By Cameron Wyenberg
I used to work at a Protestant Christian religious institute, and we, the staff and sometimes others, would gather every Wednesday for chapel. For those who have never worked in a religious institute, let me say two things:
The chapel usually followed the structure of singing a few songs, hearing a "sermon", and then breaking up into smaller groups (usually 4-5 people) and praying for each other, and the whole thing would take about 30 minutes, usually at 11:30am, which then led into lunch break. Which also meant often you were then going to lunch and seeing the same people. So... I hope you didn't share anything too intimate because now you're having lunch with those same people, or avoiding them.
If anyone reading this is having an anxiety attack, especially if you work in HR, please stick with me through this. If you're reading this and feel completely comfortable, then I think you should have some conversations with people outside of your circle, and hear some other perspectives. I am not saying you are wrong or ignorant, rather that being steeped in that environment can often make us oblivious to how others feel.
A few years ago I had this thought about the "praying for each other" aspect that I was not able to fully unwrap and utilize, but I think recently I came to a better vision of how it could be used outside of a religious institute. Quite regularly the president and vice-presidents of the institute would attend the chapels, which meant when it came time to break up into groups, it was not uncommon to have one of the senior leadership members in your group. Which meant you were sharing personal struggles/insights with them, and (hopefully) they with you. And yes, power dynamics made this suuuuuuuuuuper awkward, no matter how much anyone tried to ignore it, claim it wasn't an issue, or tried to overcome it. If you have a hierarchical structure in 99% of your work environment, it will influence matters in that 1% where the hierarchy is claimed to be non-existent. For instance, in a Christian religious institute, there is the idea that beneath their deity, all members are equal especially in these types of events (chapel, Sunday church meetings, etc.), but again, it really can't be avoided that someone with power/authority in most other settings would somehow lose that power/authority in this special 30 minute window.
And so one time I found myself sitting with the President (and a few others), pretending to share some personal struggles (pretending because there was no way in hell I was going to completely open up in this professional work setting), and he shared some personal struggles with us. Then it came time to pray for him. If you don't fully understand this, I can't really go into much detail as it would take me forever, but just think asking a deity to help them with their struggles. And one of the common ways you can ask your deity to help the other person is to ask that they be granted wisdom, knowledge, insight, etc., and especially in a Christian environment, that they be given humility. And this is where I had a moment. (Oh, and a quick insight if you don't know, typically this praying happens out loud).
There is the concept in Christianity (maybe other religions as well, but I am no expert on that) of a prayer of intercession; to pray on behalf of another person. And whether you believe in religions or not, to speak aloud a prayer of intercession among others, is also to bring communal awareness to a situation, to remind, to remember. There is also the potential to speak prophetically. I don't mean prophetic in the sense of claiming to see the future, but rather to call someone out, to proclaim truths (sadly prophecy has this common understanding of mystically seeing what will happen in the future, rather than a "if you keep doing this bad, or don't stop going that way, you're going to end up like this" understanding, kind of like telling someone to stop running with scissors; you're not saying they will get hurt, but you can see certain truths coming about). Speaking a prayer of intercession on behalf of the leadership team can have the potential of reminding all members of how they should act, and who they are responsible to and for. There is the chance for prophetic utterances (again, not to beat a dead horse, I don't mean mystically scryings into the future, rather reminders to how they should act appropriately, or even how they have strayed from the good), for staff to proclaim how leadership has strayed from a common understanding. (However, power dynamics be damned as this is not a simple endeavour to undergo.)
I was discussing this idea with my spouse, and the difficulty was trying to translate this to a non-religious institute setting (also HR and power dynamics and work/life balance and social contract theory and... and... and... and [insert so many other things]). I was reflecting on it again today, and I think I found another analog that could allow for something similar without needing any religious baggage. That analog is [Land Acknowledgements] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_acknowledgement), which sadly are controversial to some people, but I think those same people won't agree with anything I have to say moving forward anyway.
The purpose of a Land Acknowledgement is to not only remind us whose land we are on, but to also confront our use of the land. It is a reminder that the land does not belong to us, and we cannot do whatever we want to it: exploit it, destroy it, abandon it. A Land Acknowledgement should re-center us in our work/play/living on the land. And I think these can be expanded, to include not just an acknowledgement of who the land belongs to, but to also remind everyone of the covenant that unites their work. That said, I don't want to hijack Land Acknowledgements as they should be an important reminder for most of us. But I'm thinking of some sort of addition to meetings, especially those in which leadership and staff are in attendance. A way to restate a covenant between all members of the group. For those in leadership, this is a reminder to act selflessly, with humility, to strive to make every member of the team valued and properly resourced. It is to call out places where power differences have allowed for exploitation, abuse, or un-equitable practices. It is a reminder that they are not above anyone in the organization, but must act in collaboration with others, to acknowledge that without the team they are nothing. This can be especially powerful when these statements are being read by a staff member who is not a part of the leadership team. And while it could be easy for leadership to "hear" the reminder of the covenant, and then conveniently forget it, I think having a constant reminder might help, especially as all staff members are also hearing these words.
For staff, this is a time and place to reaffirm a commitment to ["jolly collaboration"] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaire_of_Astora), to work towards improving the work environment, and a reminder that their work makes things better for other people (unless of course your job is contributing to the [child killing machine] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War) and/or other [terrible businesses] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model), then maybe it is a good reminder to get out of that profession). And maybe this is even a place to begin calling out and criticizing (like a prophetic utterance) any hierarchical models that ascribe worth to some members over others (hint hint: to see executives as somehow more valuable than front-line staff).
This might require a well thought out Vision/Mission for the company, or some form of a covenant (that shouldn't be written solely by leadership but include and require all staff) that can be read, and would take some work to word it appropriately so that it isn't a 10 page document read at the beginning of a meeting. It's not an easy task, but I think it could be a valuable one, a way to recenter everyone. It won't solve all of the problems, but I would want to try it out, to see what impact it might have when used in a work setting. I think having a reminder to be equitable, to value the other no matter professional title/standing, could be a help in the current work environment, especially if someone can call you out on not holding to the covenant.
This is our work covenant. You must hold to it and promise not to break it.