What the Dalai Lama
Can Teach Us about Employee Engagement
How a Few Basic Ideas Will Transform Your Workplace and Your
Life
This week, I was fortunate enough to see the Dalai Lama
speak at an event sponsored by Emory University in Atlanta. I am not a practicing
Buddhist, nor particularly familiar with his teachings. But I was excited to be
in the presence of a leader who is changing the world by promoting peace, love
and understanding. What I wasn’t expecting is how easily I related his
teachings to the field of employee engagement.
What, you might ask, could a Tibetan Monk know about
employee engagement? Do they even have employees at monasteries?
Technically, His Holiness did not explicitly address
employee engagement. But he was close. He spoke about principles that lead to
personal happiness and wellbeing including compassion, love and respect. The
practice of these principles also becomes the basis for healthy interpersonal
relationships. When scaled out far enough, they create conditions that lead to world
peace. In short, respect of self and
others leads to trust, which leads to friendship and collaboration, which leads
to happiness. Conversely, a lack of compassion and respect leads to distrust
and competition – and other similar emotions that can be very bad for health,
peace of mind and society.
Those of you have been reading this blog over time will
appreciate that the word “trust” rang some bells for me as my dissertation
research showed that trust is a critical factor underpinning employee
engagement. In fact, I have argued that
trust is the single most important workplace feature that a leader can
cultivate. Apparently, not surprisingly, this truth holds over a variety of
contexts!
Some other insights I came away with can be best categorized
as “insights for the engaged leader.” For example, he called the audience to
cultivate a “trained sense of concern for others’ wellbeing,” and to practice
pairing this with wise discernment – as good a call to leadership as I’ve heard
recently. He also modeled leadership behaviors, including being wholly present with his co-presenters, and asking smart, informed questions about the research scientists presented to him.
He also reminded us that in today’s world, real
challenges require real change. The end to conflicts at a large and small scale requires that we value the common interest at least as much as our individual interests. He also noted that change starts from within, and action is more
important than faith. Practicing respect and compassion is
one way we can all lead change in our personal and professional lives alike.
What teachers from
unexpected arenas have influenced your employee engagement practice and how?
