This article first
appeared in Crisis magazine
Benedict Means
Business
By Dwight Longenecker
Mike
Garside didn’t
know what he was getting himself
in for. As he eased his BMW off
the busy main road connecting the
boom towns of Reading and Newbury
in Southeast England, he felt resentful
and cynical about taking a whole
weekend away from his work and
his family to visit a monastery
of all places. Weren’t Benedictine
monasteries totally out of date?
Weren’t they just a romantic replica
of a long gone medieval world?
What could the monks teach someone
who had to live and work in the ‘real
world’? His mind was buzzing about
the details of a new bid his company
was making and whether he was lined
up to be promoted or fired in the
proposed re-shuffle in the next
six months.
A senior manager
for a huge telecommunications firm,
Mike had signed up for a weekend
retreat called ‘Spirituality in
the Workplace’ at Douai Abbey. Brought
up as a Catholic, but with no real
spiritual input other than the
chore of weekly mass, Mike had
been encouraged to go on the course
by his wife and parish priest.
He drove past the mellow brick
buildings of the old boarding school,
turned into the gravel drive and
was confronted with a modern reception
area which had been added to the
Victorian school buildings and
monastery. By supper time he had
found his room, met the fifteen
other retreatants and explored
the church and monastic bookstore.
Mike was struck by the slower pace
and peaceful atmosphere of the
place and found himself already
starting to unwind. He took five
minutes to sit still at the back
of the church, and told himself
to be more open minded, to slow
down and enjoy a new experience
and perspective on his busy life.
Retreat to Go Forward
Douai
Abbey’s Spirituality in the
Workplace retreats are just
one of a burgeoning number of Benedictine
business training projects based
in England. Designed by Douai’s
enterprising prior, Dom Dermot
Tredget, the Spirituality in
the Workplace series consists
of six themed weekends. With titles
like, Making A Life Or Making
A Living? Relationships In The Workplace, and Coping
With Success and Failure, the
six sessions apply the principles
of St Benedict’s monastic rule
of the sixth century to the needs
of the twenty-first century workplace.
Focussing on the ‘softer’ issues
of business management, Dermot
Tredget has developed a course
which helps managers look again
at themselves and their most valuable
resource—the people who work for
them. Set within the context of
a religious retreat, the courses
offer participants the quiet atmosphere
of the monastery, a chance to share
in the monastic liturgy, decent
food and the beauties of the English
countryside.
Tredget
is well qualified to weave together
the wisdom of St Benedict with
the demands of modern business.
Before becoming a monk he held
senior management positions in
both the hotel and catering industry
and higher education. He has Masters
degrees in both Business Administration
and Applied Theology. His research
interests have focussed on spirituality
in the workplace, especially the
relevance of spiritual communities
to modern work practice. In addition
to running the courses and being
prior of the community he teaches
at nearby universities of Cranfield
and Reading and he is researching
a doctorate in the theology of
work at Oxford University.
I
asked Fr Tredget whose idea it
was to
apply Benedictine principles to
business. He replied, ‘It was my
idea, but I first learned of workplace
spirituality when I was on sabbatical
in Berkeley, California in 1997.
André Delbecq, the former Dean
of the Business School was running
a
series of Saturday workshops/seminars on the spiritual dimension for
executive leaders in Silicon Valley. He also taught a spirituality elective
on the MBA programme. Both programmes were heavily oversubscribed.’ He points
out how welcoming retreatants is a natural link from the Benedictine tradition
of hospitality, ‘Like all Benedictine monasteries we have always received
guests. Hospitality is an important part of our work. We started to develop
our adult/tertiary education programme about ten years ago and the Spirituality
in the Workplace retreats developed from that.’
Tredget
isn’t the only modern monk combining
business and spirituality. In Northern
England at the thriving Ampleforth
Abbey the monks have hired a layman
called Kit Dollard and his wife
Caroline to head the pastoral team.
One of their most popular retreats
is also aimed at business people.
Two courses called Modern Business
Management & The Rule of St
Benedict: Leadership in the Workplace offer
three day workshops that are ‘interactive,
with self-assessment and group
exercises and discussions.’ In
addition to the courses Kit Dollard
has written a book with the abbot
and one of the younger monks of
the Ampleforth community. Doing
Business With Benedict is a
discussion between the three of
them about the application of Benedictine
principles to the business world.
Like
Tredget, Dollard comes to the monastic
world from
a successful life in business.
After ten years in the British
Army, he worked for a large Public
Relations Firm in London. He was
promoted to Director and was involved
in the financial marketing for
the privatisation schemes during
the Thatcher era. He then worked
as Head of Marketing at Strutt & Parker,
a large firm of Chartered Surveyors.
It was there that he also took
on the role of training, and when
he wanted to down shift his life
it was a natural step to combine
his business training experience
in the context of the Ampleforth
Abbey Pastoral Centre.
I
asked Kit Dollard what were the
main
points of his Benedictine Business
Training. He explained how the
Benedictine Rule focusses on community
life and the hard work of living
together. Therefore Benedict’s
wisdom applies to all the people-centred
problems of the workplace: work
relationships, leadership, customer
care, the challenge of change and
working together. So far the Dollards
have fit their business training
course into a whole range of other
retreats and training activities
in the busy pastoral centre. About
fifty managers have been on the
courses, and Dollard’s feedback,
has been very positive.
Benedictine
business training is not easy to
get launched. The monks at Worth
Abbey, also in Southern England,
tried to add Benedictine Business
Training into their developing
retreat program, but the interest
was minimal, and they now admit
that the marketing and planning
of the course left something to
be desired. Dom Luke Jolly, head
of the retreat program, admitted
that business leaders need more
than a cosy chat with a monk about
spirituality. They are looking
for a high level of professional
training and expect good value
for the premium rates they pay.
Dermot Tredget and Kit Dollard
have the business background to
make it work. Not all monasteries
have such a resource.
At
Downside, the premier Abbey in
England, the monks
have also opened a new conference
and retreat centre called the St
Bede Centre. They too have their
eye on business training opportunities.
Dom Dunstan O’Keefe, the director
of the centre, has taken a slightly
different route however. Rather
than providing business training
himself, he has asked two top rate
training firms to get involved.
O’Keefe said, ‘The idea is that
business people will undertake
their usual training with the input
provided by professional trainers.
However, rather than going to just
another hotel or conference centre,
the training will take place in
the monastic atmosphere at Downside.
In addition some of our community
members will offer extra workshops
on meditation, the application
of Benedict’s rule to business
or personal spirituality.’ As at
Ampleforth, the business retreatants
can take part in the monastic liturgy,
enjoy the calm of the beautiful
English countryside and make use
of the boarding school sports facilities.
St Benedict the Monk
It
seems a far cry from a sixth century
hermitage
to the world of twenty-first century
business. But the outlines of Benedict’s
life and work speak to our world
with great relevance. Benedict
was born around the year 480 into
a noble family. As a young man
he was sent to Rome to study. Shocked
by the squalor and depravity of
Rome, he fled to the hills of Subiaco
just south of the city to follow
the hermit’s life. He soon realised
that the answer to his own problems
and the problems of the world lay
not so much in solitary escape
as in laying the foundations of
a society based on prayer. The
Roman Empire had crumbled by Benedict’s
time, and in the midst of collapsing
institutions, moral decay and social
chaos, Benedict established religious
communities which were based on
gentle discipline, strict morality
and a stable sense of order. Drawing
on earlier monastic writings, Benedict
crafted a little Rule which lays
down the principles of Christian
community life. The Rule of Saint
Benedict is a classic of Christian
spirituality, and the fact that
it is still followed by monks and
nuns fifteen hundred years after
its composition shows its abiding
relevance and freshness.
Like
most of the saints, Benedict was
an extremely
practical person. He also had a
shrewd awareness of the strengths
and weaknesses of human nature.
We think of Benedictine monasteries
as elite houses of prayer or otherworldly
refuges from reality. But in the
sixth century Benedict’s primitive
communities were simple gatherings
of about twelve laymen who lived
together and followed a routine
of corporate prayer, work and study.
Like most of the subsistence farmers
around them, they had to scrape
a living from the land day by day.
They also earned a living through
craft work, health care and education.
Although they were secluded from
the world, they were also much
more integrated into the local
community than the modern day monk.
By the time of the full flowering
of Benedictine monasticism in the
Middle Ages, the monasteries had
become vital centres of education,
health care, banking, business
and worship for the community that
surrounded them.
The
reason the experimental communities
of the
sixth century survived and thrived
for the next thousand years is
down to Benedict’s profound and
simple Rule. The rule is not so
much an exalted spiritual treatise,
as it is a practical document for
living together. It gives detailed
instructions on the monk’s liturgical
life, but it also provides down-to-earth
guidelines for the proper qualities
of an abbot, prior and cellarer
(the leaders of the community).
It outlines how the monks must
live together in constant listening,
respect and mutual forgiveness.
Benedict teaches his monks the
proper attitude to one another,
but he also teaches the proper
attitude to material things. While
his monks are not allowed personal
property, he does not espouse complete
poverty like St Francis. The community
may hold wealth and property in
common and this property is to
be treated with care, restraint
and reverence. In a famous line
Benedict says the vessels of the
kitchen must be treated with the
same reverence as the vessels of
the altar.
Throughout
his Rule, Benedict is keen to emphasise
the importance of everyday duties.
For Benedict the spiritual life
is not a great ascetic ascent to
holiness. Instead holiness is found
in the routine, the mundane and
the ordinary. This is not just
the theory of a practically minded
person. Seeing the spiritual within
the ordinary is incarnational and
therefore a deeply Christian way
of regarding the world. Like that
other great saint, Thérèse of Lisieux,
Benedict believes that God is nearer
to us than we imagine. He is there
in the everyday duties, and paying
close attention to our ordinary
tasks is the best way to find Him.
Benedict’s attention to the ordinary
is also the way of humility. He
is not one for heavenly heroes
or spiritual fireworks. Instead
he encourages his monks to follow
a his ‘little rule for beginners’.
His way is never extreme. He says
he will lay down ‘nothing that
is harsh or burdensome.’ He is
Benedict the Balanced, and always
seeks a way which is sane, possible
and real. This is spiritual way
which triumphs in the end—not by
great shows of holiness or great
feats of zeal but by the constant
attention to the everyday task
and the daily demands of duty and
love.
Benedictine Principles
for Business
His
eminent practicality makes Benedict’s
way of life supremely applicable
wherever people live and work together.
His principles can be applied to
the family, the parish the school
and the workplace. There are four
areas of business life and practice
where Benedict’s practical, but
spiritual approach to life come
into play. The first is in the
area of general principles. The
general principles of the Benedictine
life are summed up in the vows
which each Benedictine monk or
nun takes. According to the rule
they promise to pursue a life of
stability, obedience and conversion
of life. This surprises most people
who are more familiar with the
Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience. The Benedictine
vows are more subtle. As the writer
Esther deWaal has pointed out,
the three vows are totally interwoven
so that obedience helps build a
stable life and both obedience
and stability help to bring about
a total conversion of life.
The
three traditional vows may seem
totally monastic, but underlying
them are motivations and meaning
which are more universal, and can
be become the basic principles
for good business practice. The
root of the word obedience is the
Latin for ‘listen’. Benedict’s
rule is interwoven with constant
demands for the monk to listen.
Indeed the first word of the rule
is ‘listen’. So the vow to obedience
becomes the demand to listen. Every
successful business person will
begin by learning to listen. Once
he has listened and learned, the
successful manager will continue
to listen. He will listen to the
market, listen to his suppliers,
listen to his customers and listen
to his staff. For the Christian
in business listening is also a
vital primary skill. The Christian
businessman needs to listen to
the voice of Spirit speaking through
Scripture, through the Church and
through the lives of others. He
will listen so that his business
life will be an outworking of his
Christian values and goals.
The
second Benedictine vow is for a
life of stability. For the monk
this means promising to remain
faithful to one community in one
place for life. For the modern
business person the vow of stability
points the way to a stable attitude
towards business. Stability in
the business context means building
strong and sure foundations, avoiding
unnecessary and foolish risks,
and investing for the long term.
Stability amongst staff means investing
in training, making the workplace
enjoyable and ensuring that staff
remain on board for the long run.
Stability in relationship to customers
means building a strong and sure
customer base remembering that
it is always easier to bring a
satisfied customer back, than to
win a new customer. For the Christian
business person seeking stability
in life means building a spiritual
life that is disciplined, solid
and sure. Stability means knowing
one’s spiritual values and keeping
to them despite the pressures of
competition and a constantly shifting
marketplace.
Finally,
the vow to conversion of life means
the
Benedictine monk or nun pursues
a life dedicated to total conversion
into the image of Christ. The business
person uses this principle to guide
his approach to business. It means
being adaptable and ready to change
according to the demands of the
market and the demands of society,
but it means more than that. The
business person who is intent on
conversion of life will see that
it is through his business that
he actually has an opportunity
to work out his salvation with
fear and trembling. His business
life is not separated from his
spiritual life, it is integrated
with his spiritual life. Furthermore,
it may be through his business
that he has a real opportunity
to convert the world. This is not
to turn the workplace into a forum
for open evangelisation. Instead,
it is through the workplace that
ethical principles can be introduced
and adhered to. It is through the
workplace that worker’s lives can
be improved. It is through the
workplace that people can begin
to see that there is more to life
than profit. Therefore, it is through
the workplace that real change
can be effected in the world. Conversion
of life in this context does not
mean a subjective ‘conversion experience’ but
the gradual, dogged and determined
conversion not only of one’s own
personal life, but the life of
one’s whole community and one’s
world.
People—The
Most Valuable Resource
Benedict’s
rule is not primarily a treatise
on prayer. It is a treatise on
living together. However, for Benedict
prayer is not separated from living
and working together, instead it
is integrated completely with the
joys and sorrows of living and
working with other people. The
second area in which Benedictine
principles have a bearing on business
is therefore in personnel management.
In Benedict’s monasteries men of
all social classes were thrown
together in equal partnership.
Men with hugely varied gifts and
personalities were joined together
in an effective team. The leader
of this team is the abbot (from abba meaning
Father). Benedict takes a chapter
to outline the necessary traits
of a good abbot, and the principles
he lays down are simple and practical
for all managers.
The
abbot is required to lead with
a firm, but loving hand. He is
meant to be both ‘tender as a father
and strict as a master.’ Furthermore,
Benedict’s abbot is one who is
aware of the individual needs of
each of his charges. He only expects
obedience form them because he
has first got to know them and
listened to their needs. Because
he knows the gifts and needs of
eacy one he does give all of them
the same thing. Instead he gives
all of them what they need. The
wise leader in Benedict’s mold
builds his community into an efficient
and responsible body in which communication,
listening, forgiveness and mutual
obedience are the key. Vital to
the whole scheme is the realisation
that they are not working for their
own welfare, neither are they working
together simply for the good of
the group. Instead Benedict’s monks
are working for a greater good—the
glory of God. Likewise, the modern
manager helps workers to see that
no matter how mundane their task,
it can be part of a larger team
effort not only to help them all
get richer, but also to help build
a better society and a better world.
The
third area in which Benedict has
something to say to modern businesses
is in the management of tools and
resources. Benedict famously teaches
that the tools and equipment of
the monastery are to be treated
with the same reverence as the
vessels of the altar. Throughout
the rule he encourages his monks
to treat material things with care
because each natural thing is a
gift from God and he has been made
the steward. This emphasis on stewardship
gives business people the right
attitude to their resources whether
those resources are computers and
office supplies, raw materials
for manufacturing, customer goods
or the money of investors.
An
old monk told me that when he broke
the arm of
a fellow novice on the rugby field
the novice master scolded him by
saying, ‘Brother, you have broken
one of the vessels of the altar.’ In
other words, people too are a great
resource, and the Benedictine minded
business person will treat them
with the greatest of reverence.
Finally, Benedict’s reverence towards
the physical world means ethical
business people should see themselves
as stewards of the world’s resources.
They will enact policies that reflect
their attitude of stewardship and
husbandry of creations’ goodness
and will turn away from practices
that exploit the world’s people
or raw materials simply for a quick
buck.
The
fourth area of Benedict’s influence is in personal
development. Benedict set up a
three-fold approach to life. The
Benedictine way of life encourages
an equal time spent in prayer,
reading and work. Again, this regime
sounds totally monastic, but the
general principles apply to everyone
once their underlying ideas are
recognised. We may be very spiritual
people, but Benedict reminds us
that if all work and no play make
Jack a dull boy, then all pray
and no work also make him dull.
Life is to be balanced between
work, reading (or personal development)
and prayer. The widest reading
of Benedict’s reverence for reading
and prayer will include time for
proper recreation and refreshment.
If we work all the time and neglect
the other aspects of life, then
even our work will not be as good
as it should be. The balanced person
seeks to develop the three areas
of work, prayer and reading. In
doing so he develops his body,
his spirit and his mind. As one
is developed the other two are
also fed and nourished, so the
person who prays and reads will
work better and the person who
works well will read and pray with
more vigor, direction and meaning.
Gimmicky Spirituality?
Benedict’s
practical way can certainly be
applied to business, but one has
to ask why the monks have turned
their energies towards business
training. Might it be a rather
shallow attempt to ‘be relevant’?
While some monasteries are thriving
it is true that many more are not
attracting new vocations. In England
the monks have traditionally run
large boarding schools, but the
need for such expensive private
schools is disappearing. The monasteries
have got huge grounds, old buildings
and dwindling resources, and it
is ever more difficult to make
ends meet. Just last year the venerable
Scottish monastery at Fort Augustus
on the shore of Loch Ness closed
for good. Is the trend for conference
centres, retreats, hospitality
centres and Benedictine business
training simply a desperate way
to fill in the gap, find something
for the monks to do and bring in
much needed cash?
Furthermore,
it might be interesting to see
how
the Rule of St Benedict applies
to modern business practice, but
how many in the world of business
really care? In California Andre
Delbecq defends his spirituality
in the workplace seminars, He says, ‘In
the past three years over 150 working
professional MBAs, predominantly
scientific and engineering managers,
have participated in my seminars
located in the heart of Silicon
Valley. The courses has been extraordinarily
well received.’ He continues, ‘In
addition, many CEOs have also participated.
Both groups find their leadership
impacted by the incorporation of
spiritual insight and practices.’ Dermot
Tredget also sees a growing need, ‘So
far we have not had difficulty
filling places. There is a strong
interest especially from people
who are engaged on a 'spiritual
journey' or want to find out more
for their own professional development.’
Kit
Dollard of Ampleforth pointed out
how the development of emotional
quotient and spiritual quotient
(the scientific complements to
IQ—or intelligence quotient) have
made business people sit up and
take notice that there are other
personal skills and gifts than
simply intelligence. Dollard commented, ‘the
rise of SQ and EQ as further evidence
that more and more business people
are not only interested in Ethical
questions relating to work but
are also interested in spirituality.
Coming on a course at a monastery
is one way of developing a person’s
spiritual quotient.’
Certainly
spirituality in the workplace seems
to be a trendy thing. Jump on to
the website, spiritatwork.com and
you will see that the Benedictine
monks are rubbing shoulders with
all sorts of neo-Buddhists and
New Age types who all offer their
own slant on spirituality in the
workplace. All sorts of ‘spiritual’ types
are out there trying to make a
quick buck on the trend for spirituality
everywhere. I’ve come across ‘urban
shamans’ who visit companies for
a consultancy fee to eliminate
competitor’s bad vibes, cast spells
and pronounce blessings for success.
Feng Shui experts tell businesses
where to locate, how to build their
headquarters and where to place
everything from the potties to
the potted plants. They all seem
to be at it from the astrologers
and fortune tellers to the ‘stress
busters’ who are employed to give
hugs and backrubs. Are the Benedictine
monks hitting setting up another
stall in the gaudy marketplace
of post-modern spirituality?
I
asked Dermot Tredget if Benedictine
business
training wasn’t just a gimmick.
He acknowledged that ‘spirituality’ was
a catchy term of the moment, ‘People
in business usually makes a strong
distinction between spirituality
and religion. They are comfortable
with the idea of spirituality,
but far more guarded about religion.’ Isn’t
it all just a passing gimmick I
asked. In a restrained British
style he replied, ‘The evidence
is that more and more people in
business are taking an interest
in spirituality and the monastic
model of engaging with work.’
Dunstan
O’Keefe
at Downside denied that it was
a gimmick and stressed that because
monks cannot go out into the world
they have always had a strong tradition
of welcoming others into their
world. In the middle ages the monks
were integrated into the working
society all around them in many
ways, and retreat based business
training is an important way for
modern monks to do the same thing,
to be involved in the outside community
and make a difference in the world.
He acknowledged that there were
many dubious practitioners of spirituality
in the marketplace, but said, ‘All
the more reason for us to offer
some sound, practical input which
is traditional and deeply Christian.’ O’Keefe
sees business training as a way
to inform others not only about
monasticism and all that the Benedictine
tradition has to offer, but he
also hopes it will spark further
interest amongst some of the business
people in how practical Christianity
can be. It might even attract some
new vocations to the monastery.
I
asked Dermot Tredget whether they
had any new
monks join as a result of doing
the business retreat. Tredget replied, ‘No
one has joined the community as
a direct result of coming on these
retreat workshops. However, participants
say they are spiritually nourished
by their forty-eight hours monastic
experience. This experience has
caused a number of lapsed Catholics
to return to the Church. Other
non-Catholics are undergoing instruction
to become Catholics. What people
see is an alternative way of living
that is faithful to Christ's teaching
and works.’ Tredget went on, ‘In
addition, we have four monks in
our formation programme at present
and all of them have come from
the world of secular employment.
I think people are attracted to
our form of monastic life because
they see that we are faithful to
the core teaching and values of
the Rule of St Benedict yet at
the same time relevant to the twenty
first century.’
Tredget
makes a good point. The Benedictine
way
of life has survived because
the monks have always been immensely
adaptable. They have always understood
the relevance of Benedict’s principles and have been ready to apply those principles
whatever place and time they have happened to live. From the first monks setting
up their little communes, to the great monastic power houses of the Middle Ages
to the Cistercians colonizing and cultivating land nobody else wanted, the Benedictines
have been smart and shrewd operators for the kingdom. The Benedictine monks should
be congratulated for taking the risk of making their historic way of life applicable
to the modern world. It used to be said that American’s business is business.
It can now be said that the whole world’s business is business. All the more
important for the church to be involved in the areas of business where it
can make a difference.
Mike
Garside says his weekend at Douai
helped change his life. It was, ‘an
uplifting, positive, growth experience.’ He
felt it was ‘an excellent balance
of hospitality, spirituality and
self-development.’ And from his
first experience, like 25% of the
other first-timers, he booked to
come on the other five weekends.
The experience of monasticism opened
him up, and he found he was also
able to apply what he learned not
only in the workplace, but at home
and in his life generally. He has
got a new insight on himself, and
has found an aspect to his Catholic
faith which has enlivened and deepened
his Catholic faith. ‘it was a mountaintop
experience.’ Says Mike, ‘but like
the mountaintop experience of the
transfiguration, it enabled me
to come back down the mountain
and get on with ordinary life in
a fresh and more powerful way.’
A father of
four, freelance writer Dwight
Longenecker is the author of Listen My Son—St Benedict for Fathers. His new book, St Benedict
and St Thérèse is published
by Our Sunday Visitor in March.
