Spiritual culture for employee motivation | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

Spiritual culture for employee motivation

11 August, 2019
Spirituality is expressed as a set of shared values, attitudes and behaviour within a work organisation.
Spirituality is expressed as a set of shared values, attitudes and behaviour within a work organisation.

Poor economic environment is the worst enemy of all employees be it the public or the private sector. When challenges get more severe, employees’ stress levels go high due to pressure being exerted on them by the leaders. In this backdrop, employee motivation becomes a central problem for leaders and managers.

There is a limit to which the employees can respond to macro challenges. Managing these challenges diligently is the accountability of leaders. Demotivated employees are likely to spend little or no effort in their jobs, avoid the workplace as much as possible, exit the organisation if given the opportunity and produce low quality work.

On the other hand, employees who feel motivated to work are likely to be persistent, creative and productive, turning out high quality work that they willingly undertake. Why it is that every employee of a company does not perform at their best. Many things can be said to answer this question; the reality is that every employee has different ways to become motivated.

Employers need to get to know their employees very well and use different ways to motivate each of them based on their personal beliefs and attitudes. Leaders should have clear goals to accomplish and enable their followers to achieve them together with him. The word motivation suggests energetic behaviour directed towards some goal that leads to maximum output.

Dictatorship

Sustainability is the next question. Pushing solutions to your employees is unsustainable and also creates a sense of dictatorship. You may be the cause of your employee’s lack of motivation. Instead of pushing solutions on people with the force of your argument, pull solutions out of them. Employee motivation is perhaps the ultimate management challenge – at the same time, motivation is what gives you the best results when well provided.

What does it take to motivate difficult employees? The answer is too difficult for most management professionals to understand. Managers cannot motivate employees, but rather they must motivate themselves. The role of the manager is to create an environment in which their natural motivation is freed and used to achieve goals. Most employees respond to spiritual calls and the spiritual mind set neutralises the ill feelings to create openness in difficult employees.

Until recently, mentioning spirituality in the context of work, management or leadership sounded like an attempt at converting the workplace to a religious domain. Yet, the notion of spirituality - not the same thing as religion - is today penetrating into various aspects of our life.

Among these is the accelerating call for spirituality in the workplace since it reflects a universal human need. There is a new openness in management and leadership to the recognition of our spiritual nature. Leaders are becoming more and more concerned about integrating their spirituality in their work, realising that such integration leads to positive changes in their relationships and effectiveness.

Spirituality is to be distinguished from religion. Religion includes beliefs, rules, structures, institutions and tradition. Spirituality is about the inner journey, it is a highly personal experience. There is an experience of a force greater and beyond the individual.In the workplace, spirituality is expressed as a set of shared values, attitudes and behaviour within a work organisation. But there is no adherence to a particular religion or institution. Rather it empowers and facilitates one’s spiritual growth in everyday life. Ultimately, it fosters higher levels of organisational commitment and productivity.

Convert your heart first

In practice, how does all this apply to leadership at the personal, group, organisational and society level? Encourage employees to see their work as a spiritual path, an opportunity to grow personally and to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Help them develop integrity, honesty, authenticity and to live their values more fully in the workplace.

Know yourself: Self-awareness helps you reflect on your leadership style, to examine your decisions and actions, and to assess your behaviour in terms of your deepest values. Be congruent and authentic.

Be yourself and don’t simply play a role. Let your employees see the more human, vulnerable part of you without the fear of losing your power. Let your employees feel free to express their feelings and ideas.

This task will be achieved not simply by offering special courses to acquire the necessary knowledge, nor merely by learning to practise certain leadership skills or techniques, but through an internal personal transformation, a conversion of the heart, and a radical change in one’s attitudes, values and style.

Although motivation is an important driver of individual performance, it is not the only factor. Such variables as knowledge, ability, experience and environment also influence performance. So ensure that those fundamentals are in place to derive the maximum benefit out of your motivational initiatives.

Recruit personnel and give them solid training in view of the objectives to be attained.

Motivate and inspire followers giving them a sense of direction. Develop good interpersonal relations, and your employees will then certainly take risks in being creative innovators and agents of change. 

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