The Stability We Want in the Workplace

Lent is over. We're firmly in the grip of the glorious Easter Season. We're likely back in the thick of work, even if we took some time off or eased up a bit during Easter Week.  Things are back to normal. Or are they? You know the answer, right? Things are far from normal, if by normal you mean how they were before the C-Virus descended on us in early 2020.

That's why we began our Stability Project this year. We're returning to it now after a quick break for Holy Week and Easter week. 

To refresh our collective memory, our Project is based on a daily reading of the Rule of St. Benedict, something I've done for more years than I can recall. Benedictine monks read the Rule everyday. Some of us non-monks have discovered it and found it an incredible source of organized wisdom that helps us negotiate what awaits us each day in our personal life and at work. 

What do we mean by "organized wisdom"? Just this: St. Benedict has lots to offer all of us. He took the trouble to organize his offering in a manner that's easily read day to day, over and over. While some bits of wisdom jump out at us, much can escape our attention. It's simplicity and subtlety can be lost in the flow and busyness of daily work. By repetitious reading, day after day, we'll find little bits we may have missed in the past, even if we've read the Rule for years. It never grows old or stale.

Rich as it is, we decided to focus on those bits that can help us build stability in our workplace. But before we jump back in, let's discuss what we mean by "stability." Its meaning is a bit different from what "stability" means in a monastery. But I think we'll find some similarities as well.

In a monastery, specifically a Benedictine monastery, monks take a vow of stability. Stability refers to the fact that the monk is not simply a Benedictine monk, but is a monk living in a particular abbey. St. Benedict - with his practical mind - knew that a monastery cannot function unless those living there were stable, i.e., remained in the monastery. To run the monastery effectively, you can't have monks coming and going at their leisure, some staying, some heading for parts unknown. 

You get the picture.

While we Catholic men at work don't take this vow of stability, something similar to the stability of a monastery could and should play a role in our work lives. Starting with ourselves, if we're wise and practically minded as St. Benedict, we'll understand that we need to commit to a regular routine. That routine helps us to organize our work and get through the day's tasks in a timely manner. 

A monk's ora et labor - prayer and work - typically follow a regular routine too.

In addition, any business worth it's salt tries to avoid undue turnover. I've worked at a couple of shops that had excessive turnover. It's disruptive. The businesses struggled. While employees do come and go in any business, too much turnover is undesirable.

So as we weave together this concept of stability we see that, while certain specifics don't apply for both monasteries and our businesses, some certainly do. And the need for some form of stability absolutely unites our worldly workplace and St. Benedict's monasteries.

One last comment before we dive back into the Rule: Stability - as we've noted many times - breeds calm and peace. Yes, I realize some of us may seek some sort of "stimulation" from the work we do, or perhaps in the atmosphere that surrounds us at work. Nothing wrong with that. But when things get frantic and out of control, eventually quality suffers. We suffer as well. Our work gets hurried, sloppy. We get unglued. Sloppy work ultimately won't satisfy a boss or a customer. Getting unglued will actively undermine our effort to offer all our work for the greater glory of God. Such an offering, springing as it does ultimately from our soul, loses its appeal if we shovel it haphazardly in God's direction.

Most importantly, calm and peace - bolstered by stability - are always and everywhere a prerequisite for our spiritual lives. There's no progress made scattered, random thoughts, wild, frantic action. Our spiritual discipline relies on a consistent atmosphere of calm and peace. While sometimes it's not possible to "enforce" this on our surroundings, it is always possible to keep our soul calm and peaceful. At the least, that's what we want to do.

Next time we turn back to the Rule of St. Benedict, keeping in mind the sort of stability we want in the workplace.