Getting into the spirit of business

Why are more channel firms seemingly scrapping traditional management structures in favour of pursuing ‘spiritual leadership'?

If you were to ask a handful of channel bosses to articulate their management styles, you might be hard pressed to find any who describe themselves as "spiritual leaders".

But there are signs that spiritual leadership - a movement which encourages businesses to focus on staff motivation and wellbeing in order to grow and prosper - is beginning to take hold among more firms in the sector.

The phrase itself might conjure up ideas of meditating managers, soul-searching sales staff and deep-thinking directors, but in practice it encourages flatter management structures and greater emphasis on staff morale in order to drive results.

It's a philosophy being embraced by more channel firms, among them open source integrator LinuxIT, which recently overhauled its entire business to adopt a more relaxed, open management style.

The Bristolian outfit claims its move away from a traditional pyramid management structure, in which a handful of directors ruled the roost, has transformed its business and led to lower staff attrition.

"In 2012 the organisation I led was in disarray," LinuxIT executive director Simon Mitchell wrote in his MBA dissertation in which he studied the philosophy.

"It was suffering financially, key workers were leaving in their droves and the senior management team was
in conflict."

As part of the overhaul, Mitchell spread out the shareholding of the firm and stripped top-level staff of their traditional job titles. Instead, he encouraged all senior leaders to chip in with ideas as a collective.

"Already as a result of this approach, new ideas and opportunities abound within LinuxIT like never before," he said. "Suddenly, everyone seems to be noticing us for all the right reasons. Relationships that had become fruitless have been revitalised."

Brother in arms

About two years ago, printer vendor Brother adopted a similar "staff-centric" philosophy and the firm's UK managing director Phil Jones (pictured) said the move has prompted more change in the past 24 months than in his
20-year tenure at the company.

Most successful businesses in the future will be those making the often difficult cultural changes today, he predicted.

"Generation X were brought up with companies running staff through the grind, focusing on them clocking in and out and taking care that nobody was working the system," he said.

"That's the old-style culture and management. For Generation X, [moving to new, flexible approaches to management] is like taking a bungee jump into the unknown - handing over responsibility to individuals [is difficult].

"Whether you're a reseller or a vendor, everyone wants the top talent and that war for talent is about making sure you have the right environment so staff can come in feeling like they are making a difference. The old pyramid structure crushes that."

In fact, the chance of working under a relaxed, flexible management structure is now a bigger draw for prospective employees than a trendy city-centre location, according to Byron Calmonson, founder of recruitment firm @ITS IT recruitment.

"The IT industry should absolutely adopt [spiritual leadership-style management] more," he said. "We have to get away from the idea that people live in one place and so can't work in other places - technology is so global [that] we have to use that to our advantage.

"It's about empowering staff to deliver. The more [flexibility] you give them and the more you reward them, the more they will step up to the plate. They will go past what you ask them to do.

Potential recruits are much more interested in applying for jobs at firms which operate flatter management structures and allow staff the chance to manage their own workloads, he added.

"It's a no-brainer," he said. "I'm going to sell [the open management idea] and make sure everyone wants to work for you because they will get seen, heard and felt. It's the way forward and businesses will certainly see a return in profit because the quality of staff will go up and the [level of] staff motivation will too."

Playing the system

But there are limitations to the model, Calmonson admitted, not least the danger that some staff will view their new-found freedom not as a perk, but as an opportunity to play the system.

Such cynicism has even led some IT firms to withdraw flexible perks in an effort to claw back control, he said.

"In our market, the absence of micromanagement is being abused," he said. "Some holistic companies are panicking that their deliverables are not being met as a result and are now in panic-management mode.

"Right now, [some have] banned working from home and banned this and that in order to gain back control - that leads to only one thing: poor management and structure."

Calmonson, who used to be a teacher before he began his IT recruitment firm 15 years ago, said punishing the entire workforce for the behaviour of some individuals can risk undermining the principle of spiritual leadership.

"Companies are giving the whole class a detention and it is wrong," he said.

"They need to find the abusers and put [only] them on structured management and leave the good guys alone. As soon as you micromanage [everyone], they will just leave."

LinuxIT's Mitchell admitted that a big change in workplace culture can lead to abuse, but maintained that, when managed correctly and over time, staff embrace the new approach.

"If you have used only positional power and formal authority to control and motivate people, and then simply take that authority away, you will obviously leave a void and they may stop working so hard," he told CRN.

"But if you replace it with a transformational approach where the leader allows employees some degree of autonomy and self-management, they will take pride in it [and] commit to it."

Brother's Jones agreed and said that time is needed for the new philosophy to take hold.

"As the [Warren Buffet] saying goes, you can't make a baby in one month by making nine women pregnant," he said. "It takes time to create a culture that is high performing."

Measure for measure

But for others, the only way to guard against such abuse is to enforce a formal structure where staff output is measured.

"You still need a sophisticated system in place that monitors and tracks output," said Richard Eglon, marketing director at Comms-care.

"We've seen a big shift in our resellers and vendors [towards more flexible management styles]. IBM, for example, has a six-figure number of staff and I'd imagine about 70 per cent of those are remote workers. If it works at that scale, why [would it not] for a business with 50 people in it?

"But it's still important to hit the bottom line. We'd love to blue-sky think all the time but the reality is the numbers have to come in. It's about balance."
However, proponents of spiritual leadership argue that the philosophy is entirely consistent with the pursuit of higher profits

According to the International Institute for Spiritual Leadership, a Texas-based professional corporation, staff happiness is at the centre of the philosophy's theoretical guidelines, and boosting profit is the number-one practical goal.

Mitchell concurred, arguing that the shift in atmosphere in LinuxIT's office from one of fear and insecurity to optimism and togetherness would stimulate its bottom line.

"It has meant that we have lost some clients," he admitted. "But we have won new ones with whom there is a much stronger relationship. While in the short term you might get more profit from a ‘smash and grab', over-promising approach, in the long term it is very costly."

What is spiritual leadership?

"Spiritual leadership involves intrinsically motivating and inspiring workers through hope and faith in a vision of service to key stakeholders and a corporate culture based on the values of altruistic love to produce a highly motivated, committed and productive workforce." Source: International Institute of Spiritual Leadership

Tech bosses on leadership

"As we look ahead... leaders will be those who empower others." - Bill Gates, Microsoft

"A business leader has to keep their organisation focused on the mission." - Meg Whitman, HP

"My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better." - Steve Jobs, Apple

"My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they're having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society." - Larry Page, Google

"Great companies, in the way they work, start with great leaders." - Steve Ballmer. Microsoft