Trust in Management

It cannot be denied that trust is an essential component in management.  If your subordinates cannot trust you, you cannot expect to be able to manage them effectively.  As manager, you can incorporate your level of trustworthiness in your personal life into your professional life.  If people trust you in your personal life, what is it that you do that causes them to trust you?  Whatever those are, you can implement them into your professional life.  If you’re considered untrustworthy in your personal life, your personal relationships will dwindle.  Likewise, if you’re untrustworthy in your professional life, not only will your relationship with your colleagues or subordinates dwindle, but your employment may dwindle as well.  With trust in management, worker efficiency increases because of the positive environment trust produces.

One could say that trust determines everything.  It determines your relationship with people personally and professionally.  I’ve always known how important trust is, but I’ve never consciously acknowledged how trust and positive work environments actually significantly increase work efficiency and effectiveness.  Studies show that a “bad apple” in a group decreases performance by 30% to 40% and vice versa when they leave (Sutton, 2011, para. 5, 19).  That’s very significant.  It’s only common sense, or as I like to call uncommon sense since it appears that it’s not as common anymore.

What I find interesting is Robert Hurley’s five principles to developing trust in the workplace in his article Trust Me.  The first is to show that you have the same interests.  If you show that you have an interest in serving the other person’s goals, you’ll develop their trust.  Hurley uses an analogy that “we tend to question the competence of our surgeon, not his motives” (Hurley, 2011, para. 6).  We know that the doctor is capable, but is his work driven by ethics?  If so, what are they?  Is he a surgeon for the pay or for the concern and care he has for human life?  Likewise, what are the motives of management?  Are they guided by ethical principles?  What’s the foundation of those principles?  Or is he more concerned about the size of his paycheck?  The second principle is to demonstrate your concern for other people.  Effective leaders will demonstrate that they will do what’s right even if it means putting themselves at risk.  If the leader is willing to sacrifice something that will only put them at risk yet benefit his or her subordinates, they’ll develop trust with their workers.

The third principle is to deliver on your promises.  If you make a commitment, don’t back off from it; follow through.  Intention is also irrelevant.  Good intentions don’t exclude you from incompetence.  What matters are results, not merely the good intentions of your heart.  You may intend to donate to a good cause, but that doesn’t mean anything until you finally donate something tangible.  The fourth principle is to be consistent and honest, especially when you make a mistake.  This is similar to the fifteenth law of marketing, which is the law of candor.  In marketing, a second-rate brand will admit that they’re not the best, but because they’re not the best that just means they try harder than the first-rate brand.  They thus turn a negative into a positive, and it increases their sales.  Likewise, in management, when you make a mistake, if you admit it and apologize and ensure it won’t happen again (and take measures to make sure it doesn’t), you will develop trust.  Lastly, the fifth principle is to have frequent, clear, and open communication, which “is also the vehicle through which the other four elements of trustworthiness are delivered” (et al., para. 12).  For example, when I was in the Army, every First Sergeant I had always held an open door policy (the Commander or Commanding Officer is like the President of a company, the First Sergeant like the Vice President).  If you feel that you have a problem that you need to discuss with him or her, you can always come into their office and talk with them, no matter your rank.

Trust in management becomes a problem when the majority of these principles are not practised.  Out of all the reasons that James Heskett reported for trust problems in management, they all link to poor managerial control, such as “managers who make ‘unwritten promises’ that are not fulfilled,” unstable management that has “continuous change,” and inconsistency (Heskett, 2012, para. 2).  Trust in management also becomes an issue when management fails to control its “bad apples.”  Through the hiring process, human resources may have preventive measures to weed out bad apples, but every now and then they slip through the cracks because during the interview they may come across as charismatic, and then their real colors show when they start working.  When that happens, management can develop and maintain trust by utilising concurrent controls by either reforming the bad apple or terminating them.  If the bad apple becomes reformed or is terminated, management can then get feedback by scrutinising the work environment afterwards to determine if they made the right call.

Developing and maintaining trust is essential in management.  By expressing the same interests, management can minimise any possibility of enmity.  By demonstrating concern for others, management can earn the trust of their subordinates by being more approachable (e.g. open door policy), thus creating a trusting environment.  By delivering on their promises, management can develop trust in this way because they’re dependable and reliable.  By being consistent and honest, management develops trust because stability is reliable.  And by communicating frequently, clearly, and openly, management can effectively utilise all these principles, thus increasing efficiency.

References

James, H. (2012, July 5).  Why Is Trust So Hard to Achieve in Management? Retrieved

            March 24, 2015, from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7034.html

Robert, H. (2011, October 24). Trust Me. Retrieved March 24, 2015, from

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204138204576603031565507232

Sutton, R. (2011, October 24). How A Few Bad Apples Ruin Everything. Retrieved

            March 24, 2015, from

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203499704576622550325233260

What to do When the Workplace Gets Tough, Part II

The next passage I'm going to give basically testifies to the prior passage in First Thessalonians discussed in part one of this blog series.  Philippians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing in rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.  Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."  We are not to be in rivalry with anyone, including our co-workers — to not make useless competitions amongst each other.  When management is more concerned about getting their next promotion, it doesn't suit the needs of the branch/department/organisation very well.  Your subordinates will also lose respect for you and end up resenting you.  It's one thing to healthfully compete with someone, but it's something entirely different to create a hostile work environment because you consider someone your rival or arch nemesis.  For example, in the Army I would work out with one or several of my buddies to maintain physical fitness for an upcoming PT test and we would healthfully compete to see who could do more push-ups before muscle failure, just for the fun of it.  This healthy competition enabled us to push ourselves harder than we would have if we were alone, preparing us for a PT test with better results.  However, if we were to just compete to prove who's better or stronger than the other just to satisfy our masculine egos, that would in turn create a hostile spirit in the work environment.  This in turn creates conceit, which this passage also says to avoid.  Instead of being conceited in yourself, you have to humble yourself before others, which is to consider their well-being more important than your own.  (That does not mean to neglect your own well-being for another's well-being.  Sacrifice your desires for other people's needs, but don't sacrifice your needs for their desires.)  If this weren't so important, then you wouldn't hear stories all the time of soldiers in the military giving their lives for someone else's life.

By humbling yourself, you can then look out for other peoples' interests instead of solely your own, and the way you can do this is exactly what I discussed with First Thessalonians 5:12-15 in the prior blog entry.  There's nothing wrong with considering your own interests, but that's not all you should consider; you should also consider the interests of the employees you manage.  Consider their dreams and goals just as much as your own, if not more, and give them inspiration, guidance, and encouragement.  Also consider their thoughts on the workplace — any dilemma that may arise, a possibly more effective way to complete a task or project, whatever it may be.

Sometimes when we spend a copious amount of time with our colleagues, they start to become a nuisance — we grow tired of their presence and become irritated.  The key factour to remember here is forgiveness.  Jesus said, "For if you forgive people their wrongdoing, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.  But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing" (Matthew 6:14-15).  This is something that we often don't like to admit.  We don't like to admit that if we don't forgive people and just hold grudges all the time, then God won't forgive us, since He forgives all sins through Jesus Christ, after all.  While this is true, it is also true that He will not forgive us if we do not forgive others.  That's the problem with the American Church today; you can't just pick and choose what you want to believe and follow in the Bible.  If people don't deserve our forgiveness, then how do we deserve God's?  Well, we don't deserve God's forgiveness, but He forgives us anyway because He unconditionally loves us through His mercy.  In the very same way, we are to forgive others through the love and mercy of God.  God doesn't have any reason to be merciful towards us; He just is.  Just because we're not comfortable with this does not mean that we should not accept it and not practise it.  Jesus said this, so we must accept it and practise it.

I made this point in the prior blog entry, but I'm going to say it again:  living like Christ is not a comfortable lifestyle!  So why, then, do we pick and choose what we want to follow in Scripture?  Because we want to live comfortable lives.  We don't want to put ourselves at risk for the sake of Christ, which is absurd considering that He died for us.  In the Old Testament, God was the true and only King of Israel, but then the Israelites rejected God as their king and instead wanted a human king so that they could manipulate the king to do what they wanted, therefore habitually falling into the sins of the other nations that they desired to be like, for the other nations also had human kings (1 Samuel 8).  (But while Israel had human kings, God still remained as the true King of Israel.)  In the very same way, we reject God's Word as the Word (ὁ λόγος) and instead create our own word just to follow and believe what we wish to follow and believe rather than doing what God calls us to acknowledge and therefore follow.  To put it a simpler way:  the Israelites rejected God as their King and demanded their own king in order to follow the ways of the other nations, and today we reject parts of God's Word and demand and create our own word in order to follow the ways of the world.  That is exactly why such controversial issues such as homosexuality exists in the political world today because we reject the Word of God.  God's Word speaks against it, the world accepts its abomination, and because we want to be accepted by the world we therefore create our own word instead of accepting God's authoritative Word just to be accepted by the world.  We have to make necessary adjustments in our lives that we're not comfortable with.  Forgiveness does not just come down to friends and family; it comes down to the workplace, school campuses, random strangers throughout the day — every single person on this planet.  Just because someone is simply your colleague does not exclude them from God's forgiveness, nor your own.  Forgive them of their trespasses and that hostile spirit when you're around them will disappear.

Now, if there's just one person in your entire life whom you don't forgive, I don't believe God will leave you unforgiven and just condemn you to Hell for it, because He is a merciful God.  The mistake we often make is that we often compare God to our human limitations.  We bring God down to our level and imagine how He would judge someone.  That's actually blasphemy.  Leave God where He is.  We can't imagine God forgiving us for something like murder or pedophilia if we ourselves cannot forgive it, but that's not how God functions.  God said, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways" (Isaiah 55:8).  I could not have said it any better than He has.

Moving back on topic, if a colleague trespasses against you several times, you still have to forgive him or her.  Jesus said, "Be on your guard.  If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.  And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him" (Luke 17:3-4).  As manager, if someone disrespects or disobeys you, rebuke him or her.  To rebuke is to reprove their trespass, which is to gently correct their action.  (If it's something really serious, however, like stealing property from the company, then deal with it accordingly in a serious manner.)  After this is done, you must forgive him or her, especially if they apologise.  When they come back and apologise, no matter how many times this happens, we are obligated to forgive them, not consider forgiving them.  It is our duty as Christians to forgive, no exceptions, when they come with apologies.  Even if they don't apologise it is still required to forgive them, otherwise you'll just end up living your life in the futility of grudges.

First Peter 3:8-9 says, "Now finally, all of you should be likeminded and sympathetic, should love believers, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you can inherit a blessing."  Again, there are several principles listed here as well.  It first says to be sympathetic and to love believers, which translates to brotherly-loving.  When someone does wrongly against you, be sympathetic.  It could be stress that caused them to react the way they did or any number of things, so it's important to show them sympathy and understanding because face it, you're no different.  But if they're just someone who's hard to deal with at work and is one of those conceited or rude people by nature (aka, a "bad apple"), then we are to show them brotherly love, which is the love that Christ showed to us when He humbled Himself as a man.  Bad apples need to either be reformed or fired.  It's good to try and reform them first, but if they refuse to change their attitude or actions, it's best to fire them because studies show that bad apples in a group of people decrease performance from 30% to 40% (Sutton, 2011).  If termination is the end result, then forgiveness still must follow.  Vengeance, or payback, is unwise and unloving, and that's not how we are to respond to such events, but on the contrary blessing them, and as a result we will be blessed in return for God's satisfaction, for God calls us to do this.  However, if termination is absolutely necessary, then do so (remember one of the principles of managing is "don't be afraid to say no").  To bless people, just show them sympathy, love, compassion, and humbleness, as St. Peter says.

Doing all these things eliminates a hostile work environment and creates room for a positive work environment.  By your actions alone, the people you work with can witness the compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, acceptance, and forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Acting in Christlike ways is against the flesh, but by practising His ways we can then control our hearts.  And lastly, we must be thankful to God that we can do all this because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

References

Sutton, R. (2011, October 24). How A Few Bad Apples Ruin Everything. Retrieved

            March 24, 2015, from

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203499704576622550325233260

What to do When the Workplace Gets Tough, Part I

Just like in many other situations, it is very easy to forget to act Christlike when things get stressful in the workplace.  Having worked in the Army, I experienced this far too often during my service, and there were other things that made it even more difficult to be Christlike in and outside of work.  The battle is maintaining a Christlike attitude in the workplace when work gets busy and stressful and the people become a nuisance.  Everything that I'll be posting in this two-part series can apply to other things in life such as school, family, social situations, whatever the case may be.  Considering the context of this blog, I'll be specifically focusing on the workplace.

Fortunately, the Bible gives us direction when this problem arises.  Colossians 3:23-25 says, "Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord — you serve the Lord Christ.  For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favouritism."  This is simply a reminder to maintain your enthusiasm in Christ in everything you do, and that includes your job.  But that's exactly the problem, isn't it?  It's easier said than done.  Some may find your enthusiasm rather odd, but you're not doing it for man; you're doing it for Christ.  I myself have a difficult time being enthusiastic at work and school every now and then whether it's because I'm too tired or because my spirit is downcast for whatever unfortunate predicament that besets me.  But we remain enthusiastic because we know by faith that God will reward us with the inheritance of His kingdom, for we are servants and co-heirs of Christ.  We don't do this for man because most of the time, man cannot keep a simple promise, but God keeps all of His promises.  We can simply know this just by looking at a rainbow — God's promise to Noah to serve as a reminder to Him that He would not destroy man by flood again.  And we also know this not only by our faith, but also through the example of many others such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and many others.  (To read a full, brief synopsis of their and many other's exemplary faith, read Hebrews 11.)  We should remain enthusiastic in the Lord when things get tough because the alternative — doing wrong — will just come back to reap you.  To us, it may not seem wrong for a while, but anything against God's Word is wrong; there is no grey area because there is no partiality with God.  Every time we claim that a grey area exists in God's Word, it is when we are too indolent to distinguish the black from the white.

Another method to consider is to encourage others in the workplace.  First Thessalonians 5:12-15 says, "Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labour among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.  Be at peace among yourselves.  And we exhort you, brothers:  warn those who are lazy, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all."  There are a lot of principles listed here.  It's important to give recognition to people in the workplace, especially those in a lower position than you are.  I'm not saying that you have to always walk around with a grossly huge smile on your face while saying, "Great job!" and give them two thumbs up.  Honestly, that would be weird and annoying.  But every now and then, letting someone know that they're doing a great job, no matter how small or large of a task it is, it will mean a lot to them that someone has noticed their efforts and it will boost morale.  It doesn't matter whether they're a janitor or the chief executive officer of a company.  Every single job has its place in society and each organisation, no matter how lowly or glorious.  If they had no purpose, then they simply wouldn't exist.  In this way you can shine Christ's kindness upon them and hopefully begin to lead them in the Lord if they don't already follow Him.  And if that happens, you can then begin to admonish them when necessary, which is to earnestly warn them about something that is not in line with God's Word.  Admonishing is in three basic steps: You warn them, you correct them, and you teach them.  This is out of everybody's comfort zone, even mine, but we're not supposed to be comfortable when we live as Christ did.  John the Baptiser was certainly not comfortable.  He was imprisoned in human filth and was beheaded by the order of King Herod because of a promise he made to his wife.  This doesn't happen to all of us, of course, but the fact remains that living a sincere life in the Lord is not always a comfortable one.  It's a difficult life!  Anyone who walks into Christianity expecting it to make their life easier doesn't understand what Christianity is at all.

The passage goes on to say that we must be at peace amongst each other.  This is a huge topic to discuss, but I won't be getting into that.  But Romans 12:14-17 gives us a list of principles on how to live in harmony with each other.  Moving on, the author of First Thessalonians continues to say that we must warn the lazy and correct them and guide them into diligence.  Proverbs 13:4 says, "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied."  Advise the indolent.  Let them know that they have not what they crave because they are not diligent — they don't work hard for it, and only then will they become fully satisfied in what they desire.  Hard work pays off because hard work is the only way to pay for success.  You can't succeed if you're lazy.  As manager, "know well the condition of your flock, and pay attention to your herds..." (Proverbs 27:23).  Don't neglect someone from God's grace just because they don't believe; it's just that much more important for them to experience it.  Jesus, after all, came not for the righteous, but for the sinners (Luke 5:31).  Thomas Merton once said, "The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners."  And we're all sinners, even the "best" Christian.  I'm not saying to go right up to them and start spouting verses at them or put your hand on their forehead and begin to pray; that's the wrong approach because it'll just make them uncomfortable.  It all begins with your actions, and when they ask questions, then you can bring up God, but don't push it onto them.  Be meek and gentle (James 3:13).

The next thing the passage says is to comfort the discouraged.  If someone is discouraged of work or just about him or herself in general, then recognition and leadership and guidance are of the utmost importance.  If you notice it and do nothing, their work productivity will decrease and they'll end up losing their job.  From a business perspective, this could be good for the business because they'll hire somebody who will efficiently and enthusiastically get the work done, but we're in the business of God here, not man.  The business we work for as managers may be that of man, but every aspect of our lives belongs to God, including our professional vocation.  Therefore, we cannot tolerate discouragement and a lack of self-esteem anywhere, even in the workplace.  All they need is simple encouragement, recognition, and direction; it doesn't have to be formal.  Let them know that you notice their work and by this recognition, they become encouraged for the simple fact that somebody noticed them.  Give them a reason to believe that what they do makes a difference in the workplace and even peoples' lives.  Give them specific examples of things they do well in their job.  If there are some things that they do poorly and that gives them plausible reasons to be discouraged, then help them get better!  Don't just stand by and watch them crumble into disaster.  The antithesis of love is not hatred; it is indifference — it is apathy.  Help is the ultimate form of encouragement, and that is exactly what heals their discouragement.  The most diligent and successful organisation is one where its employer takes care of its employees and the employees take care of each other.

Before I continue, as a reminder, when you encourage and help people in the workplace, it would be wise not to go around preaching.  (This is different if you work for a Christian organisation, of course.  In that case, spiritual encouragement is necessary.)  In a secular business, doing such things will only turn people away from Christianity because they'll find you ignorant of other peoples' beliefs, arrogant of your own beliefs, and forceful, even if you're not.  As I said above, it begins with your actions.  Just show them the kindness of Christ and love in the way you act and speak and there is the potential that they will individually come to ask you why you do what you do and how you do it, and that's the opportunity where you can say something along the lines of, "Honestly, it's because of the man [or woman] God transformed me to become."  And if they're interested, you can then begin to actually teach them the Word.  Be an opportunist; don't be annoying.

Now, the next thing is to help the weak, and this varies in many aspects.  For you men, where a woman is having difficulty lifting heavy materials, be a gentleman and help her.  Also for you men, if a younger and smaller in stature male is having the same difficulty, help him.  Don't be a jerk and just stand there and think to yourself, "Oh he'll get it eventually."  That has the potential to lead to injuries.  Such a situation is exactly what led to my injury when I was in the Army.  One particular morning in 2012, my unit was doing PT (physical training).  We were working on our upper bodies, so we were lifting a lot of heavy objects.  One of the exercises we were doing was lifting up a tire that belonged to a 5 ton truck, so you can imagine that it's extremely heavy.  During the exercise, I couldn't quite handle the weight anymore (and yes, I was lifting with my legs).  I told the NCO in charge that I couldn't lift it anymore, but he forced me to keep lifting, and that's when my back went SNAP! and I got injured.  Now I have lumbar spinal stenosis, which means that the injury caused my spinal canal to narrow and the joints in that part of my spine are really weak.  Poor management can lead to injuries.

Help the man or woman with a physical condition that prevents them from doing something, whether they're handicapped or temporarily injured (e.g. broken limb, a strained muscle, etc.) or something that's more underlying that you can't see, just like my injury, for example.  My condition is something within my body, which causes me to be unable to lift heavy objects and I can't be on my feet for long periods of time without feeling extreme pain.  You can't see this underlying condition, so when my co-workers know about it, they are responsible for ensuring that I don't do anything that pushes me beyond my physical limits (especially the supervisor or manager).  For everybody, there are tough jobs that require you to come to work in spite of illness (or simply due to one's own stubbornness), which weakens and tires the body as well as the spirit and stresses the immune system even more, so help someone who is ill at work.  Or, as manager, if someone calls in sick, don't be a jerk and tell them to come in anyway.  They need rest and they could infect other employees.  (If they have a pattern of illness, however, it's legitimate to suspect that they're lying.)  These are all simple things to do and it's just simple generosity and compassion.  All you have to do is just do it.

Next, we have to be patient with everyone.  This is a tough one for me.  Those who know me well are familiar with this.  My patience is so thin that I cannot work in any sort of restaurant without talking back to an impertinent customer.  That's just one of my flaws.  Patience is very important when it comes to admonishing someone in the workplace, especially if they're discouraged.  Depending on someone's level of discouragement and their psyche, they're not likely to quickly get back on their feet and start working productively and enthusiastically, so it requires a lot of patience.  God is very patient for each and every one of us, so we are likewise to be patient for discouraged colleagues to come around, become encouraged and enthusiastic, and hopefully come to Christ in the end, because love "always hopes" (1 Corinthians 13:7).  We're human and so we like to dwell on our emotions as well as negativity, especially when one is discouraged and/or depressed, so it takes a lot of time — some more than others.  This is why patience is so important.

Lastly, the passage says to be sure that no one repays evil for evil to anyone.  This is what we call vengeance.  Things happen in the personal lives of employees after work that will often cause enmity in the workplace, whether it's a tribulation in their personal lives or is caused by interaction with one another after duty hours (or even during), and that's not healthy for the organisation or the human being.  You don't have to be a leader in the workplace to make sure this doesn't happen either (although as manager, you have the most influence).  If employees never looked out for each other, then all hell would break loose.  So look out for your colleagues.  I'm going to repeat what I said earlier:  The most diligent and successful organisation is one where its employer takes care of its employees and the employees take care of each other.  See that no evil spirit enters the workplace.  Evil spirits don't just supernaturally float around in an invisible black orb of smoke and make a man spontaneously go berserk.  It is an insidious time bomb that invests in the human mind, heart, and spirit, so it is vital to keep a watchful eye.  By paying attention to detail and looking out for your colleagues, you pursue "what is good for one another and for all" (v. 15).

To Be Continued...

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 practises into the workplace without "offending" anybody, or making anyone feel like you're pushing your beliefs onto them.  As this blog is for Christians in management positions, I will be discussing on how the Christian manager can be an effective manager in a secular world.

There are ten basic principles that I will be using, and since our fundamental source as Christians 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 practise all these principles in absolute perfection, but it is possible to put all these principles into practise to the best of your ability in order to be the best manager that you can be.

1.  Deal with facts, not fiction.
This is simple, yes?  If it were simple and therefore unnecessary to discuss, I wouldn't put it here, would I?  As sinful human beings, we are all born with the propensity to lie, or to see something that's not actually there.  What is the role of the manager?  As manager, you manage people within the organisation — or more concrete, the subordinates that your boss puts under your watch.  What does managing consist of?  Managing consists of cognisance, standards, control of those standards, admonition, and guidance.  We won't get into all of those characteristics today, but when dealing with all those characteristics, the manager must deal with 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 within your department.  Set some standards, but before you set those standards you first have to know what those standards are (e.g. 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, practise admonition, and after admonition, guidance is necessary.  Again, I will talk about all these characteristics another day, but those are the basics of what management consists of.

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 the proverbs.  Lying is so serious that God considers it an abomination (Proverbs 12:22).  And what does it say God delights in?  Faithfulness.  In context, this refers to faithfulness to the Lord, but God certainly delights in faithfulness to each other.  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 as a manager, how do you think those under you will act?  Their work will only mirror your actions.

Honesty and dealing with the facts opens opportunities for trustworthiness, and it especially benefits the whole of the organisation.  As manager, if you deal with your department in dishonest ways, it will only hurt the rest of the organisation.

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 perfect illustration of the difference between leadership and authority.

As the image portrays, picture yourself as a leader, not as a boss.  A boss gloats in his authority and barks orders at those underneath him.  A leader shares 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 organisation and since it consists of people, you therefore work for the people within the organisation, and ultimately the targeted consumer.  You serve the organisation and its people as well as the consumer.  The final output of a product is dependent upon the efficiency within the organisation, 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.  Show your subordinates that you are equal to them.

It's still important to exercise authority, however.  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 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, policies, and respecting the law; but don't be a hammer by nailing all these rules into the workers.

3.  Have the guts to say "no."
Cowardice is not an attractive trait in anybody, no matter what role you play.  Initiative and fortitude is admirable.  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.  When I was in the Army, I was NCOIC (supervisor) 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 (when it came to transportation).  As supervisor, 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.  So, the first few times, I permitted it.  However, it started to get out of hand because I had to constantly adjust the schedule to meet this one soldier's needs.  So eventually I told him "no," 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 behaviour.

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 God's 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's 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.  This doesn't answer the question as to why Jesus said no here.  Jesus doesn't want us to believe by sight, but rather by faith.  Consider what Jesus said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29b).

How does this relate to management?  Sometimes, it's necessary not to give people what they want.  Let me use another example from 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 of leave, but I was told by my superiors (management), to take only 21 days because they needed me for several missions the week that I would get back.  As manager in the citizen world, if an employee wants something but it interferes with the department's or organisation's goals or plans, have the guts to say "no."

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 else is included here:  promises.  On my free time, I am a video gamer, believe it or not.  One of my favourite 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 very 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 (a gospel promise) that's for their benefit, it obviously benefits him or her when you follow through.  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 next time (unless that disciplinary action is being terminated, 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 walk all over you.

God makes gospel and disciplinary promises too.  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 Jesus had the victory that in His death, He saved the world, descending into Hell, resurrected from the dead, and ascending to Heaven, crushing Satan's head.  Anyway, every single promise that God makes, He fulfils them.  He fulfils His gospel promises, and He even fulfils His disciplinary promises.  When God promises to destroy an unrepentant nation, He does just that.  God is literally not a force to be reckoned with.

You don't want to be a fearsome leader, but you want to establish respect.  It is because of God's love, mercy, and even wrath that we revere Him.  Likewise, following through on our gospel and disciplinary promises will establish respect.  Not reverence, but respect.  Reverence just means a deep respect, which would be great to have, but in its common use it has a negative connotation that implies a little bit of fear that comes with the respect, hence our reverence for 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 fulfil your promises

5.  Communicate Effectively.
Communicate frequently, clearly, and openly.  You don't want your reputation to reflect unavailability; you want to communicate with your subordinates as frequent as necessary, with clear instructions and definitions (no ambiguity), and be open.  As manager, when you're a poor communicator, the people you watch over will find you unreliable.  You can't rely on someone who sucks 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 practise that policy 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 organisation, and First Sergeant like Vice President.  If we felt that we needed to talk to them about something, we could easily do so; and indeed, it was very 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 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.  If employees see their manager as human rather than some authoritative figure on a pedestal, it creates a more positive and trusting 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 in 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 of our modern times, however, so it only makes sense why you can't find certain issues in Scripture (e.g. marijuana smoking, 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 level of productivity suddenly decreases when they have a history of great 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, or injury.  This is what makes effective communication so important.  If you communicate effectively, you'll be able to easily obtain all the facts (especially because they trust you) and won't have to assume anything.

As we know, God doesn't need to assume anything because He knows everything.  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 minimise assumption making and make a wise decision.  We all know the saying that if you make assumptions you'll just make an ass out of yourself.  The language used in that saying may not be favourable, but it still 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.
You don't need to be an expert in psychology in order to do this.  Everybody practises these social sciences everyday.  With psychology, we all observe human behaviour such as eye contact (avoiding eye contact is a sign of lying or being uncomfortable), hand gestures that may suggest being defensive or open, the tone of voice someone uses to express an opinion, 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 or frustration, 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.  For example, as an introvert, I don't talk a lot unless I'm in a group of people with whom I'm very 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.  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 that I'm actually very open with how I feel and have a very warm heart.

This principles goes hand-in-hand with the fifth principle of communicating effectively.  Employing the social science of psychology is not just observing human behaviour; it is also getting yourself involved with human behaviour — 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 then create methods to reform their behaviour.  On the other hand, if they're kind and professional, you obviously don't need to do anything about how they interact with their co-workers.

8.  Be professional.
You can tell someone to be professional, but they may not know what that means.  This principle applies to all co-workers, but even more so as manager since you're the one who sets the standards.  Being professional can mean a variety of things, of which the first is 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).  Or leave how you talk at home (e.g. vulgarity), and use professional and appropriate language at work.  But 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 told, and every miracle He performed 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 a manager, 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 several goals.  Prioritise those goals and take on each of them one by one with actions that benefit each goal, and the final output will be accomplished.

9.  Explain problems.
Arising problems are inevitable within any organisation.  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.  Communicating the problem with others will create more opportunities for the problem to be fixed with ideas that you've never thought of.  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 how to fix it.

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.  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.  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 like crap.  No matter what they believe, they are still human, meaning that they were also created in the image of God, meaning that God still loves them.  God still loves them and therefore desires for them all 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, God still loves them and desires them to be saved.  If your subordinates happen to know that you're Christian and you treat non-Christians like crap, how do you think that will reflect Christ?  Doing so would be a misrepresentation of Christ and a failure of spreading the larger mission:  spreading the Gospel message.

Just as you consider others as very 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.