How to restore soul to work?

How to restore soul to work? How to bring humanity back in dehumanizing systems, that put technology and processes above people? These questions are central to my work, to my studies and to my conversations with other consultants and clients.

It is striking how easy it is in the workplace to abandon attention to our colleagues. We rush. We optimize. We go to the point. We pursue targets. All in the name of performance and productivity.

Simon Weil wrote: “The afflicted need nothing else in this world but people capable of giving them attention”. To give attention, to attend to another person, is to see them fully, beyond labels or roles, and to acknowledge their intrinsic worth. It is a willingness to receive reality without imposing our own pre-conceived notions. It is a practice of stilling our mind, to experience the other one without feeling the need to act or react immediately. Instead, caring about their lived experiences, listening without judging. Attention, not as a means to an end, another productivity tool. Attention as an end in itself. Attending to people not because it helps us meet our goals, but because they are people. And that is reason enough.

*I work as a Board Adviser, Team and Executive Coach and Leadership Consultant. I like to explore the applications of art, music, philosophy and psychology in my practice*

Painting by Frédéric Bazille (1841-1872), Bazille's Studio