Better Work by Diving Into Your Work Dilemmas

1. Dilemmas Deal in Reality. Work in our world is laced with tension. Instead of pretending to have it all together, pasting on a social media smile, or ignoring the downside of life at work, dilemmas call out the reality we all know: work is hard. Facing our dilemmas is how we bring our authentic selves to a real God. It’s a way to be vulnerable to our fellow travelers. It is refreshing. It is liberating. It gives us a chance to unveil our true selves to God’s truth.

2. Choices Shape Our Path. Joshua told the people, “choose this day whom you will serve… As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” Every decision point we face in our careers is an opportunity to tap into God’s wisdom, seek his counsel, exercise faith, and trust him with the outcome of our work. It shapes our course. When you surrender your dilemmas to Jesus, he is flying the plane. This does not mean a turbulence-free flight. This means an encounter with the living Christ in the grind of daily work.

3. Dilemmas are What’s Big. Jesus’ disciples were pretty good at what counselors call immediacy: emoting what they were feeling in the moment. Lots of fear, judgmentalism, and cluelessness were demonstrated in their questions and comments to Jesus. But the Son of God was more than happy to dive into the mess with them. To ask questions in response to their questions. To commend and critique as needed. Instead of ginning up some pious blather about religious sounding stuff, we can cast our cares upon him because he cares for us.

4. Struggle is God’s Gymnasium. In Hebrews 12, it says suffering is God’s discipline. Discipline here does not mean punishment. It implies a regimen of development and formation. When you and I face deep, disturbing, and intractable dilemmas in our work, God is working overtime on us.

Top Five Dilemmas

1. Dilemma 1: Work/Life Balance and Boundaries Work is taking over even more real estate in our lives. Whether you work in the overstretched supply chain or an office job that went remote, the demand for your attention is through the roof. Work feels overwhelming. Work seems to invade other aspects of your life. Work is that voice to which we cannot say no. Is this ok? How do we know? Where do we draw the line? How do we maintain the line? What does it mean to rest, connect with others, and have thick relationships amid constant demand? These are the questions of dilemma 1.

2. Dilemma 2: Burnout Dilemma 2 is burnout. You are burned out when all the motivation to keep doing your job has drained out of your soul. Apathy, disengagement, even self-sabotage can be symptoms of burnout. There are many questions related to burnout–is your work just hard, and all you need is to push through? How does one recover? If you are in a soul-sucking job, what does God call you to do? What other factors are at play in your burnout- company culture, personal health, emotional capacity, family stress, etc.?

3. Dilemma 3: Should I Stay or Should I Go Now In parallel with the economic recovery from the COVID recession, people in the US have been quitting their jobs in record numbers. Not a surprise that we found people in our survey wondering if it is their turn: should they stay or go? Digging a little deeper into the data, you see people asking this from several angles: “Is it a good time to retire?” “Should I quit my steady job and start my own business?” “Is it a good time to change careers?” and “How do I find a good job in the current market?” We coach people through this particular dilemma every week and have created this resource: Should I Quit my Job Guide

4. Dilemma 4: Out of Alignment We summarize dilemma 4 as a lack of alignment. People are feeling out of sync with corporate leadership. Some think their companies are too progressive politically. Some think they are not progressive enough. This nets out a challenging question: “How do I enthusiastically work for a firm that has a culture I don’t feel at home in, that supports causes I disagree with, that enacts strategies and policies I think are poor, or that doesn’t do enough in terms of solutions and causes in which I believe?” A sub-question related to this dilemma is how much do you say about matters on which you disagree with senior leadership.

5. Dilemma 5: Post-Pandemic Office The final dilemma is the return to the office question: should I or shouldn’t I? How about hybrid? This is by and large a knowledge worker question, but it came up frequently in our research. It seems workers view this as more of their choice than their employers. It spins into more direct questions about building connections, giving feedback, and supervising a dispersed workforce.

A Better Way

1. You are the Hero. “Suck it up; what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Muster up your courage and plow through.” The sense of optimism and progress embedded in this is valuable. And yet it ignores the brokenness that is part of every life and the limits of human agency.

2. You are the Victim. “You’ve been taken advantage of, so go rage quit or just rage. Make someone pay.” The truth is you may have been wronged in seriously unjust, unethical, or even illegal ways. How do you turn your injury into positive momentum? An anger-fueled trajectory leaves more damage and creates more dilemmas. What else can we do?

3. You are hopeless. This is not advertised on your favorite feed or self-help advice channel, but it is where many of us land. The hero and victim narratives are built on the notion that all will go well if you just handle the challenge correctly. The “you are hopeless voice” leads to a stance of quiet resignation. It implies that if you are facing ongoing difficulty, you are failing. Some of us accept defeat. We give up.