Conscious
Organzations
Mindfulness culture at work.
Unprecedented complexity and challenges
If our world is to have a sustainable and happy future, we need to reimagine the way we work together. The challenges facing us are global and complex, and will need large numbers of people working in coordinated, compassionate and wise action.
Challenges with current organizational models
The “Great Resignation” point to the dissatisfaction people are feeling with traditional organizational models.
How do we develop new models of working together that harness our joint energy and creativity in a way fit to meet the challenges of our time?
For-Profit Business:
What Strengths Should We Take From This Model?
For-profit businesses are a huge force in our world and typically have many strengths such as:
Highly action and result oriented
Functional/efficient in operations
Strong in business development (planning, strategy, marketing/sales)
Innovation driven
But most businesses are working in a very limited paradigm of quarterly earnings and KPI targets. Human well-being, social and environmental impacts, and a wider view of being of service to the world are often weaker or missing. This imbalance, especially in the face of our common global challenges, is driving a huge dissatisfaction amongst workers.
Non-Profits, Charities and social ventures
What can we learn from these models?
Non-profits, charities and social ventures also have many strengths including:
Strong mission-focus
Meaningful work and engagement
Social ventures have innovative business models
These are key elements to incorporate in a conscious organization. However all too typically these organizations are running on burn out and in poverty mind-sets, or are organizationally dysfunctional.
Drawing From An Unconventional Model:
What We Can Learn From The Monastery
One organizational model often overlooked, but which was a primary and successful model for collaboration at many times in our history is the monastery.
Consider old European monasteries that flourished as financially sustainable learning centres for hundreds of years. Or Tibetan temple complexes organizing 1000s of monks and nuns around a common vision.
Some key strengths of the “monastery” organization are:
Rooted in wisdom and a view of something bigger
Strong contemplative practice
Motivation for compassionate service
Strong personal and group vision, mission, values
The Monastery, The Non-Profit And The Corporation:
Can We Integrate The Best Of These Organizational Models?
The conscious organization combines the strengths of these models:
The “monastery”
Rooted in wisdom and a view of something bigger
Strong contemplative practice
Motivation for compassionate service
Strong personal and group vision, mission, values
The “non-profit”
Engaged work
Innovative business model
The “corporation”
Highly action and result oriented
Functional/efficient in operations
Strong in business development and innovation
The conscious organization model can be visualized as a spectrum running from wisdom and compassion on one side through to operations and functionality on the other. Different organization types typically are stronger in one area of the spectrum than another.
