Redeeming Your Character: Administration

Definition

Administration is the ability to understand what makes an organization function, and the special abilities to plan and execute procedures that increase the organization’s effectiveness. This involves clarifying goals and developing strategies or plans; organizing people, tasks, and events; and managing details carefully. These skills are relevant to any task or project, not just organizations.

Administration is a gift listed in First Corinthians 12:27-28. The Greek word translated “administration” primarily refers to steering or piloting a vessel, or to someone who knows the destination and guides others to it.

Scriptural examples include Genesis 18, where Jethro observes that Moses is wearing everyone out by trying to judge their cases personally. Jethro recommends an organization of officials with delegated responsibility to meet the people’s needs, which also would increase Moses’ effectiveness as the national leader. Another example is Acts 6; spending much of their time caring for the needy distracted the apostles from their primary responsibility of providing spiritual leadership. They decided to give others responsibility for caring for the needy so they could focus on their primary duties as apostles. In these examples, someone developed a plan to help the group reach its goals, and in both cases it involved forming a structure and delegating responsibilities. This is typical of effective administration.

As an administrator, you effectively manage your “space,” whatever it is. You can identify appropriate goals, develop strategies to reach those goals, then mobilize people and other resources to put those strategies into action. Once things begin to move, you are very comfortable managing the day-to-day details to make sure the program stays on track.

Typically, your leader or supervisor sets the goal, then you organize and manage the work. This makes you effective in such positions as entry-level or middle manager, office administrator, or store or department manager. Leaders usually set goals, impart vision, and motivate people. As an administrator, you organize and manage the work. Where leaders often create chaos by changing a group’s direction or overlooking details, you know how to bring order out of chaos.

Typical Characteristics

Very organized and enjoy organizing others.
Feel comfortable delegating responsibilities to others.
Usually enjoy working within an organization, overseeing business matters, relating to staff, and doing needed office work.
Recognize and respect authority, which is essential to an effective organization.

Tendencies

Priorities: production- or results-oriented. Your focus is on long-term goals, and you set intermediate goals to guide you and mark your progress.
Issue Perception: objective. Structure and propriety are important to you.
Orderliness: very structured. Plans, schedules, goals, structure, and organization are your trademarks.

Misunderstandings

Your tendency to delegate work may cause others to consider you bossy or lazy. As you see it, your job is to make sure everyone else does theirs.
Because you decide very carefully then confidently hold to your decisions, others are almost certain to think of you as inflexible. When they present their opinion for your consideration, you are likely to have already considered and rejected their position, so they feel like you don’t really listen to them.

Vocations and Roles

You are likely to find your place in entry-level and middle management. Your effectiveness as a supervisor will depend on your people skills.
You can be an effective project manager if you have a defined goal and authority to do whatever is necessary to achieve it.

Perversions

Self-Centeredness
(Perverts your aptitude by focusing it on you, emphasizing the pleasure or fulfillment it gives you.)

Because you develop plans, structure, and strategy, you assume ownership for them and their successes or failures become yours. This causes you to give the organization and methods an importance of their own, rather than focus on the goals they were to achieve.
Organization and structure are very important to you, so you become irritated with people who will not accept responsibility as readily as you.
You also may have difficulty with those who have their own ideas about what the organization should be doing.

Extremes
(Perverts by exaggerating, taking your characteristics and tendencies to extremes.)

Structure and organization can become all-important to you, making you inflexible or intolerant of anything out of order. Your plans and strategies can take on a life of their own, causing you to ignore other people’s valuable insight, or to overlook information that would discredit your ideas.
Your strong desire for production and results can make you insensitive to people’s needs and interests.
Your ability to restructure or redirect almost any group effort can lead you to assign jobs and delegate responsibility where you have no authority to do so.

Control
(Self-centeredness makes you want to be in control, and you struggle for control in a way that is unique to your character.)

You feel a need for control when people or events do not conform to your plan.
You typically grasp control by assuming authority or by imposing order, especially if the problem clearly is within your realm of responsibility. If the problem is with someone in authority over you, you are less likely to try seizing control.

Redemption

Putting on Important Traits
Certain godly character traits are especially important to you as an administrator. Consciously developing the following traits will help you reach your goals more effectively.

Humility (Considers self relatively unimportant compared to others; prevents using abilities for one’s own satisfaction.) Humility enables you to keep the systems and methods you develop secondary to the goals of the organization within which you work. It also allows you to discard or change your work as requested by others.
Agape (Considers others’ welfare, needs, interests, and desires more important than your own; motivates you to act for others’ benefit regardless of personal impact.) Agape causes you to use your managerial skills to help others perform at their peak. The emphasis is on helping others, rather than your own fulfillment.
Patience (Self-restraint in the face of provocation, offense, or difficulty caused by other people; tolerance of the intolerable.) Tolerance allows you to receive complaints and criticism constructively, without retaliating or demanding compliance. Anyone who works closely with and directs people will get complaints and criticism.
Kindness (Appropriate, mild, and pleasant behavior toward others; expressed in actions that meet another person’s need or desire.) This causes you to consider others’ needs and desires, whether they are your boss, your peer, or a member of your work group.
Goodness (Action on another’s behalf, whether pleasant or unpleasant to them; motivates you to do what is best for others.) Goodness gives you the willingness to intervene for a group member, to handle difficult situations properly for the benefit of the people involved.
Faith or faithfulness (Firm conviction regarding something for which there is no proof; action based on such conviction.) Your faith is transferable to your work group, giving them faith in the plan and the group’s ability to carry it out.
Perseverance (Patient endurance.) This helps you overcome objections and difficulties to reach the goal, and be flexible enough to make necessary changes.

Repentance, Renewing Your Mind
(The changes you need to make in the way you think, including your attitudes, standards, priorities, and perspective.)

You must consider it your responsibility to combine people and other resources to maximize their effectiveness. This includes eliminating people’s roadblocks and helping them get organized, clarify their goals, and develop strategies to achieve those goals.
You also serve others by identifying which of their strengths can partially offset their lack of organization or discipline.
In a broad sense, you serve by helping people move from chaos to order and perform at their peak.

Denying and Humbling Yourself
(Rejecting your own desires and self-interests. Refusing to be motivated by desire for recognition or credit for the results.)

Allow others to help set goals and influence the planning stages of a project, and be willing to adopt their plans, even when you believe they are inferior to yours.
Do not look for “I knew it wouldn’t work” opportunities.
Offer your insight and allow others to reject it if they wish.

Taking up Your Cross
(Accepting that which has potential for great harm, threatens to break you down, or reveals your inadequacies.)

This may include embracing someone else’s method or plan, fully expecting it to yield inferior or even harmful results, yet doing your best to make it work. This can be especially true when a failure would adversely affect you. Yet you must refuse to be resentful or vindictive.

Following Jesus
(How you uniquely imitate Jesus by doing what He would in your situation.)

A rich young man came to Jesus, having lived a good life and kept the commandments, but recognized his need for more. Jesus told him to give all his wealth to the poor and then follow Him, but the young man chose not to. Jesus had the perfect plan and could guarantee it would work, but the young man rejected it. He allowed the man to decide and did not condemn him for his choice.
To imitate Jesus is to offer your proposal and allow others to choose without pressure or condemnation.

Becoming Like a Child
(Accepting what God gives you, believing what He tells you, trusting Him to take care of you, and simply doing what He says.)

Let God tell you if, how, and when to get involved, even if you think you have the perfect plan.
Refuse to act until you are confident you have God’s plan or solution.
Trust God for the results, no matter whose plan you use.

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