We are all spiritual beings. Our spiritual nature is present in every second of every day. However, over the millennia we have at best compartmentalised our spiritual practice and consciousness, which means that we don’t tend to speak about it in the workplace. Within the workplace we do speak of team spirit, human spirit and company spirit, but we rarely link these terms to the underlying essence of spirituality, nor encourage spiritual practices in the workplace.

Defining spirituality in the workplace is proving to be a challenge for everyone who is operating in this field. Not because we don’t know what we understand by it but because the challenge lies in finding a language and an expression of it that translates in a meaningful way for everyone who is familiar with the workplace. What we do know is that honouring our spiritual nature in the workplace is not only good for our souls (or psyche) but that it is good for workplaces too. Leadership in organisations has always been a challenge, but today's challenges require ever more courage, creativity, sensitivity and inspiration. Colleagues are often searching for the meaning in what they do, and only those workplaces that are able to articulate this fundamental sense of purpose will attract the brightest and best. Those leaders who are able to connect at a spiritual level - the inspirational leaders - will be more able to bring others with them, and accessing their own spirituality will give them the courage to do so. In difficult times, spiritual practices can offer the tools for reflection and insight, and our shared spirituality offers another perspective on our mutual responsibilities each to the other in the world of work.

As practitioners of workplace spirituality we participate in a number of spiritual practises including meditation, reflection and silence, and we connect consciously with our inner knowing, higher self, beingness to inform the creative process – the process of doing, of making things happen. In the workplace this translates into the way we consider future plans and strategies, the way we connect with the purpose of the organisation, the way we face challenges and ‘problems,’ the behaviours and attitudes of our colleagues and partners, our responsibility within the community both locally and globally, and in many other areas. Spirit dwells in every facet of the workplace – the question is whether we let it in by raising our consciousness and practise active connection. Many of our articles offer perspectives on workplace spirituality and start to highlight the breadth and yet fundamental simplicity of this area of workplace development.