"7 Ways to Bring Faith into the Workplace"

When we spend forty plus hours a week doing anything, it matters. My Faith is the foundation for everything I do but it can easily get buried in marketing plans, Profit and Loss statements, project planning, and more. What does faith at work look like?

Old: When standing at the water cooler with a co-worker say, "Speaking of water, have you ever met the Man who actually walked on water?"

• Be a hard and smart worker. You're being given a wage, do everything you can to maximize output for your employer. Are you looking for more to do or looking for ways to avoid additional work?


• Serve others. Without being obnoxious as if you're doing them a big favor, find ways you can help others behind the scenes and add value to them on a regular basis.


• Admit your mistakes. We're not perfect, we screw up, we go left when we should have gone right... Be real, admit it and make it right.


• Align with the vision. If it was your company, you can make your own vision...it's not. Figure out where your leaders are trying to go and start rowing in that direction.


• Don't talk smack about others. Build people up, don't tear them down. Be someone who is trustworthy and don't get pulled into the gutter of gossip.


• Bring peace. When there's panic or chaos at work, bring peace. It's said we're not to worry about tomorrow because today has enough worries of its own... Focus on what your team can control and help be part of the solution.


• It's about the people. Behind the paychecks, timesheets, and cubicles are a bunch of broken people (myself included). While we may wonder about a future raise, finishing a report, or being frustrated with a co-worker... we're surrounded by people who are going home to lonliness, abuse, rebellious kids, financial stress, sick family members and more. At the end of the day, it's about doing whatever we can to love the people we're with and to fill their tank in any way we can.

While I fail at these seven things, I want to keep taking steps in these areas... The days of preaching at people, cheesy bumper stickers, and cliches' need to be over... They're about as helpful as trying to light a match while you're scuba diving.

2009 Spur Conference: Leaders Collide

On October 1-2, 2009, I will be attending the 2009 Spur Leadership Conference...a unique opportunity to listen to a collision of thought leaders from the church, government, business, technology, and the military. Why?

I am an Operations Manager of a technology firm and just recently am the Online Church Director for Granger Community Church. Everyday my worlds collide with real challenges, how to have faith at work, providing leadership to a team of 58 people, strategizing growth plans, and there are no boxes to compartmentalize. I wouldn't have it any other way.

As leaders:

• Churches struggle to tap into the strengths of leaders in their communities... what could the Church learn from the expertise' of industry that sit in their seats every Sunday morning?
• There are leaders in your church waiting for a mountain to climb. Are you working to find BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) opportunities for these entreprenuer leaders to jump in with renewed purpose?
• There are business men who struggle with how to effectively apply their faith into the culture of their organizations. Paralysis can set in...what's appropriate? What's too much? What's effective?
• As a business leader, I need to be reminded it's not all about profits and growth. My pendulum can drift into spreadsheets and away from real people with real lives and needs.
• Business leaders cringe at the inefficiency of many churches and would naturally seem wired to think, "why would I want to invest resources there?". Note to non-profits/churches: effectiveness, excellence, and great management of gifts matters.
• Marketplace leaders need to be reminded that "to those who much has been given, much is expected..." While building your organizations, have you given as much focus to your "give back" initiatives? What might you be able to do in your community to make a real difference?

Straddling the blend of marketplace and ministry can be daunting. I need tools to help me manage on the front lines... There are only a few events a year that offer this unique mix, I hope to meet you there!

You and your team can register here.

"It's Easier to be a Far Right Whacko"

It's easier to be a far right whacko. Whacko in the nicest sense of the word...

For that matter... any belief systems, sets of rules, political bent (whether far right or far left) that gives me my marching orders to live by regardless of the reactions and input around us is an easier road.

• If I alienate people around me, it's OK because my "cause" is bigger than them- it's OK if they think I'm a whacko because they're just wrong
• Slowly the people that disagree with me will gradually fall away and I'll be surrounded with people that think just like me
• If I do enter conversations, it's primarily to "help" people understand why what they believe is wrong with a smile on my face
• It eliminates confusion because EVERYTHING is black and white

What's harder?

• To live in the conversation. Am I creating more conversations or shutting people down when talking about my faith or issues?
• Building a friendship. Am I seeking to understand and learning about a new friend or am I offering premature, drive-by opinions?
• To be silent. Am I willing to process and filter statements made or do I feel the need to always speak my mind?
• Having my actions speak louder than my words. Am I living a life and carrying myself at work in a way that's attracting people or am I repelling people because of my engrained, rigid beliefs?
• Crossing the line and mistakes. Living in the conversation has me on a line at times that I screw up in what I do or say (and regret). Sometimes I can be too loose and managing the edge can be very difficult.
  

I believe we can be strong, bold and effective. I believe I'm forgiven for my mistakes. I want to genuinely love and care for people. But this is the much harder road.

If you're stuck on the word "whacko" still- point made.

"My Christian T-Shirt at Work"

For those who happen to read this blog and are not "Christians", people of faith, religious, or whatever else you want to tag it with... thanks for stopping by and keep seeking Truth and asking the big questions in life...

For those who consider themselves "Christ Followers", what does it mean to live out our faith at work? Views on this range all over the map but I'll share my filters (and to be upfront, I fail at these often but keep working to fail forward):

What it is:

• Strive to be the hardest working person in my organization to give my employer an honest day's work
• Be "for" my co-workers- helping them in their roles when asked, serving, building-up, encouraging them, and celebrate their promotions
• Promote team, collaboration, unity, and bring positivity to the group
• Show up on time, be a good communicator, and not be the one to leave at 4:59
• Admit my mistakes and be honest with what I know and don't know
• Focus on building real "relationships" with some of the people I work with to really get to know them, their families, their dreams
• My actions should cause people to be drawn to me, be favorable, and trustworthy
• I should be unique and model the gifts of the Spirit. If I'm not different, who cares?
• Help those who are hurting
• I can be candid and strong about roles, responsibilities, and vision
• Bring peace in times of turmoil and uncertainty (Is this not true now more than ever?)
• Ask, "What is the next right thing" inside (employees) and outside (clients) of my organization when facing decisions and areas where right and wrong may seem gray- be an example of integrity within my company
• I fear no one or no thing. I can have a backbone and not worry what others think about me when it comes down to doing the right thing for people. I do need to be effective in how to communicate this however.
• Choose love over lecture

What it isn't:

• Being pulled into the negativity and gossip that exists in all organizations
• Telling everyone around me what their problem is, what they need to fix about themselves, and that they're going to Hell
• Pushing them to go to church when I don't know anything about them and have no relationship with them
• Looking for manufacturing opportunities to share my faith... (speaking of Microsoft Word, have you met the real Word?)
• Cheating clients and justifying it
• Competing unfairly with co-workers, "shading the truth" when asked about their performance for my own personal gain
• Weak, spineless, "I'm just going to take my ball and go home" mentality
• Going around people and not following proper protocol. If you have a problem, tell the right person.
• Being a virus in an organization, out-of-line with the company vision, and be a gossip (all in the name of doing the right thing)
• Trying to convert people
• Seeking martyrdom. Sidenote: I don't understand why people seek out persecution for their Faith (wearing Jesus pins, t-shirts, I love Jesus screensavers, etc) in clearly hostile work environments. Yes it's bold. But effective? I think not. There's a time a place isn't there?

People at my work generally know that I go to church and most know where, I don't hide it but I don't broadcast it either. If asked or if it comes up in conversation, I'm fine with sharing it. When in doubt, I default to "do" and "be". Do the right thing consistently and be a person that people want to know what's different about me.

If people find me approachable and want to ask me more, then maybe I'm being who I've been called to be. For me, this is the challenge and measure of success of living my Faith in the workplace. And if it never happens? Am I a failure for living with integrity, working hard, and trying to do the next right thing for all the people around me? I think not.

People are ALWAYS watching us, what are they seeing?

Oh...and if you love the T-shirt pictured, you can find it here...