Spirituality in the Workplace became popular in North America in the early 90s. At the time people started to explore what it meant to be spiritual, as distinct from religious, and how to apply spiritual principles to business, leadership, management and economics.
What is Spirituality in the Workplace?
Spirituality can be described as being interconnected - with one’s self, with others, with the world, and for some, with God. Workplace spirituality, can take many forms, but its overall theme, is an attempt to transform business from a model based on exploiting resources, to a new vision of commerce grounded in compassion, sustainability, and life-enhancing values that support the good of people and the planet.
Spirituality in the workplace culture is guided by mission statements, leadership, and business practices that are socially responsible and value-driven; that recognizes the contributions that employees make to the organization; and that promotes personal spiritual development and well-being .
How can I integrate my authentic self into my work?
Barb Richards, an Executive Coach, says the key question on most of her clients’ minds is “How can I integrate my authentic self into my work?”
As Daniel Pink states so clearly in
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, purpose - hitching our desires to a cause larger than ourselves - is one of the most important trends of our times. This emerging trend has led to a dawning realization that “a new motivator named the ‘purpose motive’ is taking its place alongside profit motivation as an aspiration and guiding principle.”
Many of us are searching for ways to express our own unique self - our gifts, passions and highest values - in service of others. Occasionally we’re fortunate enough to be in a work culture that fosters and supports this. But usually we find it’s an inside-out job. We must take the lead when it comes to finding ways to bring our truest values to our work. No one can do this for us.
We start by awakening to our deepest commitments and highest aspirations, and then by finding vehicles to express them more fully. For some executives, this means making a radical career change, possibly starting a new venture. For others of us it means reinventing our job or volunteer activities to bring them more in alignment with what matters most.
Lorraine Bennington , coach and psychologist, points out, spiritual life isn’t about removing ourselves from life, it’s immersing ourselves in life in an honourable and loving way. “Our work on the planet is spiritualizing the material and to bring that consciousness into our practical daily life.
Spirituality is consciousness, and we need to apply it to every level of our existence. Our job is to ask, ‘How do we infuse present moment with meaning and value?’ ”
Humanitarian Values In The Workplace
Psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman, founders of the Positive Pyschology movement, and co-authors of Character Strengths and Virtues , have identified twenty-four character strengths that have been universally recognized by moral philosophers and religious thinkers throughout history. These character strengths are found in all countries and all major religions.
They include creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, perspective, bravery, persistence, integrity, vitality, love, kindness, social intelligence, citizenship, fairness, leadership, forgiveness and mercy, humility/modesty, prudence, self-regulation, appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, and spirituality.
Developing these strengths takes spiritually out of the abstract, and into the matrix of human life.
Rev. Alisdair Smith is a Business Chaplin at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver and an educator involved in leadership development at Credit Unions in Canada. He asserts, “One of the great things about working in credit unions is how nice we are to our people, and one of the most frustrating things about working in credit unions is how nice we are to our people.”
He believes one of the drawbacks when talking about incorporating humanitarian values into our businesses, is falling into hierarchical and paternalistic actions that ignore the importance of learning and growth for everyone in the organization.
“We tend to either be too aggressive or too passive in our relationships with employees and co-workers. We often miss the point that we are all human beings, not employees, not consumers, not economic beings.” Smith says, “We are best served in business relationships by mutual transparency, respect and integrity.” He believes the foundation of such mutual work comes from a focus on mutual learning and development.
Learning requires mistakes; learning requires courage to make intrinsic changes.
“If I’m your manager, Smith says, “and I fail to hold you accountable, you will likely not grow and learn. If I am your manager and you fail to hold me accountable for a commitment I made to you, I will not grow and learn. Learning requires that I be held accountable.”
Smith says humanitarian values must include that part of being human is growth and learning. In order to make mistakes, we need security and safety. He says, “We need to improve the level of emotional, spiritual and physical safety in many organizations, but that should not be done at the expense of mutual accountability, growth, challenge and learning.”