Spirituality in the Workplace
A recent thread initiated by Sandra King examined the growing
interest for Spirituality in the Workplace. I find this thread
very thought provoking.
I have quite a long response here (follows), but it is a pretty
complex question.
I am putting my conclusions up front for those who don't care or
don't have the time to read the lengthy response.
-ABBREVIATED RESPONSE- **************************************
Why the trend for Spirituality in the Workforce?:
- because of low unemployment- corporations need to retain
employees - to retain employee's corporations need to demonstrate
that they value employee's - one way for corporations to
demonstrate that they value employee's is through high wage, perks
and benefits. High wage, perks and benefits are short term
satisfiers. High satisfiers are morale, vision, and feeling both
a part of the big picture, as well as feeling like an individual
with unique talents and gifts. These high satisfiers are relating
to a higher level of need - self actualization. Self
actualization touches the spiritual side of ourselves.
*************************************************************
THE LONG VERSION
[Some background - to understand where my perspective comes from]
I am the Continuous Improvement Manager (Employee Empowerment /
Kaizen) of a Plastic Injection Molding Plant that supplies the
Automotive Industry.
I work as an internal consultant for all levels of management from
Leadership with Senior Management, Coaching for Supervision to
Problem Solving with production hourly associates.
My focus has been on three area's: Processes, Content and
Relationships. Regarding processes = improving quality, cost and
delivery; Content = goals, strategy, value, vision and direction;
Relationships = Communication, Teamwork, Cooperation and
Shared-Ownership, Cross-functional Empowerment.
I have always felt that the aspect of my job that has focused on
vision, value and relationships has had a "Spiritual" quality to
it. So, because of this, I have taken an interest in this topic.
I realize that everyone has his own truth [ so I do not write this
claiming universal agreement...but I did want to share some of my
thoughts with the group on the subject of spirituality in the
Workplace.
Spirituality - [my definition]: Self sacrifice for the betterment
of the whole of humanity. It doesn't surprise me that many of us
associate spirituality with religion. Spirit - Soul seem at some
times to be one and the same. What I have noticed is that as a
society those whom we would describe as SPIRITUAL have sacrificed
their own needs for that of others. Mother Teresa, Jesus Christ,
Martin Luther King, Ghandi, etc., have all sacrificed the personal
and private comfort of their own lives for a cause greater than
themselves.
The irony of the situation is that for a lot of us we realize that
'earthly' comforts are not as rewarding as 'spiritual' treasures.
Some of us spend a great deal of our life struggling to obtain
worldly goods and status. We have come to associate wealth and
power with happiness - [image is Princess Diana], while others of
us have given up all of those things associated with happiness
(sacrifice) for the betterment of others [image is Mother Teresa].
Although it is an over-generalization - who is the happier at the
end of his life? - he who has acquired wealth and status, or he
who has given and humbled? I think collectively - we think - or
know that he who is humbled and who has given throughout his life
is somehow a stronger human being. This is not a judgment - but
an observation - we seem to honor those who have lived a life of
sacrifice and associate them to a large degree with obtaining the
unearthly - the heavenly - the spiritual.
If you look at the 'hierarchy of needs', I think
self-actualization is the level where we as humans begin to
realize our noble need to transcend the earthly in pursuit of the
spiritual. I believe that in our heart- of - hearts, we as humans
find living and sacrificing for a cause, when that cause is
humanity, to be [ironically] one of the most rewarding conditions
we could ever expect to experience on earth.
Up until recently - inflation and unemployment has left a lot of
us struggling on the lowest level of the 'hierarchy of needs' - to
buy food and shelter. And if I understand the pyramid of needs, I
believe it says that if we are on the lowest level where we are
struggling to acquire the basics - we cannot obtain
self-actualization.
Likewise, Big Corporations (which we more often associate with
money, monopoly, profits, etc.) are often grouped with 'earthly',
rather than 'spiritual'. When the labor pools were large and
people needed the basics to survive, I think Corporations began to
see employees as expendable and therefor tended to not value them
much. Likewise, employee's needed the basics and had to succumb
to the Big Corporations.
Recently with labor shortages, I think major Corporations have
begun to value employee's more. Employee's are being given more
perks and benefits in an effort to retain their employment. I
have read some of those perks and benefits have included
Veterinary Insurance, additional vacation time, flex hours, day
care, etc.
Now, with more people employed and Big Corporations now involved
in satisfying our basic human needs for survival - I think there
is a chance that we as a society can now begin to focus on our
spiritual needs.
Some corporations - now looking at the 'value' of its' people
might now be going through a process of working to offer as the
ultimate benefit [some humor intended] that rare, difficult to
achieve - spirituality.
Companies are under a lot of pressure to provide better service,
higher quality, at a lower price, delivered on time. They are
beginning to realize that with the new demands of our current
market that the old strategy of firing commands on the obedient
workforce no longer works....now they must solicit the buy-in of
the workforce to accomplish massive goals of restructuring,
growing the business by offering better quality at a lower cost
than the competitor. Every able body, every thinking mind is now
needed to brainstorm to provide ideas on how to achieve such high
goals.
Hourly workers on the assembly line have gone from expendable
componentry to an invaluable resource. Hourly workers are now as
valued for their idea's as they are for their physical strength
and durability.
Corporations are beginning to realize that employee's cannot share
idea's without strong communication skills, cannot implement those
idea's without teamwork and cooperation. No longer can a company
threaten to fire you for 'not playing the game', because the
shortages of labor in the workforce does not permit this.
Communication cannot happen where relationships are broken or
damaged. Change cannot happen where there is no sense of urgency
or cause.
In my mind, Spirituality in the workplace is beginning to happen
because Corporations are beginning to value workers and know that
the value the worker has is in the area's of communication,
cooperation and teamwork.
The value of teamwork is compromise and consensus. Compromise and
consensus is not possible if we are not willing to sacrifice some
of our needs for the betterment of the team as a whole.
Spirituality in the Workplace benefits both a Corporation and the
Employee - for the Corporation they develop a passionate workforce
dedicated to change, growth, inspiration and commitment and for
the workforce they are better valued as humans, as individuals.
This new requirement demands Leaders over Managers, Coaches over
Supervisors. Communication and Teamwork, Sacrifice and commitment
equal value.
Thanks to those who made it this far.
Rick Corcoran
corcoranre@excelinc.com