{"id":10492,"date":"2022-04-22T10:39:55","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T10:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/?p=10492"},"modified":"2023-02-10T15:36:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T15:36:32","slug":"workplace-spirituality-how-why-it-works-like-a-charm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vibekebaunsgaard.com\/da\/spiritualitet\/workplace-spirituality-how-why-it-works-like-a-charm\/","title":{"rendered":"Workplace Spirituality: How & Why it Works like a Charm"},"content":{"rendered":"

When reading the slowly increasing bulk of research literature about the positive results of workplace spirituality \u2013 it is a wonder that researchers are not out there\u00a0shouting it from the rooftops!<\/p>\n

Academics speak of \u2018groundbreaking work\u2019 and positive results (van der Walt & De Klerk 2014).<\/p>\n

Workplace spirituality is gaining ground in modern organizations and for good reasons. Research reports \u2013 one after the other \u2013 are providing evidence of extraordinary positive results in organizations that focus on spirituality.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the benefits of workplace spirituality are a rather perfect match to the problems of modern organizations. This makes workplace spirituality a solution, which you want to have a closer look at.<\/p>\n

While it is overlooked by some, it is embraced by others. Some call workplace spirituality the most significant trend in management since the human-potential movement in the 50s.<\/p>\n

The Challenges of Modern Leaders<\/h2>\n

Leaders of today are facing a multitude of challenges. They need to create a triple bottom line, finding economic, environmental, and socially sustainable solutions. Moreover, global leaders<\/a> are not only expected to see a strategy through on a global level; they also need to balance all acts with local demands across nations and cultures to name just a few things.<\/p>\n

More and more it becomes obvious, that current structures and policies are not fit to solve the problems of the 21. century.<\/p>\n

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WE NEED TO RE-IMAGINE ORGANIZATIONS AND THE WAYS WE ORGANIZE<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The final total is that modern organizations are commonly struggling with employee-related problems such as stress-related illnesses, burnout<\/a>, people not coming to work (absenteeism), violence, and corruption. Research shows how this holds to be particularly true in organizations where spirituality is absent (Nasina & Doris 2011).<\/p>\n

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SEE VIDEO:\u00a0Connecting to your Inner Being: Awakening through Emptiness, Interconnectivity, and Seeing All is One<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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We need to re-imagine organizations and the ways we organize. Thankfully, the realms of \u2018spirituality\u2019 and workplace spirituality provide some answers.<\/p>\n

What is Workplace Spirituality?<\/h2>\n

Workplace spirituality is rooted in meaning, value, and purpose. People enjoy applying meaning\u00a0and purpose to their work as it fulfills them in ways not experienced when the opposite is the case. As human beings, we want to make a difference and feel energized while making this difference.<\/p>\n

In this sense, workplace spirituality is closely connected with\u00a0organizations having a meaningful purpose<\/a>.\u00a0A front-runner on the need of asking why<\/em> before what<\/em> and how<\/em> is Simon Sinek, who since his famous TedTalk: Start with Why \u2013 How great leaders inspire action<\/a>\u00a0(watched by more than 53 M) \u2013 has initiated a wave of \u2018purpose talk\u2019. Most people know what they do and how they do it, says Sinek, yet surprisingly few know why they do it. Why is, in other words, a purpose, a cause, a belief.<\/p>\n

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WE NEED TO BE MOTIVATED BEYOND PAYCHECKS AND TASK PERFORMANCE<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Southwest Airlines, for example, which made it through the economic crisis, is at times described as a spirit-driven organization. They say that part of the Warrior Spirit (company language) is about having a servant\u2019s heart and a LUVing attitude. In other words, the airline is connecting purpose, identity, and impression on the world.<\/p>\n

In essence, we need to be motivated beyond paychecks and task performance. A combination of different approaches helps us to view spirituality from a new perspective.<\/p>\n

In Dandona\u2019s words: \u201cSpirituality at work integrates three different perspectives on\u00a0how spirituality enables or leads to organizational\u00a0performance:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>a) Human resources perspective<\/strong>: Spirituality enhances\u00a0employee well-being and quality of life;<\/p>\n

b) Philosophical perspective<\/strong>: Spirituality provides\u00a0employees with a sense of purpose and meaning at work;<\/p>\n

c) Interpersonal perspective<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span>Spirituality provides\u00a0employees a sense of interconnectedness and community\u201d (Dandona 2013).<\/p>\n

While understanding what is workplace spirituality,<\/em>\u00a0it is worth the effort \u2013 and crucial \u2013 understanding also what it is not.<\/p>\n

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Religion Versus Spirituality: What Workplace Spirituality is NOT<\/h2>\n

To be clear, workplace spirituality is not about religious beliefs. When communicating spirituality in the workplace it is important to be crystal clear on this matter. This is to avoid any organizational members should get the feeling that leaders are imposing a belief system upon them. This would surely create a negative impact.<\/p>\n

Dalai Lama gives a splendid distinction between religion and spirituality in his book named Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: Ethics for \u00a0the New Millennium:<\/p>\n

Religion I take to be concerned with faith in the claims of one faith tradition or another, an aspect of which is the acceptance of some form of heaven or nirvana.\u00a0 Connected with this are religious teachings or dogma, ritual prayer, and so on.\u00a0 Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit\u2014such as love and compassion, patience tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony\u2014which brings happiness to both self and others (BooksGoogle<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

Likewise, be certain to initiate working with workplace spirituality because you genuinely want to increase the well-being and happiness of employees while lifting your organization. Pay attention to how people prosper when feeling meaning and purpose in their work-life by being given creative space \u2013 this is why you do it.<\/p>\n

Sure \u2013 spin-offs are higher performance rates, work commitment, and so forth. While these things obviously are important, don\u2019t let them be your starting point. Profit before people is rarely a good sell! Make it people before profit, and the rest solves itself.<\/p>\n

Workplace Spirituality Definitions<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s add a few definitions, to\u00a0more fully grasp what is workplace spirituality and how understandings of it may vary.<\/p>\n

According to Ashmos and Duchon, spirituality at work is ‘the recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community. Thus spirituality at work has three components: the inner life, meaningful work, and community’ (Ashmos & Duchon 2000).<\/p>\n

Giacalone & Jurkiewicz famously define\u00a0workplace spirituality as those aspects of the workplace,\u00a0either in the individual, the group, or the organization, that\u00a0promote individual feelings of satisfaction through\u00a0transcendence (2010: 13).<\/p>\n

Emmons (2000) simple states that workplace spirituality is \u2018the personal expression of ultimate concern\u2019. Wong phrases it as \u2018That which involves ultimate and personal truths\u2019 (1998: 364).<\/p>\n

What these definitions have in common is that they involve feelings of something as \u2018greater\u2019 than us \u2013 an encompassing feeling that provides us meaning.<\/p>\n

Workplace spirituality is further talked of in terms of dimensions of spirituality to come closer to ways of assessing the degree to which organizations\u00a0practice workplace spirituality.<\/p>\n

Dimensions of spirituality are, for example, spiritual well-being, spiritual transcendence, spiritual development, spiritual wellness, spiritual distress, spiritual intelligence, spiritual self-consciousness, spiritual growth, and spiritual health (Giacalone & Jurkiewicz 2010: 8).<\/p>\n

Workplace Spirituality \u2013 The Benefits<\/h2>\n

Evidence reveals that workplace spirituality programs have many benefits. While they lead to positive personal human health and psychological wellbeing, spin-offs are improved employee commitment, productivity, and reduced absenteeism (staying away from work)(van de Walt & De Klerk 2014).<\/p>\n

Moreover, workplace spirituality is recognized to increase integrity<\/a> (also called spiritual integrity<\/a>), motivation<\/a>, job satisfaction, and workers performance in general (Cavanaugh & Bandsuch 2002; Pawar 2009).<\/p>\n

To go on, workplace spirituality is also shown to reduce staff turnover rates. One of the explanations is that leaders having spiritual values are as leaders judged as more effective. Studies of leaders judged as more effective show that they increase work satisfaction, motivation, productivity, and profits \u2013 as mentioned before.<\/p>\n

The above are the main benefits of workplace spirituality as confirmed again and again through different types of research methods. After looking into how<\/em>\u00a0to encourage and implement a culture of spirituality in the workplace, we shall return to explain the benefits in more detail.<\/p>\n

Spiritual Developments: How to Encourage Workplace Spirituality<\/h2>\n

The following are some tips, tools, guidelines, and background understandings for actually encouraging a workplace spirituality culture in practice.<\/p>\n