Why you should implement mindfulness in the workplace

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Your cellphone is buzzing, your work phone is ringing, and your boss just asked you into her office. You also just remembered you have a ton of paperwork urgently needing your attention. You think to yourself, “I will have to multi-task to get through all of this”.

But in reality, multi-tasking is impossible. It is physically inconceivable to split your attention so that you can accomplish two work tasks at the same time. People who multi-task tend to be less effective when they focus on two or more tasks than they would be if they focus on one thing until it was done.

This is where mindfulness comes in. When you practice mindfulness in the workplace, or even at home, you will be a better version of you!

Mindfulness is a way to train the mind

In the workplace, mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment in an accepting, non-judgemental way.

Most of the time, our minds are wandering — we are thinking about the future, focusing on the past, worrying, fantasizing, fretting or daydreaming. A mindful individual is not ruminating about the past or worrying about the future; they are simply “being” in the here and now.

Moreover, mindfulness includes paying close attention to both internal and external stimuli, doing so in an open and accepting way. It involves noticing what is happening without evaluating, analyzing or reflecting upon it. Therefore, a mindful employee will take in what is happening in the workplace and not react to it, rather, simply taking in information from their surroundings. They will non-judgementally approach their work and their relations with their colleagues and management.

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Mindfulness has a lot of benefits for individuals, organizations and institutions

Mindfulness strengthens relationships

The relationships employees have at work can make or break their mood and engagement. Positive relationships help ease workplace stressors while improving communication and creativity among employees. Practicing mindfulness can help employees build empathy and acceptance. Empathy allows people to better understand others’ emotions and reactions.

Mindfulness builds resilience

Resilience is the ability to cope in difficult situations and bounce back easily. Mindfulness builds persistence and better affective regulation. These two processes are likely to foster resilience. Mindfulness helps individuals approach others positively, and in addition, it protects them from the negative emotions and agitation of another person by regulating affect appropriately and decreasing reactivity. In the workplace, resiliency is the face of interpersonal or task-related stressors, and is also a vital part of optimal work-functioning.

Mindfulness leads to improved intuition

Mindfulness promotes an awareness of “gut feelings” and it has been suggested that tapping into these intuitions may facilitate improved task performance when the level of expertise is high. Mindfulness also reduces decision biases and promotes decision making.

The benefits of mindfulness in the workplace is wide ranging, so, its importance cannot be underestimated

Mindfulness leads to job satisfaction and motivation: When something happens at work, a mindful employee will not simply read and judge what is happening emotionally. Rather, they will consider it with a more adaptive stance. So, if employees approach stressors at work proactively, they will be more satisfied in their work.

Mindfulness increases self-determined behaviour: This is consistent with an individual’s needs and values. Because mindfulness brings awareness to experiences in the present moment, individuals are more aware of their basic values and needs.

Mindfulness helps combat and manage employee stress: Chronic stress is a widespread problem in society, perhaps most especially at work. Workplace stress has a major impact, not only on individuals, but also the effectiveness of organizations. But, mindfulness training has proven benefits for employee health and wellness, including decreasing workforce stress and building resilience, thereby reducing the cost of workplace stress in organizations and businesses.

Mindfulness enhances employee engagement and decreases burnout: Employees investment in their jobs is usually associated with greater satisfaction, lower intention of turnover and increased organizational citizenship behaviours. This employee engagement has been linked to mindfulness. Mindfulness programs may allow organizations foster employee engagement and commitment — especially in the case of high-stress and high burnout jobs.

Mindfulness helps employees deal with change: Employees usually do not like change, and will often resist it. And in the modern business world, change is inevitable. Mindfulness can help employees cope with change. Mindfulness could help reduce the stress associated with loss of job control that often occurs with organizational change. Increased mindfulness lowers ego-defensive reactivity under threat and promotes objectively, both of which can help employees cope with change in the organization.

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So, then, if you want to implement mindfulness in your workplace, how do you introduce it?

• Be clear about the purpose for introducing mindfulness and know the part of the business strategy that will handle it
• Look at the outcomes the workplace wants from mindfulness, and what is needed for it
• Ensure the goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound
• Introduce it as a wellbeing program, or, as part of a shift in the culture of the organization to develop a different leadership style and different way for employees to work
• Ensure employees are aware of the benefits of mindfulness to them and to the workplace
• Senior management needs to play a key role in implementing mindfulness in the workplace — to be proactive with the initiative, discuss it and answer questions about it
• Test the idea and allow employees to decide if they want to be part of it. Not everyone may find mindfulness beneficial
• An experienced and skilled practitioner should conduct the sessions
• Have some employees endorse the mindfulness training, especially in the introductory phase. This could encourage other employees to be part of it
• You could create a designated quiet space, which provides employees with a space to refocus without the multitude of distractions in the workplace. It also gives employees a space to meditate

Ways to encourage employees to take part in mindfulness:

• Give individuals space to dream — cultivating mindfulness and a sense of peace, even day-dreaming, can lead to ideas that are beneficial and could increase revenue
• Take perspective of others in workplace interactions into consideration
• Ensure you are clear, calm and confident when sending an email, making a phone call, or beginning a meeting
• Challenge employees to act and think
• Let your team see you taking breaks, stepping away from your desk, looking away from your computer. This will make them feel more comfortable in doing so
• Be emotionally present and address emotional blocks to fully understand the reality of others
• Develop an emotional alliance with others to help them overcome challenges
• Try to schedule breaks in between meetings. These gaps in meetings will increase focus, productivity and general well-being
• Slow down, create “unscheduled” time for yourself. Slowing down fosters mindfulness
• Do not be a micromanager. Micromanagement is one of the biggest sources of stress in the workplace
• Incorporate mindfulness in meetings — before the meeting starts, allow a few minutes for meditation, set intentions or deep breaths
• Remember to breathe

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Introducing mindfulness in the workplace would take time and effort. Scheduling and delivery of training sessions also needs to be flexible. Thus, patience is required. Accept that there is no immediate solution. But also ensure that the program is feasible in terms of scope and timescale.

With time and practice, mindfulness becomes self-reinforcing. When you are experiencing a particularly stressful moment, a simple mindfulness exercise known as STOP can be helpful:

Stop. Just take a momentary pause, no matter what you are doing

Take a breathe. Feel the sensation of your own breathing, which brings you back to the present moment

Observe. Acknowledge what is happening, for good or bad, inside you or out. Just note it

Proceed. Having briefly checked in with the present moment, continue with whatever it was you were doing

At PAT Consulting, we offer mindfulness workshops. Contact us at info@patnigeria.com or 0907 870 6967 for more information.