Nurturing Your Business Spirit

by Cynthia L. Torkelson

Just like any other organic entity, the life of a company encounters a myriad of circumstances, obstacles, and events that cause it to stall, grow, falter or succeed. As business owners, from the moment we "open our doors" to the public, we are tested and challenged on an almost constant basis. Success or failure is fundamentally entwined with who we are – our abilities, beliefs, and values – as well as how we interpret and interact with the culture of business.

The "game" of business today is still (and always has been) survival of the strongest. Generally speaking, this creates a hazardous culture – often lacking integrity due to the survival-based, winner-take-all context of the game. Over time, these dynamics sometimes cause people to compromise or restrict their natural inclinations to play fair and treat others with respect and, ultimately, how they essentially feel about themselves. The struggle to succeed sometimes erodes our ability to sustain the motivation we started with and may diminish the overall experience itself. There are few perks in running a business, and it’s sad when the work or the culture overtakes us and robs us of its inherent joys. It can be an incredible adventure – learning, growing, evolving and succeeding – and we shouldn’t let the struggle diminish our reasons for choosing it.

There are many types of business situations that can cause us to slowly and surely cut away at what we stand for or to fundamentally shut down over time. Customers who don’t pay their invoices, a competitor who seems to be doing better than we are, a difficult employee who never actually reduces our workload, a cash flow that can’t pay all the bills, etc. Sometimes our reactions to daily circumstances are based on an overall sense of how our business is progressing. But how we choose to approach or handle any issue has a cause/effect relationship; when we take action against our own nature, without fully reconciling why those decisions or choices are appropriate, we are left with having to righteously justify our actions in order to look ourselves in the mirror every day. A succession of these types of reactions eventually cracks away at our perception of who we thought we were as decent people.

As with anything else so arduous, it is necessary to nurture your spiritual side in order to enhance both the substance and evolution of your business acumen. Understand that it’s important to make the time to reconnect with who you are, what you stand for and what you want to accomplish, as well as catching and cleansing any seeds of culture-corruption. During the rush of any given day, we rarely have the luxury of stopping and deeply thinking things through – taking time to examine the impact one decision may have in the long run. We simply come up against it and move past it in order to get to the next thing to do. By practicing this type of reconciliation, between our business and personal principles, we insure that the core groundwork of our thinking process is strong and securely underlying the choices we have to make. We are able to be effective in the moment without sacrificing our greater intentions. Most importantly, we reduce the risk of giving in to the hazards of a cutthroat culture that often demands falsification of our very nature.

Alignment of our spirit coexists with the evolution of our company and reflection must be done on a regular basis. Of course, this requires making time for it. But, especially in business, we only make time for that which we value or think is necessary for our survival. And if there’s more work to do, than time to do it in, we will sacrifice what we think is less important. So how you choose to attend to this, whatever form it takes, is a personal decision, but do it you must or you risk waking up one day to realize you’ve evolved into disillusionment. In addition, it is equally essential that we surround ourselves with other like-minded colleagues and resources. As we go along, we should search out other people who believe in fighting the good fight and holding on to integrity—a community we can turn to for rejuvenation and support. In partnership, these two components will not only cultivate a new culture but also stimulate positive energy and development.

Certainly, running a company tests every facet of who we are, both personally and professionally. Overcoming the incredible odds to become profitable as well as stable involves powerful strategy but not necessarily ruthlessness. If we perceive the hardships as detrimental versus growth enhancing, we block being able to understand the hidden messages. We end up reacting versus reconciling, becoming disheartened versus inspired, eventually surrendering versus persevering. It is only by being mindful of our fragility and staying true to our best intentions that we are able to integrate any situation in a manner that ultimately serves the company’s goals. The difficulty or ease of growth is always in tandem with the commitment of the company’s key individuals – their strength and ability to achieve the necessary objectives. The tricky part is to avoid losing or sacrificing the essence of who we are in the meantime. Together, by nurturing ourselves and rejecting the rat race, we might change that old culture and find ourselves enjoying every aspect our daily challenges.

© Cynthia L. Torkelson 2001. A Partner For Profitability and Peace of Mind, Cindy has been providing counseling to business owners and executives, as well as individuals with personal life issues, for over a decade. Contact her at: 919/ 493-0629 or BizLessons@aol.com.