Business and spirituality. Completely different subjects, right? Up until recently these two areas of life were thought to be exact opposites, but new thinking is bringing spirituality into the workplace.

Everyone's identity is shaped in some way by their values, whether it's as obvious as the way we dress and our dietary customs, or as subtle as how we relate to others or respond to change.

We bring our own unique identity and a very personal way of looking at things to our jobs, but it wasn't until the early 1990s that the concept of 'workplace spirituality' emerged. At this time, employers and HR experts began to realise that people's spiritual side should be acknowledged and encouraged.

'Each of us will spend more of our waking hours working, or preparing for work, or recovering from work, than we spend on any other activity in our whole life … At the end of each day the universe is different than it was at the beginning, and our work is one of the most important aspects of that change.'
Brian A. Hiebert, taken from Your Soul at Work

Skills, experience and your 'spiritual quotient'
Spiritual intelligence is fast being recognised as a good feature for a worker to possess. According to www.spiritualintelligenceunit.com, your spiritual quotient, or SQ, is 'grounded in the awareness and understanding of your true identity and nature, the meaning and purpose of life, and the values that are vital to living a harmonious life'.

A whole host of high-profile companies are including spiritual intelligence in their HR strategies. Nokia, Unilever, McKinsey, Shell, Coca-Cola, Hewlett Packard, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Starbucks and the Co-operative Bank have all embraced the SQ concept, according to industry magazine Personnel Today.

But why are corporations interested in our SQ? The thinking goes that someone with spiritual awareness has the qualities needed by modern business - exploration, co-operation, self-awareness, and an ability to put company rather than personal ambition first.

Working for a common cause
In addition, individuals and teams who are working for higher goals - seeking achievements that benefit people or places beyond themselves - are likely to experience the commitment and self-actualisation that can bring success and reputation to their organisation.

Put crudely, companies are recognising that spirituality can help motivate the workforce, boost their profits and increase productivity.

Yet this may be more than business simply looking for a new competitive edge. There is hope that by embracing spirituality, the corporate world itself can become less 'soulless' and more sustainable, ethical and holistic.

'From this perspective it's no longer about "me and you" but about "us". It's not separation; it's integration. It's not isolation; it's an understanding that we are all part of one great big interwoven system. These new ideas are critical to understanding how we can make shifts in organisational culture, collaboration and teamwork.'
Danah Zohar, author of SQ: Connecting with Our Spiritual Intelligence

Opening up to spirituality
New groups have sprung up to embrace this more spiritual perspective. Based in Denmark, the Spiritual Business Network hopes to 'drown the noise of hectic and stressful competition, which is only for the benefit of the privileged few', by using a spiritual approach to business.

Business benefits
Many businesses would probably prefer to keep work and spirituality separate, but there could be some wider benefits.

Rabbi Michael Lerner suggests that many of us 'have a wealth of wisdom which [we] may not recognise or label as "spiritual", but which really is'.

Our growing interest in spiritual intelligence could serve to change current ideas of what society sees as valuable and useful, and place a far greater emphasis on the value of spirituality within the workplace.

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