Spiritual Values in the Workplace

Spiritual Values in the Workplace

The Soul of Success in the 21st CenturyBy Cary G. Weldy

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2011 Cary G. Weldy
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-3906-5

Contents

PREFACE.........................................................................viiChapter One: Spiritual Evolution................................................1Chapter Two: Modeling Spirituality in Business..................................5Chapter Three: Focus on Values, and the Profits Will Follow.....................9Chapter Four: How May I Serve?..................................................14Chapter Five: Moving From Fear To Love..........................................18Chapter Six: Simplicity.........................................................25Chapter Seven: The Power of Intuition...........................................27Chapter Eight: The Transition from Goals to Process.............................32Chapter Nine: Opening Up to Sharing.............................................37Chapter Ten: The Emerging Open and Boundary-less World..........................40Chapter Eleven: Embracing Our Planet Earth......................................45Chapter Twelve: Moving from Speed To Rhythm and Flow............................48Chapter Thirteen: Taking Care of Your Employees' Concerns.......................54Chapter Fourteen: Celebrating Diversity.........................................58Chapter Fifteen: The New Paradigm for Leadership................................66Chapter Sixteen: Focus on the Individual........................................71Chapter Seventeen: Creating Magic in the Moment.................................76Chapter Eighteen: Managing Information..........................................78Chapter Nineteen: Awakening to Quality of Life..................................81Chapter Twenty: The Birth of a New Workplace....................................85Chapter Twenty-One: Spirituality in Practice....................................92EPILOGUE........................................................................97BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................99

Chapter One

Spiritual Evolution

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Dr. Wayne Dyer

Corporate America has a reputation for being dog-eat-dog and lacking in spiritual values like generosity, caring, and compassion. During my years in the corporate world, I certainly witnessed a disconnect between the spiritual evolution on our planet and the narrow concerns of business interests. There is nothing inevitable about this state of affairs. Companies can behave with spiritual qualities in mind, and there are many examples of caring and responsibility taking place in the business world. But this trend represents a small portion of what businesses can do to be part of the worldwide evolution of consciousness.

By seeing spirituality in every part of our lives, including our business mindset, we are acknowledging that everything is intimately connected, and we are part of that unity. Mahatma Gandhi said, "I believe in the essential unity of all that lives. Therefore, I believe that if one person gains spiritually, the whole world gains, and that if one person falls, the whole world falls to that extent."

In much of the same way, the whole will function in a manner that reflects how each individual behaves as a spiritual being. The parts and the whole, the individual and the organization, reinforce each other in crafting a more responsible society. This book will focus on developing a spiritual culture in an organization—more specifically, the individual within that organization. By maintaining this personal focus, managers and other leadears can more easily maintain the true purpose and value of the organization. When the individual receives attention and is developed, the entire organization gains.

What are spiritual values? While contemplating spirituality, religion may come to mind. Or others may think of mysticism.

When I refer to spiritual values, they represent a set of values that transcend time and space. In other words, spiritual values apply to any setting, any time period, and any culture. The kingdom of God, as referred to in the Holy Bible, is the realm of spiritual values: those things that are most transcendent. The kingdom of God comes on earth—not in some future apocalypse, but in the here and now of everyday life when people help one another to realize their full potential.

In the 1970s, Abraham Maslow, considered by many to be the father of modern psychology, presented a model that came to be known as "Maslow's hierarchy of needs." The theory is often represented as a pyramid, with basic needs represented by the lower levels and the top point represented by the need for self-actualization. Each level depends on the level below it. That is, a person must have a lower-level need satisfied before moving to the next level. The five-tiered hierarchy of human needs is as follows:

1. Physiological needs (oxygen, food, water, shelter)

2. Safety needs

3. Love, affection, and belongingness needs

4. Esteem needs (self-respect, respect from others)

5. Self-actualization needs (to follow one's calling)

Many people, however, are not aware of his later work, in which he believed that the five-level hierarchy continued higher. He believed that a sixth level was about self-transcendence: a transegoic level that emphasized visionary intuition, altruism, and unity consciousness.

The identification of this sixth level resulted from his work in peak experiences and transpersonal psychology, recognizing the human need for ethics, creativity, compassion, and spirituality. Maslow argued that without attention to this dimension in life, our organizations, institutions, and ultimately our society would continue to generate ineffective policies and programs. The discussions throughout this book are in harmony with Maslow's writings in the late '60s and posthumously published work.

Social thinker and University of Pennsylvania Wharton School lecturer Jeremy Rifkin believes that a third industrial revolution is now underway that will lead to a planetary, biosphere consciousness, one characterized by greater empathy for other human beings and smarter solutions to the world's energy needs. In The Empathic Civilization (Tarcher, 2009), Rifkin writes that the communications revolution that led to the creation of the Internet was just the opening act of a larger drama that will shift people toward local food and energy production while opening themselves to others on an unprecedented scale. The fragmentation and alienation produced by free-market capitalism will give way to a more sane and livable world, one dominated by the higher end of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

The impact of an individual ripples outward to a whole organization, a whole society, or the whole world. Think how different literature would be without William Shakespeare or Robert Frost. Think about how Mother Teresa made us all believe that sainthood was still possible; how she cared for the poor, dying, and destitute for decades. Think about how His Holiness the Dalai Lama persevered against all odds, despite the brutality of the Chinese regime.

Our society is evolving toward inner work and inner movement of the individual. Doing things with our mind (at a higher level) is working with a finer level of energy. The finer levels of energy always affect and control the denser levels of energy, both in an individual and in society. So what begins as a thought in one person's mind can change a whole epoch in human history.

In 1897, no one thought that a box could cook food without infrared heat or moving parts. And yet, the microwave exists, and it cooks food at the touch of a button. As I look at the emerging trends, I see more signs that technology will work through the push of the mind, perhaps through biofeedback. Already implants and prostheses can be wired directly to a person's nervous system so that an amputee regains movement through an artificial limb or a deaf person hears again through cochlear implants. Technology and spirituality are coming together to bring us to a level of interconnection that has never been seen before in the history of civilization.

Especially in tough economic times, there is the temptation for companies to scale back programs designed to benefit their employees and contractors. This "race to the bottom" might be advantageous in the short-term, but it stunts the growth of the human capital needed to preserve innovation. Placing value on our most important resources—people—will pay the largest dividends in the long term.

Chapter Two

Modeling Spirituality in Business

"Man's difficulty today is that he is so immersed in the temporal that he has lost sight of the spiritual, has lost sight of God." Gilbert Shaw Spiritual Warfare

The movie Brazil brilliantly and comically illustrated what corporate America could be like in the twenty-first century: cold, impersonal, hard, efficient, robotic.

In the movie, directives were sent to cold offices via endless miles of mail tubes and computer screens. Executives dressed alike (in suits, of course) marched together in dark, imposing corporate corridors, moving in and out of offices. They conducted business in a clipped fashion, never seeming able to take care of things fast enough.

What was missing in the corporate culture represented in the movie Brazil? It was without the human or creative element. It was without spirit. One might even suggest that robots could have played the majority of the characters in the film.

Probably everyone who has watched this film is convinced that the corporate culture had a negative impact on the community around it. People might even suggest that a company set up today in this fashion would probably fail and cause havoc in the world on its way to doom.

What struck me as alarming was that this film exemplifies how a large part of corporate America is run today. I hear so many employees of larger companies complain about how the sense of family has been lost. Most companies do not applaud the individual who stands out from the crowd. In fact, management tends to change the individual and may even ostracize him or her for contrary thinking. This is completely analogous to the suited men who marched together, repeating the same phrases in unison.

Today, many companies have switched to a more casual dress code, and they may allow action figures and family photos in cubicles—but these moves are arguably window dressing. Employees still have little to no control over the way their companies are run than they did before the Internet gestalt shift. So many good ideas simply get squashed or forgotten, because their creators were so stuck in the daily routine of commute, meetings, reports, commute. The daily routine and the organizational structures of typical workplaces kill innovation even without any conscious intent on the part of management.

A more disturbing trend takes place in the physical and emotional deterioration of the lives of employees. The way people approach their work is adversely affecting their health. In fact, more people die at nine o'clock in the morning than any other time of the day. This is astounding! And the human species is the only species that achieves something this remarkable: our very way of doing things slowly kills us.

Subsequently, it is imperative that we change the workplace and ultimately the way people feel about their work. The method of evoking change must involve understanding the larger dynamics taking place in society at large.

Real wages have been declining for average workers since the 1970s, while CEO pay has skyrocketed. As of 2007, the average American worker produced $63,885 in value-added goods and services per year, according to a report from the United Nations' International Labor Organization. Part of this productivity number, the world's highest, stems from working longer hours, but it also results from increased communications ability and organizational streamlining. In other words, Americans have worked smarter and longer than their counterparts in other industrialized nations, but they have not seen a return in the form of higher wages and benefits. In the economic downturn of the last few years, productivity has increased even further as positions are eliminated, and workers have often been asked to make sacrifices in pay and pensions.

The days are long gone when employees could take their first job out of school with a company and plan to retire with that same company. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average length of time a person works for a given employer was only 4.1 years in 2008, the last year numbers were available. Today's workforce is highly mobile and competitive, rapidly changing and shifting with each new trend. Not surprisingly, many people look for a place of work where they will be more valued rather than just being a disposable resource for those in charge.

With most new businesses failing before ever reaching profitability, perhaps the differentiating factor is the extent to which businesses exemplify spiritual values. After researching many large and small companies, I formulated a model that describes how companies traditionally function versus the spiritual model that I advocate.

Below is the comparison model:

Traditional Company Model for Spirituality

Driven by sales, profits Driven by values What's in it for me? How may I serve? Based on fear and ego Based on love More tools and stuff Simplicity Facts, data Intuition, feelings Goals Process; a way of living Protective, secretive Sharing, open Localized concerns Universal, boundary-less values Today Concern for the future Here The environment Speed Rhythm and flow Corporate concerns Employee concerns Company culture Celebrating diversity

Managers, leaders Creators; everyone leads Training; teamwork Inner work for the individual Plan for the future Plan less; live in the moment Processed-focused Information-focused Quality products and services Quality of life Offices, hallways Living environment Meetings, structure Meditation, creativity sessions

Chapter Three

Focus on Values, and the Profits Will Follow

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all of these things shall be added unto you.

The Book of Saint Matthew Chapter 6, Verse 33 The Holy Bible

The values and motives of traditional western corporations are reflected by how they operate. Clearly, the majority of companies appear to be driven by profits. Business school courses drive this imperative, which for years have taught that corporations function only to maximize profit. Unfortunately, for many companies, the drive to profit strengthens, as those companies face pressure to deliver performance back to the shareholders. Indeed some legal decisions, like the one against Ben and Jerry's ice cream, have forced companies to consider profit above other concerns, such as environmental stewardship and employee satisfaction.

The cycle can be vicious and unending: last year's performance is never good enough. Sales for next quarter must be 10% higher than the previous quarter. This perpetual growth might be mathematically impossible, but this doesn't stop the insane drive for "more."

I am amazed at how many companies tie in much of the compensation of their leaders to the financial performance of the company. This behavior has a tendency to focus more on the balance sheet and less on the customers. It drives more internal meetings, more analysis, and increases fear. It also leads to short-term profitability and the prospect that the CEO will push the "eject" button and float to the ground on a golden parachute while the company crashes and burns.

The madness continues, as divisions will push products earlier on their customers to reach the targets for the quarter or year. But at the expense of their customers and employees, the leaders relinquish their spiritual values for something that could disappear in a brief moment. Just ask anyone who lived through the stock market crash of 1929. That event no longer belongs only to the remote past after the most recent recession, and all of the actions of the Federal Reserve and the government bailouts did not prevent such an event from occurring.

St. Luke's, a communications firm in London, has developed a mission around the work ethics of its people. The company is wholly owned by its employees, and each employee owns a portion of the firm's stock. A five-member council called the Quest governs the firm, and its corporate mission is clear to the world:

"Profit is like health. You need it, but it is not what you live for.

The Treasury monitors the profit we need. The Quest monitors the lives we lead."

Saint Luke's defies the expectations of business school curriculum, as its focus on self-governance propels the company to phenomenal growth. This idealistic firm ranks as one of the most desirable employers in London's advertising sector. And it is no wonder. In everything that it does, St. Luke's creates ideas as a function of the values of the firm and quality of life of its people. Growth emerges organically from the ethos of the people rather than arising from artificial standards handed down from above.

Many business leaders strive only to amass wealth, regardless of what they might say in a mission statement or annual review. After many years, when they give pause to reflect upon their lives, they often look at their spouses and children and wonder who they are. Realizing that they missed out on experiencing their children growing up and sharing their lives intimately with their spouses, they try, too late, to repair the damage. Spending a lifetime in the office to gain status, power, and wealth ultimately does not satisfy.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Spiritual Values in the Workplaceby Cary G. Weldy Copyright © 2011 by Cary G. Weldy. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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