LICC - Connecting with Culture - Not managing today?

LICC - Connecting with Culture - Not managing today?

not managing today?
Another day, another survey confirming that work just isn't working any more. This time, it's Management Today reporting on research from the Roffey Park Institute, which found that the majority of middle managers (72 per cent), senior managers (69 per cent) and board directors (63 per cent) are looking for a greater sense of meaning from their work. The disillusionment has been growing since the survey began eight years ago.
It's not surprising that managers are craving meaning from their jobs when, according to other research, they have precious little time for anything else. Nor is it surprising that they aren't finding it because, despite the rhetoric of corporate values statements, today's workplace is in reality almost entirely focused on a line - profit.
Indeed, one of the greatest challenges facing Christians in the UK is to live the abundant life of Christ in the face of the dehumanising, relationally destructive and emotionally, physically and spiritually debilitating effects of the contemporary work-place.
It is also, of course, one of our greatest opportunities, precisely because the Government, business and the medics are long on diagnosis and deft at dealing with symptoms, but woefully short on solutions.
Encouragingly, some Christians are bucking the trend: one company has capped executive hours at 45 per week; individuals are downshifting, or restricting their own hours; others continue as they are, believing confidently that God wants them to be there, and finding strength through him. (Please post your own insights and stories at LICC Culture.)
However, for the majority of Christians in work, our LICC research reveals that the big issues are stress and burnout, maintaining integrity, relationships, overwork, insecurity and redundancy.

We may know that ultimately we work for the king of the universe (Colossians 3.23-24), and we may understand God's transformational intentions for work - but such high purpose was surely not intended to be pursued at such fearsome cost. Sadly, few of us have the time, energy or even the necessary hope to stop and work out how to make any meaningful change to our work pattern. If this is you, contact a friend now and book a time to start the conversation.

Mark Greene

such high purpose was surely not intended to be pursued at such fearsome cost. few of us have the time, energy or hope to work out how to make any meaningful change to our work pattern