Why review?

By the time Joshua was old and full of years, the Israelites had become a large organisation and their struggles reflect the problems faced by that kind of association and we get a list of what has been allocated to whom. Translating that into present day terms it tells us a large organisation, business, sporting, or just community, needs to review and remind itself of what it has accomplished and what its values are.  It applies to teams and even couples and individuals. We need to remind ourselves of the successes we’ve had and the problems we’ve faced and overcome together. We need to remind ourselves why we are doing things and what our ultimate aims are. It applies to careers, university studies and even school, where it is easy to give up over the boring aspects of what we are busy with, when they are necessary steps to a goal. It’s also necessary to remind ourselves of mistakes so that we don’t repeat them. But for future planning, we need to review the present as well as the past. We need to take stock and look at things as they are so that our future plans are based on reality and not illusions.

Setting limits

When Joshua became old and full of years he was relieved of leading the fight against the Sidonites. That teaches us that we should not ask others, or even ourselves to do things beyond our capabilities. That’s not to say we mustn’t try but no matter how hard you flap your arms, you won't fly. What it does say is that, as a boss, when things become too difficult for our people, we need to take over responsibility. No one can do everything. Some lack experience, some lack skill and some just have too much on their plate. For the small business, reaching beyond the business’s means is one of the main reasons for failure. To get a large company example, it is only necessary to recall what happened to the banks in the recent collapse.

On the negative side, how often has a good production official been promoted into an advisory, administrative, or even sales job and proved incompetent. The same applies to admin. people fordced out of their competence. That kind of promotion is unfair to the employee and it is the boss’s responsibility to make sure each promotion is in the employee’s interest as well as the company’s.

These notes are written in the belief that the Bible is not just a history book but something that teaches us how we should live and work.