Is meditation another way to motivate, or why does Google provide rooms for them?

We all know about the fact that there are not enough IT specialists and that they are being hunted and various retention strategies and motivations of retained employees are being introduced.

Although it is surprising, Google has become an innovator in this process, the company has already launched a project of training employees of meditation and awareness for a couple of years. As part of this project, Google invites renowned teachers of Buddhism for lectures and education, builds meditation rooms, etc.
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Why it can work and how you can use these methods in your company under the cut.

How companies keep professionals and results.

In today's overheated IT market, programmers and other industry professionals have become a valuable resource that constitutes the core business value (primary resource). Therefore, companies are forced to develop strategies for motivating and retaining employees. The following methods are widespread:

• full satisfaction of the basic needs of a specialist in Maslow’s theory ( well written here ) - salary, insurance, fitness, corporate parties, holidays.
• personal growth - language training, growth of professional skills, etc.
• creating an internal brand of the team - we are good (the best, the real, etc.)

When these methods of influence exhaust themselves (depending on the person's psycho-type, but for most people they last for 3-7 years), then there is another good method - the physical movement of a person to another country. If a company has offices in several countries of the world, moving an employee with his family motivates him for about 5-7 years of joyful and initiative work.

However, sooner or later, but there always comes a time when an employee gets tired morally (either mentally or ...) and productivity drops and problems in communication and ... he changes his job, and the company has mega problems - you need to look for a new person and introduce him into the product and the team. And in the conditions of modern speeds it is expensive and difficult.

Therefore, any tool that allows you to extend the effective state of employees with an acceptable level of financial and labor costs has a high value and implementation potential.

Why the practice of meditation is suitable as one of the facets of motivation.

So, we have the facts, Google launched a training program for meditation staff, builds a labyrinth and rooms for meditation (sources at the end of the article). The leaders of major IT companies in Silicon Valley meet with Buddhist teachers and also implement these methods.

That is, the time has come for a new tool to increase efficiency - money, career growth, insurance and cooperatives, and even relocations have already passed many, and the schedule of enthusiasm (and overall productivity) is going down. And the flagships of the industry have chosen Buddhist meditation (I emphasize the view, as there are many of them) as a new tool for improving efficiency and motivation.

What is there in this practice that allows you to restart the internal motor of enthusiasm and self-motivate entire teams and / or individual employees?

To understand it is necessary to begin with the basics. Of course, I will denote everything thesis and only what fits with our topic. Thousands of books have been written on this topic, and even the direct teaching of the Buddha occupies 108 volumes. That is unrealistic to fit all in one article.

Even probably the points. So, according to the Buddhist theory:

1. We live endlessly in the cycle of rebirth, our mind (approximately the soul, consciousness, but NOT the logical mind or our self-determination, our Self) was not born and will never die
2. Our (and, in general, any sentient beings) basic need is happiness.
3. In search of happiness, we try to attract all that is pleasant and push away the unpleasant. At the same time, we all perceive apart - there are phenomena, people, happiness, unhappiness, etc.
4. According to Buddhism, absolutely all things and phenomena are interrelated and do not have an independent being. Also absolutely everything is impermanent - there is nothing unchanged, neither planets, nor love, nor life, nor death, nor happiness, nor unhappiness, nor ....
5. Therefore, everything that we feel and perceive is illusory and temporary. At the level of emotions, if I feel angry, then I chose this unpleasant feeling myself and with the same success I can feel joy. The rationale "I am angry because ..." is only the habits of the mind.
6. Since everything happens in our mind and does not have an independent existence, we are completely free to choose our own world and sensations.
7. However, we cannot simply choose “happiness and efficiency”, as this most likely will not work due to mental habits that have been forming over a very long time.
8. To restructure the mind in Buddhism, there are special methods - logical explanations + meditation.
9. Logical explanations can take up very little space, the main thing being regular meditations.
10. The primary result of meditation is great self-sufficiency and at the same time connectedness with people and the outside world, as well as calm, joy, energy, enthusiasm and a bunch of other features that are so necessary for effective work. How valuable such as the quality of patience and compassion - our other comrade is angry and mows - we help him and improve his work. And it happens naturally.
11. Corporate goal achieved.

I want to note that Buddhism, of course, goes far beyond the described states, but at the same time does not deny (even approves) the value of ordinary human happiness. It is believed that a happy and active (in work, family and the world) people - the best basis for the subsequent full Awakening.

What to do, where to run?

How to begin to introduce a fashionable feature of meditation into the company and how to avoid the dropouts and charlatans who revolve around this fashionable term?

It seems to me that before raising the question of choosing the right school of Buddhism (there are many), correct meditations (which are even more) and correct implementation of all this into the life of the company, the head of the company is important to try these methods yourself and make sure that regular meditation and training successfully overcome the crisis of "familiarity of standard carrots."

If there is a real reboot or manager upgrade, it will become clearer how to work with and implement it.

In my opinion, it is definitely not worthwhile to sign up for this by third-party organizations or, even worse, incomprehensible personalities. First, go through yourself, then with the help of people tested on yourself, then introduce those who will implement further in the organization. Self-motivation is a terrible virus.

Google also acted - one of the employees founded Search Inside Yourself, which is now engaged not only in training employees, but also outside people and organizations.

Google meditation facts

• Google invites famous Buddhist teachers for lectures on life and meditation training ( source - The Guardian's initial source)
• Google launched the program Search Inside Yourself in which compiles the methods of Buddhist meditation and modern neuroscience ( source )
• more than a thousand employees have completed the training; more than 400 on the queue; a labyrinth for meditation has been built ( source )

To be continued >>

If this topic turns out to be interesting for the Habrasoobshchestvo, I can try to cover the following topics:

• Historical practices of meditation for groups of people (monasteries, communities, etc.) and their use in the modern world.
• Practical methods of corporate "self-motivation" (you need to register this term for yourself) - that is, when the initial motivation process starts, and then the person motivates himself.