Management & business : Spirituality & Ethics

To the surprise of many, this movement of universal Love & Spirituality at work is beginning to transform the corporate World from the inside out. Growing numbers of business people want their spirituality to be more than just faith and belief–they want it to be practical and applied. They want to bring their whole selves to work–body, mind and spirit. Many business people are finding that the bottom line can be strengthened by embodying their values. They can “do well” by “doing good”.

People at all levels in the corporate hierarchy increasingly want to nourish their spirit and creativity. When employees are encouraged to express their creativity, the result is a more fulfilled and sustained workforce. Happy people work harder and are more likely to stay at their jobs.

A study of business performance by the highly respected Wilson Learning Company found that 87% of workforce say that spirituality was the most important element of their happiness.

Across the world, people increasingly want to bring a greater sense of meaning and purpose into their work life. They want their work to reflect their personal mission in life. Many companies are finding the most effective way to bring spiritual values into the workplace is to clarify the company’s vision and mission, and to align it with a higher purpose and deeper commitment to service to both customers and community.

In addition to study groups, other spiritual practices at companies include meditation; centering exercises such as deep breathing to reduce stress; visioning exercises; building shared values; active, deep listening; making action and intention congruent; and using intuition and inner guidance in decision-making.

Meditation classes are now held at many major corporations, such as Medtronic, Apple, Google, Yahoo, McKinsey, Hughes Aircraft, IBM, Cisco, Raytheon etc.

A research project by Prof. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin at Pomega, a biotechnology company that had a very high-stress workplace, found a mindfulness meditation training produced astonishing results in reducing stress and generating positive feelings.

The CEO of Rockport Shoes, Angel Martinez, talks openly of the spiritual mission of his company and encourages employees to spend work time envisioningways to express their deepest selves in their work.