Perspective
Recently a co-worker and I disagreed on how we should proceed with a particular loan application that I had received. We discussed different options as to what to do and how to handle it, but we clearly were on two different pages when it came to what to do next.
Nothing between us escalated too far nor did we start raising our voices over each other to get our points across, but we were at a definite impasse! We both agreed that we disagreed, walked away from it and decided to come back after lunch and discuss it all again.
Later when we both came back together we were able to come to an agreement that we both liked.
Our heads had cooled.
Years of experience led us to utilize the right perspective in this instance.
Many times a Real Christian Businessman is put in a situation where we have to make a decision at work that we may not agree with or think is a bad thing to do. In the past (and yes even sometimes today!) I would steamroll the conversation to make sure my view was the one that was acted on moving forward and that other’s ideas were diminished or discarded.
“With age comes wisdom…” and whatever the age is we are at today, utilizing the right perspective when it comes to disagreements will go a long way for us all.
Remember the adulteress that the folks brought to Jesus to be stoned to death? They wanted him to condemn her and authorize them to kill her (as the law said to do in that era). Jesus didn’t say what she had done was right, but he asked them for their perspective before the execution – “are any of you without sin?” or in todays language” have y’all made some mistakes that you later regretted”?
In this instance they all walked away with their head down because they realized they weren’t sinless and couldn’t bring themselves to stone her to death.
In today’s workplace, we need to utilize the perspective God has given us to help make the right decisions that move the company forward. This doesn’t mean rolling over and agreeing to everything that is discussed but our perspective and approach will go a long way in making a difference if we do this with grace and love (like Jesus did in the story above!).
Let’s give perspective a chance this week in our meetings and interactions.
We all could use some grace and love in our workplace don’t you think? 🙂
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Rom 3:23 (ESV)