Difficult Manager

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, March 03, 2008 - When Your Boss is Wrong

Because managers and employers are people, like you and me, sometimes they are wrong. They may be wrong in their attitudes, wrong in their management techniques, wrong in their tactics, wrong occasionally, wrong all the time–but it happens! What do you do when your boss is wrong?

For example, how should a Christian respond in a situation when a boss belittles you? Unfortunately this is a fairly common occurrence in our business worlds, where a boss gives negative feedback in front of other people, or makes fun of you in some way. Perhaps that boss just always manages to find something wrong in everything you do, and he or she tells you about it in a meeting, or loudly standing at your desk. It's humiliating and belittling.

Our first human reaction in cases like this is usually either to resist and strike back, or to be intimidated and retreat or run away. Neither reaction is proper. When any person tends to belittle other people frequently, we should understand that it is a symptom of insecurity. Underneath the intimidating facade is a person who can only feel good about himself or herself by making someone else look small.

A Christian has to learn to move from the self-focused reaction which is typical in these situations–"Oh, poor me, this is not fair to me"–to a God-focused reaction, understanding how God sees this person. And that comes only through prayer. Start praying for that boss.

Now, I don't mean that you pray for lightning to strike your boss, but you pray that God will give you his perspective of this person. Pray that God will help you see beneath the facade and get a glimpse of why he or she is like that. Pray that in spite of the unfair treatment, you will be able to respond in Christ-like ways, and ask God for His wisdom.

Every person in your life is there through God's permissive will, and that means that God can turn the tough situation into an avenue of growth and learning for you, even if the other person never changes.

So, my first advice is to pray for that boss every day before you leave for work. And pray for wisdom. James tells us that God will give wisdom to us liberally, and in a situation like this, you need a lot of godly wisdom. So, pray for wisdom–and expect God to give you the wisdom you need.

You will be amazed to see what happens to you when you start to pray for that difficult manager.