Questions to Find Your "Fit"
by Dr. Keith E. Webb

People want to find where they "fit" in terms of their work, their role, and living out of their true self. For some, they want to change roles, jobs, or organizations. For others, they just need to infuse their current role with more of their strengths and vision, but that's a previous article.

This article will show you how to coach someone to find and evaluate a suitable role or position.

Start with a discussion around the work the God's assigned them to do and how He's equipped them to do it (Eph 2:10).

What has God called you to do?
God's calling to "good works" is often not understood with great clarity. Fuzziness is normal. Calling actually gets clearer as we move towards it. The key is in moving forward and acting on the parts we do know, despite a lack of total clarity. This is otherwise known as "faith."

How has God gifted you?
Our giftedness determines how we're going to approach the work God has assigned us. Our personality, background, strengths, likes, learned skills, spiritual gifts - all these make up giftedness. Giftedness becomes clearer and stronger as we operate from the strengths of our gifts. Giftedness is developed and matured with use.

Our understanding of calling and giftedness is like looking at a mountain range from a distance of 50 miles, 10 miles, and a half a mile. From each distance the mountains are the same, yet our clarity of them increases as we get closer. The same holds true with calling and giftedness.

Where and With Whom?
Based on what they understand about their calling and giftedness the next questions have to do with where and with whom they'll live it out.

There are three ways from here to find a fit: place, team, or organization. Depending on calling and giftedness we could begin with any of them and move to the others.

Place
If you have a calling focused on a specific place or people group, such as Seattle or the Sunda of West Java, you might start with Place by asking:

• Where is the place or people group to which you feel drawn to give this next chapter of your life?
  
• How does this place or people line up with what you understand of your calling and giftedness?

Team
For some people the starting point revolves around their future community or team. Identify potential teams and ask:

• Who are these people?
  
• Are these the people you want to work with, fight with, raise your kids with, and be with?
  
• What does this team seek to accomplish?
  
• What might your role be on the team?

Organization
An organization can provide a supportive and empowering structure. Look at any potential organizations and ask:

• What does the organization do and how do they do it?
  
• How well does the ethos of the organization match your calling and philosophy of ministry?
  
• What would they require of you? What would they provide for you?

Far from a few easy questions, finding one's "fit" requires a lot of exploration. Helping people to reflect more deeply enables them to make more discerned decisions.

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Copyright © 2009 Keith E. Webb & CRM

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Dr. Keith E. Webb is a trainer and experienced cross-cultural leadership coach helping organizations, teams, and individuals multiply their cross-cultural impact. Find free articles at http://www.CreativeResultsManagement.com.