Paul Hamid Werder’s comments from the live Facebook chat on the topic of Work and Spirituality.
Question: What IS Spiritual Leadership?
There are three parts to spiritual leadership.
1. Know your God given talents.
2. Express your God given talents completely with power and humility.
3. Set your intention that the expression of your God given talents will make a difference in people’s lives.
Influence is an aspect of spiritual leadership. It is the function of listening more than speaking. Influence starts with alignment to the divine and to what’s best for everyone. It is listening without having a predisposed answer. It is letting go of any ideas about what you think should be done or not done. Your listening starts with an open heart that is connected to the divine and a willingness to discover what can happen that would be better for everyone.
It is important that the people you are interested in influencing, trust you. These people trust that you have no hidden agendas, no ill will, and no axe to grind. You are really there in service as opposed to trying to manipulate people into doing what you want them to do.
When you have listened with an open and aligned heart and deeply understand what these people care about, what is their pain, what are they intending to accomplish, THEN you can support and help bring that forward. A lot of times people need someone to listen to them so that they themselves can understand who they are, what they care about, what they’re trying to accomplish and where they want to get to.
As that listening occurs, choices will naturally emerge. Then the person who is leading with influence, the job is to illuminate and share what is seen as options, choices that the person could take to improve what is being discussed.
Once those choices emerge, then it’s an easy shift to move the discussion to be what can be done about it. What will we commit to? What are the actions that can be taken?
These steps are very effective for people who want to be ‘heard’ and want to be a person of influence in the workplace. It is a way to bring about transformation that supports what is best for everyone.
Paul Hamid Werder is a business consultant and faculty of UOS.
