I have officially begun working on the third book in the New World Leadership Series. It is called Spiritually Aligned Leadership: The CORPORATE SHIFT. All writing projects excite me but nothing has invoked more joy than this project does. The whole idea of building a piece of work that speaks to Organizational Life, its energy and purpose through the leadership lens is profound for me.
If we build on last week’s topic of Fear and Love, we can quickly consider how this applies to organizational life. I like to refer to this as Old Energy Organizations and New Energy Organizations.
When an organization is managed from a place of fear, we know what happens to the energy within the walls. The management style is based on policy, procedures, laws, and rigid rules. The premise is that if we don’t have a rule or policy for everything people will not know how to conduct themselves; we will have chaos and lose control. We build so much structure and bureaucracy, that we feel smothered and heavy in the weight of all our rules. Is this our true nature as a species? Are we meant to live under these conditions? Can we flourish, be highly engaged and productive in this environment? I realize that it is certainly not black and white and that there are as many varying degrees of Old Energy Organizations as there are organizations so I don’t want to imply that it is always one or the other.
The premise in New Energy Organizations is that when we manage from a place of love, we engage people’s true sense of right action; we use compassion as a key motivator. The leadership within the organization believes that people are good at heart and that any bad behavior is learned and not inherent. Anything learned can be unlearned. Curiosity, exploration and building awareness, and hence capacity, is at the centre of this leadership philosophy. New Energy Organizations believe in Spiritual Alignment and know that when we provide an environment where people can tap into all parts of their being, mind, body and spirit, they will make great decisions, engage at a high level and enjoy responsible self-management.
I know it is more complex than this but if we look at it from a high level and ask ourselves which environment will produce the best results, the answer seems obvious. There is a lot of evidence that people in general are seeking a new way of being in the world, a new way of working within organizational life. I know that it’s a long journey to becoming a New Energy Organization but it is doable and our experience is that there is a strong appetite to begin the process of shifting. Our employees are already shifting and many have already begun to seek balance, alignment and relief from the stress of our Old Energy Organizations.
A great reflection for the week!
