The Shepherd Theory

Manage like a Shepherd

Mark E. Peters

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781098083519
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

The Shepherd Theory is a five-thousand-year-old principle that is biblically based, but it works for any business. The shepherd theory is based on the principles of building a solid company with employees that are willing to work toward the common goal of strengthening and growing the company. This principle is a strategy that will create loyal employees, customer, clients, and vendors that will want to do business with you. In today's aggressive world, companies need to evolve and change as new technology shapes the world.

Here are some simple but very true facts: if you don't take care of your clients, there are other companies that will. If you don't take care of your employees, they will leave, seeking new employment. If you don't treat your suppliers with dignity and meet the payment-time requirements, you will not get serviced very well, if at all. This book gives you the tools to strengthen your work environment, build a quality system, and teach you how to work with different personalities, building solid policies and principles that will grow the business and maintain great and loyal employees. This book, The Shepherd Theory, should be used as a workbook. It has the tools to you need to secure your company into the future! Read it if you dare!

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

-John 10: 14

Chapter 1

What Is a Shepherd?

Let’s see what the Bible has to say about what a shepherd is.

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve. (1 Peter 5:2)

Ah, a servant! How many managers consider himself or herself as a servant? The most successful managers do. I don’t care if it is employees or customers; the manager, just like our Great Shepherd, is a servant. You provide the care, benefits, and training for your flock. In turn, you will receive loyalty and quality work. In reality, you are building relationships. This is critical to keep customers and employees. If you do not serve your people, why in the world would they bother to provide any service for you? As a member of God’s kingdom, a manager has a great responsibility. You are commissioned to serve, and do it focused on the people, not money, sounds crazy? No, let me explain. When you focus on money, you lose focus on the people. They lose focus on the goal, and you will lose money. Take care of the people; and they will take care of you, and you will be profitable. Money is the result of a well-structured company with leadership that serves its people; and the people, in turn, serve the company.

A great example of this outside the secular world is the modern church. Let’s look at the megachurches. Are their goals, objectives, and focus on money? No! They are totally focus on people. After all, they do not have a “product” to sell, do they? They provide comfort, a safe place to worship and a place to learn and volunteer. There is no pressure on dress, and they serve warm drinks in the winter and cool drinks in the summer (coffee too).

Let’s look at the department store and malls. What is taking them out? The Internet! Some stores are adapting to this and challenging the Internet, like a good example is the TJ Maxx group. They offer designer-based personal products at really discounted prices. Others are trying to figure this out and have been downsizing in nonperformance areas, like JCPenney, Macy’s and Kohl’s. Others have closed, such as Toys R Us.

Best Buy is a place where you can see and hear tech products before you purchase; but the fear was they come, they look, and then they buy on the Internet. The solution shows the Internet price to the sales associate. And they will match it, and you leave that day with the product. This is a great example of listening to the client!

Some stores give you store cash based on what you spend. This really has helped store front sales; but yes, the Internet stores are catching up to this. Who will win, storefronts or the Internet? In a perfect world, they both could coexist. But will they? We will have to find out. My bet is the ones that best satisfy the customer needs, and there is no reason why both can survive if it is done right. Today some stores are becoming hubs for major online stores such as Amazon. This is a great step in the right direction both working together!

Understand what a shepherd is.

Then Micah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘these people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’” (2 Chronicles 18:16)

What are the traits of a good shepherd?

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. (Isaiah 40:11)

Do managers hold their employees close to their heart? If they want to be successful, they do. Do you run a company to satisfy your needs, or do you consider the employees first? Do you offer different benefits for management than the employees? If you want the best employees, you have to offer the best work environment. The better you treat an employee, the better they will treat you. Do you know your employees? Pick a time of day and visit the flock. Let them know you are there for them, answer questions, offer help, and let them know you are there for them.

I make sure I talk with or visit each employee every day. It is amazing to witness when I don’t. They will ask me if everything is okay. How many of your employees would ask or care about your personal situation? They will if you care about them. It is okay to be close to your flock, of course. They are your most important assets. You should let your guard down; if you are guarded, they will be as well. Think about it; you spend from eight to ten hours a day with your work family. If you can’t enjoy the people you work with, you have not done your job well! You are the leader, the coach, the mentor, and the visionary. You pick and lead the team who is going to make for the foundation of the company; this is what is going to hold it up.

Employees are people, and they come with human traits, sorrow, happiness, guilt, sadness, curiosity, pride, and most of all, feelings. Every decision you make affects all employees. Try not to surprise them as the results can be devastating. I have seen companies being sold and a huge setback because employees left, not understanding the reason behind the sale. Did it make sense for the sale? Probably so, but the employees did not understand the reason of the sale, and the trust barrier was destroyed. People left the company to find security.

Here is my life example: I worked in the corporate world for over twenty years. I moved many times to increase my experience and help the company where I thought my talents were needed. This company was a shepherd-style management company. I was impressed with all of my leaders and was even humbled in their presence. I watched and participated in many years of growth and also helped in times of recession, and we saw a few of those. My last tenure with this company was to operate a small part of the business, about forty employees in all. My boss, who ran about a 120-employee operation, and I operated the other part of the company. We were the specialized equipment—manufacturing division of a larger corporation that was expanding and growing through acquisitions and mergers. As a manager, I was given free rains to grow and produce products, expand markets, and hire when justified. I had a great shepherd; and to this day, he has been very successful. And after tenure as an entrepreneur, he sold his business with his employees’ full involvement and is now an executive VP with the company that bought his company.

Anyway, I will call my boss Joe. Joe and I saw major changes in the management in the company, and we both now had a new report structure. Rumors of mergers were floating around. My new boss (I will call The Wolf) was meeting with me and telling me how I was going to operate from now on. This included changing report structures and marketing strategies. The Wolf was concentrating on money, not people, not talent, not emotions, but money. The Wolf was out to make a name for himself and all by himself. You were onboard this train, or you were left at the station, his words exactly. We went through all kinds of attitude, personality, and IQ testing. Rumors were flying everywhere, and nobody knew what was going on. The Wolf had created chaos, discomfort, and a scatter of the sheep. Joe and I both were looking at ways to leave this mess. It was out of our control, and we both agreed it was time to get off this train and find a new station. Joe went on to buy a small company and create a dream come true for him and his employees. I left and went to a smaller family-owned company and was a VP in charge of engineering.

Before Joe and I left, we met with our flocks and told them what we were doing, I feared for them, but I offered words of encouragement. And this was a very tear-shedding session. This is when I realized I was a true shepherd, and the love between the sheep and I was overwhelming. I felt bad for them, and I would have taken them all with me if I could have.

After I left, The Wolf and the pack decided they were going to build a new facility and move to an industrial complex not far away. Planning took place. Excitement grew, and about one month prior to moving, The Wolf dropped the bomb. “We are not moving. We are consolidating and reorganizing. You will be talked to about the plans. Some will be offered jobs, and others will be given packages as long as you stay through the shutdown and move.”

Products were moving to the west and assembly to the south. Initially 20 were offered jobs out of 120. Most refused, and then they went to the B list, then the C list. In all, about 5 people accepted positions to move out of the 120 people. They would have to rebuild the company from the ground up. To make this story short, The Wolf was off to Mexico on a new assignment, and the split company with 5 employees divided between two locations was all that was left. What happened? People found new jobs. Some came with me on my entrepreneurial adventure; and believe it or not, more than 7 other entrepreneurs spawned out of this move. The bad news, a small pack of wolves basically destroyed a fast-growing product producing division of a large company on the theory of consolidation and integration would save lots of money. See, here is the issue: focus on money and not the employees or the clients affect the end result, losing 115 talented people, the advancement of product improvement and design. Did they recover? Well, The Wolf was ultimately discharged, and the company eventually got the products back up to par (and this took years to correct). The good news, the people prevailed and moved on to new ventures and jobs.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them. (Psalm 78:72)

Leadership! That is what you need to provide. Do you provide the leadership needed to make the company successful? Do your employees know the goal of the company? Do they know when the company is thieving or suffering? They need to! I can’t express this enough; you have to keep the people informed.

Life Experience

I moved to a smaller family-owned business with a young man in charge (owner’s son) at that time, about twenty-eight years old. I was hired as the VP of engineering. I was brought into a group of engineers that I would consider similar to the Island of Misfit Toys. This group had no direction, leadership, or goals.

First thing I did was interview each employee reporting to me. I told them that I was there as a friend, and I was going to be an open book. They would be informed on company goals, direction, and objectives. I had to gain their confidence before I could get their respect. This was going to take time. They trusted no one. After the interviews, I laid out a chart with each of the people and what talents they brought to the department. My goal was first team, then organization, then our mission. All would be involved with the development of the mission and goals.

As I learned the talents, I developed sub groups or departments based on the talents of each of the individuals. I basically broke the engineering group into three departments: research and development, product support, and production engineering. Through a nonintrusive interview and strategic questions, I was able to ease tension, find out what they wanted to do and where the talent lied to fit properly with each department. The last thing you want to do is to put someone in a position that they do not want to be in or has no interest for them. After this, we had a party; and we got to know each other, along with spouses as well. We all became great friends.

During my tenure with this company, we developed eight new products along with multiple patents, and the company was growing at nearly 20 percent per year. This was done in less than a three-year period. I will say that I had pretty much free range, and the young president was a great marketer, but he lacked substantially in management skills (shepherding). But he was only twenty-eight, and he had a lot to learn. And I believed he had the potential to develop these skills. After I spent three years with this company, I decided to move in the direction of entrepreneur. I announced to the company and the engineering group that I was leaving to start my own business. The company had a luncheon for me, and I thanked them all and gave my condolences to the owners; and to my surprise, my group put together a going-away party for me. They put this together and not by the company. It was a happy and sad evening, but what I found was that I was doing something right. They did this for me, and that hit home for sure. I realized that it is important to treat how you would want to be treated.

I kept...