Creating a Mindful Workplace  

Mindfulness can be seen as many things to many people and for me as a master mindfulness stress reduction (MBSR) teacher for over 7 years I have my own definitions. However, the more generally accepted definition of mindfulness in the workplace is being connected, present and focussed. This links back to John Kabat-Zinn’s (2003) research that showed mindfulness at work is powerful because it facilitates a person becoming more conscious. Mindfulness has been attributed to the rise of powerful movements in the workplace such as conscious inclusion and conscious leadership. In simple terms, John Kabat-Zinn (2013) describes mindfulness as an inward and outward awareness of yourself, others and your surroundings so that each action a person takes is more intentional.

Mindfulness at work has been proven to have a dramatic effect on productivity. Often, the stress reducing benefits of mindfulness are cited at this point however there is an even more tangible business outcome that is seen as a result of a mindful workplace. Research by Gallup (2021) has shown that when people multi-task are far less effective than when they focus on one task at a time. This is where I have seen the benefits of mindfulness. I have conducted mindfulness research at work where reducing time spent on multi-tasking, participants resulted in the productivity and their quality increasing significantly. Researchers Maslach & Jackson (2003) confirm that overloading the brain with many tasks can result in negative emotions that can spill out to employees. If a manager is unable to focus, that becomes a major problem because every negative emotion influences every decision their making. Mindfulness helps managers focus on the present and not get distracted as easily by other things that are going on in their lives. This has many benefits such as being able to listen better to colleagues, to manage conflict more easily and to cope with increased levels of stress.

The key to creating a mindful workplace is simple but not always easy as it involves time, energy and effort. Firstly, get a recognised and accredited mindfulness programme on the list of courses offered as part of the learning and development curriculum so that all colleagues have access to this type of training in the same way they would have access to management training courses. Then from there it is about working with mindfulness team to bring mindfulness into the workplace culture. This is something that can take a little more thought, but in my experience when the SLT buy into mindfulness they cascade the principles naturally throughout the organisation so training should start with them firstly. From there, company policy can be changed to help include mindfulness. For example, one company I worked with brought in a pause before and after meetings to give everyone a chance to arrive mentally and for ideas to be absorbed. Then finally, mindfulness needs to be brought through every micro communication and interaction. This can be done by having the company create their own mission statement that includes mindful principles which everyone agrees to work towards.

John Earls – Director Goodfoot

References

Gallup, I. (2021) Employee Burnout: The Biggest Myth. [online] Gallup.com. Available at: <https://www.gallup.com/workplace/288539/employee-Burnout-biggest-myth.aspx> [Accessed 17 January 2021].

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003) ‘Mindfulness-based interventions in context: past, present, and future’, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice 10 (2) 144–156

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013) Full Catastrophe Living, Revised Edition: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using Mindfulness meditation. London: Piatkus

Maslach, C. and Jackson, S. E. (1996) ‘Maslach Burnout Inventory— Human Services Survey (MBI–HSS)’. In Maslach, C., Jackson, S.E., and Leiter, M.P., (Eds.), MBI manual (3rd ed.), Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.