Dear all HR professionals
You must all be dealing with issues of stress and burnout at workplace. I was trying to find whether improved spiritual quotient of an employee can help him to come out of burnouts.
I would like to have you valuable opinions on :
1. can spirituality quotient of a person be improved by some method/ practice ?
2. Can spirituality quotient help in reducing possibilities of burnout in employees?
I wait your expert opinions on this.
Regards,
Prasanna Shembekar
Sr. Faculty & HR consultant
Octave B School, Nagpur
From India, Nagpur
3You must all be dealing with issues of stress and burnout at workplace. I was trying to find whether improved spiritual quotient of an employee can help him to come out of burnouts.
I would like to have you valuable opinions on :
1. can spirituality quotient of a person be improved by some method/ practice ?
2. Can spirituality quotient help in reducing possibilities of burnout in employees?
I wait your expert opinions on this.
Regards,
Prasanna Shembekar
Sr. Faculty & HR consultant
Octave B School, Nagpur
From India, Nagpur
Dear Prassanna,
Firms spend on the spiritual level training for their employees. The corporate endorsement for Art of living and Isha Foundation are the biggest examples of this practise. By and large this affects the way the attendees approach stress. The development takes practice and discipline , hence the result may vary. The techniques can be learnt , but requires daily practice, especially at every difficult situation.
Oprah Winfrey ensures Transcendental Meditation for all of her employees, at work. Here's the article stating the practise Transcendental Meditation: Good for Oprah and Startups
Looking forward to understand how our members have implemented formal and informal programs on this
From India, Mumbai
Firms spend on the spiritual level training for their employees. The corporate endorsement for Art of living and Isha Foundation are the biggest examples of this practise. By and large this affects the way the attendees approach stress. The development takes practice and discipline , hence the result may vary. The techniques can be learnt , but requires daily practice, especially at every difficult situation.
Oprah Winfrey ensures Transcendental Meditation for all of her employees, at work. Here's the article stating the practise Transcendental Meditation: Good for Oprah and Startups
Looking forward to understand how our members have implemented formal and informal programs on this
From India, Mumbai
Dear Ms. Prasanna Shembekar,
Good topic!
Spritual fascination intensifies & magnifies the worldly thoughts and Being and Doing, Work and Spiritual Practice talks about being realistic on spiritual beliefs.
Although, in my opinion, spiritual quotient gives the purpose to motivation. Especially, the employees get profoundly motivated in terms of taking good decisions overwhelmingly that gives their purpose to work. Spiritual intelligence works better as a cause to acheive the goals or plans set.
From India, Visakhapatnam
Good topic!
Spritual fascination intensifies & magnifies the worldly thoughts and Being and Doing, Work and Spiritual Practice talks about being realistic on spiritual beliefs.
Although, in my opinion, spiritual quotient gives the purpose to motivation. Especially, the employees get profoundly motivated in terms of taking good decisions overwhelmingly that gives their purpose to work. Spiritual intelligence works better as a cause to acheive the goals or plans set.
From India, Visakhapatnam
Many thanks to (Cite Contribution) and Sharmila Das... Thanks to both of you!
I am very keen on finding out whether spirituality really helps an employee to come out of situations of distress. In Bhagvadgita Lord Krishna has asked to parctice "Karmayoga" where in results are not the focal point of the Karma. However in work life, everybody needs to result oriented. I think that is the main reason why we develop stress. Expectations from other that we should "continuously deliver" results! It is tiresome and sometimes frustrating.
Regards,
Prasanna
From India, Nagpur
I am very keen on finding out whether spirituality really helps an employee to come out of situations of distress. In Bhagvadgita Lord Krishna has asked to parctice "Karmayoga" where in results are not the focal point of the Karma. However in work life, everybody needs to result oriented. I think that is the main reason why we develop stress. Expectations from other that we should "continuously deliver" results! It is tiresome and sometimes frustrating.
Regards,
Prasanna
From India, Nagpur
Indeed spirituality has great impact on every Human Being. Some surveys have shown that, spirituality at workplace has a positive relationship with job satisfaction.
Hence one can introduce meditations , Yoga to the employess as part os welfare programs...it will definetly help them to get stress relief & recharge.
I myself have done meditation courses & am associated with group too. They can arrange for meditation workshop if required.
Regards,
Mugdha
From India, Hyderabad
Hence one can introduce meditations , Yoga to the employess as part os welfare programs...it will definetly help them to get stress relief & recharge.
I myself have done meditation courses & am associated with group too. They can arrange for meditation workshop if required.
Regards,
Mugdha
From India, Hyderabad
Dear Ms. Mugdha, Thats really nice to hear from you! Could be give us any inputs on the courses? Also, did like to know more about the group & how many days does a workshop last... Thanks!
From India, Visakhapatnam
From India, Visakhapatnam
Dear Prasanna,
There are three things Spiritual Quotient, Emotional Quotient and Intellectual Quotient and all three are interlinked.
The best part which very less people realize is that if your Spiritual Quotient is high the emotional side of you is eased out even if you are not intellectually sound.
Its very true that an inward looking helps individuals to develop a calm mind and thereby not get worked up for things not working out. We offer a Personal Transformation Workshop, which involves looking inward and truly connecting with yourself, your beliefs all all those obstacles that come your way in living a fulfilling life.
Also "Trust" which is a part of Spiritual Quotient plays a major role in relieving stress.
Please feel free to call me if your need more info.
From India, Bangalore
There are three things Spiritual Quotient, Emotional Quotient and Intellectual Quotient and all three are interlinked.
The best part which very less people realize is that if your Spiritual Quotient is high the emotional side of you is eased out even if you are not intellectually sound.
Its very true that an inward looking helps individuals to develop a calm mind and thereby not get worked up for things not working out. We offer a Personal Transformation Workshop, which involves looking inward and truly connecting with yourself, your beliefs all all those obstacles that come your way in living a fulfilling life.
Also "Trust" which is a part of Spiritual Quotient plays a major role in relieving stress.
Please feel free to call me if your need more info.
From India, Bangalore
Ok. Imagine this.
Imagine you have a loving father (sentient being) looking out for you all the time. Imagine that whatever happens to you happens because HE put it there. Suddenly you are no longer afraid of the ups and downs of life, You know you are taken care of and that now you can have fun. Sometimes we forget who we are and we get too engrossed in the game. Which too is ok. But when we fail and are OUT of the game we are once again aware of where we are - (in a happy place).
From India, Bangalore
Imagine you have a loving father (sentient being) looking out for you all the time. Imagine that whatever happens to you happens because HE put it there. Suddenly you are no longer afraid of the ups and downs of life, You know you are taken care of and that now you can have fun. Sometimes we forget who we are and we get too engrossed in the game. Which too is ok. But when we fail and are OUT of the game we are once again aware of where we are - (in a happy place).
From India, Bangalore
Why are people so attached to everything around them? Why is everything so serious as if our very lives depend on it?
What if in the end nothing really matters? What if our future is assured? Would we be able to see this life and everything in it as a GAME. Not to be perturbed by anything?
The objective of the game is to keep a steady consciousness like a candle flame in a closed room and everything else is just to be treated as distraction?
From India, Bangalore
What if in the end nothing really matters? What if our future is assured? Would we be able to see this life and everything in it as a GAME. Not to be perturbed by anything?
The objective of the game is to keep a steady consciousness like a candle flame in a closed room and everything else is just to be treated as distraction?
From India, Bangalore
Hello Prasanna Shembekar,
To answer both your queries in a single word, the answer is YES--saying this from personal experience. BUT NOT from the perspective you seem to be understanding it from.
Sherley Johnson has said it right about the interconnection between the different--3--levels [Spiritual Quotient, Emotional Quotient and Intellectual Quotient] of a human being, in terms of his/her potential to interact with the world-at-large.
To go for a brief Recap, during the I half of the last century [1930-1950s], the general focus of the western psychologists was on the IQ--Intellectual Quotient--aspect of a human being. Later it was discovered that EQ is a better measurement of a person's happiness/satisfaction level. Then came the realization that SQ would the Best & Long-term method to cover ALL the aspects of human existence IN ADDITION TO addressing all the shortcomings of the earlier 2 measurement techniques--IQ & EQ.
And the irony of the whole thing was that this was known within India since eons/ages & we depended on the West to rediscover it all over again [like the concept of 'Zero']!!!
Actually your queries, taken in consonance with your comment about The Bhagavat Gita message ['...where in results are not the focal point of the Karma..'] convey that you are MIXING-UP the core principles more than anything else.
Let me explain:
Let's take your Second Query First [Can spirituality quotient help in reducing possibilities of burnout in employees?].
Understanding & enhancing SQ DOESN'T 'per se' reduce Burnout or any such condition DIRECTLY in a person. It only plays a 'critical' role in the 'effect' of such situations/conditions. SQ gives an individual the ABILITY to view situations from DIFFERENT & ALSO MULTIPLE perspectives/angles. This, in-turn, enables the person to get better grasp/understanding of his/her worldly experiences--hate, pain, ecstasy, pressure, etc--from multiple perspectives, which in-turn enable him/her to calibrate his/her 'internal response mechanism'--sort of 'fine-tune' the internal mechanism, which further leads to a better EXTERNAL/OUTWARD response that those around him/her actually see/notice.
To give a very simplistic analogy: when someone shouts/rebukes a group of people, one person may go into a sulk/depression, another may shout back, yet another may complain to the relative power-center [in a work environment, the Boss] & yet another may just ignore the rebuke BUT bear it in mind to hit back later & there COULD be a person who can just smile away the rebuke & forget it & get on with life.
The response mechanism in each of the persons is DIFFERENT...which leads to the 'genetically inherent' SQ [whether the individual notices/knows it or not]. The Original situation was the SAME for all of them, yet the responses were totally different in each of them.
Hope you get the point.
Coming to your Query-1 [can spirituality quotient of a person be improved by some method/ practice?].
In general, anything & everything [BOTH positive & negative] can be 'improved/perfected' by practice and SQ isn't an exception. Like the Saying goes: 'Practice makes a man Perfect'.
Actually there are multiple methods to improve SQ...some of them being what other members already mentioned: Meditation, Yoga [some of the Asanas]. However, the Best bet would be following the path of 'doing your duty & giving your Best to whatever you are doing'--this is where the "Karma Yogi" concept comes into the scene. In short, it says what I mentioned above--so in such an attitude to life & work, one doesn't need to depend on any Meditation or Yoga to enhance & maintain his/her SQ--which invariably entails additional effort & time--to handle such situations in life.
That doesn't mean a karma yogi doesn't face problems OR isn't focused on the Results--it's just that HIS/HER RESPONSE TO SUCH SITUATIONS IS DIFFERENT, which leads him/her to evolve different & more original solutions to the situations that he/she comes across in the course of work.
Being "not focused on results" DOESN'T MEAN that the 'results' are 'out-of-view'.
If this were so, Krishna wouldn't have said before the War & after he returned from the failed attempt to avert the war--'now that the decision to fight the war has been taken, it's our Dharma to win it'. [There are other angles/aspects to this--of Truth & Dharma--but that would be another topic altogether].
It just means that the person is ALWAYS looking @ the LARGER picture--which would ALSO include the possibility of the desired results not being achieved. This MENTALLY prepares him/her for any eventuality. Like that Saying goes: "Strive & Hope for the Best & Prepare for the Worst". And when the person is mentally prepared for ANY & EVERY eventuality, he/she is NOT EFFECTED by what finally happens.
And the whole BEAUTY of this approach is this: More than acting as a 'constraint', such enhanced SQ actually increases the THRESHOLD of the individual to pain/shock/surprises.... AND this leads to the individual to MAINTAIN his/her FOCUS to come-out with incredible solutions....in management parlance, "out-of-box" thinking [HOW such enhanced thinking capacity is put to use--for positive/good OR negative/bad causes--is a totally different matter altogether]. This is a large subject by itself in Parapsychology Labs now.
From another perspective, WHAT happens IS NOT in YOUR hands [since it is dependent on many variables], but HOW you ALLOW IT TO EFFECT you is absolutely in your hands. That's what SQ attempts to build-up/enhance in an individual.
I hope this hasn't made things more confusing.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
To answer both your queries in a single word, the answer is YES--saying this from personal experience. BUT NOT from the perspective you seem to be understanding it from.
Sherley Johnson has said it right about the interconnection between the different--3--levels [Spiritual Quotient, Emotional Quotient and Intellectual Quotient] of a human being, in terms of his/her potential to interact with the world-at-large.
To go for a brief Recap, during the I half of the last century [1930-1950s], the general focus of the western psychologists was on the IQ--Intellectual Quotient--aspect of a human being. Later it was discovered that EQ is a better measurement of a person's happiness/satisfaction level. Then came the realization that SQ would the Best & Long-term method to cover ALL the aspects of human existence IN ADDITION TO addressing all the shortcomings of the earlier 2 measurement techniques--IQ & EQ.
And the irony of the whole thing was that this was known within India since eons/ages & we depended on the West to rediscover it all over again [like the concept of 'Zero']!!!
Actually your queries, taken in consonance with your comment about The Bhagavat Gita message ['...where in results are not the focal point of the Karma..'] convey that you are MIXING-UP the core principles more than anything else.
Let me explain:
Let's take your Second Query First [Can spirituality quotient help in reducing possibilities of burnout in employees?].
Understanding & enhancing SQ DOESN'T 'per se' reduce Burnout or any such condition DIRECTLY in a person. It only plays a 'critical' role in the 'effect' of such situations/conditions. SQ gives an individual the ABILITY to view situations from DIFFERENT & ALSO MULTIPLE perspectives/angles. This, in-turn, enables the person to get better grasp/understanding of his/her worldly experiences--hate, pain, ecstasy, pressure, etc--from multiple perspectives, which in-turn enable him/her to calibrate his/her 'internal response mechanism'--sort of 'fine-tune' the internal mechanism, which further leads to a better EXTERNAL/OUTWARD response that those around him/her actually see/notice.
To give a very simplistic analogy: when someone shouts/rebukes a group of people, one person may go into a sulk/depression, another may shout back, yet another may complain to the relative power-center [in a work environment, the Boss] & yet another may just ignore the rebuke BUT bear it in mind to hit back later & there COULD be a person who can just smile away the rebuke & forget it & get on with life.
The response mechanism in each of the persons is DIFFERENT...which leads to the 'genetically inherent' SQ [whether the individual notices/knows it or not]. The Original situation was the SAME for all of them, yet the responses were totally different in each of them.
Hope you get the point.
Coming to your Query-1 [can spirituality quotient of a person be improved by some method/ practice?].
In general, anything & everything [BOTH positive & negative] can be 'improved/perfected' by practice and SQ isn't an exception. Like the Saying goes: 'Practice makes a man Perfect'.
Actually there are multiple methods to improve SQ...some of them being what other members already mentioned: Meditation, Yoga [some of the Asanas]. However, the Best bet would be following the path of 'doing your duty & giving your Best to whatever you are doing'--this is where the "Karma Yogi" concept comes into the scene. In short, it says what I mentioned above--so in such an attitude to life & work, one doesn't need to depend on any Meditation or Yoga to enhance & maintain his/her SQ--which invariably entails additional effort & time--to handle such situations in life.
That doesn't mean a karma yogi doesn't face problems OR isn't focused on the Results--it's just that HIS/HER RESPONSE TO SUCH SITUATIONS IS DIFFERENT, which leads him/her to evolve different & more original solutions to the situations that he/she comes across in the course of work.
Being "not focused on results" DOESN'T MEAN that the 'results' are 'out-of-view'.
If this were so, Krishna wouldn't have said before the War & after he returned from the failed attempt to avert the war--'now that the decision to fight the war has been taken, it's our Dharma to win it'. [There are other angles/aspects to this--of Truth & Dharma--but that would be another topic altogether].
It just means that the person is ALWAYS looking @ the LARGER picture--which would ALSO include the possibility of the desired results not being achieved. This MENTALLY prepares him/her for any eventuality. Like that Saying goes: "Strive & Hope for the Best & Prepare for the Worst". And when the person is mentally prepared for ANY & EVERY eventuality, he/she is NOT EFFECTED by what finally happens.
And the whole BEAUTY of this approach is this: More than acting as a 'constraint', such enhanced SQ actually increases the THRESHOLD of the individual to pain/shock/surprises.... AND this leads to the individual to MAINTAIN his/her FOCUS to come-out with incredible solutions....in management parlance, "out-of-box" thinking [HOW such enhanced thinking capacity is put to use--for positive/good OR negative/bad causes--is a totally different matter altogether]. This is a large subject by itself in Parapsychology Labs now.
From another perspective, WHAT happens IS NOT in YOUR hands [since it is dependent on many variables], but HOW you ALLOW IT TO EFFECT you is absolutely in your hands. That's what SQ attempts to build-up/enhance in an individual.
I hope this hasn't made things more confusing.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
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Love and spirituality in management and business.doc