Spirituality in the Workplace

Spirituality in the workplace is a topic that is not openly discussed in many organizations due to company regulations, policies, procedures, and laws. Although one may hear the occasional, “I’m blessed and highly favored” response to, “How are you today?” or the occasional religious symbol or Bible verse in the office, does not mean that individuals are practicing spirituality in the workplace (SAW).  I personally feel that spirituality in the workplace deals with servant leadership at its best. As a servant leader, it is my moral obligation to serve others and try to meet their individual needs. In the process, I must demonstrate integrity and social responsibility to those I serve.

As Mahatma Ghandi stated, we should “be the change we wish to see in the world.” As a leader, I must represent what I believe in through my actions. If I wish to see change in my organization, I must lead by example. Pruzan (2008, p. 101) contends, “Research clearly demonstrates that spirituality and leadership can have a synergetic relationship to each other.” Merriam-Webster (2013) defines synergy as “the increased effectiveness that results when two or more people or businesses work together.” The question is not “Can spirituality and leadership work together?” but “Should spirituality and leadership work together and why?”



Although laws have abolished prayer in schools and the expression of one’s religious beliefs in the workplace, the fact still remains that “we are a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In clearly analyzing the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag, I can see spiritual characteristics in our pledge. Spirituality has many interpretations but the common theme in most definitions is that of service or duty. As a nation, it is our duty to be cohesive, free, and fair. Spirituality focuses on providing a service, promoting unity, helping the oppressed feel free, and provide equality for all.

My friend and colleague, Pastor Reuben Sampson, Jr. (2013) shared with me, “Spirituality in the workplace paints somewhat of a paradox. One’s spirituality is personal. This in itself many times makes it difficult for some to not express their belief verbally. However, I’m of the persuasion that a person’s spirituality should be exhibited in the workplace through their choices and work. What do I mean? Your lifestyle in the work place and your work ethic should express what you believe. A great example is worth more than a thousand words. Simply put, when it comes to workplace spirituality, one should strive to live what they believe. Then they should function properly within the guidelines of the organization so as to promote their beliefs from a positive vantage point.”

In his book, Leading with Passion (2010), John J. Murphy asserts:

When we are leading in the spirit, we approach each day with joy, enthusiasm and positive expectations. We are deliberate and mindful in our actions and reactions. We respond to stimuli by consciously ‘minding the gap’ between cause and effect. Leading with passion and spirit requires that we remain positive, attracting positive energy into our lives and into the solutions we seek. We are never given a challenge we cannot meet or a problem we cannot solve. This is what keeps life interesting. We grow in spirit when we rise to these challenges. At the beginning of each day, the passionate leader remembers that we are spiritual beings destines to create a better world by thinking positively and acting wholeheartedly. And at the end of the day, the passionate leader realizes that to inspire others, we must be in-spirit ourselves. (pp. 104-105)

As previously stated, spirituality in the workplace begins with the leader. From my personal experience, I take the “what would Jesus do” (WWJD) approach to handling situations. By this I mean the following: although individuals make mistakes, murmur, conspire, threaten, etc., I look at those individuals with God’s heart and God’s eyes in order to move forward. As Murphy (2010) stated, I have to be “positive and attracting positive energy.” As the leader on my campus, I must remain positive in order to get employee buy in. This task is not always easy but crucial because it will impact campus culture and climate. Student centered leadership involves leaders making an effort to impact students. A positive attitude toward helping students achieve will motivate students to excel. Students are impressionable and can detect when someone does not genuinely care for them. In leading with the spirit, we must accept our students, faculty, and staff with their weaknesses and faults and commit ourselves to bringing out the very best in them. I have always felt that my job is my ministry and my calling. Educators do not go into the profession because of the money. We do not get paid for working overtime or get hefty raises. I can say that most educators lead with heart. We want to serve our children and will do everything possible to ensure their well-being. Pruzan (2008, p. 104) asserts, “spirituality can be looked upon as providing a framework for leadership that can serve as the very source of an organization’s values, ethics, and responsibility.” In education, we develop our campus vision and mission as a guide to help us reach our students. We adopt them as our “core values, ethics, and responsibility.” Educators have a moral responsibility to provide a high quality education to all students and to lead their followers to a higher level of professional growth and development.

Spirituality will help them achieve that. John Maxwell (1993, p. 7-8) contends, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Leadership begins with the heart, not the head. It flourishes with a meaningful relationship, not more regulation. You can love people without leading them, but you cannot lead people without loving them.”

Tourish & Tourish (2010, pp. 213-214) describe:

Accordingly, a leader who embraces SAW [spirituality at work] will have a heightened obligation to offer a sense of meaning in life, and to provide a feeling of community rooted in the workplace. It is an agenda built on the assumption that organizations have a unitarist nature, thereby ensuring that the extension of leaders’ power in more intrusive directions will have a benign effect. The focus is on the need for individuals to adapt everything they possess, body and soul, to the organizational environment in which they find themselves, in pursuit of meaning and solace. The possibility that such a colonization of people’s affective domain might be oppressive, invasive or unwelcomed is not generally considered.

A feeling of community and acceptance is vital in attempting to establish relationships. Guy Ferguson, as cited by Maxwell (1993, p. 115) asserts:

To know to do a job is the accomplishment of labor;

To be available to tell others is the accomplishment of the teacher;

To inspire others to do better work is the accomplishment of management;

To be able to do all three is the accomplishment of true leaders.

References

Maxwell, J. C. (1993). Developing the Leader Within You. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Merriam-Webster. (2013). Retrieved November 4, 2013, from Merriam-Webster: www.merriam-

          webster.com

Murphy, J. J. (2010). Leading with Passion. Naperville: Simple Truths, LLC.

Pruzan, P. (2008). Spiritual-based Leadership in Business. Journal of Human Values , 101-114.

Sampson, R. (2013, November 7). Spirituality in the Workplace. (M. Oliva, Interviewer)

Tourish, D., & Tourish, N. (2010). Spirituality at Work, and its Implications for Leadership and

          Followership: A Post-structuralist Perspective. Leadership , 207-224.