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Pick up These Leadership Habits Before It’s too Late

Serene office male teenager sit at desk relaxing doing yoga, practice meditation to reduce stress relief fatigue feel internal balance at workplace, improve mindfulness, maintain mental health concept

Summary: A team cannot do much with a leader that only focuses on obstacles and works hard to remove them. Your team needs you to be relaxed, looking forward calmly, and be a genuine source of comfort. This doesn’t mean dismissing important deadlines or pressure, but to be aware of it and putting the best foot forward in the present. So please rest, relax, and reset before it’s too late.

It’s a busy world out there. The length and breadth of life is this moment. By not purposely focusing your attention on the present moment and accepting it without judgment, the mind goes awry. Read on to know why mindfulness has the answer to not only happiness but success in the workplace. The best people in the world, the greatest leaders of every century – people who have been the epitome of star leadership – they all had one thing in common. They understood that the time now – the present – was all they had. And therefore their happiness too belonged in the now. 

Mark Bertollini, the then CEO of Aetna brought himself out of a spinal cord injury using yoga and mindfulness, with continuous disciplined practice till he no longer needed doctors and medication. He brought his insight from meditation and self-care into the company. He understood that employees were dissatisfied, unhappy and morale was going down. As a result, he invested 75 million dollars in reimbursing student loans, increasing the minimum wage and healthcare programs. Soon, the market value of Aetna’s shares went up from 30 dollars a share to 1531! Mindfulness is you executing your own will and control over each moment as it comes by. Researchers are gathering more and more data on how it permanently changes your brain, increases your personal well-being, and makes you more adept in situations that require focus and appreciation of the larger context2. 

So, let’s see how Mindfulness might just have the answer to happiness at workplace:

It Busts Stress

We know how stress kills performance. And what kills stress? Mindfulness. The constant fight-or-flight mode that you might find yourself in, at work – you step out of that as soon as you become more cognizant of your present; it’s when you realize that not every situation is a ‘what-if situation’, or that not every circumstance requires you to make a huge decision. Mindfulness lets you calmly be aware of all the different factors, and accept that you can’t control everything but gives you the relaxation to take small steps in the now.

It Fuels You

We often neglect our own requirements. Mindfulness helps you to focus on the present moment, understand what you need and be aware of yourself. By being in touch with how they feel and what they truly want, mindful leaders can detach from the idea of a million things to do and concentrate on being fully functional overall. With Mindfulness, you can engage in complete relaxation when needed and be focused on your work when needed, instead of half-assing both. 

It Sustains Performance

Some days are the exact opposite, you feel slowed down and you read the same sentence for the millionth time but it doesn’t seem to make sense. Mindfulness-based relaxation is a way for you to tune your performance day in and out, making sure you can observe and regulate yourself according to your changing days. The trick is not to just think you can force yourself to do more work, but rather give yourself time to breathe, understand that every day is different and change your strategy according to your own changing self.

Impact on Leadership

Mindfulness based programs have been offered to employees in Fortune 500 companies such as Nike, Google, Apple, and even more old-fashioned companies such as Goldman Sachs. When you pay close attention to the sensations and experiences passing by, your brain activates areas such as the insular cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These will increase your awareness of where you are situated, how your body and mind feel internally and give you mental control over these processes. Using this control and awareness, you can then objectively evaluate your situation, accept the obstacles comfortably and be motivated to take up challenges3.

Star Mindset

You may accept that you can’t control everything and can be quietly aware of all the various circumstances by practicing mindfulness, which also offers you the peace of mind to take baby steps in the here and now. But it is a practice that requires regularity, just like going to the gym. Though a mindful practice has numerous advantages for leaders, it has positive effects on all aspects of life.

3 Immediately Applicable Action Steps

  1. Before entering a meeting or while preparing to give a presentation/speech, take 2 minutes for breathing in deeply, holding your breath and then releasing it slowly.
  2. When you feel your environment getting too overwhelming and you want to calm yourself down, redirect the attention from outwards to inwards. 
  3. Imagine and accept the worst case consequences and then it will have no power over what actions you do in the present.

References

  1. Dube, R. (2013, July). 3 Examples of Mindful Leaders That Will Inspire You. ; Thrive Global. https://medium.com/thrive-global/3-examples-of-mindful-leaders-that-will-inspire-you-dce3b960bc23 
  2. Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191(1), 36–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.08.006 
  3. Sevinc, G., Hölzel, B. K., Hashmi, J., Greenberg, J., McCallister, A., Treadway, M., Schneider, M. L., Dusek, J. A., Carmody, J., & Lazar, S. W. (2018). Common and Dissociable Neural Activity After Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Relaxation Response Programs. Psychosomatic Medicine, 80(5), 439–451. https://doi.org/10.1097/psy.0000000000000590

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