Grace at Work
Grace at Work
Grace is all about giving up self for the sake of others. It is about doing more without the expectation of anything in return. It is about first building relationships with people and knowing that fostering relationships will be beneficial to achieving desired results. Yet another way to think of grace is something given to me / others that I / they don’t deserve.
Grace is about how we treat others, placing their needs above ours. Tre Cates, CEO of Boulder’s Silicon Mountain Memory Inc., one of the fastest growing companies in the US, counsels his sales team to focus on the customer. Once a relationship has been established the products will be purchased with no need of being sold. Customers can find whatever products they need in any number of ways but the customers needs that are not being met are their emotional needs. Customers need to be taken care of and be received as more than a number. Much of the success of the coffee shop industry is built on knowing the customer, calling them by name, remembering their usual order preference; building a social yet professional relationship.
A small businessperson with whom I am acquainted was diligently serving his client when the client started paying later and later and soon stopped paying all together, leaving a balance owed of over $100,000.00. The businessperson met with the CFO of the client company to see how the situation could be remedied. A payment schedule was worked out and twelve months later the debt had been paid in full. The businessperson sent the CFO a thank you gift when the debt was paid. Grace had been offered; the client met with better financial times and is still a good client for the businessperson. The CFO changed companies and now their new company is a client of the businessperson too.
Employers who demonstrate grace toward their employees care about them as people, value their contributions no matter how great or small, expect the best from them then provide positive coaching when less than their best is delivered. Likewise, grace filled employees should give their employers their best efforts all the time and without worrying about what’s in it for me. Many employees have an entitlement mentality, thinking that they are entitled to receiving more and better when actually the only thing employees are entitled to is the opportunity to do their best at that job for the compensation they have been offered by the employer. Employers are legally bound to provide a safe workplace and pay the employee what was promised…nothing more. Employers and employees who each demonstrate grace however move beyond entitlement or legal obligations and give more while expecting nothing additional. The result of this grace filled employment relationship will be astounding.
Philip Yancy in his book entitled What’s So Amazing About Grace shares his insight about the ultimate offering of grace and how that translates to what happens at street level, how to lavish grace on a world that knows more cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy; giving of self to benefit others, being givers of grace even when things don’t add up. Being givers of grace in the workplace, home, church, street corner requires overlooking the action or circumstance and focusing on the person. Being receivers of grace we receive more than we deserve, a very humbling experience.
Offering grace in the workplace is the caring component that establishes and delivers excellence while enhancing the overall human condition.
Grace at Work - To learn more about this author, visit Robert Bowman's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
What did you think of when you read the title of this article? Did you think that it was about a flamboyant red head in the workplace or the political incorrectness of saying a prayer before you eat lunch in the company lunchroom? I am going to ask you to think about demonstrating grace at work, demonstrations that are easily transferable to every other part of life as well.
Grace is all about giving up self for the sake of others. It is about doing more without the expectation of anything in return. It is about first building relationships with people and knowing that fostering relationships will be beneficial to achieving desired results. Yet another way to think of grace is something given to me / others that I / they don’t deserve.
Grace is about how we treat others, placing their needs above ours. Tre Cates, CEO of Boulder’s Silicon Mountain Memory Inc., one of the fastest growing companies in the US, counsels his sales team to focus on the customer. Once a relationship has been established the products will be purchased with no need of being sold. Customers can find whatever products they need in any number of ways but the customers needs that are not being met are their emotional needs. Customers need to be taken care of and be received as more than a number. Much of the success of the coffee shop industry is built on knowing the customer, calling them by name, remembering their usual order preference; building a social yet professional relationship.
A small businessperson with whom I am acquainted was diligently serving his client when the client started paying later and later and soon stopped paying all together, leaving a balance owed of over $100,000.00. The businessperson met with the CFO of the client company to see how the situation could be remedied. A payment schedule was worked out and twelve months later the debt had been paid in full. The businessperson sent the CFO a thank you gift when the debt was paid. Grace had been offered; the client met with better financial times and is still a good client for the businessperson. The CFO changed companies and now their new company is a client of the businessperson too.
Employers who demonstrate grace toward their employees care about them as people, value their contributions no matter how great or small, expect the best from them then provide positive coaching when less than their best is delivered. Likewise, grace filled employees should give their employers their best efforts all the time and without worrying about what’s in it for me. Many employees have an entitlement mentality, thinking that they are entitled to receiving more and better when actually the only thing employees are entitled to is the opportunity to do their best at that job for the compensation they have been offered by the employer. Employers are legally bound to provide a safe workplace and pay the employee what was promised…nothing more. Employers and employees who each demonstrate grace however move beyond entitlement or legal obligations and give more while expecting nothing additional. The result of this grace filled employment relationship will be astounding.
Philip Yancy in his book entitled What’s So Amazing About Grace shares his insight about the ultimate offering of grace and how that translates to what happens at street level, how to lavish grace on a world that knows more cruelty and unforgiveness than it does of mercy; giving of self to benefit others, being givers of grace even when things don’t add up. Being givers of grace in the workplace, home, church, street corner requires overlooking the action or circumstance and focusing on the person. Being receivers of grace we receive more than we deserve, a very humbling experience.
Offering grace in the workplace is the caring component that establishes and delivers excellence while enhancing the overall human condition.
Grace at Work - To learn more about this author, visit Robert Bowman's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| |||
 |
No article feedback found. | ||
|
Leave Your Feedback | ||
|
|||
 Grace at Work
| |||
| Conducting business with an attitude of grace is more than simply good business. |
|||
|
Life Isn't FAIR!
| |||
| Purposeful Pondering Question for Today: Are You Living a Grace Filled Life?
A few years ago, my daughter, Amber, went through her 'that's not fair' phase. Seemed like every time I turned around I heard her say... |
|||
|
How To Create an Employee Incentive Program
| |||
| Interview with Allison Grace in the Charlotte Business Journal about incentive programs. By Bea Quirk, March 23, 2007 |
|||
|
Struggling to "Be Here Now"?
| |||
| Many of you know of the book, Be Here Now, the 1971 precursor to Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. From the titles of these books, you get the idea that there is something to be gained from focusing on the present r... |
|||
|
Hut 8, Hut 9, Hut 15!
| |||
| I haven't a clue if I used the correct football reference but let's go with it because it fits with the subject of this article.
I've devoted a couple of articles about the various application forms it takes to g... |
|||
| |||
|
Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: http://www.business901.com Web/Blog: http://www.FundingYourNonprofit.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/business901 – Linked In http://www.twitter.com/business901 – Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
 Robert Bowman (Visit Robert's Website) Bob Bowman has been a humman resource professional for over 20 years. He earned a BA in Education from Muskingmum College and a MA in Human Resource Management from Webster University. Prior to founding HRMC in 1999 Bob held senior HR Management positions with Pfizer, Ralston Purina, Telectronics Pacing Systems and Seagate Technology. In 1999 Bob incorporated HRMC and he and the 17 professional consultants and recruiters of HRMC provide full-cycle talent management services for over 50 companies across the USA.
|  |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
 |
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 |
 Double Digit Growth eguide Fortune Small Business Get Working Capital Essence of Leaders EQ Coaching Report |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
 |
The Top 10 GTD Times Posts
Best Posts for Productivity | |
| ||
 |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
