eleve8: A Story That Tells Why (5 of 5)

A simple story that communicates the spirit of eleve8...

A couple of years ago, one of the RMI pickup trucks pulled into the parking lot at the office.  As the driver exited the vehicle, he started talking with another team member there by the side of the truck.  That other team member immediately noticed a wet rope that was left in the bed of the pickup overnight.  It had gotten wet from the rain the previous night as it laid disheveled in it's place.  Here in RMI, we value order and stewarding what God has given us.  The rope should've been wrapped up and put in the back of the truck so it was ready for it's next use.  Once he noticed the rope, he reached in and grabbed the rope to put it away. The driver who was ultimately responsible for that rope, asked, "Wow, why can't I see what you see?".

Why can't I see what you see?  What a great question!  It's about training.  The one team member had been trained to have open eyes, to take initiative, to look for opportunities to change things and to have an impact where God put him.  The other team member had simply not been taught to have open eyes.  We want all of our team to have open eyes.  We want to have a "take initiative" kind of culture.

Today, that team member who asked the simple question, "Why can't I see what you see?", is now the one with open eyes.  He is now the one teaching and leading others.  He is now the one taking great initiative to change things.

This is the spirit of eleve8.  It's about multiplication.  We all need to be passing on what we've learned along the way, as well as learning more from the others God puts around us.

Keep watch as we roll this out in an 5 post series...  Next up...  

1. ANNOUNCING: eleve8
2. Vision and Mission
3. 8 Core Values and Proficiencies
4. This is NEW, but not really!
5. A Story That Tells Why

eleve8: This is NEW, but not really. (4 of 5)

Is our eleve8 initiative new?  Definitely yes, but not really...

Why isn't this new?  For a long time, our desire has been to have a multiplication culture.  We've talked about empowering the team, raising them up, releasing them with authority to changes lives.  On a regular basis some of us have used the language "we are a teaching mission".  We truly value our team members and believe in their potential.  Frankly, we've at times purposefully, strategically and patiently sacrificed short term excellence and expediency in order to generate long term personal and professional development and impact by our team members.  We've provided tools and some training to our team members, even if they've had little experience using these tools because we respect everyone's ability to learn and grow into their roles.  We've started a learning resource library. We often choose to use the inexperienced because we believe in their God given future potential. We see equality between our national and international team members.  We believe in our people and we believe in each person's ability to do great things for the kingdom.

Why is this new?  It's time to double-down on our effort.  It's one thing to talk about it and believe, but it's another thing to actively implement.  We want that this language will more regularly be a part of our dialogue and lead us in every decision.  We'll not simply consider how we can develop others, but we will also consider how we ourselves need further development.  What will be do differently? We expect we will have an increased volume of strategic learning events.   We expect that we will bring in experts (local and international) to help us all learn (Interested in coming to teach us your skill?).  We plan to establish an eleve8 learning forum online.  Our library will continue to grow with strategic titles. We can claim we teach/develop people, but we want to be more aggressive in doing so.  We will push harder to expect and demand the development and the empowerment of our people.  There will be suggested books, suggested blogs to follow and articles to read.  There will be an increased volume of encouragement to lead and learn.

RMI Haiti Team - Full Time (Oct 2017)

Keep watch as we roll this out in an 5 post series...  Next up...  

1. ANNOUNCING: eleve8
2. Vision and Mission
3. 8 Core Values and Proficiencies
4. This is NEW, but not really!
5. A Story That Tells Why

eleve8: 8 Core Values and Proficiencies (3 of 5)

What are the 8 major areas of life and leadership that we will focus on in our eleve8 initiative?

8 Core Values and Proficiencies…  

1. Everyone can be a learner and developer (of self and others) - Skills 
2. Everyone can be a student of the Bible - Know the Bible 
3. Everyone can be of good character - Character and Values 
4. Everyone can be disciplined - Personal Discipline 
5. Everyone can be socially intelligent - Understanding People 
6. Everyone can be an initiator - Independent and Creative Thinking 
7. Everyone can be a manager - Self and Others 
8. Everyone can be a server - Service

Keep watch as we roll this out in a 5 post series... Next up... #4

1. ANNOUNCING: eleve8
2. Vision and Mission
3. 8 Core Values and Proficiencies
4. This is NEW, but not really!
5. A Story That Tells Why

eleve8: Vision and Mission (2 of 5)

What is the vision and mission of the eleve8 leadership development initiative?

eleve8 exists to "Develop a Workplace Culture of Constant Leading and Learning" (Vision) in order to "Increase Personal and Professional Capacities to Transform Lives in Christ" (Mission).

Keep watch as we roll this out in an 5 post series.  Next up...

1. ANNOUNCING: eleve8
2. Vision and Mission (Done)
3. 8 Core Values and Proficiencies
4. This is NEW, but not really!
5. A Story That Tells Why

ANNOUNCING: eleve8 (1 of 5)

What is This?

RMI desires to be all in on further developing our team of "learning leaders".  We're doubling-down on our efforts to create a vibrant fellowship of leaders who are constantly learning.  EVERYONE on the RMI team must know that they are in development mode.  We are all in process.  If we are going to transform lives, we must be in transformation ourselves. Out of our own constant development, we will more effectively lead others within our own sphere of influence to new places.

This is why we are launching our eleve8 initiative.

Notes on the Logo...

• "e" is for "everyone". Everyone can/should be a learning leader. 
• "leve" is a Haitian Creole word which means "to lift up". "lev" is the latin root word of the English word elevate, which indicates being "lightweight" and therefore able to be moved, raised up or lifted higher. 
• "8" refers to our 8 unique core values, proficiences or competencies. 
• "8" is elevated off the baseline to illustrate our own movement from who we are today to who we can become tomorrow. The shadow under the 8 refers back to who we used to be. 
• "green" and "blue" refer back to the RMI logo, but yet unique. 
• "green" is used to signify growth and "blue" is used to signify the sky, or the unlimited leadership potential for each of us learning leaders.

Keep watch as we roll this out in an 5 post series...  Next up...  

1. ANNOUNCING: eleve8
2. Vision and Mission
3. 8 Core Values and Proficiencies
4. This is NEW, but not really!
5. A Story That Tells Why