Listening: A Strategy and Change Blog | Hosfeld & Associates

By Kathleen Hosfeld

In a world where religious differences have never been more polarizing, it’s no wonder that many employers fear religious expression in the workplace.  Which is why it’s all the more remarkable that companies are tapping into spirituality as a way to improve working relationships and productivity. One such example is Google, whose mindfulness program was featured in this New York Times article.

The primary concern for many employers with religion is a lawsuit, according to Cindy Wigglesworth, as quoted by Patricia Aburdene in her book: Megatrends 2010 The Rise of Conscious Capitalism.  Harassment lawsuits take the form of employees’ alleging that a fellow employee or their boss is trying to force their religious beliefs on them. Aburdene cites the statistic that between 1992 and 2004 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saw an 85% increase in complaints of religious discrimination in the workplace.

Yet, Aburdene says that the rise of spirituality in the workplace is one of the megatrends that is contributing to the emergence of a new form of business. In addition to Google’s mindfulness program, consider:

• The hugely successful works of poet David Whyte: “The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship,”  “Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity,” and “The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America.” Whyte is a popular speaker to workplace groups and teams.

• The Interfaith Network at Ford, which represents Catholics, Buddhists, Evangelicals, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Mormons and mainstream Protestants, sends a monthly electronic newsletter to 5,000 employees.

•  2,650 chaplains have been placed in corporations in 43 states by Marketplace Chaplains USA to provide employee care in a model similar to that employed by chaplains in the US military.

• Andre delBecq, professor of business at Santa Clara University regularly attracts 30 Silicon Valley executives to his seminars on Spirituality and Management. Questions the courses address include: How is business leadership related to the idea of a calling?  What special challenges are posed for spirituality by power and wealth that accompany successful business leadership?  How can spiritual disciplines and meditation practices be tailored for the time-pressured life of business professionals and leaders?  What are the benefits of a more intense spiritual journey for the organizational leader and the organizations they manage?”

These snapshots suggest not only a role for spirituality but the significance of spiritual seeking related to our experiences in the workplace.  The question becomes how we can respond responsibly to this need.

Aburdene quotes Wigglesworth, a former HR executive, as saying it is possible to open the door to spirituality in the workplace, but it takes careful planning.  The steps she recommends include consciousness and cultural competence training in the same way corporations have dealt with affirmative action, disabilities, sexual orientation and sexual harassment.

One of the things that are needed is a grounded understanding of spirituality that is broadly inclusive of all religious traditions as well as those with no religious tradition including atheists and agnostics.  I’ve been considering several characteristics of such a broadly inclusive perspective and would like your thoughts.

Consider the following:

•  Spirituality is the human process of meaning-making. Spirituality in the workplace includes those practices that engage employees in reflection and discovery of meaning for themselves as individuals and as members of their team, business unit or company as a whole.

•  Spirituality in the workplace is the experience of interconnectedness that expresses itself as inclusivity, compassion, reciprocity and service.

•  In the spiritual-but-not-religious workplace, employees experience a sense of individual and/or collective calling; they are drawn to specific work because it’s work that needs to be done, and the individual or group is uniquely qualified to do that work.

I want to hear from you. What is spirituality for you? What aspects of your spirituality do you feel can be brought to the workplace without proselytizing?  What aspects of spirituality would contribute to your workplace performance or to a more soulful experience of work?

Please comment here or send me a private email if you prefer by using the contact page.

For another article on spirituality at work, please see my article The Spirituality of Strategy