While everyone in the West works towards achieving materialism, people are still unhappy although their materialistic goal is achieved. However, Bhutan has balanced the pursuing economic progress and pursuing individual meaning holistically.
This was said during the Bhutan Dialogues by a speaker who is an expert in the field of careers.
According to Edwin Trevor-Roberts (PhD), the speaker, drawing a sense of meaning from the work one does is very important. The meaning can be drawn from different sources such as the connection between values and the work, and from the people one interacts with.
“So the importance of meaning at work is that when we have a sense of meaning, we are more productive, we are happier, we enjoy our work more and we get better outcomes not just for the organisation but also for the people we are working with,” said Edwin Trevor-Roberts (PhD), the CEO of Trevor-Roberts Consultation in Australia.
He said western people have been successful in the pursuit of materialism but have realised that there is no happiness in such kind of pursuit:
“As a result, we have realised that we need to move the pendulum back to the middle to have a greater sense of meaning and have more wellbeing from our work. And you see Bhutan is coming from this side. It is coming from a side where there was a deep sense of connection with who we are as a culture and connections we have with other people. And it is now moving towards materialism.”
He said he is hopeful that different initiatives such as Bhutan Dialogues would help Bhutanese not to adopt the western culture while the westerns are trying to come back where Bhutan is right now.
“Fifteen years ago, my sense was that we were little bit more flexible. I came back two and a half years ago and I see that we seem to be very controlled by time nowadays. So we have taken on some of the attitudes of the west. Taking on this attitude is okay, it is good to come to a meeting on time but we shouldn’t become controlled by time,” said Gerald Daly, the Resident Coordinator of the UN in Bhutan.
They said every individual should have a connection to their work and have a good workplace to achieve success.
Kinley Dem
