Creating a Soulful Workplace by Jardena London
My soul was crushed on my very first day in the corporate world. I had just moved to NJ, ready to start my big grown-up life, and I just started working for AT&T, the most stable company in the world at that time.
Just hours into my first day, after lunch, they announced layoffs. Though I wasn’t laid off, it crushed my soul.
When I ask people to think about a time their soul was crushed at work,everyone has an example.
I hear stories about layoffs, people’s ideas being shot down, bureaucracy getting in the way of getting work done, and all kinds of other workplace frustrations.
As I continued along in my career, I was shocked that all the smart people who studied computer science were failing so miserably at delivering working software. It became my mission in life to solve this mystery.
What I didn’t know at the time was that I was actually solving two problems: a process problem (practical) and a people problem (soulful). There was a vicious cycle at play, but I wondered if it could become a virtuous cycle.
What I’ve learned in the time since then is that anything can be soul-filling or soul-crushing. A few of my favorite tricks for infusing the soul into work are below:
Naming the parts of any practice or process that are soul-filling gives it energy and legitimacy.
For example, in my work, I help teams prioritize. I was helping one team prioritize better with the goal of efficiency and speed. As we worked through the prioritization techniques, I showed them how to deal with new requests from their boss when they were already busy. “Just point to the prioritization list and ask, ‘Where does your request fit on this list?” I could see their shoulders straighten, released from the heavy burden of trying to do it all, decide what to focus on, and defend each action. I named it right there, “The prioritization board now holds the burden of managing capacity limits so that overwork won’t crush your soul!” By pointing that out, it became real and sustainable.
Language is also so important. I never want to be the word police, but words do have power, and they create energy. When I speak at conferences, I request to be the opening keynote speaker because I find that the word “Soulful” gets woven throughout the rest of the conference.
Consider how it feels in your body. What happens for you when you read, “I want this team to succeed, achieve, win!” Now consider how it feels to read this: “I want this team to Flourish, Thrive!” The first sentence feels militaristic, creating a laser-focused energy that will undoubtedly meet its goal. For some, this feels energetic; for me, it feels anxious and myopic. The second one sets a different energy, leaving more room for learning and new possibilities. Notice how you feel when you hear specific words in your workplace. Without criticizing others, just try incorporating different words into your own language.
Connecting practices with their soul-filling purpose and using soulful language are different ways I incorporate soulfulness into my leadership.
Bringing soulfulness into the workplace doesn’t require a framework or consultants; all it needs is an extra 3 seconds of attention to ask yourself, “What would make this soul-filling?”
There is no reason that work should crush our souls. Work is an integral part of society, and we should be fulfilled by it. And we all know that soulful workplaces produce thriving results!
Jardena London is on a mission to create thriving work places that also feed our souls. She’s a Business Transformation Consultant, author and keynote speaker. Her award-winning book, “Cultivating Transformations: A Leader’s Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practical” has been described as “the book you buy and carry around with you everywhere.” Learn more about Jardena and sign up for the bi-weekly newsletter at jardenalondon.com.
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