How Spiritual Leadership Behaviors Support Cultural...

How Spiritual Leadership Behaviors Support Cultural Intelligence Spiritual leadership theory has increased in research over the past few decades. Spiritual leadership may be defined as drawing on intrinsically motivating values and behaviors to give one a sense of calling and membership (Nicolae, Ion, Nicolae, 2013). Spiritual leaders evoke a deeper sense of purpose for themselves and their followers. The workforce within companies is increasingly becoming culturally diverse. Within the United States, the number percentage of Caucasians within the workforce is steadily decreasing each year (Reichard, Serrano, Condren, Wilder, Dollwet, Wendy, 2015). This paper discusses how spiritual leadership can be employed to build an effective†¦show more content†¦The spiritual leader assists providing an environment within his or her team to safely explore cross-cultural topics. An individual leader’s spiritual behavior positively impacts his or her followers (Pawar, 2014). Examples of spiritual behavior include acting with purpose and meaning, honesty, respect, care, concern for followers, being fair, humble and confident (Latham, 2013; Pawar, 2014). When a senior leadership in an organization exhibits these spiritual behaviors, that leader encourages an organizational culture of high performance and inclusion (Latham, 2013). This in turn provides a safe place to expand an individual’s cultural awareness and diversity training within workplace, which stretches individuals outside of their comfort zone (Reichard et al., 2012). Spiritual leaders build effective multicultural workforces by modeling spiritual behaviors and pushing their followers to think in culturally different ways. Cross-cultural communication skill development There are a number of specific cultural leadership skills needed for effective cross-cultural leadership, with cultural metacognition being essential. Leaders with high cultural intelligence skills are able to