An Exercise to Embrace Your Whole Selves at Work
You've probably heard the phrase "bring your whole self to work," but what does that really mean?
"Wholeness" can be a tough concept to grasp, especially since we often recognize it more by its absence. It shows up in those moments when we feel ignored, when we hide parts of who we are, or when we just don’t feel fully welcome.
So, what does bringing our whole selves to work look like?
Here's a model to help you understand your whole self, identify which parts you're struggling to bring to work, and find ways to embrace them.
The I.N.S.P.I.R.E Model for Embracing Wholeness at Work
To help strengthen your understanding and experience of wholeness, Renee Smith shared the I.N.S.P.I.R.E model in her “To Work: With Love” podcast by Gut+Science. This model outlines the different aspects that make up our whole selves.
Identities
Our identities encompass factors like race, gender, age, ethnicity, orientation, ability, and the experiences we've had in life. They shape our perspectives, worldviews, and how we move through the world.
iNtuition
Our intuition represents the deep knowing that often comes from our culture or life experiences. It's the wisdom and instincts we've cultivated over time, informing our gut reactions and sixth sense.
Spirit
Our spirit is our sense of connection to a purpose and energy beyond ourselves. It's the drive for meaning and contribution that motivates us and fuels our passion.
Physical Body
Our physical bodies, with their abilities and disabilities, are just as they are. How we experience the world is fundamentally tied to our embodied existence.
Intellect
Our intellect includes our mental capacity, what we know, how we think, and our formal or informal education. It's our capacity for logic, analysis, and conceptual understanding.
Relationships
As social beings, we learn and make sense of the world through our relationships. Our connections to others deeply influence our realities and ways of seeing.
Emotions
We feel emotions in response to experiences, and those feelings manifest in our bodies as part of being human. Allowing ourselves to feel and make sense of emotions provides critical data.
Bringing Our Whole Selves to Work
Each of these aspects is a source of wisdom and insight, providing data that should be valued. Our human work is to know, love, embrace, and integrate all parts of ourselves, to be fully present, and to bring our full ways of knowing to the world – including our work.
Too often, however, we're told to leave parts of ourselves behind at work, bringing only our mental and physical capacities. But the truth is, each aspect of us can inspire our work and bring unique insights if it's welcomed.
For example, someone's spirit and passion for environmental sustainability might lead them to question unsustainable practices at work. Someone's emotional intuition might help them better empathize with customers. An employee's experience as a parent might give them special insights into family-friendly policies.
By allowing people to show up wholly, with all their diverse perspectives and experiences, we exponentially expand our collective intelligence as teams and organizations. We gain access to a wealth of ideas and solutions we'd otherwise overlook.
The Wholeness Exercise
To explore and strengthen your own wholeness, try this exercise. Bring a piece of paper and a pen. It won’t take you more than 15-20 minutes.
List out the INSPIRE factors: Identities, Intuition, Spirit, Physical Body, Intellectual Capacity, Relationships, Emotions.
Describe what's true for you in each area.
Ask yourself: How do these inform my work? How do they show up in my work? How do they impact what I do each day?
Some connections may be obvious, while others may take time to recognize. Over the next few weeks, notice and make notes on how your various aspects manifest in your work.
Also, pay attention to what you feel comfortable bringing to work and what you hold back. Consider the impacts of suppressing parts of yourself. Do you censor certain perspectives or ideas? Do you downplay aspects of your identity? Notice how it feels to bring more of yourself versus less.
The Brilliance of Wholeness
As you engage with this exercise, you'll likely notice how your brilliance and unique insights at work stem from your whole self. If this is true for you, it's true for everyone else too!
By creating our own wholeness and inviting others to do the same, we cultivate psychological safety and trust, opening up greater possibilities for our teams. We can build strong, whole relationships and communication, improve processes, connect daily work to purpose, and ultimately work with love and thrive.
Imagine the potential of teams and organizations where everyone feels seen, respected, and able to fully contribute their diverse perspectives and experiences. Where all the richness of our combined wisdom and ways of knowing could be brought to bear on problems and opportunities. That is the promise of wholeness.
The path to thriving starts with embracing our wholeness – and inviting everyone else to do the same. It begins with each of us doing the profound work of knowing, loving, and integrating all aspects of who we are.
