“Back in the day”, the corporate world avoided what was really going on in their team members’ personal/emotional lives. But the stiff upper lip and just-get-it-done work attitude have raked up huge costs across the board. Both sides have suffered.
Companies have hesitated to delve into the areas of “self” that are hard to speak about and that affect the work and life of every single one of their team members. They’d scratch their heads and say, “What do we do with words like spirituality and coherence or even balance?”
But… as the years and decades have gone by, the conversations and discussions have shifted – tremendously. The human psyche has been increasingly studied and is better understood by more of us. And we even embrace more potentially complicated words like neuroscience or transformation.
And we search high and low for solutions:
“It is widely known that high employee engagement is good for business. Not so widely known is how to make it happen.” Paul J. Zak’s research has found that “the key to employee engagement is building a culture of trust.” The Neuroscience of Trust: Setting Leaders Up for Success By Paul J Zak. Harvard Business Review.
Furthermore, a McKinsey study noted that “spiritual health is not a “nice to have” but a core dimension, along with physical, mental and social health.” In Search of Self and Something Bigger: A Spiritual Health Exploration by Erica Coe and Kana Enomoto with Jacqueline Brassey and Victoria Bennett. McKinsey Health Institute.
People are complex; and they are most productive and powerful when their whole selves are nurtured and satisfied.
Finally, we are beginning to acknowledge that the challenges and the answers are found inside each one of us if we know how to access them. Author Edith Iglaver said “What I know now is we spend our lives searching for things: love, completion, purpose and we look so hard for it that we miss all of it. It’s when we’re still that we find it.”
So I present this challenge: As you begin to look toward the last quarter of this year, spend a little quiet, still time with yourself – ask good, even scary questions, and delve deeply and uncover the truth about your internal worlds, desires and needs.
Search deeply – it’s all within you!
