
29 Jan #261 – Integrity Idea 069: Share the Spoils
Integrity Ideas are specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity®–actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities. You can find more Integrity Ideas at Integrous | Integrity Ideas (integriosity.com)
INTEGRITY IDEA: Share the Spoils
“Share the Spoils” is about prayerfully considering compensation and recognition practices that recognize the contributions of all employees to the success of the organization.
It recognizes that senior executives, top salespeople and big rainmakers could not do their jobs without the support of others in the organization. All employees were created in the image of God with gifts that contribute in unique ways to the purpose of the organization and, as such, should be compensated fairly and treated with dignity and respect.
Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. We believe some are critical (and necessary) steps in the RENEW/RE-ALIGN/RE-IMAGINE/RESTORE process. Others are just ideas to be considered if they feel like a good fit based on what leaders prayerfully discern is best for stewarding the organization toward its WHY.
“Share the Spoils” is a compensation practice, and we believe compensation practices usually fall in the “if it fits” category. While all organizations pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing should ensure that employees are compensated fairly and feel valued for their contributions, whether “Share the Spoils” is a wise fit will depend on the industry and organization.
“Share the Spoils” follows the example of King David when he defeated the Amalekites, following their raid of the city of Ziklag.
David’s Example
We find the story of David and the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 30.
• When David and his men came to the city of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had burnt it to the ground and taken all the women and children captive.
• After inquiring of God, David and 600 of his men pursued the Amalekites. When they came to the brook Besor, 200 were too exhausted to cross the brook, and David continued with 400.
• David and the 400 defeat the Amalekites and return with greats spoils. When they reach the 200 at the brook Besor, “all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David” objected to sharing the spoils with the 200 who stayed behind.
• David recognized the true source of the spoils and replied:
You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. (1 Samuel 30:23-24_
Recognizing the Source and the Responsibility
A faithful leader wanting to lead with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing must understand their role as the steward of an organization ultimately owned by God.
The Bible is full of passages reminding us that God owns everything. For example, Psalm 50:12 (“For the world and its fullness are mine“) and Deuteronomy 10:14 (“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it“). Perhaps the most direct when it comes to wealth is Haggai 2:8: “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.”
David understood that the “spoils” were God’s and faithful stewardship of God’s “spoils” comes with responsibility for how it is used and shared.
That stewardship responsibility comes from God’s command in the Creation Mandate:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
In post #041 (Righteousness–More than “Good”), we concluded that leading with faithful integrity boils down to living generously through loving others and stewarding creation.
In post #046 (Lessons from Creation-Why We Are Here), we saw that, as stewards, we have global responsibility to use our God-given creativity and productivity to cultivate God’s creation in order to enable flourishing. We believe leaders of organizations of humans are called to steward in a way that maximizes flourishing by humanizing people, beautifying the world and, in the process, glorifying God.
What is the “creation” that an organizational leader is called to steward? It is everything needed, used or impacted by the organization in carrying out its activities, from the environment to raw materials to finances to humans to the communities that humans create. The “creation” that an organization needs, uses or impacts is the “capital” utilized by the business, and “Share the Spoils” is part of stewarding the use of financial capital and recognizing the importance of all human capital.
Stewarding Compensation
Business as usual stewards compensation to achieve its purpose–Profit as Purpose in the context of a culture built on assumptions of Scarcity, Self-Interest and “Can We” Ethics. As we explained in post #169 (The “Way” of the World), this often results in senior executives being overcompensated and lower-level employees being paid “just enough” to keep them.
Leading an organization with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing requires aligning the culture of the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities. As we pointed out in post #079 (Real Culture, Purpose and Values), compensation policies and practices are part of the culture.
By recognizing and rewarding the contributions of all employees to an organization’s success, “Share the Spoils” reflects a commitment to the Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities of Imago Dei, the Golden Rule, and the commandment to love our neighbor.
In post #082 (Culture and Capital), we suggested that an organization aligning its culture with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities must steward its capital in accordance with three key principles, Sustainability, Mutuality and Generosity.
Sustainability. Sustainability applies across all aspects of an organization, including its utilization of all forms of capital that drive the business and its relationships with the stakeholders related to those forms of capital. This includes ensuring that the organization can attract and retain qualified people. Part of “Sharing the Spoils” is assessing whether overall flourishing would be increased and sustainability improved by reallocating capital being used for compensation.
Mutuality. Mutuality is about an organization extending its culture of Shalom to all people it touches by managing all capital from a Biblical view of relationships, community, human dignity, human flourishing and the common good. Mutuality is about ensuring that transactions are “fair” to both parties, regardless of bargaining leverage. It embodies the Golden Rule (Luke 6:31). In addition to David’s example in 1 Samuel, faithful leaders must also remember Malachi 3:5 and Colossians 4:1:
I will be a swift witness . . . against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages. (Malachi 3:5)
Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. (Colossians 4:1)
Generosity. Integriosity comes from the words Integrity and Generosity. Generosity embodies the first principles of Love and Humility, which are the people-focused priorities that a leader needs to “keep first” in leading an organization with faithful integrity.
As explained in post #044 (Righteousness–Living Generously), faithful integrity requires more than “giving generously”–it requires the “vertical integration” of generosity by “living generously”. Living generously is about operating the organization (and, in the process, generating wealth) in a way that generously loves others and stewards creation.
Living generously is living sacrificially–choosing to give something up or to forego a benefit because it benefits the common good–because it represents faithful integrity. In this respect, generosity is closely tied to mutuality–treating employees more fairly than you might need to based on your bargaining leverage is living sacrificially–and it is faithful stewardship. About generosity, John Maxwell wrote:
Nothing speaks to others more loudly or serves them better than generosity from a leader. True generosity isn’t an occasional event. It comes from the heart and permeates every aspect of a leader’s life, touching his time, money, talents, and possessions.
“Share the Spoils” also puts a spotlight on the importance of humility in the pursuit of faithful integrity and in the faithful stewardship of an organization by its faithful leaders. Humility is knowing who you are in relation to God’s creation and His plan, knowing who you are in relation to others, and knowing who you are in relation to God.
In David’s band, it was “all the wicked and worthless fellows” who failed to have the humility to understand the source of the spoils, the responsibility of stewardship, and the contribution of those who played a supporting role.
CONTINUUM: Practices
The Integriosity model organizes “heart change” along six Covert-Overt Continuums. There is nothing magic about these categories, but we believe they are helpful in thinking about practical execution of a Re-Imagined Purpose, Re-Imagined Values and a Re-Imagined Culture. The Continuums are Prayer, Proclamation, Policies, Practices, Products, People.
Each Continuum represents an area in which leaders can begin to think about, plan and institute Re-Alignment changes to the heart of the organization.
“Share the Spoils” is on the Practices Continuum. Practices reflect, and at the same time help shape and reinforce, an organization’s culture.
COVERT-OVERT RATING: Highly Covert
The Integriosity model breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations–from Highly Covert to Highly Overt–that we believe are helpful in beginning to pray and think about what is most appropriate for an organization at a particular moment in time.
Most Integrity Ideas will have one place on the scale. Some can vary depending on how they are implemented. “Share the Spoils” is Highly Covert (An action that would be taken by a secular company) because every organization could and should strive to ensure that its compensation practices align with its purposes and treat employees fairly.
STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees
When we categorize faith-based actions, we also consider the stakeholders principally impacted by the action: Employees, Customers/Clients, Owners, Suppliers/Vendors, Community and Kingdom.
“Share the Spoils” principally serves employees by recognizing their contributions to the success of the organization and ensuring that they feel valued.
Nothing speaks to others more loudly or serves them better than generosity from a leader. (John Maxwell)
IMPLEMENTATION
There is no checklist or “right answer” for implementing “Share the Spoils”. However, we can suggest some questions to begin the prayerful consideration process.
It is about determining whether compensation and recognition policies and practices are negatively impacting flourishing by undervaluing the contributions of employees who are supporting the “stars”–the senior executives, top salespeople and big rainmakers.
Because compensation in many businesses seems to be over-deployed and recognition over-emphasized at the top, the process of implementing “Share the Spoils” must begin with an honest assessment of the organization’s current culture, as reflected in its policies and practices related to compensation and recognition. Such an assessment must dig underneath the culture to examine the assumptions and motivations (such as Scarcity, Self-Interest and “Can We” Ethics) that may have underpinned the current policies and practices.
In considering “Share the Spoils”, it is helpful to consider:
• Whether there are policies and practices designed to recognize the importance and unique contribution of every person.
• Whether there are policies and practices that celebrate the “stars” while ignoring the contributions of those who support them.
• Whether less than ”fair” compensation is being paid to some employees, or more than ”fair” compensation is being paid to others.
• Whether special bonuses and profit sharing are reserved for the “stars”.
A few ideas to prayerfully consider are:
• Creating a profit-sharing pool that honors the contribution of all employees to the organization’s success.
• When a big success is celebrated, inviting all those involved to the celebration.
• When recognition is given for a “big win”, including all those who contributed.
“Share the Spoils” is likely to be unpopular among the “stars” who may believe they deserve all the credit for, and “spoils” from, the big sale, the new client, or the profitable year. Remember, 1 Samuel 30 said it was “all the wicked and worthless fellows” who didn’t want to “Share the Spoils”. They lack the humility needed in an organization committed to a culture aligned with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.
Leading with faithful integrity through business a better way requires leaders willing to terminate a “star” who is unwilling to operate by the organization’s values or who introduces toxicity to the culture.
Needless to say, “Share the Spoils” must be done thoughtfully, prayerfully and with humility. It is unlikely to be easy. In an organization pursuing faithful integrity through business a better way, faithful leaders must care enough to make it happen, even at the cost of some “stars”.
PERSONAL NOTE (from PM): My legal career was spent in a culture that compensated partners on a lockstep basis. A partner’s share of the firm’s profits was based solely on their seniority. This was in stark contrast to “eat-what-you-kill” law firm cultures in which partners were competing with each other rather than cooperating. Lockstep meant that compensation drove a culture of “all for one and one for all”. Although all partners did exceedingly well even under the lockstep system, there were those who felt they deserved much more of the pie. They tended to introduce toxicity into the culture, which was largely tolerated because of their productivity. In the corporate practice, the big M&A premiums drove the most profitable years, but the less sexy banking, securities, real estate and general corporate practices “kept the lights on” year in and year out. Some of the “wicked and worthless fellows” valued keeping more of the spoils for themselves over a culture that “shared the spoils”, and they left for firms that were willing to pay them much more. In recent years, the firm apparently decided that keeping “wicked and worthless fellows” happy was more important than keeping the “all for one and one for all” culture. It moved away from the lockstep system. Even though I left many years before, I was sad.
ESSENCE: Integrity Ideas are specific practical actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way.
INTEGRITY IDEA: Share the Spoils
“Share the Spoils” is about prayerfully considering compensation and recognition practices that recognize the contributions of all employees to the success of the organization. It is following the example of King David when he defeated the Amalekites, following their raid of the city of Ziklag. “Share the Spoils” recognizes that senior executives, top salespeople and big rainmakers could not do their jobs without the support of others in the organization. All employees were created in the image of God with gifts that contribute in unique ways to the purpose of the organization and, as such, should be compensated fairly and treated with dignity and respect. “Share the Spoils” reflects a commitment to the pursuit of faithful integrity toward Biblical flourishing and reinforces an organizational culture aligned with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities, including Imago Dei, the Golden Rule, and the commandment to love our neighbor. It also puts a spotlight on the importance of humility in the pursuit of faithful integrity and in the faithful stewardship of an organization by its faithful leaders.
COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices
COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert
STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Employees
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