HOLY HOMEWORK

Wisdom in the Workplace

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Is the virtue of wisdom a pure infusion from on high? If it were, we might be tempted to think that some people have it and some people don’t. The Church teaches that all Catholics who receive the sacrament of confirmation are blest with wisdom—one of the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit. But do we really exercise this gift at the office? Do we put it into daily practice? Grace notwithstanding, the virtue of wisdom is as much an election as it is an endowment. And if we don’t use it, we’re doomed to lose it.

Employees can resolve to be wise or resign themselves to being foolish.

Wisdom is not the same as intelligence, albeit the two are not mutually exclusive either. A coworker can be brainy and be sensible too. However, an associate with a high IQ can also behave like a loon. So what are some of the keys to unlocking the virtue of wisdom where we work? Supervision, prudence and compromise!

Supervision

To begin with we must admit that human nature is not perfect. Left to our own desires, most of us would surrender to the temptation to slack off rather than giving 110 percent to our jobs. Let’s be honest. We make personal phone calls on company time, surf the web for bargains or to escape, and arrive for work late or leave early, especially when our manager is away on vacation.

Ideally, the decision to be wise would entail self-monitoring. Unfortunately there are few folks who can work at peak performance without being accountable to some higher authority. After all, if humans were naturally prone to integrity rather than incongruity, the need to be bonded or to have quality controls or for any kind of inspections would quickly become obsolete. What’s the bottom line? To increase our virtue of wisdom we must decide to seek more supervision, from within and from others, rather than trying to subvert it.

Prudence

Think once before speaking and consult twice before acting. Is it really wise to confront our bosses about something they’re doing wrong? Most people believe that although whistle-blowers do improve the quality of life for others, they rarely survive long enough to enjoy the benefits themselves.


Wise workers choose their battles carefully. Is it really so terribly troublesome when we have to trek several blocks from where we park our car to the lobby of our office building? Or should we badger the administration into constructing an expensive five-story garage next door? Ingenuity turns inconvenience into advantage. We can decide that walking is a healthier and therefore wiser alternative to taking taxis or elevators.

Before we take any actions that involve serious consequences, wisdom dictates that we should consult at least two trustworthy individuals, people who are not afraid to point out what we’re missing. For example, recently I was tempted to criticize an assistant about his aloof attitude. However, I decided to confer with two of his contemporaries before provoking this loner. Both advised me to wait a while. They knew him better than I did and assured me that his “isolation mood” would mellow by the end of the week. They were correct and, in the end, prudence became the wiser part of valor.

Compromise

Grumbling is easy. Anyone can complain and some employees have even elevated whining to an art form. The decision to be negative is not only not wise, but also jeopardizes our physical health, wastes time and energy, and casts a pallor of gloom over the entire organization.

Astute individuals choose the harmonious negotiation of bargaining for a piece of the pie rather than the antagonistic ultimatum of demanding the whole pie or starving to death. Can we imagine what the business world would be like if squawking, suing and striking were replaced with communication, compassion and cooperation? At the very least our jobsites would be far more peaceful places to work. How wise is that?

For Holy Homework:

Let’s write the three words supervision, prudence and compromise on a Post-it note. Then let’s fix this reminder to our computer screen where we can see it every morning for the next 30 days. Each evening, as we’re preparing to leave our desk, let’s ask ourselves: How well did we supervise our own productivity today? How can we act more prudently towards a particular individual tomorrow? And is there some specific issue at work about which we can complain less and compromise more?

Comments can be sent to: FatherBobPagliari@Yahoo.com