Sue Howard, of EPICC.

EPICC, the organisational consultancy arm of Workplace Matters, has led a workshop for senior workplace chaplains in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. The event provided an opportunity for the chaplains to take stock of their roles, workplace issues and the challenges they are facing; enabling them to determine how they can support leadership within the organisations in which they serve.

EPICC, which has brought together leading Christian consultants and practitioners who have a combined wealth of expertise in leadership and organisation development, cares about the spiritual poverty that many people experience at work. To help address deeper issues, the consultants work experientially with clients using a holistic approach to development. The model that EPICC uses has recently been written about in the book, ‘The Map of Meaning –  a guide to sustaining our humanity in the world at work’ (Lips-Wiersma & Morris, 2011, Greenleaf).

“The value of EPICC’s approach is that it can help people to surface their own sense of what is ‘meaningful’ for them about the work they do,” said EPICC consultant, Sue Howard, who helped to facilitate the workshop. “The model has been proven in many contexts to generate profound insights which can lead to a greater sense of engagement and productivity.

“The ‘Map’ has three core benefits,” she added. “It enables people to talk about meaning in a constructive manner; it provides an axis to work between inspiration and reality, and it helps individuals to take responsibility – personally and collectively.”

At the workshop – held at the premises of vehicle manufacturer, Vauxhall, in Luton – all the participants found working with the map was a constructive and valuable way to think about their work from different perspectives. The Rev Tony Ruffell, Senior Chaplain to Hertfordshire’s Police and Fire Services, commented that the workshop had been a ‘good collaborative process’, while the Rev David Alexander, the Chaplain at Vauxhall, said: “When our vision for the future hits the messy reality of our present circumstance, our world can become a confusing place. The workshop was extremely helpful – and indeed inspirational – in enabling participants to map the different aspects of their lives in relation to their ‘inspiration’, with tensions between conflicting demands. I found it clarified which areas of my life needed rebalancing.

“I’d highly recommend a workshop such as this one,” he added. “This workshop could help individuals but it can also help any organisation to find greater equilibrium, motivation and success in pursuing its goals.”

Comment: EPICC would appear to be ‘different’ on a number of levels. It offers:

• Team Workshops – to engage teams in valuing each other and the work they do
• Action Research – to explore how to change working life for the better
• Development – of projects to support organisational and individual transformation
• Mentoring – a reassuring supportive relationship for leadership reflection

Its high calibre, competent consultants appear committed to exploring areas rarely, if ever, explored where developing people to enhance organisational performance is concerned.

‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got’ is a sound maxim – but it should be impossible to apply where EPICC is involved.