here's a question for you. What are you going to do if you were in the hospitality industry or the tourism industry, two industries that have been rocked by COVID-19 that have been effectively subdued, and will take a long time to recover? For some businesses, they might not reopen their doors, they might be closed forever. And that's going to be a tragedy for a number of us here in New Zealand.

Last night, I was watching Paul Henry's show on TV. He has been asking the New Zealand population to give ideas and thought about how we can kick start the economy. And honestly, some of those ideas were absolutely fantastic. There's an opportunity tonight on TV three to watch the Paul Henry show. He will highlight the top three suggestions, that's going to give us a chance to look at what we can do to re start and re kick off this new economy. But some of those ideas were incredibly dim. If you get an opportunity to see some of the reruns of the show, go ahead and do that.

In his show last night, he interviewed Tony Alexander. He was the chief economist of the BNZ. And I've had the privilege of sharing the stage with Tony Alexander on a couple of occasions. And the reality is that Tony Alexander gave us a good overview of what's going to happen. The government is going to launch its budget, and we know that the government has got this opportunity to turn around to people and say, "Let us get re-engaged." But how are they going to do that? And how are we as business leaders going to start leading from the stop and make a change for our nation, for our employees, for our community, to help us to restart and to kick off this brand new phase in our history?

Is it time to redeploy people into new industries?

So let's go back and think about this. Some people say, "Well, why don't we just put people back into construction?" We'll take them out of hospitality or tourism, and we'll get them out there building roads. Can you imagine putting somebody on a digger with no experience? Isn't that a recipe for disaster? So the question being raised is how are we going to retrain people to future proof ourselves the next time around.

I'd like to reference a couple of scriptures which I think are really important for us to consider, as we look at this aspect of retraining people. In Proverbs 22, verse 6, it says, "Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it."

I think that's an important aspect for us to consider what are we doing to train up our youth and to train up ourselves. So when we do come across an obstacle, do we just fall down and fall back and say, "Oh, woe is me!" Do we act like a dead cockroach on its back with its legs kicking around, or are we going to be resourceful, willing to go back and retrain ourselves and would wet go back and put the hard efforts in, no matter where you are in your journey of life. Whether you're at your infancy, your start, or you are mature and coming towards the end. There's no security for us. People who had money, put aside are finding that their resources are dwindling away. What you have planned might not be the right plan for now. So will you depart from teachings that you had as a child?

"Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it."

The second scripture I want to share with you comes out of two Timothy, Chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. It says, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." So that's a bit that I want to encourage you as business leaders. What are you doing to use your faith in your faith journey to help retrain others? Is there an opportunity for you to come out there and start to be a leading light in this community, in this day?

How can you be part of the solution to help to restart our economy?

Where you are able to look at the aspect of how can you be part of the solution? What are you going to do that's going to help people to retrain them? What are the areas of expertise that you can bring to the game?

I'm in the professional speaking industry. And we spend a lot of our time involved in speaking, training and facilitating. We've got written words, we've got spoken words. How can we translate this into something that will become useful for the next generation? Have you produced some training programs that you can take out there, that you can start to use with your own staff? If you don't have them, where can you go and source information and training programs that will add value?

Let's go back to the principle that somebody shared on Facebook recently. There's been a massive downturn as we all know, in the airline industry where people who were involved as air stewards and air stewardesses have now been retrenched. In the post that I saw, it had a thank you to the airline staff who have served us for years and trained us on what we need to do in the case of an emergency. Well, you know what I'm going to say, it's about the oxygen mask that comes down. What are you going to do when that oxygen masks come down? Are you going to pull that through, put it on yourself or you're going to put it on the guy who is sitting there next to you? That's the real question for us because the oxygen mask is what we use on ourselves first.

As a leader, are you willing to become selfish?

Are you going to be a person that looks after yourself in the very first instance in self-leadership? To allow you to gain the power to then help others. Because if you can help yourself, then you're going to be stronger and in a strong position to help others.

I'm going to encourage you that as you look at the day to day, as we have our government come out and share with us, what are they going to do? How are they going to kick start the economy? I want to ask you, "What are you going to do to empower others around you?"

If you have a skill set around training, how are you going to use that skill set to bring things forward? Is this an opportunity for you to be seen as a go-to resource within your industry? If you're the leader of your organization, how are you going to go out there and then empower your staff, giving them the ability to look at things without worrying. Giving them a plan, to say, "This is what we're going to do. This is how I'm going to help you to become a better employee."

How are you going to add value to those that's reporting to you? What are you going to do? That takes care of all of the aspects of the Scripture. It says that, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching." So what you can then do in terms of taking your faith, your understanding of the Scriptures and introduce them into your workplace. Now, I'm not advocating Bible bashing, but I'm advocating that you stand up for your faith. Let me give you an example.

This is what we're going to do. This is how I'm going to help you to become a better employee.

Here in New Zealand, we are coming out of level three into level two. Most organizations have been given the green light to go ahead had an open and operate. You can, if you want to, go to the mall; you can, if you want to, go to the pub. There are certain restrictions, but you can go there. You can go to the beach. You can even have a sports team.

Yet for some bizarre reason they say that if you go to a church, you can only have 10 people in that gathering. Yet, you can have 100 in a pub, but only 10 in a church. At one point they even had that same limitation on the number of people that were allowed to attend a funeral. Can you imagine that? 10 people at a funeral to farewell your loved ones. Why the arbitrary 10 (it was lifted up to 50 for funerals, and maybe even weddings), but still only 10 for a church. Why are we restricting whether you go to a church or a mosque or a synagogue? Why are you saying you can't apply your faith?

This is something that to me is fascinating and what are you going to do to start helping those around you? Yes, you can certainly go and sign petitions, I think it's a good thing to do. There are a number of petitions coming through. One I saw can came out from a National Party MP, which I signed last night that one I saw this morning, which again encourages us to go to our leader, Jacinda Ardern and asked her to extend the opportunity for churches to open and extend beyond the 10 limit. Now, we still have to be careful in how we operate. That is a given. But if you think about this, you're not only choosing how you operate, you are choosing how you can help and support others in our community.

In our community, we have people who are lost, who are broken, who are hurt. A church gives us an opportunity to give them answers to some of their questions. It gives them a community, they can come to, where they can start to feel less anxious. It says in Philippians, Chapter 4, verses 6 and 7, "Be anxious for nothing." How can you be anxious for nothing if you have a lot of things that are hindering the way that you can go forward.

Let us review what's happening today here in New Zealand.

By now we have entered into level two. Over the next couple of weeks and months, we're going to see the true effect of this lockdown. We are currently a COVID-zero country for the last two days in a row where we have recorded zero detections of COVID-19 in all the testing we've done. And as a country, as a nation, the 5 million of us have pulled together to help reduce the risk of spreading this virus. But the true effect from an economic viewpoint will be felt as organizations turn round and determine whether or not they can continue to operate. People's livelihoods, their employees, their family, are all going to be put to the test.

We're hearing through customers that we speak to on a daily basis, that there's risks, some quite serious risks, that they will be having to retrench people in their organization. What are we going to do to retrain those people? What's the government going to put in place? That's going to become an incentive for you to go and find the right training? How are you going to go out there, and figure out what is the right thing for your staff? And if you don't have staff, what are you going to offer that's going to make a difference for organizations that come to you to look at your expertise to help them navigate these choppy waters? We know, as I said before, it's impractical to say to somebody who is in hospitality one day, to go and drive the front loader the next. So let's look at practical things that we can do today to help people to change what they can do on a daily basis. New Zealand, we are a team of 5 million. Only a few will rise to the top and start to lead.

Are you willing to step up and lead?

Here is your chance. If you're involved in an industry that can retrain people, develop a program, put it online, create an app, whatever the opportunity is... here is your chance.

Do you see this as a time of opportunity? Or do you see this as a time of adversity?

When you think about the story of a man who was travelling with his grandson, and he came to the edge of the village where he sat down with his grandson. And as he was there, enjoying the beautiful day, a young man comes walking up and he says to the old man, "Old man, tell me... if I go into this village, will I find horrible people?" So the old man asked him, "Son, in the last village you came from, what did you find there?" He replies, "I found horrible people." The old man says, "Son, when you go to this village, you'll only find them there."

About an hour later, after this young man had passed through, another young man came through. And he engages with the old man, saying, "Old man, tell me... when I come into this village, will I see nice people?" And they old man ask him the same question. "Son. In the last village you came from what, sort of people did you find?" To which the young man replies, "I found nice people!" The old man said, "Son, you'll only find nice people there."

As a young man walked off into the village, the old man's grandson looked up and says, "Grandpa, why did you give them two different answers." The old man replied, "My boy, I didn't give them two different answers. I gave them the same answer. Whatever you're looking for, you will find."

Are you looking for opportunity? Or are you looking for adversity? The choice is yours. I'm going to encourage you to start leading from the stop.

#Leadership #Retrain #LeadingFromTheStop #Faith #Christian

About the Author:

Elias Kanaris is the Executive Director of Lifework Leadership Auckland. He is an author, professional keynote speaker, executive coach, leadership trainer, entrepreneur and a man of faith. Elias is a thought leader in leadership and team building, specialising on equipping and inspiring Christian men and women in the marketplace for maximum eternal impact. You can contact him on +64-(0)9-280-4420.

About Lifework Leadership Auckland:

At Lifework Leadership Auckland, we are propelling influencers to maximise their Kingdom impact into their home, company, community and city.

You spend the majority of your time at work. And you’re good at it. But you wonder – could you be doing more for God? If you’re like most Christian leaders, the answer is YES …but you don’t need to leave your job to do it.