When I hear about faith and business in the news it’s usually portrayed as a negative and the stories are divisive. On the one side is the Christian business owner who wants to protect his or her beliefs. On the other is the consumer or employee that feels as though their rights are being violated because of the corporate headquarters beliefs and policies. And then the public chooses their side and lines up to post about why they are the ones on the right side of the line.
If that is the best we can do, then maybe Faith should separate from business.
But I don’t think that is the best we can do. I’ve worked with thousands of small business owners and for the vast majority of them, Faith is an important and positive part of their lives. For people of Faith, their faith is their compass by which they live their lives. It’s their source that they tap into when they don’t know what to do next. Prayer is behind many of our best ideas and innovations.
Just because we practice Faith differently doesn’t mean we should block it out of business completely. Here are 4 benefits to making space for Faith in your business.
Prayer works. Prayer is the practice of removing yourself from the current chaos of life to connect to the Divine. It’s a source of peace. It’s a source of guidance. A source of protection, and a source of direction. When I teach business principles or strategy to a business owner and they pray over their plan, they get to their desired results faster. Prayer gives them confidence in their direction moving forward. Often times prayer helps the business owner make small adjustments to the plan that end up making a big impact on outcomes. Even for my clients Faith is not a big part of their lives, prayer and mediation allows them to find clarity in situations that might seem confusing or chaotic.- Creating a Faith-friendly corporate culture will increase connection and loyalty. Why? Because respecting the faith of others builds connection and loyalty. Most of the problems we experience with Faith and business come because we want others to be wrong so that we can be right. I am a very religious person. And I’ve experienced discrimination because people don’t believe the same as I believe. And I have also experienced members of other religions recognizing and respecting my faith and creating space for my beliefs. I did an interview with a Muslim woman once, and she asked me if I wanted to share how my Christian faith affected my ability to balance career and motherhood. I was touched and deeply grateful that she respected that my faith, while different than hers, was just as important in my life. When you create a Faith friendly environment, people of different faiths will appreciate it on a deep level.
- People are at their best when they get to bring all of themselves to the table. For faithful people, their beliefs influence all that they do. It’s their moral compass. It’s their source of compassion. It’s their source of new ideas and inspiration. And in some cases, it’s their source of bigotry and narrow mindedness. We want the positives in the work environment and we cannot tolerate the negatives. I think the reason we have gotten so Faith-phobic in business is because we have all seen the negatives. It always amazes me the horrible things people say and do in the name of religion. So how do we create space for one and not the other? That comes through the corporate culture, standards, and enforcement of the standards. If you are going to make space for faith in the boardroom, you will need to have a written mission statement that lays out how this will be done. Make sure that your Faith friendly culture is inclusive and friendly to all Faiths. And then integrate that mission statement into your hiring, training, and regular meetings.
- Let’s not leave blessings out of this discussion. Creating space for Faith in your business, opens the doors to the blessings that can come. My business has been incredibly blessed. We’ve accomplished goals I didn’t think were possible. We’ve been able to be a blessing to people that did not come to us through our marketing. They came through a Divine Connection, and we were able to help and support each other.
So now the big questions come. How do I create a Faith Friendly Culture? What does that even look like? How can I encourage faith without alienating those that are not comfortable having conversations of faith? Here are some ideas that I have seen work well in companies.
- Have optional prayer meetings. Everyone is invited, but no one is required.
- Invite members of different faiths to take turns praying.
- Start meetings with inspirational and inspiring quotes. Allow quotes to come from any religious or non religious text.
- Choose language that unites rather than divides for your corporate culture. Faith is fairly universal, while religion might not be. Maybe for your team, meditation is more openly embraced than prayer.
- Consider creating an inspiration space. A quiet room where people can go to pray, meditate and reconnect during their work day.
- Do as much as you can to make it easy for team members to celebrate their religious holidays.
- Participate as a company with interfaith service activities. It builds esprit de corps and allows you to give back to your community.
- Don’t turn work into church. Make sure that your work space is also an environment where someone who is not overly Faith based can still feel like they have a great, supportive environment to be a part of. It’s all about finding balance.
- Never use Faith as a means to manipulate outcomes or decisions for your team members or clients.
- Pray for your team members and team culture in private. It will give you the guidance on how to best navigate these important decisions.
I love having a business that is in alignment with my personal beliefs and I encourage my clients and team members to create that same alignment. I find we all show up and do our best when we don’t have to live segmented lives being one person at home, one at work, and other person on Sunday. I’ve found so many positives for our company by creating a Faith friendly business.