Personal Leadership as Form of Spirituality

Abstract

In theories on leadership a paradoxal development can be perceived. The growth of social constructionist theories on leadership with a strong focus on both leaders and followers goes hand in hand with a call for strong leadership with a focus on skills and traits of the leader. Situational and reciprocal theories on leadership flourish as much as theories on effectiveness of leadership in relation to personality traits and leadership skills. This paradoxal development can be overcome when the paradigms of spirituality are taken into account. In this chapter three perspectives are discussed: the impact of spiritual concepts on leadership, the contemporary developments within religious leadership, and the connection between leadership and learning in the concept of personal leadership. Spiritual concepts open the domain of leadership to growth and values. Contemporary developments in religious leadership reveal the redefinition of traditional forms of religion and the impact on leadership. Personal leadership brings in the notion of learning, and offers a promising way of connecting contemporary needs in a complex world to sources of spirituality.

Spiritual Leadership: Meaning in the Sustainable Workplace

“…Astin ([27], p. 4) claimed that spirituality concerns our sense of who we are, our beliefs of why we are here-the meaning that we see in our work and our life-and our sense of connectedness to each other and the world around us. Many authors and researchers have pointed out the universal values of spirituality like integrity, honesty, and humility [28]; an attitude of openness, attention and consciousness [29]; love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, personal responsibility, and a sense of harmony [30]; or search for meaning, morality, with a focus on sustainability and credibility, rooted in self-knowledge and the desire for growth and development [31]. The induction of spiritual values of interconnection and compassion leads to a harmonious living that contributes to the benefits of others, society, and nature [32].…”

“…The significance of spirituality in the context of the workplace is a relatively new topic in management research [31,[54][55][56][57]. The previous studies indicated the need for employees' experience of spirituality at work.…”

“…Spirituality at the workplace elaborates about the one's life purpose, quality of relationships with other people associated with the workplace, harmony with one's personal beliefs, and the values of the work organization [64]. When employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community [65], then the workplace can be considered as a sustainable place, characterized by a feeling of the meaning of work, a sense of interconnection with others, and mutually aligned individual and organizational values [31,66,67]. Spirituality enables people to feel alive, energized, be passionate, and care for work and people in the workplace.…”

“…Helping workers express spiritual values in their work improves leader effectiveness in job satisfaction [77], morale, and commitment [73]. Spiritual leaders, identifying the basic needs of employees, can motivate them intrinsically by giving them faith and hope so they can be a highly committed, motivated, and productive team [31,78]. This strong intrinsic motivation provides task involvement and goal identification because it meets the higher-order needs of individuals, such as self-efficacy, a sense of autonomy, and connections [79].…”

“…Higher commitment and motivation [31] A sense of team and community [81] Learning in teams [83] Spiritual climate [83] Team-level innovative behaviors [83] Higher group productivity and performance [30,31,39,54,74,80] Communication improvement [81] Organizational level…”