Want to Become a Better Employee? Pray for Your Co-Workers

The vast majority of us want to become better employees. Have you ever considered that one tactic toward that end is to pray for your co-workers?

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Some time ago, I began a daily routine that included reading Scripture, journaling, and maintaining a prayer journal. In the last couple of years, this routine has become a rhythm that is now a habit. This daily habit is life-giving and helps me on numerous fronts as I approach the work day.

Over the course of my life, I always found it easier to develop a daily habit of reading the Bible than it was to make time to pray every day. Any time I sit down to write out prayer requests, I find that it does not take long to create an overwhelming list.

Let me quickly visualize why this gets overwhelming. I try to regularly pray for:

• my family-for Gail, the kids, their spouses, our extended family, etc) and all the things you can imagine that merit prayer: faith, relationships, careers, health, friends, sports, hobbies, finances, wisdom for plans, etc.

• people who are sick, dying, etc

• people who need God’s presence because they are grieving or struggling

• the church-for pastors, congregations, and ministries

• opportunities to lovingly and wisely share the Good News of Jesus

• the places I work-for Logos Academy, LogosWorks, its employees, Board members, projects and initiatives (York County Safety Collab, Pulsar, consulting projects).

• local and global missions and service organizations-for missionaries, local nonprofits, their leaders, and their work.

• governing leaders, police, politicians, and global issues-this includes local, state, and national politicians

If I tried to pray for all of those items every day, I would need what the old hymn writer called a “Sweet Hour of Prayer.” To be honest, I struggle to have that kind of time each day.

Therefore, I developed a new practice a couple of years ago where I separated those categories over the course of the seven days of a week.

By separating my prayer time into blocks of prayer, I have specific days that I pray for the places where I am employed and my co-workers there. This practice ensures that I pray often for my employees and co-workers throughout the year.

The Reason We Might Struggle to Pray for Co-Workers

Praying for your co-workers might be the farthest thing from your mind. There are numerous reasons why you might actually struggle to even think about it.

Outside of your time sleeping and at home, you spend hours of your day at work, or if you are a student, at school. These significant hours are spent rubbing shoulders with other flawed human beings.

The modern workplace has its pressures with deadlines, profit goals, and efficiency targets. These performance measures create stress.

Human beings also group together in the workplace and form cliques and tribes around a host of demographic and social factors. These group dynamics create division.

Humans also have a variety of personality traits that make us unique. Some of us are people-oriented. Others focus on tasks. Some like to change things. Others prefer the status quo. There are big-picture thinkers and people who focus on details. Some of us see opportunities and possibilities, and others see the pitfalls and reasons why plans will fail. These personality factors create friction and annoyance.

The modern worker is also driven, wants to grow professionally, needs to make more money, and competes with fellow co-workers. This creates competition.

Add to these dynamics, that human beings bring the very human factors of their lives into the workplace. We come from homes where marriages are struggling, kids are sick, plumbing is leaky, cars are breaking down, and parents are dying.

The modern worker does not show up to the office as some blank emotional slate. We arrive at work with plenty of other things on our minds. Some of us are on the verge of tears, we are afraid, and others are excited about an upcoming vacation.

When you think about all these factors, it is a potentially toxic mix: stress, division, friction, annoyance, competition, and emotional ups and downs.

Upon further reflection, it is a wonder that any manager or leader is able to develop and maintain a healthy workplace culture. There are myriad reasons why this could be a challenge.

A quick way to think about prayer

I have to admit that I don’t fully understand how prayer works. Does it change situations? Scripture suggests it does. I have moved on beyond the need to fully understand the metaphysical dimensions of prayer. God commands us to pray. Jesus prayed. I should therefore probably pray.

There are numerous books written on prayer. You should read a couple of them. For now, let me give you a couple of Scriptures to consider that suggest a simple way to think about prayer.

• James 5:13-16 is a great passage to consider. James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

• 2 Corinthians 1:10-11 says, “On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”

• Romans 15:30 says, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.”

The Scriptures referenced here suggest that prayer is powerful, effective, a help to people, and a way to join their struggles in some meaningful way. Prayer might be the best antidote to being judgmental or gossipy in the workplace.

Prayer is a worthwhile use of our time. I have found that prayer softens me to people and aligns my heart with the heart of God for these very people that He loves.

Praying for your co-workers will make you a better employee

One strange result of learning to pray for your co-workers is that you will become a better employee. There are three simple ways prayer will accomplish this.

Reason #1: Praying for your co-workers will make you more emotionally intelligent. One great reason to pray is that it changes us. When you pray for a co-worker whose marriage is falling apart, you become more sensitive to them as a human being. You develop compassion. You will likely become more patient and less apt to criticize them for lacking focus.

Emotional intelligence is, in part, the ability to read the room and adapt to that analysis. You develop sensitivity to the emotional interactions that occur in conversations. The more sensitized you become to the people on your team, the more effective you will be working together, supporting your collective goals, and even helping other team members interact more effectively with one another.

Reason #2: Praying for your co-workers will help you be more focused. If you take the time before work, even one day per week to pray for your co-workers, you will be more centered, even calm in the face of the day’s challenges.

Focus helps us keep the right priorities on track.

The people we work with matter more than the discrete projects on which we collaborate. I am in no way undermining our collective work, but if the projects are completed at the expense of the well-being of our team members, how meaningful was the work?

The overall health of your teammates matters. Healthy team members create better team outcomes. When we are focused on the people we work with and our collective interactions, the product of our team efforts will become more efficient and higher quality. Great momentum and a healthy culture emerge when a united team successfully completes a project.

I am not suggesting that you suddenly become a skilled counselor. You can learn to pay attention, to listen, and you certainly can quietly pray.

Reason #3: Praying for your co-workers will give you a better perspective. By praying for your co-workers, you will learn to trust God for His help. You will let things go, knowing that God is in control. Prayer will help you play the long game in the most trying situations.

The right perspective will help you be calmer and even more patient. You won’t feel the need to control, manipulate, or turn your office into a new season of Survivor.

I get it. Some of your co-workers are weird, annoying, distracting, overachievers, lazy, and some are outright toxic. Like any relationship, the workplace needs rules, standards, accountability, realism, and grace. The reality of any workplace is that all of us need to be coached up and sometimes there are a host of reasons employees need to be coached out.

The people you work with matter to God though and should matter to you. Like you, they are human, live complex lives, have dreams, and disappointments too. Prayer will help you develop a perspective that your co-worker’s work life is only one facet of their humanity.

By gaining a better perspective, you will resist cramming apocalyptic expectations into your work. All of our work has the potential and limitations of the people who participate in it.

You ought to consider praying for your co-workers. In some strange turn of events, by selflessly praying for your co-workers, you will become a better employee, more emotionally intelligent, focused, and with a greater sense of perspective.

Sure, your boss might notice the change in you. God will definitely notice, and I am fairly certain your co-workers will sense something is changing for the better in the workplace.