It used to be that organizations welcomed your hands and mind…but preferred that you leave your heart and soul at the door. [Note: if the word "soul" gets in the way, please substitute the word "spirit," "connection to higher power," or anything else that serves.]
New movements—like Conscious Capitalism and others embracing passion-led workplaces—welcomed the heart. And they were a voice for diversity. But they didn’t engage spirit much beyond that.
But now, some are upping the ante. I recently spent a week in Germany with a team of senior executives and organizational development gurus who are advocates for “Leading as Sacred Practice.” That means fully recognizing people as inherently spiritual (not necessarily religious) beings. This view commits us to nourish the soul/spirit of people around us, and wherever else it shows up.
New movements—like Conscious Capitalism and others embracing passion-led workplaces—welcomed the heart. And they were a voice for diversity. But they didn’t engage spirit much beyond that.
But now, some are upping the ante. I recently spent a week in Germany with a team of senior executives and organizational development gurus who are advocates for “Leading as Sacred Practice.” That means fully recognizing people as inherently spiritual (not necessarily religious) beings. This view commits us to nourish the soul/spirit of people around us, and wherever else it shows up.
Sunrise at LASP
This is a three-part blog, starting with why you may want to explore this (whether you're in an organization, or not). The second installment will talk about the key principles involved. The last installment will cover practices to help this approach function.
Why Now?
It’s taken a while to get to this point. Old-style command and control-oriented organizations functioned well with folks doing well-defined jobs. Dan Pink, in his book Drive, pointed out that since we no longer operate in a piecework environment, traditional management and incentives don’t work. Today, jobs require creative people, with leaders providing autonomy, mastery, and purpose to make gifted contributions possible.
Additionally, with increasing distinction between “spiritual” and “religious,” bringing spirit into business environments is more feasible. (This idea is about bringing more spirituality to the workplace...not religion in any particular form.)
Additionally, with increasing distinction between “spiritual” and “religious,” bringing spirit into business environments is more feasible. (This idea is about bringing more spirituality to the workplace...not religion in any particular form.)
How Do Those Embracing "Leading as Sacred Practice" Get There?
I’ve seen two basic approaches at work. One is that many of us are waking up to see the sacred in everything…and the benefit of seeing through that lens. Those of us holding this point of view see purpose everywhere. Small purposes align to greater ones. This connects us far more deeply than we realize.
In effect, once someone wakes up to this point of view, they begin to operate in the world and at work as if everything has a soul and even a consciousness—which promotes a greater curiosity and a more kind engagement. Most of all, this viewpoint opens people up to greater knowing, since they’re part of a system with divine intelligence. This leads to less arrogance or even “figuring it out” energy. It creates more openness to other ways of knowing that not only produce genuinely innovative solutions, but also treat staff, customers, competitors, and the environment more respectfully too. [See also, How "Getting it Right" Can Make You Stupid, my blog on the merits of allowing ambiguity, anomaly, etc.]
The second approach creates a similar result, but starts where the first winds up. Its advocates see the intelligence in bringing more dignity and respect in all that they do … starting with people, but extending to outside organizations, customers, collaborators, and others, as they interact more with each other and parts of the system around them. Consciously and purposefully, they start to see the larger, connected picture. The bigger picture perspective makes space for connection with an element of the divine.
In effect, once someone wakes up to this point of view, they begin to operate in the world and at work as if everything has a soul and even a consciousness—which promotes a greater curiosity and a more kind engagement. Most of all, this viewpoint opens people up to greater knowing, since they’re part of a system with divine intelligence. This leads to less arrogance or even “figuring it out” energy. It creates more openness to other ways of knowing that not only produce genuinely innovative solutions, but also treat staff, customers, competitors, and the environment more respectfully too. [See also, How "Getting it Right" Can Make You Stupid, my blog on the merits of allowing ambiguity, anomaly, etc.]
The second approach creates a similar result, but starts where the first winds up. Its advocates see the intelligence in bringing more dignity and respect in all that they do … starting with people, but extending to outside organizations, customers, collaborators, and others, as they interact more with each other and parts of the system around them. Consciously and purposefully, they start to see the larger, connected picture. The bigger picture perspective makes space for connection with an element of the divine.
What Are the Benefits?
So, this seems interesting--but is it useful? That is, by engaging in Leading as Sacred Practice, are organizations enabled to achieve higher levels of results—tangible and intangible—than they otherwise could? Or make them better/more efficient in other ways?
I’ll talk more about this in the blogs that follow. For me, the emerging answer is yes:
More to come!
I’ll talk more about this in the blogs that follow. For me, the emerging answer is yes:
- “Full employment” (hands, mind, heart, and soul) takes learning, but once achieved generates a highly engaged environment that’s agile and committed—and more aligned with what younger workers want to see, and creates more conducive products and services to support them.
- It taps access to greater intelligence and intuition—e.g., methods for people to interact with the spirit of their business, and get answers they otherwise wouldn’t. (Many advanced IFS and other practitioners are already doing this--e.g., helping clients identify and work with "guide" parts.)
- It enables us to restore qualities and experiences that we are wired to want, like business-appropriate rituals beyond office birthday parties.
- It makes it naturally easier to generate profits and be successful in a healthy way: i.e., not success as “I can consume more than you” but success as something that inherently feels nourishing and worthwhile, and which is kinder to the environment and uses fewer scarce resources as well.
- I expect that firms aligning with this new paradigm will be more profitable and sustainable. (I can't prove it yet, but greater insight and more differentiation lead to enhanced creativity and greater engagement. And that leads to stronger competitiveness, better retention and other benefits.)
More to come!
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