The Corporate Shaman: Fostering Interconnectedness in the Workplace
When a group of people come together to work toward a shared goal, they form a community. In the corporate world, this community - from its leaders to its employees—mirrors the structure of ancient societies where interconnectedness and purpose were foundational to survival and success.
Leaders as Elders
In ancient communities, elders held the role of guiding and making decisions for the benefit of the group. They decided when to hunt, where to live, and how to respond to environmental challenges. Similarly, in a corporate setup, leaders act as the “elders” of the organization. They consult with one another, assess the company’s direction, and make decisions about where to focus resources, when to pivot, and how to adapt to the ever-changing business landscape. As Richard Whiteley highlights in The Corporate Shaman, leaders act as the "elders" of the organization, guiding the community with wisdom and vision.
I’ve seen this 'elder concept' and role in action when I worked with a team of leaders needing to create and deliver on a range of strategic projects for the company. By helping them reconnect with the shared purpose of the projects, alignment followed suit.
The Role of the Community
A company, like an ancient village, thrives only when its community operates harmoniously. In my experience, even the smallest companies achieve success through a shared purpose and collective effort toward that purpose. This shared purpose creates the heart and soul of the organization and sustains it. The health of the community directly reflects the health of the company. If the people within the company are not in Ayni - the Quechua concept of Sacred Reciprocity or Right Relationship - then the company itself will lack balance and harmony. This mirrors insights from Sarah Negus, who notes that harmony within teams is essential for creating a thriving and purposeful workplace.
Opening Sacred Space or enhancing it, if I feel necessary, has been one of the key aspects of success for me as a Corporate Shaman, with individuals or teams. It provides a space where, no matter what we needed to complete together, it allowed for balance and harmony to be achieved.
The Corporate Shaman’s Role
This is where the Corporate Shaman steps in. With a focus on each individual - who they are, how they are, and what they need to become the best version of themselves - the Corporate Shaman helps to bring balance to the community. By working closely with leaders, the Corporate Shaman views the company as a single consciousness, a unified organism on a journey to achieve its goals.
Ancient Tools for Modern Challenges
To help a company manifest its vision, a Corporate Shaman employs a variety of ancient tools and techniques. These might include:
Meditative Journeys: Guiding individuals to connect with supportive energies, such as a power animal or an ancestor. This practice aligns with the transformative meditative journeys discussed in Shaping the Shift, which highlight their power to bring clarity and balance.
Ceremonial Practices: Using rituals like fire ceremonies or Despachos to express gratitude, seek healing, or set intentions, bringing the company into alignment with its goals. Ceremonial practices, such as Despachos, are described by The SpiritTech as profound tools to align a company’s energy with its intentions. I have seen the impactful shifts ceremonies, like a Despacho, can have not just on an individual, but a team, bringing forward the changes needed to align towards a new goal or vision.
Sand Painting: Representing challenges with symbolic objects in a sacred circle, allowing energies to shift and transformation to occur. Symbolic practices like Sand Painting resonate with the broader use of shamanic tools to facilitate personal and collective transformation, as explored in Shaping the Shift.
Journal Writing: Reflecting on thoughts and emotions to uncover insights and patterns that support growth.
Sacred Space: Creating an intentional environment for focus and healing, facilitating transformation at key moments.
These practices, though ancient, have profound effects in a modern context. I have personally witnessed remarkable shifts within weeks of completing a ceremony, as the energy of the company begins to align with its intentions.
Creating Balance and Synchronicity
The Corporate Shaman’s ultimate purpose is to guide companies into right relationship, not only with themselves but also with the world around them. Our external realities reflect our internal states. In a corporate setting, this means that the collective consciousness of 10, 20, or even 100 or a 1000 individuals influences the company’s reality. When these individuals are in harmony, they create a rhythm - an ebb and flow of energy - that drives balance and synchronicity. Beliefnet emphasizes that harmony within teams not only enhances morale but creates the rhythm needed for synchronicity and balance.
Fostering Ayni
To achieve this, the Corporate Shaman helps bring the group into Ayni, ensuring that each person is working toward becoming their best self in alignment with the company’s shared vision. This harmony allows for the emergence of a new reality, one dreamed into existence by the leaders and brought to life by the collective efforts of the community. The concept of Ayni, or right relationship, is echoed in insights from The SpiritTech, which emphasizes the importance of balance and harmony in corporate settings.
Conclusion
The work of a Corporate Shaman is both ancient and deeply relevant to today’s workplace. By fostering interconnectedness, aligning individual and collective intentions, and guiding companies into right relationship, the Corporate Shaman helps organizations create a balanced and thriving future.
The most rewarding part of this work for me is witnessing the amazing change that can happen when just one individual comes into Ayni with themselves and the world around them. To witness this for a team, is profound, as that team comes into Ayni, creating ripples of harmony throughout the organization.