“Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces…”

An engine can’t be fixed from the outside, it has to be broken apart, parts replaced and then put back together. And so it is with companies that aren’t working. Cosmetic changes to an organization are almost useless.  While it is hard and painful work, what must happen is that an organization needs to be taken a part, each piece (function, department, team, people) examined and then repaired or replaced and then the organization can be put back together to work again successfully.  Too many times we see companies pare back their workforce by a few percentage points of headcount only to find that other than their labor costs reducing a bit, the same dysfunction remains that got them to this point. It takes guts, time and resolve, but if you are hearing a knocking in the engine, it’s time to break it down and find out what is really wrong.

I’ve always been fascinated by one line in the account of Jesus’ miracle of feeding the multitudes.  After Jesus thanked God for the fish and loaves and we are told that He “broke them into pieces”.  Before the miracle of multiplication, we see Jesus breaking down the vehicle of the miracle.  And so too, Jesus’ earthly life had to be broken before the miracle of resurrection and our eternal salvation was given.  And so for us, we might feel that we are now in a broken stage and time, but that in fact might be the precursor to the miracle that is about to happen.

Reference:  Matthew 15:36 (New Living Translation)