Willing to Serve in the Workplace: Christian Guidance for Employers and Employees

By Diana Berry

Are you encouraging the growth of trust for you and the company? Is it being whittled away with numerous ever-changing company directives, top-down management, an impersonal HR department and lack of appreciation and growth opportunities? These things will have a dramatic negative impact upon the entire atmosphere of the company. It starts with you! The workplace will reflect what is important to you.

What does it mean to serve in the workplace? Discover the power behind SERVING. There are two sides to business, a side focusing on business and another side which focuses on the human side. While businesses focus on profits, the most important asset is often forgotten- their employees. You may be very well educated, loaded with gifts and talents, but, bottom line, how do you interact with people? We must be willing to have a teachable spirit. Learn how to create an environment where the employer, employee, and even the customer can win!

Whether you are the employer or the employee you must make a decision to SERVE everyone within the workplace. Are YOU willing to do YOUR part? Does it take time and effort to SERVE in the workplace? Absolutely, and it is worth it more than you know.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512781205

Diana Berry

Diana Berry has been in the workforce for 50 years. She has served as a manager as well as a frontline employee. She holds a Masters Degree in Secondary Education and is also a Business Certified Learning Specialist. She and her husband Rich live in Brookville, Ohio, and have four children: Joe, Matt, Dan, and Heather. They are active in their home church, Salem Church of God in Clayton, Ohio. They love to volunteer, take frequent walks around their quiet, small town, and work outdoors together in their flower and vegetable gardens. Diana has a special place in her heart for her deceased uncle, Carroll I. Stein, who founded Human Resources Consultants in late 1968, being one of the first in his field to use the now-commonplace term human resources formally. Diana had no idea what was in store for her when, as a young girl, her uncle would invite her to his home for a week in Minneapolis. Timidly, she boarded a city bus to downtown Minneapolis so he could take her to lunch, making her feel so very special. Carroll and his wife, Donna, wanted her to know that she possessed special gifts and talents and encouraged her to apply herself to find her own dream and pursue it. What a great surprise to discover that the same passion and love for people in the workplace they had dedicated themselves to would become a lifelong passion in her own heart. Diana Berry is a Business Certified Learning Specialist who is available for consultation and company training. Please contact her at: www.serveatwork.com

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Copyright © 2017 Diana Berry.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8121-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-8120-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017904413

WestBow Press rev. date: 4/25/2017

Contents

Chapter 1

What It Means To Serve

Chapter 2

The Importance Of First Impressions: Serving At The Interview

Chapter 3

Orientation And Training: Inspiring Trust, Confidence And Loyalty

Chapter 4

Servant Attitude: Laying A Sure Foundation

Chapter 5

Encouragement Is Life To Our Spirit: Showing Appreciation

Chapter 6

Conflict Resolution: Turning A Negative Into A Positive

Chapter 7

Performance Appraisals: Reigniting Loyalty And Commitment

Afterward

Acknowledgments

First, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Jenny Vance, my patient and thorough editor.

Thanks to my longtime encouraging friend Shirley Unrau, who has always believed in me.

A respectful thanks and admiration to Dave and Carol Baas, who allowed me to use my gifts while being employed by them for five years at Baas and Associates Accounting in Omaha, Nebraska.

Special thanks to my husband Rich, my awesome family, and the many dear friends for their support and prayers in writing this book.

Thanks to Dianne Nelson for designing this work—making my dream become a reality.

Lastly, thanks to Steven and Jacquelyn Mann for arranging the completed work.

This book is dedicated to the millions of employers and employees who faithfully go to work every day desiring to do their best.

CHAPTER 1

What It Means to Serve

And whatever you do, do it heartedly, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

—Colossians 3:23–24

Even when I was very young, I had a passion for work and for people. My heart sings when I work hard and when I love people. I have always been a giver, and I love to make things better for those around me; it was my way of learning to serve others.

I did not recognize, however, that I was doing this way too much! I had developed a deep need for acceptance and was trying to help fill a void in my own life. One of my greatest disappointments was beginning to painfully realize that not everyone wanted to be served by my offers to help. This would at times result in misunderstanding. I was inadvertently sending out a message that I could do a better job than they could. This was the last thing I wanted to convey! It caused me great regret. I went on to discover that God calls us to serve with a servant attitude.

Serving and Being Served

Webster’s Dictionary has defined serve as to provide services that benefit or help, and it defines attitude as a feeling of emotion toward a fact or state.

In order to understand the power of the servant attitude, it is imperative that both employer and employee make an honest commitment to each other in both word and deed. Doing so is hugely important for a vibrant, successful, and healthy company. The result will be a more satisfying work experience that strengthens the company from within, and it will also have a great effect on the ultimate goal of attracting, keeping, and satisfying the customers! It will be a win-win-win for all!

For me, it is all about serving. This is where I have found my greatest satisfaction. So how can we begin to serve in the workplace in practical and effective ways? The most important thing I have learned after fifty years of work is how imperative it is that both employers and employees learn to listen to each other with great respect and appreciation, followed up by positively demonstrating that respect and appreciation toward one another.

Rarely have I seen this