Corporate Tai Chi is the business application of tai chi, a martial and meditative system of exercise. It holds many alternatives for the corporate world as a stress management tool and an attitude enhancer. For those unfamiliar, tai chi is the slow, fluid movement originating from China, practiced at parks, studios and beaches throughout the world. It has been taken to the corporation because of its synergistic fit and cascading benefits.

It has been demonstrated worldwide that certain drivers predict employee productivity which drives profit. I will touch upon seven: stress, recognition, leadership, benefits, environment, economy and industry competition. They are all related to each other, one affects the other and they are all affected positively by corporate tai chi.

STRESS
People become stressed from not having a "relief valve" system in their corporate structure, no matter how much they enjoy their work. Corporate tai chi offers this relief. Daily, there are studies citing how stress at work is directly related to revenue stream and how employees function at a higher level without it. So one could conclude that less is more. Less stress, better health and on-task focus. Better health, less sick time. More time on task, more productivity. Better focus, higher task completion. More productivity, more profit.

RECOGNITION
It is a known fact that one of the biggest drivers of productivity is employee recognition. Many people say that the number one reason they leave a job is because no one has praised their worth, that they are invisible. The installation of enhanced working conditions such as corporate tai chi or other mind/body programming is one way to recognize employee worth, comfort and value. This is demonstrated by the popularity, low turnover and stability of companies today, like Google, best-known for giving this holistic type of recognition. Less turnover, less expense. Less expense, more profit.

LEADERSHIP
The strength of the leadership in a corporation strongly influences productivity. If you are loyal to your leader, you will produce more. If corporate tai chi is installed, you will see a more balanced leadership as the program diminishes the stress levels of the leadership. If the leadership is calmer and more focused, it will be more efficient, with more presence, with better direction. If leadership installs effective programming to balance the team, productivity rises. Of course, loyalty to leadership means better work. Better work, more production, more revenue.

BENEFITS
When you think about it, the expression "what's in it for me" may come up, whether we are attached to the principle of trade outlined in Ayn Rand's book, "Atlas Shrugged," where we agree that it is our responsibility to produce for our own benefit or whether we study humility. As employees, we look for benefits, even if the benefit is benefitting others. As leadership, we do the same thing. Corporate tai chi is a benefit that has the potential to destress, recognize, tune up and. ultimately, increase revenue. Worth considering.

CORPORATE CULTURE
A peaceful corporate culture is a strong one. People take on the qualities of their surroundings. Because tai chi creates balance, energy and motivation; corporate tai chi has the chance to create worklife balance and elevated culture. The peaceful result of tai chi practice has the chance to permeate the corporate environment and revitalize it. As the corporate culture grows, the employee feels more at home. The more devoted the employee, the more s/he is likely to stay. The less turnover, the less expense. The less expense, the more profit.

ECONOMY
Most of the world does not have expertise in economy. What we know is how many jobs are available and how long it takes us to get another one if we lose or quit one. Because our economy is in stress, corporate employment is insecure. The more a company invests in the employee and her/his job, the more the employee values the job and dreads the pink slip less. If corporate tai chi or some meaningful program that directly benefits the employee is installed, people feel more secure because the company has made the investment in them. If corporate tai chi beats stress, helps focus, enhances worklife balance; employees, potentially, supercharge their production levels. If rightsizing causes people's job descriptions to inflate to accommodate the duties of the no-longer-employed; a "relief valve" tool like corporate tai chi helps overall. More productivity, more revenue.

COMPANY COMPETITION
There are lots of statistics about how people choose one company over another factoring in benefits package, job title, location of company, the company's position and a great deal more. If company A and company B offer the same position and benefits package, but company B has a corporate tai chi program, company B would beat its competition and win the employee. This is an oversimplified look at some of what people leverage when comparing companies. Once an employee is with a company, the more the company invests in the employee, the more leverage it maintains against its competition. The more leverage, the more stable the employee. The more stable the employee, the better work performance. The better the performance, the more revenue.

CONCLUSION
In order to excel, we have to embark upon new territory as well as take wisdom from the past. Tai chi is an old discipline that achieves tremendous effects. Marrying it with corporate life seems to hold the values of the old with the trends of today, thus: corporate tai chi has arrived. There is a study in developmental stages to more definitely correlate corporate tai chi and increase in revenue. But the elements described above try to verify this conclusion.

Diane Gold is available for corporate and personal tai chi, kung fu, chi kung, stress management, consulting. Training is available traditionally and virtually. She has a study in development to correlate corporate tai chi and increase in revenue. For all services or if you wish to become involved in the study, or if you ha, she can be reached through d@dianegold.com Further reading on corporate tai chi: http://www.dianegold.com/corporatechi

Author's Bio: 

I used to perceive Corporate Tai Chi as a modality, spanning stress management, education and personal balance; now it is clear that it is more: it is a way of being, just as its cousin, tai chi. I used to think tai chi and corporate tai chi were parent and child. Now, I know they are cousins.

This slight shift was made possible by the passing of a valuable member of my life. His smooth approach to business was Corporate Tai Chi, although he had not taken up the physical modality yet.

Yes, the socially responsible corporation will gain productivity and profit through installing the five-minute tai chi program in-house: the corporation will save its employees, make bank and inspire customer loyalty; the education system will add a left-out dimension for the student; government entities will promote stability and peace. Promoting profitability, culture, motivation and success. Don't you want to feel excellent on the job, at school, in prison, in hospital, wherever you are?

It is my vision that the vitality of each individual comprises that of the whole entity, the corporation, the school, the government, the other institutions. If individuals are vibrant, motivated and inspired, their productivity will increase exponentially, their ratio of time per task completion will skyrocket and the ("holistic") organization will profit and excel through focus, health, positive culture, creativity and public service.

Corporate Tai Chi can leverage stability in the corporation, discipline and advanced learning in the schools and a balanced approach to stress. What it cannot do is make an instant change in the entity, the culture of the entity or the individual. Things take time, and there is no rushing tai chi of any kind. The understanding that comes with tai chi will drip into each individual one drop at a time. After so many drops, the everchanging change will become the way.

Seeing happier, freer people, who love their jobs, who are living their purpose, whose creativity is being challenged, who are inspired to action, seeing more involved corporate worlds happily entwined with the betterment of their people and our environment.

I wish to facilitate positive change through designing and implementing programs and services, demonstrating why they are a good idea and completing my study to prove it.

Please read about Jaren (at) http://budurl.com/smooth