What the Dalai Lama Can Teach Us about Employee Engagement

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?