How to become a Mindful company ?
Draft a meaningful vision:
The first thing to do to develop and promote a mindful state of mind is to define a vision that will contribute to make work fulfilling. This means a vision that sets a positive and meaningful direction with a purpose and a cause. This will require to align the values accordingly and allow the necessary resources so that there is a deep desire and belief within the company that this vision can be achieved.
Get out of the culture of denial
Quite often companies suffer from a culture of denial syndrome, either because employees are afraid of reporting errors and mistakes, or because there is a strong belief that it may have happened once but is unlikely to happen again in the company. With a more mindful culture, people are more concentrated on the present moment and aware of their potential thinking bias which enable them to see the reality more clearly. In that type of culture, errors and setbacks are cherished and used as opportunities for potential learning and continuous improvement.
A truly human centered leadership style
As always, the role of the leader is obviously essential and by his behavior he must embody and convey the principles of Mindfulness. Through his presence, his openness, his benevolence, his desire to constantly focus the group on the vision and the objectives to be achieved and its search for the most authentic points of view possible. As a result, it will encourage the analysis of situations from different angles and promote creativity. In terms of communication, it will also have a regulatory role during discussions, especially at the beginning, in order to give everyone, the desire to express their point of view and make their contribution.
Look at goals from a different perspective
We should see goals as something that promotes alignment and indicates direction. Goals are a compass available to us in organizations as well as in private life and for our career goals. Obviously, everything must be done to reach them, but analyzing the progress made is just as interesting in terms of learning. To achieve maximum commitment, it is important to present goals in a positive way, because mindset is the key to achieving the goal.
Pay attention to your feedback
The brain never stops scanning for input to determine threat or reward whether we’re talking to our boss, best friend, significant other or granny. Giving feedback is a sensitive conversation, and the way we handle it will have a great impact on how what we say will be perceived and received. As emotions are triggered on both sides of these exchanges, developing greater skill in preparation, approach and executing feedback is critically important to achieving positive outcomes.
The person giving feedback needs to carefully prepare what they want to say and how they say it, paying attention to give a balanced feedback where all dimensions are included.
Encourage Mindful working
Encouraging mindful working is key to develop such a culture. It means for example to allow people to take breaks when needed, because we know that our concentration cannot exceed 90 minutes. Push to avoid multi-tasking. Nobody can actually multi-task. In reality, your brain is madly switching from one thing to the next, often losing data in the process.
Promote another way to deal with e-mails. Emails have a way of seducing our attention and redirecting it to lower-priority tasks because completing small, quickly accomplished tasks releases dopamine, a pleasurable hormone, in our brains. This release makes us addicted to email and compromises our concentration. Instead, choose a specific moment during the day to deal with your e-mails.
Deactivate all the notifications on your phone, computer, so that you can really concentrate on the task at hand.
There are numerous examples of the impact of mindfulness on the bottom line among very well-known and famous companies. Moreover, it has the potential to decrease people’s stress and anxiety through heightened awareness, which in turn leads to reduced absenteeism and improved performance. Perhaps most importantly from a leadership perspective, mindfulness encourages engagement and creativity. It may also help companies to attract and retain the best talents.
It is a step by step approach, will require a commitment from the Top Management and some champions to spread the practice within the company.