Discussion: View Thread

Ora,

Please excuse my delay in replying to your request on materials about spirituality, but I have been ill for the past several weeks and I've had a mountain of things to catch up on, including your request.  While I don't have any syllabi or other teaching materials, I would like to share some thoughts with you and the others of this list, and see if they might be of help in your project, or if it is just something worth discussing.

Most often when we talk about spirituality in organizations we tend to focus in on the individuals of the organization.  Usually we are talking about religious beliefs or individual spiritual beliefs without the context of religion, and how those people need to be nurtured.  But I often wonder if an organization doesn't have its own spirituality that needs nurturing.  But before you go thinking that I'm some crazed person, anthropomorphizing organizations, please let me share with you and others about the background for my thoughts.

I know that many people think that an organization or corporation is a soulless entity, something that is created only through the legality of paperwork and laws.  Yet, I tend to think of organizations as groups of individuals that make up a whole, giving it a life of its own.  The Cherokee word for corporation is "unadotlvhi" (the "v" is pronounced as a guttural "uh" sound).  This word also means "organization."  But it also means "congregation" and "society."  So a corporation or organization is really its own society.    

During our research on high performance organizations and the discovery of the Seven Elements of High Performance™ we found that they fit very nicely in the seven directions of the American Indian Medicine Wheel.  The Vision of the organization, which I have defined as an "Aligned Purpose, Values, and Goals," found its place in the East of the Medicine Wheel, or the direction of the Spiritual.  After all, isn't knowing why we exist, what values we will live our lives by, and what we were placed here on the Earth to accomplish pretty much a common thread throughout most religions and spiritual practices?  If knowing these things are important for nourishing individuals, then wouldn't this also be important for nourishing groups of individuals that are bound together, such as those working together in an organization?

If we can help an organization discover its own spirituality, what can this do to help the members of the organization become more focused in achieving its goals and ultimately realize its Purpose?  Now, again, I'm not talking about a common religion or other common spirituality practices that are practiced by individuals, but rather those things that are important for indentifying why the organization exists (other than to make money), what boundaries on behavior are going to be needed in order for it to continue to exist, and what it is going to accomplish for the long-term as it achieves its Purpose.

If religion and spirituality can give a spark to an individual's life, what kind of spark might there be if we could identify and nurture the spirituality of the organization across all of its members?  What might happen if the members of the organization felt that spark and connection to the organization and were self-motivated to work within its Values to achieve its Goals and accomplish its Purpose?  Of course, this means that the organization's Vision must be much more than just words on a wall if it is to truly bring the organization to life and allow it to achieve its full potential, and, unfortunately, there are too many organizations that have such vision statements.  They fail to understand what their Vision really is and how to unleash it.    

There is no doubt that Vision is important.  Jim Collins' research seems to emphasize over and over again that what he calls the "core," Purpose and Values," are key to the Built to Last organizations, as well as the Good to Great organizations.  And in his latest research he seems to indicate that loosing site of one's "core" is the primary reason why so many organizations who were once mighty fail to retain their greatness.  Other similar research seems to indicate similar results.  But is Vision so important that it becomes the spark that really ignites all the other good things that can go on in the organization and take the simple efforts of ordinary people to great heights of success and performance?

So can an organization's Vision of an Aligned Purpose, Values and Goals really be its spirit?  Is this the spirituality of the organization?  Does this keep an organization from being a soulless entity?  Is managing the spirituality of the organization important; as important as dealing with the spirituality of the individuals?  And can this focus on the spirituality of the organization transcend the differences that might be there between individual spirituality and allow everyone to become more tolerant of others and respectful of individual beliefs?  Can it provide a larger focus for everyone that allows everyone in the organization to benefit?

I'm looking forward to hearing yours and others thoughts on this.