The Principle in Evangelism

Bill Hybels, founding pastor at Willow Creek Community Church says quite accurately that even the smallest acts of sacrifice in this narcissistic culture are a big deal these days. In his book, Becoming a Contagious Christian, he notes that: "We live in such a self-absorbed world that any selfless act on behalf of others stands in sharp contrast" (p. 83, 1994 version). He then indicates the tie-in to influence and evangelism: "Sacrifice, motivated by genuine love and concern, is extremely difficult to discount. It screams for a response of some kind, which is probably a large part of why Jesus lived such a sacrificial life and then called us to follow in His steps."

Motivating Employees by Serving Their Needs

The time-honored “expectancy theory” of motivation says that to motivate people, two critical linkages need to be in place. People need to believe that more effort on their part will lead them to achieve higher performance. That’s linkage one. They also need to believe that higher performance will culminate in some sort of valuable reward. That’s linkage two. If more effort will lead to higher performance and that will in turn lead to receiving a valuable reward, the employee will be highly motivated…

Effort, performance, reward. It’s a progression that works in almost any context (try it with your kids, for example). But notice one thing about it: nowhere does it say you need money to motivate people. What it says, and what we know to be true from study after study (as well as from our managerial experiences), is that the value of the reward to the employee is the key driver.  

Employees value lots of things besides money—time off, more interesting work, greater responsibility, choice of projects, more autonomy, video equipment, public recognition for a job well done. Expectancy theory encourages us to identify what our employees value and to then generously offer that as an incentive.

(Excerpted from The Minister's MBA by George Babbes and Michael Zigarelli, Broadman & Holman Publishing, 2006.)

The Basis for Win-Win Bargaining

No negotiation book has sold better than Getting to Yes by Harvard's Roger Fisher and William Ury. Their model for successful, "win-win" negotiations is rooted in a foundational paradigm shift:

"The basic problem in negotiation," they say "lies not in conflicting positions, but in the conflict between each side's needs, desires, concerns, and fears...Such desires and concerns are called interests. Interests motivate people; they are the silent movers behind the hubbub of positions. Your position is something you have decided upon. Your interests are what caused you to decide so" (pp. 40-41).

As a result, their remedy, whether you're negotiating a peace treaty, a labor agreement, a job offer, or where you and your spouse will eat tonight, is none other than the "serve their needs" principle: "You can hardly expect the other side to listen to your interests and discuss the options you suggest if you don't take their interests into account and show yourself to be open to their suggestions" (p. 55)

It Can Even Work in Hostage Negotiations

A lot of times, the people I’m dealing with are extremely nasty…To diffuse the situation, I’ve got to try to understand what’s in his head. The first step to getting there is to show him some respect, which shows my sincerity and reliability. So before the bad guy demands anything, I always ask him if he needs something.

Obviously, I’m not going to give him a car. I’m not going to let him go. But it makes excellent sense to be sensitive to the other guy’s needs. When you give somebody a little something, he feels obligated to give you something back. That’s just common sense.

-- Hostage Negotiator Dominick Misino, New York Police Department

American Airlines: Serving your needs just like mom did 

Aunt Jemima: Serving dad's greatest need -- to be loved!