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You know, sometimes you feel like if you do your job right, it causes you to be uncaring and tough with employees or coworkers. Did you ever find yourself in that kind of predicament? Well, how do we handle what seems like conflicting priorities like these?
It is right for you to demand of yourself and others that the job be done right. But it’s also true that as a Christian, you should be concerned about the personal welfare and feelings of the people who work for you and/or with you.
The first thing we can and should do is to pray daily for those employees and coworkers. Pray for them specifically by name. As much as you can, learn something of their personal situation so that you can pray for them effectively. Obviously, you can certainly pray for their job performance and their relationships and attitudes on the job. That’s the best thing you can do for them.
And then, remember that your attitude toward these people will clearly indicate that you care about them. Treating them with respect; understanding that in God’s sight you are all the same; caring about their lives; giving them recognition when they deserve it; making allowances for personal situations when you can; treating everyone with fairness and honesty—all of these are ways to show God’s love to your employees and coworkers and to be a servant to them.
What is often frustrating is that many times it’s difficult, if not impossible, to carry on the daily duties of your job and still interact with each person, whether coworker or employee, on the personal basis that you would like to. Even in my small organization I find that a frustration. I’d like to know every little thing concerning my staff and take time to talk about their concerns in detail, but if I did that very often, we’d get very little work done. What I’ve been learning to do is to trust God to bring other people into their lives to help and care for them when I can’t reach out to them as I would like to. And then I pray he’ll make me sensitive to know when it’s important for me to take that time and reach out.
Remember that as Christians in the marketplace we have unique opportunities to demonstrate what Jesus is like by the way we care about others. If you truly care about other people, loving them as you love yourself, placing their welfare above your own, you can be certain they’ll know it.