Turning Crises into Opportunities
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
At the end of last year, I got a promotion at work. In Chinese, we often say that “a new position brings passion,” but for me, it is “a new position brings trouble.”
The company I am working for is a construction company specialized in designing and building hospitals. Towards the end of January, an architect who was responsible for an undergoing hospital project demanded to see me. When we met, he asked me directly, “Are you the chief interior designer of that hospital? Were you the one who chose the sun-shading materials? ” I answered, “Yes! But I made the decision after I had discussed with others.” He asked me again, “Who is the chief designer of the interior of that hospital?” At that moment, his expression clearly sent out the message that it was all my fault. He said that the transparency of the sun-shading material is causing a privacy concern for patients at nighttime. Because of this, the owner of the hospital was upset with our company and he demanded me to apologize to the client. As a matter of fact, our decision for the material was based on the official standard for hospitals. The material we used was within the privacy regulation range for hospitals. However, different hospitals have different privacy standards, and patients have different demands and preferences as well. This project was designed in 2009, and it is no surprise that the privacy standard has been changed within the past seven years. Furthermore, different hospitals have different demands, so it’s hard to put the blame on any particular party.
I got into a bad mood after conversing with the architect. He made me feel as if we were working for two competing companies, but in reality, we were working for the same company! When the client questioned our project, the architect blamed and criticized his teammates for everything instead of taking a stand for our company. From this incident, I began to realize that many of our company’s senior employees do not have a sense of oneness with their colleagues, nor do they have a sense of ownership for the company.
A few days later, I talked to pastor Ling-Ling about this incident over the phone. She told me that she was reading 2 Samuel at the time. There is a story in Chapter 10 where the king of Israel, David, showed courtesy toward a neighboring country, Ammon. But the king of Ammon was hostile toward David and gathered armies to attack Israel. Therefore, King David had to send out armies to fight them. In the end, King David won and expanded the territory of Israel. Ling-Ling used this story to tell me that the crisis I was facing can be turned into an opportunity. As a Registered Nurse herself, she was able to tell me more about current issues with hospitals. It’s impossible to be without accidents and/or mistakes for any medical system or any medical personnel. In the past, when incidents happen, hospitals usually find someone to blame. As a result, all the hospital employees became fearful and discouraged at work, and the accident rate never seemed to drop. Nowadays, most hospitals are adopting a new thing called “Just Culture”. Under this new culture, whenever an incident takes place, instead of finger pointing, the leaders would use the incident to examine the system and make improvements as a whole. So far, all the results from implementing the Just Culture have been very positive. The accident rate has dropped quite a bit while the morale of employees continues to be on the rise. After hearing about these things, I felt very encouraged. Intrigued by the Just Culture, I decided to do further research. I believe that God is going to open a new door for me through this incident.
A few days later, I was scheduled to have my annual evaluation by my boss. During the review, I got a chance to talk about the incident and my research on “Just Culture.” I highly recommended it as an enhancement to our company in the area of handling crises and problems. This culture should help shape the employees’ mindset to stand united in representing our company properly to make constructive suggestions before the clients. My boss was amazed at my reaction to the incident of being accused and blamed. Instead of complaining, I turned around to find a better solution on the company’s behalf. Since I got my promotion last year, quite a few people have been questioning my boss’ decision because I am relatively young for my current position. However, because of this incident, my boss became fully confident that I am the right person for the position and he was happy about his decision to promote me.
Praise the Lord for opening up my eyesight and mindset through Ling-Ling’s sharing. His Word has energized and enlightened me to turn this crisis into opportunities. After this experience, I was deeply convinced that the principles in the Bible are still relative and totally applicable in our workplace today to make all things work together for good!
Charlene Hu, Northern California, USA – February of 2016