right attitude, right position

Notice the two different playing positions of these cellists from the Nodame Cantabile orchestra. Sat on the front edge and sat right back in the chair.

Yesterday in conversation with a student I realized that having a sense of justice and injustice is important. Examining a situation where one person in an organization was having trouble with her manager. Colleagues became involved because they saw it as a way of dealing with all their frustrations with management. The problem was the staff saw it as revenge against management rather than seeking justice against the injustice of the manager and staff member. When revenge happens this staff member becomes victim twice, of the manager and of the staff.

What does good management look like? In our Thursday night studies we've been looking at the two facets of God, love and justice. I think good management contains both. Years ago I had the honor to mentor the manager of a senior daycare unit. She was having problems with her staff and we started talking. We dealt with justice which was making her staff aware of the criteria she assessed their performance on and teaching them to assess themselves. We dealt with love treating them equally but not the same. She treated them as individuals with different strengths and weaknesses, she gave them opportunity to train and become more effective, she taught them to work together and support each others weaknesses. A year after her unit moved she told me that she finally had to let a staff member go, but it was the easiest it could be because he knew why he had to go and knew he had been cared for.

Attitude is so important, are people things to be used and abused or are they gifts to us, a grace for a time. Justice and love have meaning only when they have transcendental value and only when they are embodied in relationship. In life we can sit backwards or lean forwards!