The Dynamic of Vocation
Out of curiosity, I did a Google search on various topics or inquiries into leadership and their responses.
· “What makes a good leader?” 1,080,000,000 hits – integrity and honesty, vision and strategic thinking communication skills, empathy, emotional intelligence, being inspirational and motivational, resilience, decisiveness, self-awareness, collaboration, empowering others
· “What makes for fulfillment as a leader?” 89,400,000 - making a difference, purpose and vision, empowerment and growth of others, strong relationships, authenticity and integrity before others, continuous learning, balance and well-being, emotional intelligence, resilience.
· “What do followers want most from their leaders?” 424,000,000 – trust, compassion, stability, hope, humility, respect, clear communication, empowerment, passion, competence, forward-looking, inspirational.
· “What do leaders want to be known for?” 496,000,000 - integrity, vision, strategic thinking, communication, influence, empowerment, resilience, empathy, compassion, decisiveness, self-awareness, collaboration.
Anything surprise you in these results? Anything you were expecting to hear but didn’t?
I find the prevalence of the word “integrity” noteworthy. Let’s do a word association with this word. What other words comes to mind when you hear the word “integrity”? Normatively, “integrity” is defined first and foremost as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness” and secondarily as “the state of being whole and undivided”. Interestingly, it is this secondary definition that most reflects the word’s origins and ancient use. “Integrity” comes from the Latin, integritas meaning “wholeness” and carries this notion that all of one’s dimensions come together into a harmonious unity; hence, we get the word “Integration” from integritas. So much of what we are going to be exploring in terms of leadership and vocation is about our wholeness and integration in our leadership. My premise and central takeaway are this:
Living out one’s leadership through vocation is…
*the key to wholeness
*is foundational to wholeness
*is a great determinative to wholeness in one’s leadership
*is an important key to the wholeness of those our leadership touches and influences.
I want to share with you a Paradigm of Vocation to assist us in exploring more deeply the distinctiveness and interrelatedness between Job, Career and Calling or Vocation. This paradigm draws upon thousands of years of spiritual wisdom and lived evidence – attempting to demonstrate how Calling or Vocation resources the wholeness and integration of our leadership.
Paradigm of Vocation by Timm Glover, M.Div.
Rather than seeing “vocation” as a separate category or some distinctive destination that one comes to or progresses to as if it is some dimension of self-actualization or fulfillment, vocation is best seen as a synergistic, integrative dynamic of maturity, wholeness and integration. Vocation is about living and manifesting a unity and congruency of identity, purpose and convictions throughout the multiplicity of one’s ways of being in the world and in relationships.
Next week, we’ll unpack each of these dimensions of the Paradigm of Vocation. Until then, may God bless the work of your hands, hearts and spirits!
