Grit and Grace

Grit and grace in the workplace. Both are necessary. Both are gifts.

Without them the work community easily falters.

Grit is that stick-to-itiveness, the habit of doing the dirty work with endurance, and the willingness to do the humble things with urgency and care.

(All grit and no leisure–that is another issue for another day.)

Grace involves a kind of prudence that feels like poise; a willingness to treat others as we would want to be treated, and a steady practice of forgiveness… and it is winsome, indeed.

For those of us lacking grit and grace but wanting more, here are a few ingredients needed for the recipe:

• Get adequate sleep. (To paraphrase a paraphrase of St. Benedict, half of holiness is getting enough sleep.)
• Get a new litmus test for yourself: measure your work excellence by how well you are caring for the little things.
• Reflect on noble heroes. Who is a gritty person you admire? What is something that person has that you need? How can you change in a small way to grow more like that person?
• Who is a graceful person you admire.? Etc.
• Lewis said humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Think of others more. Listen well.
• Practice the poise of calm that is self-ordering, other-ordering, and work ordering.

Grit is for self-giving. Grace adds ease to being in community.

Remember that work is a school of excellence–and that we add value through change and growth.

In Hope of Growth in Grit and Grace,

CEO & Founder

P.S. A tip for interviewers emphasized by Lencioni in The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues:

Anticipate a question on your weaknesses. It might be asked this way: What would your current supervisor say is a necessary area of growth for you? Have an answer that is honest, self-reflective, appropriately vulnerable. Even better, reflect now and start changing/growing where you need to grow. Doing so will demonstrate your character and strengthen your candidacy.

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