0861 THEBEMED [email protected]

0861 THEBEMED

Thebemed Logo

Accessible Care . Affordable Prices

Thebemed Wellness Cafe’

Part 4 – Engaging the Whole-being of the Employee – a Holistic Approach

Oct 9, 2018 | NEWS2USE

Thebemed Wellness Cafe’

There is a difference in meaning from having a job, having a livelihood, and pursuing a vocation. Research shows that currently there are more people in South Africa subsisting on social security grants than those who are employed. The stats in this article are an interesting read.

Then there are many millions who have found alternative means of making some sort of a living. But ultimately ‘meaning’ is found in following a calling.

‘Having a job’ is essentially a way of earning a regular income. With millions of South Africans officially unemployed and with the growing challenge to rote work presented by artificial intelligence and robotics, we face a fundamental shift from the typical employment patterns of the industrial age. That is why this current economic era is characterised as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’.

In the so-called informal sector people create their own livelihoods; they are essentially self-employed entrepreneurs. That applies whether in collecting recyclable waste for reward or offering haircuts in people’s homes. And it might even be that there is more satisfaction in having a livelihood, however menial, than simply doing a job for a basic salary. In a previous posting we examined the contribution of employee engagement and disengagement to company productivity. We suggest that when employees become able to convert their jobs to vocations the activity becomes imbued with meaning, and thus that addresses the third factor of meaningfulness that we saw contributes so significantly to a ‘sense of coherence’ as describe in part 4 of this theme

What then is a vocation? Typically it describes an activity where productive engagement with life follows some calling. Whether it is teaching, nursing, medicine, design, craftsmanship, art, etc.; the salary becomes less important. The product or service produced for fellow human beings becomes the key issue.

Why is it that so many successful entrepreneurs who might have made a fortune in their business endeavours, ultimately find deeper satisfaction in supporting altruistic initiatives?

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) trainer, Roberts Dilts, provides a deeply integrative model that helps define the experience of living a life with a calling – or pursuing a vocation. And along with that comes a quality of resilience that exemplifies an indomitable spirit. Dilts relates the transformation to ‘whole-being’ to an evolutionary inward path of growth to self-awareness and personal responsibility.

Firstly it requires mindfulness of the living context. The question is: “Where do you spend your time, where does life find you, where does your attention predominantly go?”

Secondly it requires mindfulness of one’s own responses. The question is: “What are you doing with your time, what are your predominant activities, what will folks be seeing you doing and hearing you saying?”

Thirdly it requires mindfulness of your competencies, aptitudes, experience, and acquired skills. The question is: “What are you good at, what comes naturally, what have you learned to do well?”

Fourthly it requires mindfulness of your core values – the principles by which one chooses to live. The question is: “What is truly important to you, what criteria apply when you make your important decisions? What simply goes against the grain so that you refuse to become involved, what would you be prepared to sacrifice my life for?”

Fifthly it requires mindfulness of your enabling (or disenabling) beliefs. The question is: “What vision of possibility do you hold for the future, for yourself, for your family, for your community, for society, for the world?”

Sixthly it requires mindfulness of your own identity. The question is: “Who am you, who are you becoming, how do you want to present yourself to the world, how do you want to be known?”

Finally it requires a developing sense of purpose – of how ultimately to find meaning in life. The question is: “What is the legacy you choose to leave by your everyday interactions with your fellow human beings and life, when Your life is over, what is the gift you would have wanted to give to the world?”

When those questions have been addressed, you will have evolved through Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from survival to security, to fellowship, to self-esteem, and ultimately to self-actualisation. This does not require that you become a rocket scientist or a saint – but it does require mindful living. And with that mindfulness even the most menial task can become a vocation. When leadership becomes capable of instilling that mindfulness in their organisations employees will become powerfully aligned in an increasingly successful organisation.

How can your employees function with a defined sense of purpose – appreciating the value the company brings to society?

YOU CAN COMMUNICATE DIRECTLY WITH US, WITHOUT OBLIGATION, ON EMAIL, OR BY REQUESTING A SKYPE MEETING. WE LOOK FORWARD TO GENERATIVE CONVERSATIONS.

Email: [email protected]   Skype: claudiuspvwyk

Latest Posts

Free yourself from social media stress

Free yourself from social media stress

We live in a switched-on world in which it’s almost unthinkable to be without social media for so much as a day. According to Statista, a company specialising in market and consumer data, around 30 million South Africans were on social networking sites in 2019. What’s more, this number is set to grow to close to 50 million by 2026!

Empower yourself: Beat workplace bullying

Empower yourself: Beat workplace bullying

There’s no two ways about it: being bullied isn’t just tough in the moment, it continues to take a toll in other areas of your life.
Bullying leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. It shatters your self-esteem and increases your risk of anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and self-harm. It can even result in physical health problems like high blood pressure, stomach pain and poor appetite.

Is COVID-19 related to your genes?

Is COVID-19 related to your genes?

It’s something that has puzzled researchers from the start of the pandemic – why do some people experience severe illness, and others do not? These differences extend beyond known risk factors – like age, and existing disease.
To answer this question, researchers began studying the genetics of people exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and were able to identify links between developing the disease and variations in specific parts of their DNA.

TB awareness – the role of chronic stress and mental health in disease risk

TB awareness – the role of chronic stress and mental health in disease risk

The pandemic has highlighted the idea of a disease being front and center in all aspects of our lives. However, for someone living with a chronic condition, this has been their reality long before COVID-19 came along, and the pandemic has simply made things worse.
Economic, social and psychological distress is common amongst those living with chronic conditions, such as tuberculosis (TB).

Standing up for yourself and others

Standing up for yourself and others

Underlying all human rights is a deep respect for human life. There are those passionate people whose daily lives center around defending and upholding these precious rights so that we can all live in a more caring and just world. Each one of us can take inspiration from this and make choices that demonstrate how our own personal values uphold human rights.

You May Also Like:

Free webinar: how to boost immune system

Free webinar: how to boost immune system

You are invited to join a free webinar on how to boost your immune system against  the Covid-19 pandemic. Don’t forget your greatest asset in the fight against the coronavirus is the body’s natural disease fighting defense - your amazing immune system. For example of...

read more
What’s love got to do with management culture?

What’s love got to do with management culture?

Tina Turner’s number one hit asks: ‘What’s love gotta do with it – what’s love but a second-hand emotion?’ Remember the song?
As a matter of fact, love plays an increasingly important role in creating an empowered culture. Especially in these times of rapid change, employees must learn to adapt and acquire new competencies quickly and continually. Building on going learning into team culture requires managers to nurture their people through the process of acquiring confidence in their new capacities. Nurturing is, therefore, not only an expression of kindness, it is a real strategy for team empowerment.

read more