Key Messages
A Guide To Creating A Conscious Business: Balancing The It, The We, And The I
Do you want to create a conscious business and succeed? If yes, then you’ve come to the right place.
In this book, we’ll discuss how doing business consciously is the key to success and walk you through turning your company into one.
You’ll learn why balancing it,the we and the I is important for a successful business;how to resolve conflicts through constructive negotiations;and am I a player or a victim? -all of which are essential for running a successful conscious business.
We’ll also share strategies such as understanding the importance of discipline when communicating with employees, having an open-mind in negotiations and working hard so that your values remain at the core of your decision making process.
By following our guide, you will be well-equipped to build and operate a conscious business that not only succeeds but is driven by your own unique vision and mission.
How To Create A Conscious Business That Values Relationships And Meaningful Work
If you want to ensure greater business success, becoming a conscious company is the key.
In Good to Great, author Jim Collins stresses the importance of higher values in order for companies to achieve and maintain success in the long run.
This means hiring conscious employees who take responsibility for their actions and know how to communicate constructively without compromising their core values, rather than unconscious employees who tend to undermine a business.
It’s not just about hiring conscious employees though.
There must also be a balance of impersonal, interpersonal and personal dimensions within the business for it to truly be considered a conscious company.
The impersonal elements typically include things like shareholder value, productivity and other technical considerations; the interpersonal involves relationships among different people within your company; and finally, the personal relates to each individual’s happiness and desire for meaningful work and an overall mindful life.
Too often managers focus solely on this impersonal side while neglecting these necessary human elements – but when they’re all working together in harmony, that’s when a true conscious business is formed that is set up for even greater success than before!
Taking Responsibility Is The Key To Becoming A Player At Work
Taking responsibility for your actions is the first step toward building a conscious business.
Just look at Esteban, whose team was understaffed and yet he chose to remain passive and blame it on someone else instead of taking action himself.
That’s a classic example of playing the victim – something that certain people do in an attempt to build themselves up but only ends up detracting from their self-esteem in the long run.
Players, meanwhile, are always willing to take ownership of their own problems instead of blaming someone else for them.
They understand that even though there may be things outside their control, they still must focus on what they can control and use that knowledge to find a solution.
This type of attitude and behavior is essential for creating Conscious Businesses, where everyone takes responsibility for their actions and works together to create positive outcomes.
So if you want to become more accountable at work – start by adopting the language players use: Instead of giving up hope say “I havn’t found a solution yet”; instead of resigning yourself to leaving say “I want to leave” – This shift in mindset will help you become more mindful about your own part in any situation which creates positive change in your life and workplace!
We Should Celebrate Make Commitment To Integrity And Process Over Outcomes
It’s easy to get caught up in the need for outcomes, instead of focusing on process.
But when you place too much emphasis on one or the other, your integrity can suffer as a result.
That’s why it’s important to focus more on process than on outcomes if you want to ensure that your actions are in line with your values.
Take Barry, for example; he was an automotive plant manager with an assembly team who were having trouble with some machines that weren’t performing accordingly.
When the factory manager wasn’t willing to make changes, the team still kept searching for a solution – even though they had already achieved success going by their efforts alone.
This is a great example of success beyond success; not just because they found a solution but also because they remained true to their values and didn’t sacrifice quality in the production process by reducing standards.
Ultimately, it matters far more that you stick by your values rather than achieving any kind of outcome quickly – because this preserves your integrity and shows others what you truly stand for.
Developing Ontological Humility Can Help Us Appreciate Different Perspectives And Avoid Conflict
We can all agree that everyone sees and experiences the world differently.
It’s easy to forget this, but it is extremely important to recognize and respect these differences, as well as learn from them.
Jean Piaget’s classic experiment involving blocks of wood highlights this perfectly; when he asked the children what color they saw, the younger kids said green, while the older ones knew that he was looking at the red side.
This was a clear indication of how people can have different perspectives, and recognizing this fact is essential in order to prevent conflict in organizational settings.
The solution is to develop ontological humility — an attitude of understanding and respecting other people’s points of view.
A study conducted by The Wall Street Journal discovered that among management problems, cultural differences would often be one of the leading causes for misunderstanding between colleagues or customers.
Therefore, we should make sure to be aware of our own experiences, while being open-minded enough to learn from different points of view.
As such we will be able to create a harmonious environment that embraces diversity and encourages collaboration.
How To Improve Your Conversations For More Meaningful Dialogues
When it comes to having productive conversations in business, saying what you mean and establishing common ground with your conversational partner are key.
Engaging in productive expression is a great way to do both.
This includes describing the problem from each person’s perspective so that the solution can feel fair and equal on both sides.
Another helpful tip for reaching common ground is providing facts about the situation instead of just subjective statements – this makes it much easier for everyone to understand each other, as well as provide insight into how the issue can best be addressed.
For example, instead of saying “Our help desk stinks”, you could say “Last month only 20 percent of calls were picked up within three minutes”.
Remember that when it comes to conversation, defensiveness will only hold you back and prevent you from expressing yourself effectively.
So don’t be afraid to speak your truth, but also make sure to do so in a collaborative fashion!
Constructive Negotiation Is The Key To Resolving Conflicts Positively
Conflict in business can have serious consequences if it is not handled properly.
Many managers try to deny or avoid the conflict, but this is a deeply flawed approach.
Denial involves pretending a problem doesn’t exist and avoidance means acknowledging the issue but refusing to deal with it.
Both of these solutions fail to create solutions that will be accepted by all stakeholders, leaving either a winner and a loser or a watered-down compromise that no one is happy with.
The key to resolving conflicts in business is constructive negotiation – creating an atmosphere of mutual learning where all stakeholders can reach agreements that satisfy everyone’s needs and interests without giving someone an unfair advantage.
Constructive negotiation acknowledges differences and encourages people to be cooperative instead of competitive while finding solutions that are beneficial for everyone involved.
By engaging in constructive negotiation, you can effectively handle conflicts without resorting to denial or avoidance.
Master Your Emotions Through Self-Awareness, Self-Acceptance, And Forgiveness
If you’re serious about running a successful, conscious business, then it’s important that you learn how to better control your emotions.
Too often, our emotions can get the best of us and mess things up in business.
This is why mastering our emotions is a necessary part of running an effective operation.
We first need to be aware of these emotions and accept them for what they are – totally natural responses to whatever situations we may find ourselves in, whether good or bad.
It’s all about having the self-awareness to recognize where these feelings come from and how they affect our actions and decision-making processes.
We need to step back and observe our feelings, allowing us the chance to decide which ones are worth acting on versus those that can wait until another time.
Another method for mastering our emotions is forgiveness – not from a place of superiority, but rather from a place of understanding and acceptance.
By letting go of anger and hatred towards others, we create room for more positive change in the future.
From Competition To Cooperation: The Purpose Of Conscious Business
When it comes to creating a conscious business, self-awareness and concern for the team’s well-being are key.
This begins with reaching an egocentric stage of concern, where people care only about their own well-being.
From there, they move on to an ethnocentric stage in which they also care about other members of their tribe or community.
Then comes the world-centric stage, when people become aware that what they do affects everyone else in the world and they strive to benefit them all.
At the highest level is spirit-centric consciousness in which individuals experience a wholeness transcending any superficial divisions; through this level of awareness, competition can be seen as an opportunity for cooperation and development of the highest inner nature.
Achieving this goal starts with having a team filled with responsible individuals who have integrity and value alignment for their work.
This creates a scenario where each one does what’s best for all rather than just themselves, setting the environment for successful growth and ultimate satisfaction for every member of the team.
With such members helping out each other to progress together as a group or organization, you get much more than just “business as usual” – you get success from creating a conscious business!
Wrap Up
In Conscious Business, the main takeaway from the book is that you can create a business model that is both profitable and values-driven.
By creating space for personal values in business, you can develop a company that is not just effective but also deeply devoted to upholding the well-being and integrity of those in it.
The book provides readers with concrete guidelines to help them set up a conscious business, from understanding core values and vision to establishing clear goals and mission statements to fostering an open culture and ensuring that everyone has equal opportunities to work successfully together.
Ultimately, this will enable companies to prioritize people’s health, needs and feelings over profits which will result in long term sustainability of their business model.
