LEADERSHIP & <strong>Mindfulness</strong><strong>Mindfulness</strong> at work: What are the benefits?With Mirabai Bush, <strong>Mobius</strong> Transformational Faculty<strong>Mindfulness</strong>. Everybody's doing of honour is counterproductive. “Weit. From Google to the NHS can spend so much time rushing fromand Transport for London. Even one task to another. We may thinkHarvard Business School includes we're working more efficiently, but asmindfulness principles in its leadershipprogrammes.working against the grain. No wonderfar as the brain is concerned, we areSo what is mindfulness? In its we get exhausted.”simplest form, mindfulness means The neurological benefits of mindfulnesshave been linked to an increaseawareness. Practising mindfulnessoffers a way to pay attention to the in emotional intelligence, specificallyempathy and self regulation. It'spresent moment, without judgement.The origins of mindfulness sit firmly the development of these areas thatin Buddhism but it's increasingly contributes to our ability to managetaught in a secular form.conflict and communicate more effectively.<strong>Mindfulness</strong> also enables us<strong>Mindfulness</strong> can help to reducestress and anxiety and conflict, and to take a step back and consider alternativeperspectives rather than simplyincrease resilience and emotionalintelligence, while improving communicationin the workplace. intelligent area of our brains to makereacting to events and using the leastWhen trying to decide whether decisions. <strong>Mindfulness</strong> helps us toyou are mindful, consider the followingpoints. In the last week have you of our brain to put us back in controlflick the switch back to the smart partsfound yourself:of our emotions, enabling us to choose• Unable to remember what others a more appropriate response.have said during conversations? <strong>Mindfulness</strong> expert Mirabai Bush,• With no recollection of your daily famous for introducing it to Google,commute?says: "Introducing mindfulness into• Eating at your desk without tasting the workplace does not prevent conflictfrom arising or difficult issuesyour food?• Paying more attention to your iPhone from coming up. But when difficultthan to your nearest and dearest? issues do arise... they are more likely• Dwelling on past events or dreadingwhat the future holds? and responded to by the group.to be skillfully acknowledged, held,Over• Are you skim reading this article?If you answered yes, the chancesare that you're zoning out on a regularbasis, spending at least some timeon autopilot.In the current economic climate,employees are being asked to do morewith less, working long hours with increasinglyheavy workloads. Leadingmindfulness academic, Mark Williams,professor of clinical psychologyat the University of Oxford, says workingin a culture where stress is a badgetime with mindfulness, we learn todevelop the inner resources that willhelp us navigate through difficult,trying, and stressful situations withmore ease, comfort, and grace.“Becoming more aware of yourown emotions as they arise gives youmore choice in how to deal with them.<strong>Mindfulness</strong> helps you become moreaware of an arising emotion by noticingthe sensation in the body. Then youcan follow these guidelines: stop whatyou are doing. Breathe deeply. Noticehow you are experiencing the emotionin your body. Reflect on where theemotion is coming from in your mind(personal history, insecurity, etc). Respondin the most compassionate way.”Regular practice of mindfulnessincreases the brain's ability to repairitself and grow new neural connections.But the use it or lose it approachto physical exercise also applies to ourbrains so it's important to practise.A simple mindfulness practice isthe one minute meditation. Find aquiet place and focus your attentionon your breath. If your mind wanders(as it probably will), bring yourconcentration back to your breath.Then relax as the calm unfolds. ■Excerpted from theguardian.co.uk;posted by Gill Crossland-Thackray.Mirabai Bush is Senior Fellow and the founding Director of the Center for ContemplativeMind in Society, a nonprofit organization that encourages contemplative awareness inAmerican life in order to create a more just, compassionate, and reflective society. Shehas designed and led contemplative trainings for corporations from Monsanto to Google,led a national survey of contemplative practice, and directed a Contemplative PracticeFellowship awards program with the American Council of Learned Societies to exploresuch practices in academic courses in more than 100 colleges and universities. She isco-author, with Ram Dass, of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service, andeditor of Contemplation Nation: How Ancient Practices Are Changing the Way We Live. Sheco-founded and directed Illuminations, Inc., in Cambridge, MA. Her innovative businessapproaches, based on mindfulness practice, were reported in Newsweek, Inc., Fortune, andthe Boston Business Journal. Mirabai’s new CD on practices for a contemplative workplace,Working with <strong>Mindfulness</strong>, is available at morethansound.net.48 <strong>Mobius</strong> <strong>Executive</strong> <strong>Leadership</strong> | www.mobiusleadership.com
Developing Agile Leaders through mindfulnessawareness meditationBy Michael CarrollWe all know what human agilitylooks like. Attend any performanceof “Cirque du Soleil” orthe NYC Ballet and we can witnessremarkable performers executingflawlessly: muscular, refined, andutterly disciplined. Such agile artistryis a marvel to behold!And, as an executive coach, I amequally inspired when business leadersbring their special breed of agilityonto today’s global stage: mentallyquick, emotionally confident, sociallyintelligent and commercially astute.Such agile leadership is equally amarvel to behold.Needless to say, such agile leadershipis vital for today’s enterprises.The old models of “command andcontrol” leadership do not readilyscale with the mobile “Facebook”generation of self-organizing networksand distributed technologies.Traditional “top-down” leadershipis giving way to a new generation ofleaders who influence through networks,galvanize diversified teamsand accelerate creative change- negotiating, problem-solving, collaboratingand jointly executing.Today, work is about resilient coalitionsand leaders who are agileenough to lead them.But how are our emergingbusiness leaders learning tomaster such agility? Dancersattend ballet academies andacrobats have gymnasiumswhere they relentlessly practiceand perfect their art. And, notsurprising, it’s in the halls ofour corporate and educationalinstitutions where we find ourleaders engaging an emergingfield of agility training: young leaderslearning to sit still for extended periodsof time on meditation cushions.<strong>Mindfulness</strong>-awarenessmeditation in businessLet’s consider a few examples:• The Drucker School of Managementand Wharton BusinessSchool both offer courses for applyingmindfulness meditation to thechallenges of leading enterprises.• Virginia Tech is sponsoring a conferenceentitled “Contemplativepractices for a technological society”designed for engineers whowant to integrate contemplativedisciplines into their work.• Google offers courses in meditationproviding facilities foremployees to practice meditationand yoga.Aetna, Merck, General Mills – thelist goes on – all are exploring howmeditation can help their leaders andemployees agilely thrive in today’s fastpaced business environment. And thebenefits are widely publicized: sustainedattention span, improved multi-taskingabilities, strengthened immune system,increased emotional intelligence, improvedlistening skills….And there isLEADERSHIP & <strong>Mindfulness</strong>science behind such claims. Research isfast concluding that sitting still for definedperiods of time is a very healthything to do.But what really happens when wemeditate? How can such a simple act ofsitting still actually cultivate agile, talentedleaders?What is mindfulnessawarenessmeditation?For those not familiar with thepractice of mindfulness awarenessmeditation, let’s take a moment todescribe what the act entails.When we practice mindfulnessawareness meditation, we take a posturesitting upright, relaxed and alert.Our eyes are open, with a soft gaze;our hands are placed palms down, gentlyresting on our thighs. Our chin istucked in, neck straight and our gazeis slightly downward. Our face and jaware relaxed and our mouth is slightlyopen. We breathe normally and sit still.If we are sitting on the floor, we sit ona cushion with our legs loosely crossed.If we are sitting in a chair, our feet arefirmly on the ground.When we sit still like this, we havetwo distinct experiences. First, wenotice the simple vividness of our immediatecircumstances: sounds, sights,smells and sensations. Andsecondly, we also notice thatwe are thinking: talking to ourselves,commenting on this andthat, thinking about any numberof things. Particularly, ifwe are new to meditation, wemay find ourselves unusuallyrestless with our thoughts. But,such restlessness is not a problem;it is what we work with inmeditation.www.mobiusleadership.com | <strong>Mobius</strong> <strong>Executive</strong> <strong>Leadership</strong> 49
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