6 Ways to Integrate Your Faith in the Workplace

Josh Andrews is the CEO and Founder of Finish Point, a carpentry and millwork company based out of Knoxville, Tennessee. When he first began working as a home remodeler in 2007, he was a one-man show, but has since grown to a staff of 20, expanding the company’s services through the entire Tennessee Valley.

But Finish Point is not your typical contract company. Josh sets his goals for something much higher. The way he leads his company is an inspiration, and he is breaking the mold of expectation for the average tradesman and changing the way people see carpenters.

Here are the six ways Josh integrates his faith in the workplace, and grows his business as a result:

1. Place high value on integrity
   Our published company values are influenced by Christian thought. Integrity is a non-negotiable. We have forgone piles of cash by seeking to do the right thing and our staff knows it. Whether it’s standing behind our work or holding to our commitments, no matter the cost, we seek to do the right thing. My opinion of Jesus is that he met practical needs everywhere he went, adding substantial value to the message he brought. In our business, I seek to identify and target needs as I share the message of hope in word, thought and deed. In my opinion, helping people achieve amazing things professionally meets a “need” in their lives and opens the door for conversations about Christ, which are much more welcome when people know you care about them enough to actually do something for them.When someone trusts me and makes a life decision to work in our company, I’m very sobered and hopeful that we can deliver on our promise to value them and help them achieve great things. Anything short of it is an integrity issue for me.

2. Focus on serving your staff
   I’m in this for the long haul. I realize I may be the first or last exposure someone has to the love of Jesus manifest in the people he has called. I don’t worry too much about where I stand in the lineup of interaction one might have before coming to faith in Christ, but I do know I’m somewhere in the lineup. No matter where someone stands, I feel the desire to keep pushing the needle toward belief in God and a relationship with him through the way I treat people consistently. It’s my opinion that our society is tired of talk. They’re desperate to see love lived out. I try to refrain from advertising faith, but I seek desperately to live it out by working hard to serve the people who work for me.
   
   If Jesus can lay down his life for the world, I can lay mine down for 20 people who work for me.

   It’s my hope that our business will be an oasis in the marketplace, which is one of the biggest unreached people groups. I desire to make our organization one that values people and gives them the tools and resources they need to be successful, blow customers away and lead a more gratifying life at work and home. I feel like this is my current mission and I am pouring myself into building a business that loves people where they’re at and helps them achieve whatever they desire professionally in as much as we can help them.

3. Display excellence in your work
   We desire to raise the bar for authentic craftsmanship back to the respected pedestal it once stood on. There was a time in history when tradesmen were proud of the career they had committed their lives to, and people of all professions respected those who knew how to do amazing things with their hands. We desire to bring that esteem back. Long term, we hope to make an international impact in the skilled trades industry by influencing the way people run their businesses and the level of excellence they aspire to. Delivering what we sell is a big deal to me. For customers it’s important, but for employees the stakes are even higher.

4. Build a great team
   The majority of our staff is extremely proud of our company and culture and it’s not uncommon for someone in our company to reference how their quality of life has gone up as a result of working at Finish Point. I know I can hire a new person, sell them on the company, give them a pep talk and initial training and put them on a team knowing that the guys they work with every day will make a better impression than I did on the front end.

5. Train, develop and empower your staff
   Pressing through my fears about my incompetence and shortcomings and leading our staff in leadership development is something I have said yes to over the last two years. Using tools like the Gallup Strengths Finder assessment and introducing my staff, especially rising managers, to good content for leadership growth and helping them understand how their strengths help them be a great leader while giving them tools to help with their weaknesses. As a result, we have a staff that is increasingly learning to value the diversity in leadership style and strength around us as opposed to letting it drive us apart. I currently believe God is calling me to help my staff achieve as much as possible, whether or not I get compensated for it in this life time.

6. Bring your Team to the Global Leadership Summit
   I first came to the Summit in 2014. The first year I brought 4 of 12 staff members, which, in my opinion, was the crucible that started the most meaningful and life/business-changing efforts I have experienced since striking out on my own eight years ago. The GLS is helping our team achieve great things. Our customers love us, our team members are experiencing life change, and I’m learning to love life, my family and my work in more impactful and sustainable ways. It is helping me grow into the leader I need to be to teach others and increase the capacity in our organization. The eternal impact we make with our organizations in this life is all that matters, and the GLS will help your whole staff align with what really matters in this life.

Are you interested in attending the Summit and learning more about how to integrate your faith in the workplace? Click here to register for the 2016 Summit, or read more from Josh about what can happen in your company when your team attends this year.