What is Mindful Leadership?
Progressive businesses around the world are adopting mindfulness based practices to develop leaders to be less stressed, more focussed, more compassionate and ultimately more successful. So what exactly is mindful leadership?
David Gelles, former Financial Times reporter, long-term meditator, and author of “Mindful Work” wrote about how meditation and mindfulness is changing business from the inside out. He defines mindfulness as “being aware of our experiences, observing them without judgement, and responding from a place of clarity and compassion, rather than fear, insecurity or greed”.
My dear friend from university, Alyssa, a clinical psychologist, working mum and successful business leader, put mindful leadership simply as “owning your own stuff”. Being mindful is the opposite of being mindless; operating on autopilot, from habit, or under stress. The real clincher, however, is doing this “without judgement”. Accepting the moment as it is, rather than what you think it should be or what you want it to be, can be exceptionally difficult.
Doing this at work, in the heat of the moment, with multiple distractions and demands, is even more challenging. But the payoff from a personal and professional perspective is well worth the investment.
I see mindful leadership playing out in business in three ways;
- Sharing your vision
- Caring about your impact on others
- Respecting yourself
First, mindful leadership is about having a clear vision and direction for your business or your team that you can easily communicate, that fires people up and makes them feel part of something important.
Second, I see it as caring about the impact you have on others because you know this will directly influence both the quality of your relationships and the level of discretionary effort they give you. This means investing effort in managing your thoughts and feelings in order to have positive, constructive encounters with colleagues. As opposed to steam-rolling a situation or completely avoiding it because it’s all too hard.
Third, I see it as respecting yourself enough to recognise when you’re out of balance and need to put something back in the tank. You can’t help others if you don’t help yourself. Inevitably – something blows up – your health, your relationships, your sanity, or all three. “If people are fit and healthy and taking care of themselves, they’re likely to be more productive at work” says Dr Fiona Adshead, Bupa’s director of Wellbeing and Public Health. “High performing employees lead to high performing businesses” (bupa.com.au, 2014)
How does mindful leadership improve business performance?
Mindful leadership is not preserved for monks and yogis. It is entering the mainstream and there are good reasons for it.
Mindful leadership improves business performance by cultivating in leaders the qualities of clarity, focus, and compassion; qualities hard won in fast-paced, highly competitive environments. Mindful leaders recognise the need to take more time to reflect on what’s most important to overcome difficult challenges. David Gelles explains “we all need to find ways to sort through myriad demands and distractions, but it’s especially important that leaders with great responsibilities gain focus and clarity in making their most important decisions, creativity in transforming their enterprises, compassion for their customers and employees, and the courage to go their own way.”
Focus, clarity, creativity, compassion – our greatest tools to combat the biggest productivity and happiness killers of the modern era – distraction and stress.
By staying grounded and authentic, mindful leaders are able to remain highly effective without compromising their integrity. Mindful leaders;
- Know their strengths
- Know their purpose
- Are powerful communicators
- Connect authentically with others
- Look after themselves
- Have a transformative effect on business
- Deliver sustainable results
If you’re ready to cultivate mindfulness, wellbeing and leadership, join us on the workwellgroup Mindful Leaders Retreat this October in Byron Bay.
