Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony
Colossians 3:14 NLT
We worship a God who is overflowing in His love for us. As part of our mission in the world, we are commanded to love. Not invited to, but commanded to love God and to love others. In loving others, we are imitating the very character of God himself as modelled for us by Christ. For many hours every week our workplace is the place that God has given each of us to shine His light through our love.
During last week’s webinar on Taking Our Faith to Work, we were privileged to have two Godly leaders, Amy Porteous and Haig McCarrell, share their insights on what it means to take God’s love to work with us. At one point, Haig referred to this as “Management by Love”.
Here are just a few of the ways that were shared for us to do this.
What is ONE action you can take to bring God’s love to the flock that He has
entrusted to you in your workplace?
Reflect Christ’s Character. We express God’s love at work by the way we treat and interact with our colleagues and our employees. This demands that we are intentional about being warm, caring, respectful and genuine with each person that we interact with.
Be present. We live in a world filled with distractions. Being present with and for those we work with is a gift to them. Being present demands that we focus on the person we are interacting with and that we listen actively to what they are saying and not saying. In the process, we convey to them that they are important, that their voice matters, that they matter to us.
Build Relational Bridges. Extending God’s love requires us to build relationships with people we work with, really getting to know them the way God knows us. This goes beyond knowing their jobs and how they perform to get to know the person they are, their interests, where they have come from, their family, etc. Building these relational bridges creates connection and a sense of belonging which, sadly, is missing in many workplaces. Building a sense of connection and belonging also benefits our collective workplace as it creates more openness to work through problems and issues together.
Extend Compassion and Prayer. We work with people with real issues and real suffering and this has particularly been highlighted through COVID. Many people “hide’ their struggles at work fearing that it will have a negative impact on their jobs or careers. As we build relational bridges, people will feel safer in sharing their struggles with us, knowing that they can trust us. This provides us with an opportunity to extend God’s love and compassion to them, by offering to pray for and with them and/or offering some action to assist them. This could be material support, resources and/or a connection to others that can help them.
Empower and Support. Delegating to and empowering our colleagues demonstrates our respect for them, our trust in them and that we value their contributions. It helps them learn and grow in self-confidence and in their ability to contribute which will help them flourish.
Recognize. Recognize others through personal thank you cards or notes and by acknowledging their contributions privately or in front of others. The most powerful recognition doesn’t just recognize what they DID that was of value but it demonstrates that you see and value WHO they are!
Speak the truth in love. We will face difficult conversations at work. There will be people who have different perspectives, personalities and beliefs than we have. There will be employees we need to have tough performance conversations with. Each of these “difficult” situations is an opportunity to extend grace and to demonstrate love and compassion. Each of these situations requires us to commit then to prayer and to ask the Lord to show us how to respond with His love.
Our colleagues, our employees and those we serve in our job are part of the flock that God has entrusted to us. Look at them the way God looks at them. Love them the way God loves them. Care for them the way God cares for you.
What is ONE action you can take to bring God’s love to the flock that He has to entrusted to you in your workplace today?
