Why is caring for people's mental, emotional and spiritual space important?

Human beings are intrinsically valuable. We need to love them. To honour them. Whilst we share a workspace we all have a duty of care to one another. For Senior Leadership, this means demonstrating a high value for human dignity by embracing people as unique and whole people, rather than only seeing them for what they do within (or for) the organisation. Employees must be encouraged to bring their full selves to work in order to succeed and thrive in a collaborative company structure. They cannot do that without a safe emotional workspace that supports and encourages every aspect of who they are. Bringing the whole self to work reconnects people to their potential, creativity and energy. They discover their calling. They are able to be full of life while at work and this has a multiplier effect on their wider personal life outside the working environment.

When employees are made to feel like they must hide parts of themselves to avoid being "unprofessional", there is an insincerity to their work life. They are forced to put on a mask, and that takes effort that could be directed at the work itself. People may grow to resent having to hide their full selves - ultimately, they may even seek out another environment where they feel more fully embraced. When the rational is valued over the emotional, intuitive, and spiritual self, employees feel divided from their deeper nature. They don't feel truly known at work. And they will end up not only less engaged and passionate about the work but, perhaps more importantly, a lesser version of their unique, best selves.

“We have to build a more human organization, because the modern organization is so out of alignment with the evolution of our social and psychological understanding about what drives human beings. Ultimately, we are organic, emotional beings. The ability of modern organizations to actually leverage that – rather than destroy it – will be the secret of success for those organizations in the rest of this century.”

Dr Mark Powell