Working virtually and at a distance from co-workers, staff and employers is a new experience for many of us. Carolyn Forrest, associate secretary-director for the secretariat and office of Human Relations for the North American Division, has been leading from a distance for years. Her responsibilities include vetting/placement of missionaries in the Guam-Micronesia Mission, a mission territory in the North American Division that is a two-day journey and a 15-hour time difference from her office in Maryland.
Forrest offered a few tips for working with people, when you aren’t able to be in the same room or building with them.
1. Make God first in everything.
“I cannot do what I do without the Lord,” she said.
Her job includes being co-director of the Archives and Statistics office at the NAD, consulting with the office of Volunteer Ministries and the Human Resource Services office. She works closely with union secretaries, and guides church members and employees to information as an expert on the church manual. She helps individual church members with questions and connects them with their union and conference officials, even making three-way calls to facilitate the process.
It is a massive job, but she is confident that if God is in it, then she can do it.
2. Encourage teamwork.
With all her different responsibilities, it is important to have team members who specialize or have distinct roles. However, each of them is willing to “roll up their sleeves and work on whatever is needed.”
When she’s interviewing for new team members, she looks to see if they have their own connection with God. “If I’m leaning and trusting in God to help me to help you, then you’ve got to have faith too,” Forrest said.
She’s found that connection with God makes a big difference in how people work.
"The Lord has given me the ability to read people," Forrest said. "I interview for our team. You know who is going to fit and who isn’t.”
3. Value differences.
“The Seventh-day Adventist Church is rich in diversity. We’ve got some work to do … [but] when you look at the church as a whole, we have people from every nation, kindred and tongue,” Forrest said.
Genuine interest in people, their testimonies and culture help to foster relationships.
“I love talking with people. I am an introvert. However, my profession calls for me to be an extrovert. The Lord enables me to do it. At the end of the day, I’m exhausted because I’m out of my natural [comfort zone] … but that’s how I know it’s God,” she said.
