One of the things that a new supervisor is tempted to do is to seek revenge from someone who was once a peer. “Wait until he works for me, I’ll show him” or “I can’t wait until I’m the boss, I’ll show these people”. These are dangerous thoughts and beliefs that will lead to certain failure for new supervisors. When we promote into leadership, we must put aside these desires to seek revenge. An important responsibility that all supervisors have is to create peaceful work places. Some supervisors might consider this “hand holding” and will say “they’re all adults, why do I need to be the one to hold them together?” Your job as the leader is to show people the way to act toward each other and to demonstrate what is expected in the workplace. Peaceful, isn’t saying no confrontation or no discipline. Sometimes, in order to achieve peace you must have a little confrontation. Peace in the workplace opens creativity, which allows people to feel free to experiment with ideas, and then become willing to collaborate and share ideas. Peace makes supervising and leading much easier.

Romans 12:18 – “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

The bible teaches us to live in peace with one another, love your neighbor as yourself. Living this way allows us to reflect God’s love toward us by loving each other. How better can Christians show love than by living in peace? This is the message of this verse; “as far as it depends on you”. It all depends on you; how you react to a situation or how you create a situation. We are taught to “stick up for ourselves” and not be bullied. We’re not taught to avoid conflict simply to live at peace. Conflict can be good and healthy for relationships. We should try to find common ground, work out the differences and keep our focus on the issue not the person we have a conflict with. Have the difficult conversation. Starting by making it safe for everyone, stay focused on the issue and how it makes you feel rather than what you think the other person is saying. This is not a time for assumptions. When we deal with one another in an open manner, we can reach mutual understanding much quicker. By living in harmony, we live by God’s word and show others that as God so loved the world, so can we.