#259 – Integrity Idea 068: Develop a “Daniel Plan” for Decisions

Integrity Ideas are specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity®–actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  You can find more Integrity Ideas at Integrous | Integrity Ideas (integriosity.com)

INTEGRITY IDEA: Develop a “Daniel Plan” for Decisions

“Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” is not about dieting.  It is about putting in place policies and practices to ensure that important decisions and responses to critical or sensitive situations are made with “prudence and discretion” by an organization’s employees, following the example of Daniel when King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all of the wise men of Babylon to be destroyed.

Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization.  We believe some are critical (and necessary) steps in the RENEW/RE-ALIGN/RE-IMAGINE/RESTORE process.  Others are just ideas to be considered if they feel like a good fit based on what leaders prayerfully discern is best for stewarding the organization toward its WHY.

“Develop a Daniel Plan” is in the “if it fits” category.  It is a step to help ensure faithful stewardship, but it may not be needed in a particular organization.  As a crisis is often unexpected, it is wise to follow the Scout Motto and “Be Prepared” to ensure that the organization’s Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and Re-Imagined Culture are not undermined by hasty decisions or responses made without the benefit of complete information and available wisdom.

It is about providing employees with a playbook for slowing down, gathering facts, and seeking both horizontal and vertical wisdom before acting or responding. “Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” reinforces an organizational culture of humility in which the unique contributions of others and the wisdom of God are recognized and honored.  Preparing people to make good decisions is also living out the Creation Mandate, the Golden Rule and the two great commandments.

It also reflects three of the five key ingredients in the RE-ALIGN step of Integriosity–Trust in God, Prayer, and Patience.

Daniel’s Example

You are probably familiar with the story of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s interpretation in Daniel 2.  To recount, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and we are told “his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.” (Daniel 2:1).  The King summoned his magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers to tell him the dream and provide an interpretation, and they failed.  The King “was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.” (Daniel 2:12)

You probably also remember that Daniel comes to the rescue, tells and interprets the dream, and is promoted by the King to be the chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. (Daniel 2:13-49)  What you may not recall is the process Daniel followed in responding to this crisis.

• He responded with wisdom and discretion: “Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.” (Daniel 2:14)  The Message translates this as, “Daniel wisely took him aside and quietly asked what was going on.”  The NIV says he spoke with “wisdom and tact”.

• He asked the King for more time to respond: “Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.” (Daniel 2:16)

• He sought horizontal wisdom from others: “Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions.” (Daniel 2:17)

• He sought vertical wisdom from God: “Daniel . . . told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery.” (Daniel 2:17-18)

The Importance of a Plan for Decisions

Faithful stewardship in obedience to the Creation Mandate and in pursuit of faithful integrity toward Biblical flourishing requires making the best decisions for an organization and its stakeholders.  There are many wonderful quotes about the importance and benefits of having a plan in place for making important decisions and responding to critical or sensitive situations.  For example:

Don’t wait until you’re in a crisis to come up with a crisis plan. (attributed to Dr. Phil)

If you fail to prepare you are preparing to fail. (H.K. Williams; often misattributed to Benjamin Frankin)

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. (President John F. Kennedy)

Be prepared. (Scout Motto)

Proverbs 21:5 warns “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty“.

Employees faced with an important decision or a crisis may feel compelled to act or respond quickly before gathering all the facts and seeking wisdom from others as well as God.  It is often difficult to pause and reflect.  Rick Warren writes:

Because your biggest temptation in the middle of a crisis is to be impulsive. You’re typically not thinking rationally. You’re thinking emotionally. You may be tempted to make a quick decision. But quickness is not the most important thing. You may want to get it over with and make a fast decision, because that seems easier at the time. But that doesn’t mean it will be a good decision. It takes nothing at all to make a quick choice. It takes a lot of wisdom to make the right one. A wrong decision is wrong, no matter how quickly you make it. So step back, take a deep breath, calm down, and talk to God.

A Daniel Plan for Decisions gives people a roadmap for making the best decision.  It empowers and prepares. It creates a reminder, and gives people permission, to pause, gather the facts, and seek wisdom counsel.  Helping people succeed by making good decisions is one way to love them, reinforcing a culture built on the Golden Rule and the two great commandments

Seeking Wisdom Counsel

Posts #245 (Integrity Idea 063: Seek Vertical Counsel) and #246 (Integrity Idea 064: Seek Horizontal Counsel) were devoted to the importance of faithful leaders having the humility to seek wisdom counsel.  A Daniel Plan for Decisions serves as a reminder to seek that counsel and as a plan for seeking it.

Horizontal Wisdom. Seeking horizontal wisdom counsel is actively seeking counsel from faithful advisors as well as from other people in the organization. A decisionmaker without access to the wisdom, knowledge and experience of other people in the organization cannot make the best decisions for the organization, which means they cannot provide the best stewardship of the organization and its people.

Seeking and receiving wise counsel is certainly a Biblical principle and priority:

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. (Proverbs 11:14)

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15)

Without counsel plans fail, but with advisors they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22)

In abundance of counselors there is victory. (Proverbs 24:6)

Seeking horizontal wisdom counsel is rooted in humility and requires an employee to understand who they are in relation to others and to recognize that that they do not have all the answers.  It also reinforces an organizational culture that prioritizes excellence, human dignity, relationships and flourishing.

Vertical Wisdom.  Seeking vertical wisdom counsel is praying, either privately or with a small group of others in the organization, for wisdom and guidance in making a decision or responding to a critical or sensitive situation.

It recognizes that faithful leaders are merely stewards of the organization they lead, and God is its ultimate spiritual owner.  It also recognizes that stewardship requires decisions, faithful and wise stewardship requires faithful and wise decisions, Scripture calls faithful leaders to pray continuously, God is the source of all wisdom, and God will give wisdom to those who ask.

Sadly, it also recognizes that many faithful leaders do not associate God with organizational decisions.  Oswald Chambers observed:

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives.

Chambers warns “Don’t plan without God . . .. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him—that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives.

Scripture is pretty clear about God’s willingness to provide counsel as well as the risks of proceeding without seeking God’s counsel. As to the risks, we need only consider the story of the Gibeonites.  They deceived the Israelites into making a covenant that was contrary to God’s command, and we are told the Israelites failed to seek God’s guidance (emphasis added).

So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them. (Joshua 9:14-15)

RE-ALIGN Ingredients.

In post #085 (Crossing from RE-IMAGINE to RE-ALIGN), we identified five key ingredients for executing a Re-Imagined Vision, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture.  “Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” incorporates three of those ingredients: Trust, Prayer and Patience.

Trust.  Seeking vertical wisdom counsel and then following that counsel requires trust in God, and trust in God is trust in His sovereignty and promises and trust in His commands.  We tend to trust God more easily with little things than big things.

When faced with an important decision or a critical or sensitive situation, an employee may resort to the things that the world trusts (such as “impressive” people and “secure” money) and may not stop to pray or may not have the courage to follow God’s guidance.  A Daniel Plan for Decisions provides a reminder and gives permission.

Prayer.  Like Daniel, employees facing an important decision or a critical or sensitive situation need to seek vertical wisdom counsel.  Daniel enlisted his companions to pray with him.

Through prayer, employees can face those decisions and situations with the promise in Ephesians 4:7: “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.”

Patience.  As Rick Warren notes, a person’s inclination in a crisis can be to act impulsively.  Daniel paused and asked the King for more time.  When Jehoshaphat faced the Moabites and Ammonites, he sought God’s direction before proceeding, and God told him to wait until the next day before proceeding.  When David faced the Philistines in the Valley of Rephaim, God told David to wait until he could “hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees.” Psalm 37:7 tells us: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”  

A Daniel Plan for Decisions provides a reminder, and gives permission, to be patient–pausing to gather facts and seek wisdom counsel.

CONTINUUM: Practices

The Integriosity model organizes “heart change” along six Covert-Overt Continuums.  There is nothing magic about these categories, but we believe they are helpful in thinking about practical execution of a Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture.  The Continuums are Prayer, Proclamation, Policies, Practices, Products, People.

Each Continuum represents an area in which leaders can begin to think about, plan and institute Re-Alignment changes to the heart of the organization.

“Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” is on the Practices Continuum. Practices reflect, and at the same time help shape and reinforce, an organization’s culture.  Because a Daniel Plan for Decisions ensures that employees seek horizonal counsel as well as vertical counsel, it also touches the People Continuum and the Prayer Continuum.

COVERT-OVERT RATING: Overt

The Integriosity model breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations–from Highly Covert to Highly Overt–that we believe are helpful in beginning to pray and think about what is most appropriate for an organization at a particular moment in time.

Most Integrity Ideas will have one place on the scale.  Some can vary depending on how they are implemented.   “Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” is Overt (An overtly faith-based action known generally within the organization) because it involves seeking vertical wisdom through prayer.

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees

When we categorize faith-based actions, we also consider the stakeholders principally impacted by the action: Employees, Customers/Clients, Owners, Suppliers/Vendors, Community and Kingdom.

“Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” principally serves employees by providing a playbook to follow for important decisions.

Be Prepared. (Scout's Motto)

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementing “Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” could be as narrow as a “crisis plan”, a broader policy covering all decisions that meet certain thresholds or characteristics, or even general guidance to all employees to ensure that out-of-the-ordinary situations and decisions get reported “up-the-chain”.

Remember Daniel’s example.  He responded with wisdom and discretion gathering facts; he took time before responding; he sought horizontal counsel; and he sought vertical counsel.  Daniel exhibited the ingredients of trust, prayer and patience.  His approach is personified by James 1:19:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

In developing a Daniel Plan for Decisions, here are a few questions for faithful leaders to consider:

What decisions or situations will be covered?  Are there thresholds or characteristics that can define the need to seek wisdom counsel?

What processes must be followed before a public statement is made?  What is the appropriate response to press inquiries, threats or public events while facts are being gathered and wisdom counsel is being sought?

What employees is the plan designed to guide?  Is it just for senior leadership?  Is it for all managers?  Should it be a tool to ensure that situations are reported “up-the-chain” promptly from all levels of the organization?  Should there be different plans for different levels of employees?

What key employees should be notified of the need for a decision or the nature of the situation before action is taken?  Does this differ based upon the nature of the situation?  Should certain situations be reported first to legal counsel before seeking advice from outside advisors to ensure the protections of privilege?

What external advisors should be consulted before action is taken?

Who should be involved in praying for vertical wisdom?  How does it differ based on the sensitivity and confidentiality of the matter?

Developing a Daniel Plan for Decisions is an opportunity to reinforce Imago Dei, emphasizing the unique gifts of each person and the unique contribution each person can make in a process designed to ensure the best decisions for faithful stewardship of the organization.   It is also an opportunity to proclaim the power and importance of prayer in decision-making.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM): In writing this, I immediately thought of my days as a Boy Scout.  I hoped that “Be Prepared” was still the Scout Motto (it is).  I was encouraged to discover that the Scout Law (formerly the Boy Scout Law) still calls a Scout to be “Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent“.  Imagine if we all lived by those 12 values.

ESSENCE:  Integrity Ideas are specific practical actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way.

INTEGRITY IDEA: Develop a “Daniel Plan” for Decisions

“Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” is not about dieting.  It is about putting in place practices to ensure that important decisions and responses to critical or sensitive situations are made with “prudence and discretion” by an organization’s leaders, following the example of Daniel when King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all of the wise men of Babylon to be destroyed.  It is about providing employees with a playbook for slowing down, gathering facts, and seeking both horizontal and vertical wisdom before acting or responding. “Develop a Daniel Plan for Decisions” reinforces an organizational culture of humility in which the unique contributions of others and the wisdom of God are recognized and honored. It also reflects three of the five key ingredients in the RE-ALIGN step of Integriosity–Trust in God, Prayer, and Patience.

COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices

COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Overt

STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees

Copyright © 2024 Integrous LLC.  Integriosity is a registered Service Mark of Integrous LLC.

Photo credit: Original image Clark Tibbs on Unsplash (photo cropped and modified with “X” and “Beautiful”)

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