Mindful Leadership Development

Within a two week period, in two unconnected conversations, two people told me that practising mindfulness had probably saved their lives. Now, you may think this sounds like an exaggeration. If I hadn’t known both of these people pretty well, I would have agreed.

 Both these friends are highly intelligent, socially active, and professionally effective. Neither are prone to exaggeration or melodrama. They talked about being at low points in their lives when mindfulness was introduced to them, in a measured way as part of our conversation.

 Both men said that they thought that as their lives were at such a low point they may as well not go on living, so they had nothing to lose by giving mindfulness a go. Many years later the two men are alive and thriving.

 The two conversations left me surprised that both these strong and entrepreneurial people had experienced such hopelessness during their lives. That old saying that, “every cloud has a silver lining”, rang very true.

 Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that mindfulness practice or meditation are the panacea to feeling suicidal or severe depression. Whilst I know that these approaches are used in the treatment of mental health problems, it isn’t that straight forward.

 For me the important question is; how can more people be attracted to trying mindfulness as a technique for getting through both the good and the bad times, in the best of mental shape, without first having to reach crisis point? Having the practise under our belts will equip us much better to be our most creative when we are at our best and to get through the tough times with better perspective (and a better night’s sleep).

 As someone who has worked in the field of leadership development for over 20 years, I firmly believe that mindfulness as a practise should be embedded into leadership training. Leaders have further to fall when things go wrong – if they are more mindful, or mind-fit, more of the time, their decisions are likely to be better and they are likely to be able to ride the rough seas with a steady hand and an open heart. They are also likely to be better leaders and communicators who inspire followership and develop more leaders around them.

 We owe it to ourselves, to those we work with and live with, to make mindful practise part of the way we are.

If you practice mindfulness or meditation, what convinced you to give mindfulness a go?

If you don’t already practice, what would it take to give you an appetite for it?

You may be on the cusp and looking for that opportunity – decide now and work with two world-leading teachers of mindfulness and mind-fitness with from the US on 5 June in London: http://bit.ly/1tymgzT. It would be great to meet you there!

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Mindful of the cynics

Last week I read an article in The Guardian online by Madeleine Bunting: “Why we will come to see Mindfulness as mandatory” and you can read it here: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/06/mindfulness-hospitals-schools. I thought it was a masterful piece, covering the history, practice and application of mindfulness in every aspect of our lives.

Then I read on down through the comments from readers. There were some supportive comments about how helpful some people are finding mindfulness practice and some examples of practices. Then there were the cynical and plain anti-mindfulness comments; from there being a risk of using it in a negative way to incite anti-social behaviour to the view that it just doesn’t work. Making an effort to suspend my knee-jerk reactions to be a) dismissive of and irritated by the anti-mindfulness lobby, and b) to start questioning whether mindfulness is really of value in the modern world and will be a ‘passing fad’; I pondered on some of the objections, which I paraphrase below….

Mindfulness doesn’t work or it would have been widely adopted already

I can absolutely understand the argument. My take on it is that, it isn’t a ‘quick fix’, it takes practice and willpower to stick with it. Modern society hasn’t been very good at giving things time along with the encouragement, support, and challenge that it takes to keep up the practice. Our systems and procedures are not designed for it – in the case of health services courses of treatment may be limited to 6 weeks, for instance, seeing one practitioner and nothing in between appointments; in the case of business, our industrial models of command and control, strength valued as a leadership style, and people taking on machine-like functions, are still in evidence. Humanity is only starting to be valued in organisations. We are seeing the digital, social media, and hi-tech companies leading and embracing new ways of working that do value self-awareness (e.g. Google has a Head of Mindfulness) , collective working, and more democratic ways of organising.  It seems to me that mindfulness practice is also immensely flexible in that practice can be adapted to suit the context and the people. What is most important is that it is taught by experienced and well qualified people. This is not a ‘band-wagon’ to be jumped on. The Google Head of Mindfulness says that teachers should have 2000 hours of practice under their belts. On this note, I am full of anticipation about working with Dr Joel and Michelle Levey next month – they have worked with some many of those organisations introducing mindfulness into workplaces, pioneering practices that support each organisation’s mission along with a strong ethical underlay and a long lifetime’s experience between them. More later…..

My conclusion is: give it time and keep an open mind; it will not cure all ills but it will be part of the remedy for many of them.

It would be a bad thing if the Government made it mandatory – a bit like brain washing or 1984.

Making Mindfulness mandatory certainly goes against the grain for me. Making it available and accessible to everyone in a way that helps them find the techniques that suit their circumstances and preferences is, however, what I would advocate. And, of course, Madeleine Bunting’s article is not advocating that Government should make it mandatory – notwithstanding the launch of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness that sparked her article. Through practising and realising the benefits individually and, just as importantly, collectively we will make our own decisions to ‘make it mandatory’ for ourselves. Like anything, it can be used for good or ill and the vital element that makes it such a potentially powerful way of being, is the commitment that needs to be made to a strong ethical value-set that is the foundation of the practice. There is much to be explored in the collective practice of mindfulness and the events which I am anticipating with The Leveys in June will include some work by my colleague, George Pòr.  George is leading the exploration of collective mindfulness, how it manifests and how we might achieve it more. More of that later….

My conclusion is: mindfulness must be taught by people who are well trained themselves, we must do this well so we can be well individually and as communities and society. It has the potential to become mandatory in that we each, individually, elect to make it mandatory ourselves, because the benefits for us individually and collectively will bring reward and fulfilment.

People should not profit from mindfulness – it is from the Buddhist tradition and buddhists teach it for little or no cost.

Well, now here’s a thing. I do understand the objection to profit-making organisations trying to cash in on something that is popularly trending. I was very struck by a comment made in an interview by Thich Nhat Hanh (known as Thay), one of the most admired and respected mindfulness teachers alive today, when he was asked about the motives of people teaching mindfulness: the interviewer said Thay’s response was: “as long as business leaders practice “true” mindfulness, it does not matter if the original intention is triggered by wanting to be more effective at work or to make bigger profits. That is because the practice will fundamentally change their perspective on life as it naturally opens hearts to greater compassion and develops the desire to end the suffering of others.”

In which case, as long as those who are offering to train are themselves practising “true” mindfulness does it matter if one of their intentions is to earn a good living?

Also, it is strange that people will often value something more because it comes with a price tag. When I did some sales training recently, the trainers were encouraging us to put up our fees and prices because if we under-valued ourselves and our services, we would not attract clients. So we may, in fact, be able to spread the practice to some people who would otherwise not see its value. Mad but seemingly true! As with most things in life, giving choice is what is important.

Later…

So I am not apologetic when an organisation that I work for is offering mindfulness workshops, aimed at leaders of organisations, as well as anyone interested to find out more, at a fee. You can find out more about Future Considerations, who is partnering with CollectiveIntelligence to organise them, here: http://futureconsiderations.com/who/about/.

You can register for the workshops here: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/future-considerations-and-communityintelligence-ltd-6375007851?s=23745133

You can join a Facebook group called Mindful Together and join the conversation here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindfultogether/

 

To be more, or not to be more: a mindful question?

That, in a nutshell seems to be the choice, when it comes to practising mindfulness.

My awareness of the subject was prompted 9 years ago when co-facilitating a leadership programme for senior partners with a leading accountancy firm. Prior to then, the practice of mindfulness and of meditation had no appeal. What made the difference?

This time, the practice was introduced to me by someone who had taken it very seriously for several years, even handing his successful business to a foundation in order to practice full time and to train formally. What he introduced me to was the neuroscience that explained what mindfulness practice does to positively affect and develop the brain. Also, how the practice can help us to manage our instinctive and emotional responses to what is happening to us, once our awareness is raised and we can really notice what is going on. There was no zealous advocacy or talk of ‘enlightenment’, the approach was mindful and met the group where they were starting from.

My buttons were well and truly pressed – I could identify all the instinctive and emotional responses that were happening inside me, as well as the physical manifestations of these in different parts of my body. Now I could start to learn more about how my instincts and emotions can work for me rather than against me. Now I could begin to get things in perspective, reduce my anxiety levels, and trust my instincts.

And therein lies a rub… I have to notice more and be really in touch with what is happening for me in order to be more.  Noticing means really feeling the pain as well as the joy; it means acknowledging one’s own part in things that aren’t going right as well as the things that are helping; it means facing up to the reality of some aspects of me and my life that aren’t great as well as those that are. For someone who tends to see and respond to the negatives of me, acknowledging the positives is uncomfortable and smacks of immodesty. In the end, I have to admit, that it does make me feel much better when I am kinder to myself.

Mindfulness practice is no quick fix, of that I am convinced. It is also not a panacea for every problem under the sun. I get also that it has a long history and there is a context of spirituality that underpins its source in Buddhism. That aspect is not calling me just now – what I DO get is that it requires me to make an ethical commitment “not to harm others and to engage in wholesome actions” (Mark Greenburg). I make that commitment wholeheartedly.

Mindfulness practice is full of possibility; the possibility of opening up to different ways of doing things; the possibility of enjoying life more; the possibility of just doing things I have put off in the past – like writing a blog! Best of all, it offers the possibility of enhancing my experience in all aspects of my life. So, I can make it part of my work as well as all my relationships. It will take time….

Fortunately, help is at hand. In just a month’s time I will have the privilege of working with Dr Joel and Michelle Levey who are coming over from the USA. They have been practising and teaching together all their adult lives. They have pioneered techniques for embedding mindfulness and mind-fitness into people’s lives as they choose to live them. Learning from masters will help me on my journey – to be more. You can join me, it promises to be very special: http://bit.ly/1tymgzT

PS If you would like to know more about what mindfulness is, quite the best blog I have come across with some great videos and quotes embedded is from the RSA here: http://bit.ly/1qdrVfr

Also you can find me exploring what it is to be mindful with others at a Facebook group: Mindful Together.

For the sake of what?

This blog is for the sake of:

  • saying publicly some of the things I care about
  • adding to debate about issues of our time
  • seeking feedback from which I can learn
  • supporting others by spreading their messages (implicit here is that I agree with them)
  • trying something I haven’t done before.

Who will read it? I can’t wait to find out!