Developing Emotional & Spiritual Intelligence in the Workplace

Our story...

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Professional services firm

audit/accounting, business advisory tax & legal corporate finance

management consulting
HR consulting business process outsourcing

FY2000 net revenue $19.6 billion 150,000 people 150 countries

PwC CEE/CIS Region

20 countries - former Comecon + Turkey & Greece

5000 people Investment region

Central regional team - London

Learning & Development seen as key, strategic priority

central, regional team - London country based L&D professionals total team size = 30

The Findhorn Foundation

Founded 1962
Spiritual & educational community, located northern Scotland Runs residential workshops - 4,500 people/year Welcomes additional 10,000 guests/year Annual income 1.3 million 4 million assets 160 staff and dependants + community of 500 friends and supporters Heart of a developing Eco-village UN recognised NGO, working on "values and "sustainability"

Findhorn Foundation Consultancy Service

Developed in 1998
Exists to share "our experience in embodying the values needed to build sustainable community, working co-operatively, and exploring new approaches to leadership" with the world of business, public and voluntary sector organisations, and other communities

PwC: Business Challenge

Emerging market environment

Youthfulness of local firms 20 different languages/ cultures Need to be seen as a local firm but think/network globally

Be loved by the client

Strategy

Become the breakaway firm

client focus quality of client relationship the key differentiator

Grow local skills Act as a boundary-less organisation Work with whole of the clients system & the Board/CEO

Be seen by the client as a business partner

Implications for our People

Self-less team working

Acting as a community of shared interest

Intense curiosity in clients true, underlying needs

Self-responsibility and choice Emotional/ spiritual awareness

If we are to make progress in managing learning in organisations we desperately need contributions from fields which already have a holistic understanding of people and human systems. We need to understand much more the interconnectedness of emotional, physical and intellectual effort; we need help in seeing management holistically. Nobody can manage successfully if they use only part of themselvesmanaging is a whole person activity, demanding emotional [and spiritual] maturity at least as much as cerebral competence..relationships are at the heart of managing and at the heart of relationship is the key proposition of self-awareness (David Casey, Managing Learning in Organisations)

Focus of FFCS work

Developing the ability to respond from the heart Developing the right brain Developing emotional intelligence Developing spiritual intelligence Through this we build more effective teams and develop a sense of community in the workplace.

Emotional intelligence (EQ)

"My ability to recognise the situation I am in; to read what you are feeling; be sensitive to that; and to adapt and behave accordingly
(After Daniel Goleman)
Emotional Intelligence is also The ability to observe, and not be lost in, my emotions

Or as Aristotle put it

Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - this is not easy (The Nicomachean Ethics)

Spiritual intelligence (SQ)

The intelligence that chooses not to adapt

The intelligence that leads to meaning, vision, values, purpose

Transformative and creative intelligence

(Danah Zohar)

How do we do the work?

Disorientation - through games, dance, unusual exercises & unfamiliar responses Focussing on building effective teams and groups through:

Clearing blocks to authenticity (what don't I dare to feel or say?) Addressing underlying issues (what is primary? What is secondary?) Increasing self-awareness (What am I feeling right now? How am I coming across?) Skills training (e.g. conflict facilitation, decision-making, leadership, change management) Liberating creativity and inspiration (How much of myself can I bring to work? 10%? 40%? 80%? 100%?

The point is that we eventually come to the realisation that it is injurious to the soul to remove portions of our life from exploration, as if, at work, certain parts of experience suddenly lie out of bounds. We simply spend too much time and have too much psychic and emotional energy invested in the workplace for us to declare it a spiritual desert bereft of lifegiving water.
David Whyte The Heart Aroused - Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America

PwCs Experience

What PwC has achieved so far...

A region-wide, multi-national community of

change resources

greater sense of engagement & presence more personal power & authenticity greater focus on the (internal) client greater sense of identity and self-worth

Modelling the change process before taking it to the client

Trickle-down into to the wider organisation

Why does FFCS do this work?

More emotionally and spiritually intelligent people will be Able

to create more meaningful work, and working environments, for themselves and others able to respond to the needs of the moment and, therefore, be more effective

More

More

aware of their responsibility to themselves, their colleagues and the planet

to live more meaningful and fulfilling lives

Able

Future Plans for our Partnership

Development of core group of change agents

End of year workshop/conference to involve

clients

Supervision & mentoring

Further involvement in wider organisation

Quadruple Bottom Line

The business of the future will need to be:

Economically viable

Environmentally sound

Socially responsible

Spiritually intelligent

PricewaterhouseCoopers & Findhorn Foundation Consultancy Service

Together we can feel the difference.