Sixth Century
Wisdom
for 21st Century Changemasters
by Eileen McDargh
(The following article has appeared in numerous business
journals and e-zine sites.)
With a wobbly U.S. economy, unsettled change continues to
bombard us. Mega-mergers boggle the mind with the endless zeros streaming
behind a behemoth's financial size. We gasp at the number of employees who
are cast off from a consolidated giant. We see plant closures and layoffs
in everything from clothing
manufacturing to banking. Overnight web companies turn almost
under-age youth into millionaires and executives at age 40 are left
scratching their heads. And then dot.coms fail, leaving bewildered
employees in the rubble. Technology shifts overnight. Medical research
makes DNA a poster child for both dreams
and nightmares. There's so much, so fast. Despite statistics
that put this as the lowest employment rate in decades, there's pain and
inaccuracy behind these cold numbers. And in all of this, we are working
more but feeling as if we're earning less. There's too much to do and too
little time.
The cry echoed across business publications, employee
surveys, human resource conferences, and on-line chat rooms is this:
help us with chaos and balance! Within a 48-hour period, the
headlines of the Los Angeles Times business section, a cover story
in the latest issue of Fast Company,
and the lead article from Fortune all proclaimed the
same thing: workers want help with turbulent change and work/life balance.
This article is meant to offer some thoughts on how to deal
with the challenging issue: how to deal with the chaos of unending change
and the role of the team.
In the sixth-century, the Rule of Saint Benedict asked monks
to take vows of stability, conversatio(Latin), and obedience.
Stability emphasized the need to work for the good of the community.
Hence, all actions taken were in the context of "will this be of
assistance to all rather than just a few?"
Certainly this wisdom must be at the center of Synovus
Financial, a company rated by Fortune Magazine as one of the top
places to work. Employees at Synovus Financial say it has " a culture of
the heart."
Obedience meant that once the monastery had made a decision
(after a practice of hearing from the many members of the community), the
monks followed. Independent thinking is good, to a point, in business but
then the team has to move in the same direction.
Of even more significance is the word conversatio, a
term that is difficult to translate. Conversatio connotes a
commitment to live faithfully in unsettled times and to keep one's life
open. Such a paradox: remain settled; stay open to change! For the monks
of the Middle Ages, living
faithfully meant listening to an inner voice and
responding to the call. For those of us in the 21st century business
world, living faithfully also means listening and responding. Here's what
we need to listen to: the stories we tell and those around us tell
regarding an organization's consistent
adherence to values shown by actions that match core beliefs.
If there are no stories, there's trouble. It means listening with empathy
and responsiveness to the needs of others within the organization. It
means being open to the differences of others, being willing to change
perspectives yet stay firm in
one's core values. How well do you practice
conversatio?
Surely, at a time when we hear terms like "spirit" and "soul"
more frequently in the workplace, the wisdom of a sixth century monk might
help us all deal with the realities of a demanding world.
© Eileen McDargh, McDargh Communications. All rights reserved.
You may reprint this article so long as it remains intact with the byline
and if all links are made live.
Since 1980, professional speaker and Hall of Fame member
Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals
create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her latest
book is Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life's Complexities. Her
other books include Talk Ain't
Cheap...It's Priceless and Work for a Living and Still Be
Free to Live, one of the first books to address the notion of balance and
authentic work. A 59 year-old grandmother, she recently returned from
climbing among the highest mountains in the world. Find out more about
this compelling
and effective professional speaker and join her free
newsletter by visiting http://www.EileenMcDargh.com.
McDargh
Communications
(949) 496-8640
Eileen@EileenMcDargh.com
www.EileenMcDargh.com
© 2008 McDargh Communications, All rights
reserved
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