Leadership is a spiritual journey
The oak tree at Form's Lake District workshop, May 2022
I’ve not said this out loud except in my client coaching sessions. I wasn’t ready to claim it fully. I needed to heal some old trauma where being visible hasn’t felt safe for me. And now I am ready. I am also aware of how bold this statement is in a time where we put so much emphasis on our mind, our rational thinking and logic. In many ways, when we talk about leadership today we talk about effectiveness, performance and achievement. I’ve learned over the past many years that these are not THE main thing, but a side effect of our journey inwards towards ourselves and consequently, towards something bigger than ourselves.
The spiritual journey is in its essence a (re-)connection to our purpose, values, meaning and love, since many of us seem to have lost touch with these aspects of ourselves. It’s easy to loose touch with ourselves in the current paradigm of hustle - for status, power, reputation, image, (perceived limited) resources, ownership and competition - we are willing to pursue these almost at any cost. There’s never a still moment, a pause from the never-ending stuff we have on our to-do lists. The problem is, it’s costing us our health, our teams’ health and the health of our planet.
So, more people getting fully on-board this journey really is a necessity, an emergency even. We need to shift focus from self-actualisation and serving the ego - to self-transcendence and serving humanity, the planet, a greater good.
And, what I’ve been noticing in with my client organisations is that right now there is a collective momentum building towards more community, interconnectedness and regeneration. People are pausing to ask the big questions:
“Why am I here?”
“What is my purpose?”
“What do I really desire?”
“How do I bring more of myself to work?”
“What does authenticity look like for me?”
“What brings me meaning and joy?”
“What legacy do I want to leave for future generations?”
“How do I create a work life that is not separate from, but a part of my life?”
Many of us are no longer willing to put up with the meaningless pursuit of more, incessant growth, more profit, more status, more ego-driven satisfaction. We are leaving workplaces thet don’t feel aligned with us anymore. “The great resignation” in my opinion really is a shift in consciousness, away from organisations that are voided of purpose, meaning, belonging and integrity. We want to feel that our life has meaning, that the work we do matters. We want to belong and we want to be appreciated fully for who we are. And we want our organisations to care about this.
While being on this inner journey, I have remembered who I really am and why I am here. It is to help leaders and their organisations create a work life where we are grounded in strong purpose, where values are consistent with the lived experience, where we feel connection, belonging, where we feel safe to show up as our full selves and have courageous conversations.
I am writing this from the Lake District in the UK, where I was invited by Form, a client of mine, together with a beautiful community of consultants and coaches - to pause, reconnect. I’m facilitating two workshops today and tomorrow with Claire Lewis from Form. Today is about listening skills, and tomorrow is also about leading teams for authenticity and connection. And, we’ve been blessed with the presence of this beautiful oak tree, reminding us that we are all connected to Earth, so we’re bringing this energy into the session.
So, I’d like to leave you with this question: