Spiritual Leadership and Organizational Culture Explained

Introduction

Traditionally, leadership has been defined as the ability to create a vision, foster cohesiveness, and inspire workers to give themselves to their work in order to achieve an organization's desired goals (Oh & Wang, 2020). However, according to Ahmed et al. (2021), leadership should be supportive and collaborative because it is through these qualities that followers become more satisfied, motivated, inspired, and committed to their work. Likewise, Hall (2021) states that leaders should find ways to transcend ethnic, racial, religious, political, age, gender, and generational differences in order to create harmony in the workplace. The best definition of leadership, based on these sources, is that it is something that fosters harmony among workers and motivates them to want to be part of the workplace.

Leadership relates to spirituality in the sense that everyone has an inner spiritual life that needs fulfillment, and that fulfillment can come through finding meaning in one's work. Spirituality in the workplace can therefore be defined as the quality of being at peace with one's work because, through that work, one enjoys a sense of community, a sense of meaning, and a sense of purpose — all of which satisfy an inner need (Houghton et al., 2016). This paper examines the difference between Christianity and spirituality in the workplace, the meaning of spiritual leadership, and two qualities of a spiritual leader — humor and authenticity — and why those qualities are important for developing an effective organizational culture.

Christianity vs. Workplace Spirituality

Christianity is a religion with clear tenets and practices that its adherents adopt to conform themselves to a Christian ideal. Spirituality, on the other hand, is defined by Lean and Ganster (2017) as "an individual's awareness of [the] 'vital principle or animating force' within themselves and others" (p. 297). The importance of focusing on spirituality rather than religion in the workplace is that "if one grows in their spirituality, they grow in the awareness of their connection to this living force, to their mind, will, and feelings, and/or to others" (Lean & Ganster, 2017, p. 297). Spiritual leaders create connections between people, and these connections foster love, respect, harmony, wholeness, commitment, and growth. Many of these components may be found within Christianity or upheld as Christian ideals, but the idea behind workplace spirituality is that awareness of one's relationship to one's own animating force — as well as to the animating force of others — can be the path toward greater solidarity, teamwork, appreciation, and mutual beneficence.

The main difference between Christianity and spirituality, therefore, is that the former is specific and exclusive whereas the latter is broad and inclusive. Christianity proposes a defined set of beliefs and practices for one to pursue; spirituality is open and based more on realizing the spirit of oneself as well as that of others or of the group as a whole. If Christianity is like a kingdom unto itself, spirituality is like a gateway that leads one up a path to a place where all might unite and prosper. That place might be within a Christian framework, but it might also be a space in which people of various religious beliefs are able to coexist without judgment, focusing not on doctrinal differences but on the common purpose they all share in cultivating the organization they inhabit.

Spirituality in the workplace is thus a means by which an organization can achieve its fullest potential by drawing upon the true nature and essence of the people who work within it. It offers a way by which the differences among individuals can be transcended by focusing them not on what makes them different but on what makes them the same: they are all human beings with human needs — a need for fulfillment, a need for meaningful work, a need for joy, and a need for harmony (Carder, 2019; Van der Walt & De Klerk, 2014). Spirituality is the means by which those needs can be realized and fulfilled.

What Is Spiritual Leadership?

Spiritual leadership is a type of leadership in which the leader focuses on drawing attention to the spirit of the group, the team, and the individual — and harnessing that attention so as to ignite the imagination, desire, and will of the individual to want to give himself fully to the organization and its aims. It is the ability of the leader to create harmony between the organization and the identity of the worker; it is an approach that emphasizes finding meaning and satisfaction in one's work, in one's relations with co-workers, and in having an important role to play in the larger organizational picture.

The spiritual leader helps to apply the "individual's personal spirituality to the working environment" (Van der Walt & De Klerk, 2014, p. 380). At the same time, the spiritual leader must ensure that the organization itself dedicates itself "to spiritual values such as benevolence, generativity, humanism, justice, receptivity, respect, self-transcendence, trust, and mutuality" (Van der Walt & De Klerk, 2014, p. 380). If the organization does not uphold the ideals it seeks to see in its workers, it will not attract genuine commitment. But if the spiritual leader attends to nourishing the values of the organization through personal example and through communicating its mission and vision, those same values can be cultivated in followers as well.

Spiritual leaders give full attention to the inner life and to the social order (Oh & Wang, 2020). In doing so, they give voice to altruistic love by valuing others, maintain a positive attitude that expresses hope and faith, and demonstrate clarity of vision. They are concerned with the well-being of the organization, the individuals within it, and the workforce as a whole. Spiritual leaders emphasize a common purpose and common goal that all workers can participate in through their individual calling, and they show appreciation to everyone, which promotes a genuine feeling of membership (Oh & Wang, 2020).

The main benefit of spiritual leadership is that it tends to foster greater job satisfaction in the workplace (Van der Walt & De Klerk, 2014). This occurs because the followers of spiritual leaders sense that they are part of something important, something that has real meaning and genuine value, and something that needs them. The more satisfied workers are, the more likely they are to be committed to the organization and to want to see it succeed. Spiritual leaders can thus play a significant role in the growth and success of an organization.

One way that spiritual leaders can foster this kind of satisfaction is to use the mediating power of laughter. As Carder (2019) notes, "when some comment or situation makes people laugh, it is likely to create a positive affect and, therefore, increase their well-being, and ultimately their productivity" (p. 26). Laughter brings people together in the moment and helps them share in that moment as one, all experiencing a positive feeling that reinforces the idea that they are a collective — a cohesive group of people who are all in this together (Greatbatch & Clark, 2003). Carder (2019) further explains that "joy in the workplace is much more than a side effect. It fuels a workforce that is more creative, more productive, and more likely to stay with the company" (p. 26). Spiritual leadership should foster such joy, and spiritual leaders can use good humor to bring about joyfulness on a day-to-day basis.

Humor in the workplace is important because it can help orient people's minds toward the beneficence of the task at hand and toward the importance of attending to a neighbor's needs. It can humble people, bring them back to earth, and help them to see that everyone is only human. As Charman (2013) states, "humour is important within both the formation and the reinforcement of organisational culture. It acts as a method of making sense of what can be difficult and tense situations" (p. 155). Spiritual leaders can provide great assistance by easing tension with a little joy and humor, making difficult issues or areas of work feel more relaxed and manageable. Spiritual leadership recognizes that anxiety is a part of everyday life and that anxious people can create obstacles to effectiveness. Spiritual leaders recognize anxiety as a problem that can be kept at bay through good humor. The better a leader is at bringing joy to workers, the more those workers will appreciate his presence — to them, that presence becomes like sunshine on what might otherwise be a cloudy, dreary day.

One quality of a spiritual leader effective for building organizational culture is therefore the ability to use observational humor to bring about joy, camaraderie, and cohesion (Hall, 2021). Another equally important quality is the leader's authenticity. Authenticity cultivates the ground for belief — not just in the values of the organization but in the work itself. Through the authentic quality of the spiritual leader, work takes on new meaning, particularly "when an individual perceives an authentic connection between their work and a broader transcendent life purpose beyond the self" (Ahmed et al., 2021, p. 3). The spiritual leader can supply a vision of that broader transcendent life through personal authenticity, which acts like a window onto that view. The leader's joy and humor can attract others to that view just as flowers attract bees and butterflies with their aroma; the leader's authentic self then invites them in to partake of the meaningful view of a transcendent life that can be enjoyed by all. Thus, the spiritual leader's dual qualities of humor and authenticity can inspire meaningful work, which becomes "the clear understanding and knowledge of the purpose, value, logic, direction and reasoning of the work done by the individual" (Ahmed et al., 2021, p. 4).

Conclusion

Spiritual leadership is supportive leadership; it inspires collaboration and humanity. It motivates by way of its own good example and helps others to recognize the meaning and value of their work. It gives workers a sense of the integrity of their role in the organization and fills them with satisfaction when they see that they are not alone but are part of a greater whole — a team of workers committed to the well-being of the organization. Spiritual leaders concern themselves with the well-being of their followers, and they can use humor to bring them joy, to uplift them, to normalize their experiences, and to empower them to connect with one another despite whatever differences they may have — whether differences of age, gender, race, religion, or anything else. Through their own personal authenticity, spiritual leaders can embody the transcendent life that leads to greener pastures, calling all to that harmonious place where no judgment is passed by one on another, and where all take joy in working together to achieve a common purpose.

References

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