HAPPINESS
The latest trend in leadership development is mindfulness training. There is a burgeoning array of apps, self-help books and corporate interventions designed to help leaders become more mindful and thus more effective in their roles.
Mindfulness — a way of paying attention with care and discernment to yourself, others and the world around you — has been much researched. But few studies have been conducted with business leaders. This means that basic questions have remained unanswered. For example, does mindfulness training actually improve leadership capacities? And how much effort do you need to make to achieve results?
Trying to answer these and other important questions, we conducted the world’s first study of a multisession mindful leader program, which included a waitlist control group. By comparing the two groups’ results before and after mindfulness training, we were able to discover what the effect of training really was.
Our study shows that mindfulness training and sustained practice produces statistically significant improvements in three capacities that are important for successful leadership in the 21st century: resilience, the capacity for collaboration and the ability to lead in complex conditions.
Furthermore, leaders who practiced the formal mindfulness exercises for more than 10 minutes per day fared much better on our key measures than those who didn’t practice much or who relied on the informal practices alone.
The message is clear: If you want the benefits,
you have to put in the time to practice.
Of course, this can be one of the hardest things to ask of busy executives. But there are ways to make it work. Our research suggests that if you want to develop a formal mindfulness practice, you should:
— Think carefully about when you are most likely and able to practice, and then fit 10 minutes into your daily routine so that over time it becomes a habit.
— Set realistic expectations for your practice; expect your experience with developing a new habit to be turbulent. Mindfulness is not about getting rid of all thoughts — it is about noticing what thoughts are there.
— Notice times when you begin to be more mindful and acknowledge the impact this brings to you and others. Seeing the benefits in your practice is essential to continuing.
— Tell those closest to you at work and home that you are trying to build a mindfulness practice. Tell them how they can help and support you.
— Connect with others who are interested in becoming more mindful. You can encourage and challenge each other to keep to the practice.
Just like becoming fitter, becoming more mindful involves training. That means you have to practice. Giving up 10 minutes a day is a small price to pay for the improvements that are on offer.
