We’ve all been there.

At our own places of employment or while at a meeting at another company.

The feeling is palpable. It might be pressure. It might be drive. It might be panic. It might be enthusiasm. It might be supportiveness. It might be competitiveness.

How would you characterize the culture of your workplace?

In this week’s show Claudia and I discuss how to influence the culture where you work.

In many regards, workplace cultures are deep, complex realities that have developed over time. Such realities do not lend themselves to quick fixes or radical changes initiated by even the best intentioned team member.

Does that mean that you and I are powerless to impact our workplace culture?

Not at all!!

But it does mean that we need to be thoughtful and appropriate in the means and manners in which we choose to exert influence.

Join our discussion about four degrees of influence which are available to everyone on the team: modeling, suggesting, reforming and battling.

Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.
Interested in how we can resource your church or organization? Get more information here.

Listen in.

We don’t work alone.

Some of may wish we worked alone, but reality returns each morning and we find ourselves face to face with another task on which to collaborate, another meeting to schedule, or another disagreement to work through.

We need ways to share information, combine efforts, enhance motivation, and be accountable to achieve results.

In this week’s show, Claudia and I discuss how our faith informs how we work with other people.

But, true to our the workplace perspective of this series, we are not going to ask how to be a good Christian at work. We are going to discuss the workplace realities of collaboration, empowerment and accountability.

We have to share tasks and pool our skills; we have to tap into people’s core motivations and working styles; and we need to be able to confront problems and achieve results.

You’ll be amazed at how relevant and helpful being a person of faith is to effectively navigating these common workplace issues.

Listen in.

Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.
Interested in how we can resource your church or organization? Get more information here.

We have in the past discussed what we have called, “The Hard Facts of Working with People”.

One of the “hard facts” is that people are learning, developing, maturing beings. You and I grow and change over time. It’s a fact.

This fact has important implications to the workplace, team-building, motivation, empowerment, and accountability.

This fact bears directly on career development, setting goals, and professional development.

In this week’s show, Claudia and I discuss how to show up at work both fully authentic to who you are, and grow into who you need to become to fulfill your job responsibilities.

As persons of faith, we do not need to compartmentalize our faith at work into issues of superficial behavioral morality. Don’t steal pencils. Work hard. Don’t tell lies.

At a deeper, more fundamental level God-designed people need to contribute and make a difference; learn and develop; and connect and belong.

Incorporate these three opportunities into your workplace culture and watch your team come alive on the job!

Listen in.

Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.
Interested in how we can resource your church or organization? Get more information here.

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being warned at church about the dangers my work poses to my faith.

Sure some dangers exist, (e.g. greed, exploitation, workaholism, and various obsessions with power, status and money), but the focus on these dangers to the exclusion of the gifts and opportunities that my work holds for me is the greater danger by an exponential magnitude.

In this week’s podcast discussion, Claudia and I focus on these gifts and opportunities: to make a difference, to apply yourself meaningfully, to mature in your skills and capacities, to belong to a working community, etc.

The biblical concept that describes finding work that fits you beautifully is “calling.”

I define “calling” as the intersection of God’s values, our personal make-up, and our life context.

Sadly, the word has been so closely associated with going into the clergy or taking up cross-cultural missionary work that those of us in secular professions often feel our work is less blessed by God or less relevant to his kingdom.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Whether it’s your profession, your field, your role or your daily responsibilities, nothing is more life-enhancing or worth waking up for in the morning than when you find a good fit.

Have you been looking down on your profession because it isn’t an explicit form of religious ministry? Do you feel guilty for being as deeply invested in your work as you are?

Listen in.

Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.
Interested in how we can resource your church or organization? Get more information here.

So much of life is compartmentalized into purportedly unrelated spheres. Work, family, religion, politics, hobbies, entertainment, etc.

Until now, a common divide many of us experience is the one between our work and our faiths.

Until now.

Until now, we have assumed there is no overlap between the matters of the hands (work) and the matters of the heart (faith).

We have also assumed that neither should there be any overlap. Because faith is personal, it should therefore remain private.

Some persons of faith have tackled the question of whether we should take our faith to work with us. They have raised faith issues such as: evangelism, ethics, morality, and integrity.

In other words, they have asked how to take the topics and vocabulary of the religious realm and apply them in the working realm.

This week, Claudia and I begin a new series of discussions entitled, “Bridging the Work-Faith Divide,” but…

BUT!

Our premise is that the question is more useful if asked the other way around.

How do we think about the issues of the workplace in the vocabulary of the workplace in a manner that is informed by our faiths? Workplace issues such as: achieving results, working with people, making difficult decisions, improving methods, conducting meetings, and collaborating across disciplines, to name a few.

Bridging the Work-Faith Divide
Week #1: Becoming Whole Again
Week #2: All Work as a Legitimate Calling
Week #3: Character Formation and Lifelong Learning
Week #4: Collaboration, Empowerment and Accountability
Week #5: Becoming a Person of Influence and Impact

Just now joining the conversation? Catch up on the entire series here.
Interested in how we can resource your church or organization? Get more information here.

Listen in.