Driving organizational entrainment through spiritual leadership

ABSTRACT

Connectedness is considered as one of the defining characteristics of the twenty-first century, with organizational research highlighting the importance of time, pace, rhythm, and cycles in business through the phenomenon of entrainment. Entrainment is a process of synchronization and connectedness within, between, and across rhythmic activities. This conceptual paper argues that applying spiritual leadership at each level of an organization can drive the (inter)connectedness in today’s organizations through entrainment. First, the concept of entrainment is introduced, with a focus on intraentrainment. The learnings from entrainment are then applied to spiritual leadership theory to enrich it. As such, it proposes a basis for new empirical research in the fields of leadership and organizational entrainment.

KEYWORDS:

• Spiritual leadership
• organizational entrainment
• intraentrainment
• interconnectedness
• coherence
• resonance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Danny Sandra

Danny Sandra is an international management consultant, researcher, and coach who empowers leadership teams in guiding their organizations through the exciting journey of strategic transformation and holistic growth. His intuitive approach, transformative nature, and dedication have all earned him the reputation as an innovative transformation leader.  Danny holds master degrees in engineering, an MBA and a diploma in CranioSacral Therapy.

Sharda Nandram

Sharda Nandram is Associate Professor at the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands, and Adjunct Professor at Banasthali University. She is also a Non-Executive Director in the Joint Venture of Buurtzorg India,  and co-founder of Praan Group. She has earned two bachelors and two master's degrees (one in Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Amsterdam and the other in General Economics at the University of Amsterdam).  She did her PhD in Social Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. She is a member of the board of European SPES Institute.