Spirituality and Organizational

Leadership:A Perspective

André L. Delbecq J. Thomas and Kathleen L. McCarthy University Professor

Santa Clara UniversitySanta Clara, CA 95053-0390

adelbecq@scu.eduTel/Fax 510 769 8730

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The Longing Inner Voice

The fact is that the clever of this worldAre living lives of quiet desperation,That the worldly wise are haunted at midnightWhen they can chatter no moreAnd finally have to navigate silence.

…They, like ourselves…long for nothing morethan a mystery good enough, improbable enough, to wipe away every tear from their eyes..

John T. and Denise L. Carmody

Workplace Spirituality

• Focus on spirituality (Not Religion)

• Focus on spirituality and work– consultants, change agents, managers,

executives, professionals, entrepreneurs

A Definition of Spirituality

• A World View and a Path– World View

– Deeply Held Anchoring Values– Ultimate Concerns– Relationship With Transcendence

– Enabling Path– To Become True Self

• To Be Loved– To Be in Union– To Be Useful

• To Serve

For Our Purposes “80s”

• An Archetype Voice: Martin Rutte– Successful Business Consultant– Happily Married– Deed Funk; Attends “Retreat”– Wants to Understand How God, However Named, Can

Be Integrated Into Business

• Repeated in hotel bars and airport lounges• Stimulated by Eastern Wisdom Penetration in West

Empirical Dimensions of Spirituality - Yarman and Dyer

• Experiencing meaning in calling as service• Aligning with essence, the sacred, the universal• Seeking integration/wholeness• Living mindfully/full presence• Openness to truth/reality• Faith, hope, gratitude• Compassionate relationships/love• Responsible freedom• Acting ethically/ with integrity

Spirituality AnchoredIn Experience

…Beyond social relations, beyond philosophical and theological systems, and even beyond religious structures and rituals there is another level of human consciousness, that of spiritual experience where (all true seekers) recognize one another with a facility that is in proportion to the depth and authenticity of their experience. There is only one God, whatever the name or names we give to this reality.

• Dom Armand Veilleuxm, OSCO• Monastic Interreligious Dialog• Bulletin 78, January 2007

Spirituality is Particular to Each Individual

• Personality

• Family History

• Faith (or non-faith) tradition

• Life Experiences

• Only You Can Speak Of

“Your” Spirituality

The Academy in the Last Century

• God and Spirituality Not a Topic Within Professional Schools

• Emulation of German University Model Focused on the Physical Sciences– Even OB/OT Focus on Culture and Values

Controversial

– Humanistic Psychology Suspect

– Ethics Only Marginally Legitimate

In the New Century

• An Emergent Societal Movement– Neither of the Churches nor the Academy– 90% Americans Believe in a Higher Power

• Some Pioneers Within the Academy– Ian Mitroff, Harold Quinton Professor, USC

• 88% Executives Felt Spirituality Critical To Transformative Leadership

– Jay Congar, Peter Frost, Robert Marx, Lee Bolman, Terrance Deal, Elmer Burack (Personal References Only)

Going Public in Business and Higher Education

• 2001 Conference at University of Mass. Amherst (Chancellor David Scott)

• Cover Stories: Fortune, [Mark Gunther]Time Magazine, WSJ

• Shift in Book Themes from “self-improvement” to “spiritual growth”

• Named as Nesbitt mega-trend 2005

A Personal Reflection

• What Drew Me To This Seminar?

Reasons for Emergence

• Decline Of Other Societal Institutions

• Boomer Mid-Life Crises

• Special Challenges of Leadership and Knowledge Work

• Need For Strength in Face of Adversity

• Challenges of Rapid Change

Reasons for Emergence - cont.

• Demise of Leaders With Integrity

• Increased Disconnection With Work-Place Meaning

• Evidence That Spiritual and Psychology Maturity Matters

The Most Seminal Reason

• Search for Personal Integration– Frustration with dualism– Search for meaning– Desire for a sense of calling [Lilly Foundation]– Need to discover joy in leadership

• Peace is an Inside Job

Quest for Meaning

Mitroff and Denton demonstrate we are all on a spiritual quest for meaning and the underlying cause of organizational dysfunction, ineffectiveness, and all manner of human stress is the lack of a spiritual foundation in the work place.”

Warren Bennis, 1999

The Present Tense-Professional Context

• Professional Activities– Spirit at Work; Presidio Dialogs– Trinity Institute; Woodstock Center; Church Sponsored

Programs

• Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics– Business as a World Benefit– Caux Roundtable

• University Centers and Courses– Princeton, Yale, Univ. Ark. University Michigan, UCLA

The Present Tense-Academic

• MSR, The Academy of Management• Nursing, Social Work, Medicine• Psychology and Neuroscience• A New Mysticism Emphasized Across Traditional

Religion Studies

– Theses, Dissertations, Inclusion in Journals Across Disciplines

5 Special Challenges

• The Tender Interface Between Religion and Spirituality

– Searching the Wisdom of the Great Traditions• (Huston Smith)

– Distinguishing Between Spirituality vs. Religion• (Spiritual Experience vs. Religious Dogma)

• Operating Within A Religiously Pluralistic Culture– Neither Exclusivist nor Reductionist– New Norms of Appreciative Inquiry– Accepting American Constitutional Norms

Special Challenges-cont.

• Measurement– Dealing With Mind, Body, Spirit– Accepting the Antinomy of Measurement and Mystery

• NIMH Models– Physiological, Psychological and Sociological Measures– Accept There Is Unknown Causation

• Pedagogy– Experiential Learning (heart and spirit) not just mental

conceptualizations• meditation, journaling, sharing of heart experience

– Pluralism in References & Transparency Regarding One’s Own World View and Path

Seminar Norms; AppreciativeInquiry

• On The Part Of The Speaker– Truthfulness In Sharing

• Freedom To Remain Silent

• On The Part Of The Listener– Respectful Listening And Caring Support– Appreciative Inquiries– Appreciative Responses

• Norms For All– Reading Preparation – Sharing In Spiritual Disciplines

• Reflection/Meditation/Prayer– Reverence For A Place Of Trust

• Absolute Confidentiality

Conclusions

• Genie won’t return to the secular vase• Tensions and scrutiny positive

– What is healthy, naive, destructive?

• Dialog between professional, social, humanistic and religious historically positive

• An Historical Current Worth Tapping– Spiritual, Emotional, Intuitive, Rational - Holistic

Leadership

• Embryonic “Rapprochement” With Fragilities

It Warrants Current Attention

• The Jesuit Tradition– Whole Person– Competence, Conscience, Compassion

• Secularization A Small Historical Period Within A 6000 Year History– 84 % world wide and 90% Of Americans Claim A

Spiritual Belief– 88% Of CEOs See Spirituality As Essential– Dramatic Psycho/Social Impacts Empirically Validated– The New Sciences