Introduction: To face an unexpected situation with an open mind, try to understand the varied suggestions from the boss, and at the same time, with God's calling and job responsibilities as the anchor, we can provide the most professional advice and help to our superiors and the company.

Welcome to our Global Reach-out program on Workplace Strategy. I am Angelie.

In today’s program, a young brother from a fellowship group raised a question. He said: "The boss suddenly wants to put forward a new solution that can help build the company’s brand and increase sales, but I don’t think that plan would work, and have explained this to him again and again. However, he is very insistent, and want me to promote this plan. I am so distressed! Do you have any suggestions?" Let’s think about this together!

When I heard about this, the first thing that came to my mind was that when we read biographies of various entrepreneurs, we usually admire those creative geniuses, right? "If only my boss were that creative...” But if we do encounter a creative boss, we are likely to find that working for him is actually a pain. Flipping through Steve Jobs's biography and reading what Amazon employees said about their boss, you wouldn't necessarily want to work for one of these creative geniuses.

In today's workplace, most people are working at full capacity. When an idea is thrown at you by your boss, for most people, it's not a pie from the sky. It's more like a meteorite that falls out of orbit, and the most employees don’t want it to fall on them.

A friend of mine once said bitterly, "Just to apply one spark of thought from my boss, I have to pay for it with thousands of troops." I couldn't help laughing. However, we all know that this kind of thing isn't funny in reality. It can be frustrating at work when our abilities don't match our boss's advice, or our opinions don't match our boss's, and it's not uncommon. Friends, have you ever come across a similar situation? How did you deal with it?

There are three possible ways to disagree with your boss. One is to have frank communication with the boss, calmly telling the boss your concerns, discussing the situation with them, and asking for advice. Another way would be saying nothing, but being full of complaints and following your boss's instructions unwillingly. Finally, the third option is to argue, confront the boss, make a list of your reasons, firmly oppose the boss's ideas, get defeated, and walk away.

Unless we are in extreme circumstances, neither of the latter two would be options for Christians. Of course, respectful and open communication requires considerable maturity on the part of both superiors and subordinates. In order to make things less complicated, let's assume that we've made our proposal clear, we've fully communicated it, and the boss still insists on what he says, what should we do? The answer is simple: The employee must obey the boss's decision. Why is that? Because the boss is the one who is responsible for the outcome, so of course he has the right to make the decision. As employees, our responsibility is to make suggestions and carry out the boss's decisions.

You may point out, "It's okay to do what my boss asks me, but sometimes his decisions are obviously wrong. I've wasted my time and energy listening to him for nothing."

That’s possible. However, after thorough communication, even if we are sure that the boss's proposal will not work, we should still accept it and collect relevant data and materials as soon as possible. Sometimes, the decision maker comes to the wrong conclusion because of wrong information. At this time, the employee should not rush to refute, and then clarify and discuss after finding the data. There's no need to argue, just let the facts speak for themselves.

In addition, if we have questions about the boss's plan for the problem, we may as well make an alternate plan if the situation permits. For example, in the case of a brother in our church group, the boss made a proposal on a whim because he wanted to increase the company's visibility and sales. In view of this goal, the brother might as well prepare an alternative plan. Once the boss's plan fails, he can put forward his own plan, and let the boss decide whether to adopt it. Even if the boss does not adopt his plan, he would still see his professional ability and serious working attitude.

When we wake up from the shock of an unexpected suggestion from our boss, it's a good idea to sit down and chart a course of action for our boss's idea. For example, if the boss's plan is to pick a star in the sky, we have to help him calculate how high the ladder needs to reach that height, how to build the ladder, what materials to use, how much material is needed. We also need to put in how much labour is required, and how long it takes to complete the work.

Of course it's a joke. No boss really wants to reach for the stars. What I'm saying is that as implementors, we need to help our boss figure out how much money, and time it will take to implement a new idea, and help him revisit his idea from a practical perspective.

If the boss is so inclined to give advice that it interferes with the normal flow of work, we need to pay special attention to the boundaries and bottom lines of the job. The boss's ideas can be great, but we must have an anchor in our hearts. For Christians, that anchor is our life's mission before God. For an employee in a specific role, that anchor is the team's basic mission and original plan. As executors of specific tasks, we can't just leave basic work behind in order to keep up with our boss's new ideas. While focusing on the basics, we need to be clear about how implementing new initiatives will affect the job we're already doing, and help our boss see what's most important right now.

As employees, it's easy to make a mistake when we don't understand the decisions our boss is making. It's easy to criticize our boss and think, "I'm working so hard here, you're just going to think, you're going to do it...” Such an attitude can make us look down upon the suggestions of our superiors. But the truth is, as employees, we're better at getting things done, and bosses are probably better at setting long-term goals. In any team, these two functions are indispensable, and they complement each other.

And what we often forget is that the boss's perspective is not the same as the employee's. Bosses see the big picture, while employees are usually focused on the job at hand. Therefore, it may be good to look at inappropriate decisions from the each of our individual professional perspectives, and to look at them from a global perspective. So the next time you see your boss making an outrageous decision, remind yourself that he might be up to something and we just don't know it. Let's try to put ourselves in his shoes: Why does he think that way? What was his line of thinking? It's also a great opportunity for professionals to learn to see things from the big picture.

Many people have encountered the embarrassment of having different opinions from their boss. What we have discussed here are some specific ways to deal with this. But a lot of times what prevents us from communicating effectively in the workplace is our attitude. In reality, we often see that when a proposal is made, both the party making the proposal and the party listening to the proposal are prone to making the mistake of "arbitrariness". In this regard, Zheng Mingxian, a mentor with Yi Le (pronounced Yee Ler) Workplace Ministry, shared:

Arbitrariness leads one to fall into the logical fallacy that there is only one way to explain and deal with a problem, and that the only way is usually the one that he or she proposes. The dogmatist is so strong in his opinions that he is completely unwilling to consider the other side's arguments and has no tolerance for others' arguments. This narrow-minded attitude deprives him of the opportunity to grow and experience from others’ perspectives. An assertive person is intolerant of disagreement, both in the workplace and in the church, so it's hard to learn new things. In their relations with others there is only opposition rather than submission. Instead of peace and serenity, they are filled with anxiety and anger. Arbitrariness is spiritual pride in nature, and it is dangerous, for God will stand in his way, and the dogmatist will be humbled in his pride. On the contrary, those who are willing to be taught are humble and receive many honours in life; Because they are open to people, many practical benefits can be derived from their interactions, and character and spirituality can continue to grow. As the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:1-2, "... Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not know as he ought to know."

Friends, it's not easy to build a blessed relationship in the workplace. Let's support each other and remind each other. What about the next time your boss tells you to go left but I think you should go right? After much prayer and reflection, we've come to the conclusion that the short answer is this: Be humble and open to what your boss has to say. At the same time, with God's calling and job responsibilities as the anchor, we provide the most professional advice and help to the company.

Thank you for joining us for today’s program. I look forward to having you join us again next time as we continue to explore how to respond to the many challenges in the marketplace on “Workplace Strategy.”

References: 

参考：

【职场灵粮1177】神的全副圣言之（1059）-蒙福的关系(36)

【职场灵粮1178】神的全副圣言之（1060）-蒙福的关系(37)