Short Teaching by Les D. Crause
I’m so busy, I don’t have time to interact with people. There is just so much to do and so much work I have to carry out. If I were to sit and spend time talking to people and interacting with them all the time I would get nothing done.
Is this the situation that you find yourself in very often? This may especially be the case at work, where getting the job done is your priority rather than people. The trouble is that no matter what kind of job you are doing, you are working with people.
People are always involved, and people have feelings and they are temperamental. Sometimes the female types are a little bit more sensitive than the men.
Nevertheless we all have feelings. And when you are working with somebody you can’t treat them as though they are a machine. They are a person who has their own needs and desires; who wants to be valued and appreciated as a person.
Now maybe you are totally work-oriented. And you don’t have time to interact with people and to consider their feelings or their desires. If this is the case you are likely to find that pretty soon you are going to be working all on your own.
Nobody will want to be with you, nobody will help you, and nobody will follow you. So you may think you are this great big strong leader, but actually you are a leader without a following.
You Need to Change
Now you need to change this habit. You need to take time to work with people and to be a blessing to others. And if you are a Christian this is really part of what the Lord expects from us isn’t it? He expects us to pour out to others in blessing.
You say, “Well we can do that after hours. We can do that during lunch break.”
Don’t kid yourself. If you are that kind of workaholic you probably work through lunch as well. You can make every excuse under the sun. The point is you need to take time out to actually interact with people. Because you see if you don’t you are not going to be as efficient in your work as you thought. And you are not going to be very popular.
You are going to have bad relationships, and it is going to have a whole lot of other effects on you too. It will probably affect your health and give you ulcers or high blood pressure. It will affect every area of your life.
So how do you change? How do you move from doing what you know is important?
Yes the work is important and it must get done. But how do you still fulfill the need and obligation to get the job done and still make time for people? Surely the one takes away from the other.
Let me just give you a few hints as to how to move from the old habit pattern to the new. If you go and practice this a little bit, you will find that it is not as difficult as you thought. And you will be amazed at how things will change.
Notice People
Firstly make an effort to notice something about other people. If somebody walks into the room, it takes seconds to look at them and say,
“Oh your hair is looking good today.”
“I like your tie. You’ve never worn that before have you?”
“Man you seem to have lost a bit of weight.”
How much effort does it take to notice something small? Or you can say,
“You don’t look so happy today. You look a bit down. Is something bothering you?”
Or, “Hey you look as though something awesome must have happened. You have that grin on your face. Has something happened in your life?”
You see you must try and find something to compliment the person. It doesn’t take long and you can get back to your work immediately. You just need to look up and say,
“Oh I notice this about you. I like that.”
Just say something short. You don’t have to go into a big conversation. If you have an amiable type of person they may want to start a conversation, but don’t let them. That is not the purpose of it.
Just take the time to compliment the person and say something nice.
You say, “Well I do notice people.”
But you say to them,
“What took you so long to do the job? You’re dithering man. I can see that today you are in that mode again.”
People love it when you tell them that don’t they? No they don’t. They get their backs up and then they don’t want to work with you.
Be sensitive to the needs of other people. You don’t know what that person has been going through in the last while. You don’t know what has happened in their private life. You are expecting them to get in there and do the work and to be there for you in the work situation. But you haven’t taken the time just to try and understand what is going on inside of them.
Show Some Love
All you need to do is show a little bit of love. And if you don’t know where to get love, you have living inside of you the fount of all love. Tap into that love. Just spend a moment with the Lord and ask Him to love that person through you, even if you don’t feel like loving them.
Even if that person doesn’t look like the type of person you feel like loving, just let the Lord love them through you. You will be amazed at how it will transform your relationships.
People will start responding to you better. They will offer to help you in your work. People who are under you at work will start doing their jobs better just to please you. You see it is because they are happy with you and because they know that you care about them.
Suddenly you will find that what is the most important thing to you – getting the job done – will actually get done better, quicker and more efficiently. And all you needed to do was to take just a little bit of time to notice things about people; to say nice things to them, to compliment them and to pour out a little bit of love.
Why don’t you go and try that in every area of your life? Try it in the home where there is work that needs to be done. If you are a woman, maybe the house needs to be cleaned or cooking needs to be done.
Whatever needs to be done, take time to pour out a little bit of love to the people round about you. No matter where you are – in the home or the workplace – take time to be a blessing.