Body, Mind and Soul

Have you ever noticed how natural things come when all the parts of you are focused in the same direction? When you have a pursuit and a passion, it is easy to get to the gym, fulfill your spiritual requirements, and get all your work done. This is the same with organizations as with organisms. Look at a school of fish. I know, they are unthinking creatures, but when we observe them in the water, the entire organization almost seems to be one being.

How can we get the same results in business? Again, it comes down to the articulation of goals, philosophies and principles to each person in the organization. We don't have mid-lines like fish, or sonar like Dolphins. We haven't all figured out how to tap into our empathy well enough to call it ESP. We need to discuss ideas, philosophies and principles and allow others to come to the same conception as we.

If you are a business leader, you should be asking questions of your employees and colleagues to make sure they are on the "same page" as you. If not, don't be afraid to have arguments with them. Healthy debate is the human mind's means of reason. Not everyone has the same perception, so convincing them to go your way will take some reasoning. Invite others to join in, the more ideas on the table, the more you encourage innovation, while at the same time having an opportunity to continually re-enforce the company's business principles and philosophy.

The goal to all this is to get your organizations Body, Mind and Soul all headed in the same direction. If you have ever been in a business environment where everyone marches in the same direction and doesn't constantly waffle; because they all know why they show up every morning and what their mission is, then you know how productive that situation can be. I try to impart this paradigm to each client organization I visit. From the CEO to the janitor, everyone should be able to give you the "elevator pitch" on what their company is and does; what their part in it is; and why they chose to take that role.

Cheers...

j