The Power of Love and Intimacy at Work

In the last couple of weeks I have had the privilege to have attended 2 networking and business development events run by Penny and Thomas Power, both based around the ethos presented in Penny’s book Business Is Personal. On both occasions I came away inspired and moved by the deep connection that was created in the room. People who before our encounter had no real knowledge of each other, came away with a deep sense of love, connection and trust. Indeed we have continued to stay connected via social media groups and the sense of ease to support and challenge each other and develop deep relationships continues. It not only gives me a great sense of fulfilment, but also belonging, I am totally engaged.

This got me thinking about love and intimacy in the world of large organisations. Many corporates and large public sector organisations are still hungry to achieve high levels of engagement, recognising the impact this has on overall performance and the services they are delivering. Its almost as if full engagement has become the holy grail for organisational success. And I agree it most certainly makes a massive different for all involved, so I wonder if we are missing a trick here by not being more mindful of creating greater levels of both these elements at work. 

There still seems to be a discomfort to talk about love and intimacy at work without it causing some kind of stir. I recall once using the word “intimacy” with a colleague when we were planning how to establish rapport and atmosphere for a workshop and he became almost school boyish in his response, jokingly but also dismissively saying “What do you mean, are we all going to have to take our clothes off?!” He like many others in business saw connecting at a deeper level as a bit awkward and inappropriate. Its almost like where we work should be divorced from the human elements of feelings and love. A bit like “Brexit means Brexit”, “business means business” but this is way too simplistic when thinking about the many dimensions of what it means to be human.

Human beings have a fundamental need to love and be loved, to create deep and meaningful relationships and through that connect and feel engaged in both what they do and the working community they are a part of. 

The leaders and organisations I work with are constantly looking for ways to enhance performance and engagement, create great places to work and are frequently challenged with effecting transformation and change. I wonder if we started from a place of love how much easier that would be?

The antithesis of love and intimacy is fear and lack of trust. In our world at the moment there is much touting of fear being expressed, invoked by our politicians both here and around the world. This completely destroys connection, trust and engagement and the freedom for people to bring their full and multi-talented selves to work.

Returning to organisations search for the holy grail of full engagement, as leaders we need to seriously consider whether we are creating love or fear around those we lead. As a coach working with both individual and teams, I can see that love and intimacy in our relationships making available, is a freedom to express ourselves without fear of judgement or humiliation. This opens up our ability to become present to possibility, make real connections, opening the door for real innovation and real engagement. What organisation or business wouldn’t want that?