Power of Prayer

Early this week at work my manager called me into her office - she was pretty cranky.

She proceeded to tell me she was going to sack a staff member for their incompetance, inability to perform and for being so slow that other staff members are having to carry her load. My manager continued to rant and rave and tell me how angry she is and how sick she is of talking to this staff member who won't listen, who won't get done what she needs and she's had enough and she's going to have it out with her.

The staff member in question is a person that likes to please everyone. She takes on extra work because she can't say no. She is slow with her work, but is extremely thorough and makes no mistakes. She does the tasks that nobody else will do. This staff member has also expressed that nothing she ever does seems good enough and has been extemely stressed to the point that she is thinking of resigning.

So who is right and who is wrong???

I asked my manager what strategies she has put in place for the staff member? What support has been given to her to improve her skills and allow her to work faster?? My manager said that she's talked to her and told her what needs to be done and why. I said what about giving her some training in time management, teaching her how to say "no" to the non-important. What about praising her for the good things she has done.

I understand my managers frustration - there is a job to get done and its not being carried out. Do you run the staff member into the ground with short answers, being ignored and talked about behind her back to the point where she feels she is worthless and wants to resign??

Sometimes I feel that my manager has no idea about people skills. I shared with my manager that in order for a person to be a high achiever you have to teach them, nurture them, challenge them and praise them. I also said that her tone of voice is extremely condescending and makes people feel belittled. I asked her to think about these things before speaking to the staff member.

That night I went home and prayed....God please...help my manager to communicate effectively and with encouragement and please help...the staff member to be open to recieve instruction and to feel that she is doing a great job...I also prayed that both of these people would have a revelation of who Jesus was and that I would have an opportunity to share his love with them.

The next day I was called into my managers office and said that she has organised for the staff member to have training on time management and has set up a spreadsheet to give her the ability to record her work tasks - that way she can monitor what extra workload that is being taken on. She called the staff member into her office and the door was slightly open I could hear laughter and soft words spoken - I breathed a prayer of thanks.

The rest of the week the staff member has been extremely happy and has been able to finish her tasks. This staff member then opened up to me while I was scanning some documents today and told me that she has been on antidepressants - I've made a lunch date with her next week.