Does Your Organization Have a Soul?

The Organizational Soul

I was living in England when I decided to pursue my Master’s degree. I applied to a program that would provide me with a powerful study on leadership, transformation, and a vision of what the future held for the role of business in today’s society. Too many organizations approach work with an “assembly line” style with a mentality of completing tasks with little thought to how it gets done or how the employee feels about the task. 

My program director at the university was relentless, pushing us beyond any limits we had imagined and challenged my traditional western thoughts at every turn. Time held no special meaning to him and classes went well into the evening.

At the end of class, we often gathered at the local village pub so we could continue the day’s topic over a couple pints of beer. What better way to spend time drinking beer than to discuss transformational leadership, right?

Pubs by their very nature are geared toward great social interaction. The alcohol, no doubt, acted as a conduit to our deep philosophical discussions, or so we believed as the night went on. So in the dimly lit pub with creaky hardwood floors, we sat by the warmth of the fire contemplating the day’s lessons and we declared:

Organizations are soul-less. 

What is the Soul?

Deepak Chopra tells us “The soul is your core consciousness…it is the ground of your being.” To an individual, it’s their moral and emotional nature or sense of identity. So, shouldn’t it make sense that an organization have a soul? That guiding force from within? The ethical philosophy that provides a foundation for the way business is conducted?

I’ve always felt that the soul is the source from where corporate renewal springs. It’s what lies beneath and binds the Mission and Vision Statements.

There are many conventional wisdoms about what makes a company successful. Common ones include having a mission and vision statement and acting upon those. But, there’s a difference between those and a soul. A mission explains the company’s goals and objectives. A vision describes the way you want your organization to look in the future.

The soul, ah, the soul, is the intrinsic driver.

It’s the underlying behavior that is present as the mission and the vision are carried out – by leaders and by your employees. The soul of the organization has purpose, intent, and character. Ethics are intrinsically intertwined with all of them.

A Soul Develops From the Inside Out: Mind, Heart, Hands, and Spirit

Healthy organizations have leaders who habitually critically assess and reassess their corporate character, tenets, and ethos. This type of deep reflection, focus, and eventually corporate renewal is essential for flourishing organizations.

It’s essential to pay attention to the services delivered, client expectations, and needs of the employees but it’s more important to take the time to understand and assess your organizational soul.

It’s the driver of all principles. If you’re not clear about your soul, your employees won’t be clear about it either. It’s the strength and foundation of the corporation’s well-being.

Developing or maturing your corporate soul forces you to look inside. It forces you to peel back the layers of the onion to see what’s under it. A leader must have the courage to unwrap all of the layers to see what lies at the core and who lies at the core.

Creating a Corporate Soul Means that Leaders:

Think with the mind and nurture employees to do the same

Foster an environment that unleashes creativity. Conversations should center on how things are going to get done, rather than reasons why it won’t get done. According to Peter Senge, the learning organization is an organization where “people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.” 

He also believes that if use our mind that we will have the ability to carry on “learningful” conversations that balance inquiry and advocacy, “where people expose their own thinking effectively and make that thinking open to the influence of others.”

Lead from the heart

You can’t have an organization without people. Leadership is about working effectively with your people. The best leaders are not afraid to show their vulnerability. They are genuine. They care. They develop those around them. A culture of empowerment will nurture and develop the employees in the organization.

Be authentic. In an organization where people lead from the heart, it’s easier for everyone to demonstrate a set of value-driven behaviors. Authentic leaders exhibit a passion for their purpose, practice their values consistently, and lead with their hearts as well as their heads.

According to Dr. Rollin McCraty, HeartMath's Director of Research, the heart is "an organ of perception and intelligence.” Dr. McCraty states, "We now know that the heart and the brain are in a constant two-way communication and that the heart sends more information to the brain than vice versa.

The signals the heart sends affect the brain and centers around our decision-making and in our ability to perceive ideas. So, it’s okay to lead with the heart because the brain and heart will be in check with one another. You can’t dismiss one without consideration of the other.

Work with the hands

Richard Branson said “Nobody respects a leader who doesn’t know how to get their hands dirty. The trick is in striking the right balance between empowering your staff and being an example for them to follow.” 

You have to know when it’s time to lead from the trenches.

Leadership is not just about the bottom line profit, but about how your decisions, attitudes and reputation impact the people around them. It’s about leaders getting their hands dirty and touching the business from all sides. Stepping into the trenches helps a leader to grow. Sometimes you need to forge a new path if the old path becomes cluttered.

Develop a renewed spirit

Change the atmosphere if it’s draining. Spark the spirit to build on a foundation through inspiration. Don’t do what is easy. Do what is right. Mirror the behavior you want to see in others and hire people who can model that behavior.

Collective souls

Employees must be unified if you want to establish an organizational soul.

That’s how you grow from within.

Every person must see themselves as a part of something greater. The core behaviors are more than just understood. They are incorporated into daily behaviors and interactions inside and outside of the organization.

Success is shared. Employees must care about the success of their colleagues just as much as they care about their own success.

Don’t sell your soul

Give your organization a soul. Go beyond the mission and values. Create a spirit that drives inspiration and innovation. Be concerned with who you are and not just what you do and don’t let anyone take those from you. Your soul shouldn't be for sale.

What’s your organizational soul?