This week we are talking about Hobby Lobby, highlighting some great tips from the book More than a Hobby. What is the key to being able to be an excellent Christian worker and treating your job as a way to glorify God? Here’s seven tips that Christian workers should keep in mind:
1. They don’t do things because everyone else does.
Hobby Lobby, for instance, is one of the few crafts stores in the country. They at one time tried to vary their business more, but ended up doing best sticking to simply crafts and home décor. Also, they tend to buy previously vacated buildings instead of constructing their own from scratch. They don’t just do things because other stores are doing so- they know what works for them and they stick to it. Far too often we are told in the marketplace that “this is the way everyone in the business does it.” Stepping outside those lines of expectation is a risk, but sometimes can be a good one.
2. They don’t sacrifice quality or standards.
Great leaders have priorities that they set and follow through with well before they become important. These will determine how they interact with coworkers to customers, where they will pinch quality on their service or market, where they will make personal sacrifice for the good of the company or not. They make a conscious effort to determine and hold steadfast to these concepts as they go. They are aware of the big picture and not just the small daily decisions they make.
3. They make a profit.
This may sound obvious, but let’s be real- your job in the workplace is to make money on some level, and if you can’t do that, how can you continue your work at all? The book describes the importance of keeping your focus clear in your field. You cannot provide your service without money. But just as important, if you care about money and not your consumer, you will not keep them. Are you appropriately ranking money in your field?
“Systems are not number one. They are number four- after serving God, serving people, and being a merchant. Systems exist only to make the first three possible.” David Green.
4. They have foundations and they stick to them.
There are simple things that define your life when you are first starting out- sometimes, because they are required. David Green speaks about how he was very poor when he started out and had to be very frugal. He also speaks frequently about how he hasn’t let that go just because he has a million-dollar company now. There are foundational truths for your own life and workplace that you will want to remain true to no matter what. What are these going to be for you?
In addition, most often the things that take great leaders down is not something new, but some weakness they have struggled with their whole life- some hidden secret that grew. There are some things in your life you are going to have to fight and others you are going to have to use in your field. Will you pick these out before they get too big to handle?
5. They set examples.
You can’t say one thing to stores and do another behind closed doors. What is done in secret comes to the surface one way or another. What your leaders do will trickle down to the rest of your work. Your leaders should set examples for what everyone does. He gives the example of a business he took over where the manager was fired for theft. He ended up having to fire over half the remaining staff for theft- not because it was a particularly bad group of people, but because people will model what their leaders do. Are your leaders setting and modeling your companies main goal? Or should you maybe be concentrating on other life goals?
6. They trust themselves and their decisions.
He gives the example of not using barcodes on stock and using computers very little- the employees actually count the stock individually to determine inventory. One benefit is customer service is better, because obviously the person can tell you whether or not they have an item, in that color, and how much it costs if they spend this much time with it each week. Others may think that not using computers is backwards, but if your main goal is serving your customer, you have to trust your instincts and habits, not your competitors. “A computer is a great rearview mirror… But I am a merchant, and merchants have to look forward. They have to go where the computer has not yet been…We insist that computers remain our servants, not our masters.” Sometimes the things that you stand for will seem backwards, but that doesn’t mean that your decisions are wrong.
7. They do their best and trust God at work.
David Green also talks about making his business a place where God was welcome- not only in theory, but in the difficult, the detailed, and the daily. “There is a God, and He’s not averse to business. He’s not just a Sunday deity. He understands margins, and spreadsheets, competition, and profits.” He’s got answers for every problem, but only if we bring them to Him.
What will it take to make God first at your place of work?