How to be an Effective Manager as A Christian in the Secular World

Perhaps one of the biggest problems the average Christian faces is how to be an effective employee as a Christian, especially in a superior position.  At issue is how he or she can implement Christian morals and principles into the workplace without "offending" anybody, or making anyone feel like you're pushing your beliefs onto them.  As this post is targeted specifically for Christians in management positions, I will be discussing on how the Christian manager can be an effective manager in the secular world.

Whether you're Christian or not, the ten basic principles that I'll be discussing can apply to anyone.  But again, keep in mind that my target audience is the Christian worker populace.  As Christians, since our fundamental source is sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), I will be backing up each principle with Scripture.  As you read this, it's vital to keep in mind that it is not possible to practice all of these principles in absolute perfection, but it is possible to put all these principles into practice to the best of your ability in order to be the best manager that you can be.

1. Deal with facts, not fiction.

This might sound simple, but if it were and therefore unnecessary to discuss, I wouldn't put it here.  As sinful human beings, we are all born with the propensity to lie, or to see something that's not actually there.  To understand the application of this first principle, we must understand the role of the manager.  As a manager, you manage people (duh) within the organization — or more concrete, the subordinates that your boss puts under your watch. What does managing consist of?  In short, managing consists of cognizance, standards, control of those standards, admonition, and guidance.  I won't get into detail about all these characteristics in this post, but when dealing with all those characteristics, the manager must deal with the facts, not fiction.  Don't pretend you're aware of what's going on in your department.  Actually possess situational awareness and know what's going on.  Set some standards, especially according to company policy, but before you set those standards you first have to know what those standards are (e.g. a manager at a pizza joint who needs to know how much pepperoni and cheese to put on a pizza, how much dough should be used for different sized pizzas, how long each size should be baked, etc.).  Once those standards are set, control those standards through preventive controls, concurrent controls, and then feedback.  When tasks aren't done as efficient as you'd like them to be, practice admonition, and after admonition, guidance is necessary.

Before dealing with a problem, or anything for that matter, know the facts.  Don't consider just one option; consider all possible options.  This will avoid bias and will enable you to be objective on a particular matter.  Scripture has a lot to say about lying, especially in the proverbs.  Lying is so serious that God considers it an abomination (Proverbs 12:22).  And what does this proverb say God delights in?  Faithfulness.  In context, this refers to faithfulness to the Lord, but God certainly delights in faithfulness to each other.  After all, Jesus commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31).  Faithfulness can be synonymous to commitment.  Are you committed to your subordinates?  What should you be committed to?  At the root of it should be their individual growth. If you are committed to each employee's individual growth, you will not only be faithful to them, but you'll be trustworthy as well.  Proverbs 29:12 says, "If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked."  If all you do is lie to your employees, how do you think those under you will act?  Not only will they not trust you, but their work will also mirror your actions.

Honesty and dealing with the facts opens opportunities for trustworthiness, and it especially benefits the whole of the organization.  As manager, if you deal with your department in dishonest ways, it will only hurt the rest of the organization.  This is especially important for human resources.  In HR, if you're not committed to the employees and therefore committed to the organization, the company will not be profitable and neither will the individual development of its employees.

2. Be a servant, not an authoritative boss.

Our Lord "came not to be served, but to serve" (Mark 10:45).  If you go into a management position with expectations for your subordinates to serve you, chances are you'll get poor service.  The image below gives a great illustration of the difference between leadership and authority.

As the image portrays, picture yourself as a leader, not a boss.  A boss gloats in his authority and barks orders at those underneath him.  A leader, on the other hand, leads by example by sharing the load of tasks, duties, and responsibilities with those underneath him.  Your mindset as manager should not be one of self-interest.  If it is, you won't be a very good manager.  As manager, you don't work for yourself; you work for the organization and since it consists of people, you therefore work for the people within the organization, and ultimately the targeted customer.  You serve the organization and its people as well as the consumer.  The final output of a product is dependent upon the efficiency within the organization, and sitting on a throne with pride in authority will not result in maximum efficiency.

Follow the advice St. Paul gave to the Philippians, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves..." (Philippians 2:3).  Humble yourself before your subordinates.  A higher pay grade does not increase your value or importance as a person.  It may increase your value and importance within the organization, but as a human being, it does not, otherwise that kind of thinking will lead to dangerous pride.  As Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."  Not only show your subordinates that you care about them, but also show them that you are equal to them.  There's all this fuss about equality issues in the news and social media for the past several years, but as soon as it comes to our personal lives, we don't want to show others that we are equal to them.

Don't get me wrong, it's still important to exercise authority.  Being service-oriented does not mean being tolerant of breaking the rules or the law.  Jesus may be our Master and simultaneously acts as our servant (because He gracefully chooses to, not out of necessity), but even though He served us in humility, He was not tolerant of sin.  He still condemned sin with the authority of the Law, but He served us and saved us with the Gospel message.  Likewise, as manager, still exercise authority by controlling company standards, rules, and policies, and respecting state and federal laws; but don't be a hammer by nailing all these rules into the workers.

3. Have the guts to say "no."

Cowardice and timidity are not attractive traits in anybody, no matter what role you play.  Initiative and fortitude is admirable.  For example, if a worker asks to have days off a lot (and you're suspicious that they're being dishonest), have the guts to say "no" and confront their work productivity (especially if their common absence is coupled with a deficiency in their productivity).  When I was in the Army, I was NCOIC (manager) of transportation when I was stationed with the 2nd Infantry Division Band in South Korea.  I was in charge of all the drivers of the unit, even those who outranked me (only when it came to transportation; if it supported the unit/company's needs, they had to follow my orders because they came from above).  As manager, I posted weekly schedules of which driver drove on what day, when, and where.  There was a particular soldier who happened to schedule all of his hospital appointments on the days he was supposed to drive.  In the Army, hospital appointments come before work because the Army cares about the health of its soldiers.  So, the first few times, I permitted it.  However, it started to get out of hand because I had to constantly readjust the schedule to meet this one soldier's needs.  So eventually I told him "no" (which was backed up by the authority above mine), telling him that he needs to schedule his hospital appointments during times that don't affect the unit's mission.  Fortunately, he complied with no complaints or lackadaisical behavior.

God is probably the most unafraid to say no.  And why not?  He created the universe, after all.  When we pray, it is unrealistic to expect God to always answer with a "yes."  Praying for what we want is wanting our will to be done rather than Gods will.  Sometimes God's answer, or will, is "no."  The Rolling Stones also put it well, "You can't always get what you want."  Jesus said "no" many times, of which the most relevant may be in Mark 8:11-13.  After He fed the four thousand, Jesus left for Dalmanutha.  Upon His arrival, the Pharisees demanded that Jesus perform a sign from Heaven, and Jesus replies with, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation" (Mark 8:12), and then He just leaves.  Why would Jesus do this?  He was supposed to prove that He was begotten of God, right?  Not necessarily.  He may have made it known (as it was necessary) that He was begotten of God and is God, but His primary purpose was to save mankind, not perform miracles at the whims of humanity.  Jesus doesn't want us to believe by sight, but rather by faith.  Consider what He said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29b).  He didn't perform the miracle then not only because we believe by faith and not by sight, but also because it didn't fit the mission at the time.

How does this relate to management?  Sometimes, it's necessary not to give people what they want.  Let me use another example from my time in the Army.  As long as a soldier has enough days to take a certain amount of time off for leave, he or she can do so, as long as it doesn't impede the mission.  In the summer of 2012, I was going to take 25 days off for leave, but I was told by my superiors (management) to take only 21 days because they needed me for several missions those other four days I would've been away.  Because this was plausible, I complied.  As manager in the citizen world, if an employee wants something but it legitimately interferes with the department's or organization's goals or plans, have the guts to say "no."  Vacation time ought to be rewarded to maintain employee motivation, but it needn't be rewarded at the expense of the company's mission or goals.

4. Follow through on your promises.

Nobody likes a liar.  This kind of ties in with the first principle (deal with facts, not fiction), but something unique is included here:  promises.  On my free time, I'm a video gamer, believe it or not.  One of my favorite lines in the video game Halo 2 said by the character Cortana is, "Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it."  Not only is that true in a romantic relationship, but it's also true in your relationships with your co-workers.  There are two types of promises:  what I call gospel promises and disciplinary promises.  When you promise to do something for an employee that's for their benefit (a gospel promise), follow through on that promise.  When you make a disciplinary promise by promising to take disciplinary action on an employee if he or she doesn't do something, it constructively benefits him or her and creates the possibility of enabling them to do it better next time (unless that disciplinary action is termination, in which case they don't have another chance).  If you don't follow through on your gospel promises, no one will be able to trust you.  If you don't follow through on your disciplinary promises, people will take advantage of you and they won't respect you.

God makes gospel and disciplinary promises as well.  The first Gospel promise that God made, or protoevangelium, is Genesis 3:15, when God promised Eve that her offspring (Jesus) would crush the serpent's head (Satan) as he bruises His heel.  This happened at the crucifixion.  Satan bruised Jesus' heel when He died, but He had the victory that in His death, He saved the world, descended into Hell, resurrected from the dead, and ascended to Heaven at the right hand of the Father, crushing Satan's head.  Anyway, every single promise that God makes, He fulfills them.  He fulfills His gospel promises and He even fulfills His disciplinary promises.  When God promises to destroy an unrepentant nation, He does just that (why do you think Scripture tells us to revere Him?).  God is literally not a force to be reckoned with.

However, you don't want to be a fearsome leader, making it difficult for employees to want to come and talk to you, but you do want to establish respect.  It is because of God's love, mercy, and even His wrath against evil that we revere Him.  Likewise, following through on our gospel and disciplinary promises will establish respect.  Not reverence, but respect.  In the true sense of the word, reverence just means a deep respect for somebody, which would be great to have, but in its common use today it has a negative connotation that implies a little bit of fear that comes with the respect, hence our reverence (or fear) of God.  Again, you don't want to be a fearsome leader, but you do want to be respectable.  Nobody will respect you if you never fulfill your promises.

5. Communicate effectively.

Communicate frequently, clearly, and openly.  You don't want your reputation to reflect unavailability or ambiguity; you want to communicate with your subordinates as frequent as necessary, with clear instructions and definitions, and be open.  As manager, when you're a poor communicator, the people you watch over will find you unreliable and inaccessible.  You can't rely on someone who's terrible at communicating, can you?  I've found that the best way to communicate openly is to hold an open door policy.  Honesty is the best policy, and the way to practice this is to keep an open door policy.  When I was in the Army, every First Sergeant and Commanding Officer I've had held an open door policy.  The CO is like the President of an organization, and the First Sergeant like the Vice President.  As soldiers at any rank, if we felt that we needed to talk to the Commander or First Sergeant about anything, we could easily do so; and indeed, it was easy to approach our CO and First Sergeant about any matter, making it easy to trust them because they showed that they cared.  I believe  that doing this as manager can create the same trust in your subordinates.  There's a risk in open communication, of course.  By communicating openly with your subordinates, you show them the human side of you and your flaws can be known.  Most view this as a negative risk, but I see it as a positive risk.  If employees see their manager as human rather than some authoritative, robotic figure on a pedestal, it creates a more positive and trusting work environment.  The more positive the environment, the higher the worker productivity.

God communicated His Word effectively by both direct revelation by saying it Himself and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by speaking to the patriarchal fathers and the prophets of the Old Testament as well as the Apostles in the New Testament.  God speaks clearly on every issue, except for issues of adiaphora.  I've noticed that these issues of adiaphora only exist because they're specific to our modern times, so it only makes sense why you can't find certain issues in Scripture (e.g. marijuana and cigarette smoking, euthanasia, abortion, etc.).  However, Scripture can help us to make wise decisions on such issues.

6. Don't assume anything.

This also goes with the first principle.  Know the facts.  Don't assume something to be true or untrue unless you have the cold hard facts.  If an employee's productivity suddenly becomes deficient when they have a history of efficiency, don't assume that it's because they no longer care and are suddenly lazy.  Something more serious might be going on, such as depression, injury, or some other personal issue.  This is what makes effective communication so important.  If you communicate effectively, you'll be able to easily obtain all the facts and identify real issues  (especially because they trust you), and you won't have to assume anything.

As we know, God doesn't need to assume anything because He's omniscient.  As finite beings, we can't ever know absolutely everything about a particular situation, but we can gather the facts about a particular situation to minimize assumption making, and then exercise proper judgement of the situation, and make a wise decision.  We all know the saying that if you make assumptions you'll just make an ass out of yourself.  Pardon my French, but it rings true.  Make too many assumptions, and you'll make a fool out of yourself.

7. Employ the social sciences of psychology and social psychology.

I'm not saying that you should expect to be an expert in psychology.  Everybody practices these social sciences on a daily basis.  With psychology, we all observe human behavior such as eye contact (avoiding eye contact is a sign of lying, being uncomfortable, uncertainty, or insecurity); we observe hand gestures that may suggest being defensive or open, the tone of voice someone uses to express a thought, etc.  With social psychology, we observe how people interact with one another such as the amount of laughter and/or smiling; a furrowed brow during a discussion to suggest anger, frustration, or concentration; who's the most and least talkative to suggest who's extroverted and introverted, etc.

As God is our Creator, He obviously understands us the most, so He has a greater advantage than the rest of us.  This doesn't mean that we're incapable of understanding people, however.  By using these two social sciences in our every day lives, we are all able to make inferences of how a person feels.  Of course, you can make erroneous inferences, but making those inferences is still important because it leads you to understanding the individual.  If your inference was wrong, then you know how to adjust it to proper understanding.  For example, as an introvert, I don't talk a lot unless I'm in a group of people with whom I'm comfortable with.  Someone who doesn't know me and therefore misunderstands me can infer that I'm a closed-off individual and therefore have a cold heart.  (Yes, this has happened.)  The opposite actually happens to be true.  As an introvert, I appear as closed-off at first because I need to spend time around a person before I decide to open up to them.  The more time I spend around a person, the more I open up, and they come to find out that I'm actually quite open with how I feel and have a warm, caring heart.

This principle goes hand-in-hand with the fifth principle of communicating effectively.  Employing the social sciences is not just observing human behavior; it is also getting yourself involved with human behavior — taking the time to talk to someone in order to understand them.  The more you understand someone, the better the relationship will be.  Observing how they interact with other people at work is also a good indicator of what kind of person they are.  If you notice that they're rude towards their co-workers, you can create methods to reform their behavior (like a negative performance appraisal).  On the other hand, if they're kind and professional, there probably isn't anything you need to do about how they interact with their co-workers.  Or you could reward their behavior.

8. Be professional.

You can tell someone to be professional, but they may not know what that means.  This principle applies to all employees, but even more so as manager since you're in a unique position and are the one who sets and enforces the standards.  Being professional can mean a variety of things, of which the first is to leave what you do outside of work at home; when you're at work, do what's necessary for work.  For example, don't browse Facebook or Pinterest when you're on the clock (doing it during lunch is different).  However, if your job requires you to use social media, then obviously it's fine (within certain limits, I'm sure).  Also, leave how you talk at home (e.g. vulgarity), and use professional and appropriate language at work.  I believe that the primary attribute of professionalism is sticking to the mission.  Don't stray from the mission.  The best person in history who stuck to his mission is Jesus Christ.  Upon His incarnation, everything He did was for the purpose of saving the human race from sin.  Every word He said, every parable He spoke, and everything He did from miracles to simple actions all had the objective of His mission in mind:  spreading the Gospel and saving humanity.  After His ascension, His subordinates (the Apostles and every Christian) continued His mission to spread the Gospel message, everything they do for the objective that they may be saved.  And 2,000+ years later, we Christians still work towards that mission today.

Likewise, at work, everything you and the people under you do needs to add to the company's or department's current mission/goal.  If you're in a management position, think of what your current mission or goal is.  Remember that everything you do as manager is important and needs to continue the process that will lead to the final output of that goal.  As manager, you may have multiple goals.  Prioritize these goals and take on each of them one by one with actions that benefit each goal until they're all accomplished in an orderly fashion, leading to the accomplishment of the final goal of the company overall.

9. Explain problems.

Arising problems are inevitable within any organization.  Any problem that arises, it's best to communicate those problems to the people you manage.  If they know what the problem is, they'll be able to take measures to fix the problem.  As manager, you don't have all the answers.  And guess what?  As manager, you don't know everything!  Communicating the problem with others will create more opportunities for the problem to be fixed with ideas that you've never thought of.  It also inspires innovation within the organization.  However, you may happen to know how to solve a particular problem, whether you come up with it on your own or upper management tells you how to fix it.  This is when you need to both alert your department about the problem and then advise them on what the solution is.

Jesus never let people deal with their problems on their own.  Whether He told people a parable to help them with a particular issue or directly fixed their problem by performing a miracle, Jesus always helped people with their problems as needed.  Likewise, as manager, you can't fix problems by yourself; you will need the help of the people underneath you.  They can't help you if they're not aware of what the problem is and aren't advised on what to do if they don't know how to fix it, and if you keep everything to yourself.  Fixing a problem is a team effort and the best way to do that is, again, communicating effectively by explaining what the problem is and the different methods you can use to fix it.

10. Measure your worth and the worth of other people in the eyes of God.

I saved this one for last because this is the most important principle.  Not everybody you work with is going to be Christian.  They may be atheist, or Muslim, or Buddhist, or any other religion.  Having employees who aren't Christian is no excuse to treat them differently from those who are Christian.  Indeed, their religion isn't any of your business, but if you happen to know what their beliefs are, that doesn't give you reason to treat them differently (which can lead to discrimination lawsuits protected under Title VII of the Discrimination Act of 1964).  No matter what they believe, they are still human beings, meaning that they were also created in the image of God, meaning that God still loves them and desires them to be saved.  Even though they don't deserve to be saved (just like we Christians don't deserve to be saved), God still considers them worthy enough to be loved by sending His Son to die for them.  Jesus didn't die for Christians alone; Jesus died for the whole world (John 3:16), and that includes those who aren't Christian.  Therefore, people ought to be treated with respect no matter their religious beliefs because regardless of their religion, they were made in God's image and God still loves them and desires them to be saved.  If your subordinates happen to know that you're Christian and you give preferential treatment to other Christians and treat non-Christians poorly, how do you think that will reflect Christ?  Not only would it be a misrepresentation of Christ, but you could also bring a potential lawsuit against the company for religious discrimination.  Even if it wasn't your intent, the law says that as long as they perceive discrimination, they have a case.

Just as you consider others as valuable because of God's love, do the same for yourself.  No matter your failures or shortcomings, God always loves you.  God doesn't measure you by your successes and failures; He measures you in the blood of Christ.  He sees you covered in the blood of Christ, forgiven and justified in the baptism of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Your worth is in Christ, not in the tasks that you do every day.