Responses to: Does Spiritual Intelligence Have a Place in the Workplace

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Spiritual Intelligence has a very significant place in the workplace! In fact, it is the everyday "mundane acts" of survival that carry the most weight. Feeding the baby, balancing the budget, marketing the product--the very life or death actions of survival. Sunday mass or Tuesday chanting or Friday night out are just the frosting on the cake of the nine-five bread-winning that fills our Buddha tummies and puts the roof over our meditating minds!--ABCrane, Project Integrity International
- Ingrid Heller (ABCrane, pseudonym)

Spiritual Intelligence absolutely has a place in the workplace. Cindy Wigglesworth (www.consciouspursuits.com) has just completed research that shows that spiritual intelligence is highly correlated with the same characteristics that define mature and wise leadership. We desperately need organizations that are based on core human values that are sustainable, rather than on short term gain and profitability - no matter what the human cost. We are seeing evidence of organizations crumbling all around us because they lacked spiritual intelligence. And there are other organizations, like those who have received the International Spirit at Work Award (www.spiritatwork.org) who are wonderful examples of spiritual intelligence in action.
- Judi Neal

Randy, I've been thinking about this question since you first posted it, and my answer is yes. But not in the traditional sense: I don't want someone's religion shoved down my throat on a daily basis. Looking at your revised definition of spirituality, I'm reminded of various yoga moves where you focus on your core, or center. To most folks, spirituality of all forms is a centering belief: something that calms and soothes, opens the heart and mind and allows freedom and innovation and creativity to break through the clutter of negativity, self-doubt, etc.
Following this trail, yes, spiritual intelligence has a place in the office. If a series of core beliefs serve to center and inspire ourselves and/or our employees, we should embrace them with wide open arms.
- Kim Drew, APR

I have heard it said that all of us have a "God shaped hole" in our inner most being. We as human beings tend to search until we find an answer. If we do not we can become lost, embittered, and focused only on the material things which never satisy us for very long. Since this God shaped hole (or gloriouly filled soul)goes with us to work every day, it is inevitably a part of the work place. There is a real blancing act though to offend no one in the work place.
- Sheila Franks

I have traditionally disliked the idea of mixing spirituality in the workplace. I've personaly witnessed significant discrimination when one person openly displays religious/spiritual tokens, and other's think it's 'weird.' I am a Northerner, and mixing work and religion was strictly forbidden. However, Randy, you make a good point. So, I shall have to re-think my position!
- Suzanne

I believe that a sense of meaning and purpose and service have a place in 'job satisfaction' that contributes to our own spirituality and sense of self-knowledge and expression.

If you heard Lucy Kellaway (Management columnist at the Financial Times) on BBC Radio recently, she discussed this very subject. Her conclusion was that if you look at the grand scheme of things through a big enough lense, NO job has 'meaning' or 'purpose.' In a way, I agree - the only meaning or purpose I can bring to my workplace is that which I've already got.

I also confess to having a deep desire to HAVE meaning and purpose in my work.

But in a corporate setting, I am not sure you can instill it or foist it upon employees, unless you're very, very good :-) Most employees and possibly most managers will be cynical at best, just like Lucy.

One might think that having a sense of purpose at work would be an all-positive thing, creating an atmosphere of comradeship, cooperation and good morale. Maybe. It could also backfire if you've got one stick-in-the-mud who simply refuses to participate, for whatever their own reasons. And if that happens, who's to say the 'loner' is wrong in his/her own beliefs?
- Fiona Dudley

I can't imagine separating the two since to me spiritual intelligence is connected to faith, conviction and authenticity - all qualities that we look up to in leaders. I can see why it could be offsetting to some, yet perhaps only when looking at it in a religious context. In a greater perspective it's using and trusting your gut, believing in innovation and having the foresight, hindsight and insight to create something that has never been created before -- all things that can be eschewed especially in a corporate environment, yet admired at the same time. To be the very best, we must be ourselves.

Thanks for having the courage to pose an interesting question, Randy.
- Chadwick Boyd

I believe that the freedom to express your spirituality at work should be respected. It defines who we are as human beings and can certainly define the culture of an organization. I believe the deeper the spirituality of an organization as a whole, the more you will find an associate population dedicated to the company, it's mission and to eachother.
- Andrea Back

Living a life with meaning and purpose has very much to do with where or what we do for work. As you pointed out, spirituality is not commonly embraced in the workplace, yet job satisfaction is. So if we are able to recognize that one's unique passions, skills and talents are attached to their purpose, it becomes less about the spiritual and more about the practical nature of how an individual can contribute and thrive in the workplace doing what they love.
- Susan Hanshaw

Yes I believe there is room for spiritual intelligence in the work place. I believe spiritual intelligence translates into your ethical standards. Ethics is based on your personal beliefs, sprititual upbringing, and moral values. These factors help you set your standards for what is right and wrong in life and in business.
- Lisa Douglas

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