BrightCultures
DEVELOPING RESILIENT ORGANISATIONS
A MINDFUL APPROACH TO CHANGE, LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION.
A white paper by Caz Yetman
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caz Yetman has experience working with some of the biggest brands in Europe. She mainly enjoys working with traditional, large, complex organisations that want to change in order to adapt to 21st century conditions.
Caroline meditates daily and studies Buddhism. Her ambition is to transform the image of mindfulness, away from the stereotypical ‘hippy’, ‘brainwashing’ connotations it regularly holds, to help more people in business use it as a tool to enhance meaningful change and create happier, more fulfilling workplaces - topics she regularly blogs about.
If you would like to chat about mindfulness and what it can do for your organisation, contact Caz: caz@brightcultures.co.uk @cazyetman
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CONTENTS Introduction Context What is mindfulness? The science Three areas of focus Who’s doing it? Conclusion About NixonMcInnes
page 4 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 8 page 11 page 13 page 14
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INTRODUCTION Being a resilient organisation means having the capability and engagement to deal with fast-moving, strategic challenges and opportunities. The aim of this whitepaper is to lay out the evidence of mindfulness practices in a way that helps do this. It Is intended for leaders and individuals who want to help develop resilient organisations, where the people within them can be more inspired, happy and empowered during volatile times.
CONTEXT We are living and operating in what the military refers to as a VUCA1 world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous). For businesses and the people within them, this means having to make sound decisions quickly in the face of complex information, and reacting to change under ever-increasing pressure. All of this places a massive strain on individuals in such a way that undermines the stability and security of some of the biggest businesses. Simply put, they can’t move quickly enough.
“Feelings of uncertainty can undermine decisions, leading to costly mistakes that impact individuals, organisations and potentially entire industries.” - Yael Shy, Esq., Director of Global Spiritual Life at NYU
But there’s a growing movement occurring in businesses at the moment which helps the people within them cope with the challenges, complexities and ambiguities of our time.
Recently, a vast number of the FTSE 500 companies are recognising the importance of becoming more resilient by using mindful practices to:
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reduce stress develop creativity improve decision-making increase concentration enable collaboration and empathy
Led by companies in Silicon Valley, now a growing number of blue chip organisations, government departments, local councils and even schools are using mindful practices to develop these critical skills. Google, Transport for London, GlaxoSmithKline, the Home Office, Apple, Intel, Deutsche Bank and the Cabinet Office are just some of the organisations introducing these techniques as part of their transformation to become fit for the future.
1 ‘Volatility, uncertainity, complexity and ambiguity’, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity
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WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
The term ‘mindfulness’ simply means being more aware of what’s going on, by being more present and paying more attention.
“Mindful awareness is about learning to pay attention, in the present moment, and without judgement. It’s like training a muscle – training attention to be where you want it to be” - Oxford Mindfulness Centre
Mindfulness is deeply rooted in a range of ancient eastern practices including Buddhism, Taoism and Yoga, which, for some, wraps it in negative connotations of new age hippies - putting some people off. However, since the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, an American medic who demonstrated the effects of mindfulness on patients with chronic health problems, mindfulness is generally now much more accepted as a form of psychological aid2.
Today, mindfulness, MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) and MBCT (mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) have grown in popularity in the management of clinical problems. In addition, following the lead of Google’s ‘Search Inside Yourself’ employee mindfulness programme, the benefits of mindful techniques are becoming more widely understood for businesses and as a result, are becoming much more mainstream.
All of these practices are simply different approaches towards achieving the same goal of being more aware of our thoughts, feelings and sensations by being in the present moment. That can be achieved by sitting with closed eyes, focusing on breathing, actively listening to someone when they’re speaking, setting an intention for the day or slowing down during an activity like eating lunch or drinking tea.
These are simple techniques and learning to use them in a way that suspends judgement and self-criticism is scientifically proven to have a deeply positive impact on our lives.
2 The Mindful Manifesto (http://themindfulmanifesto.com/times-mindfulness-piece.html)
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THE SCIENCE
There are over 400 scientific studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of mindfulness in reducing stress, increasing concentration and focus, helping to foster creative thinking, improving decision-making, strengthening the immune system and developing empathy. And, although it can be hard to believe that such a simple technique can help all that, it all comes down to basic science.
Stress, anxiety and frustration all set off a distinct physical reaction - you might feel your heart thumping, your hands might clench and you might start feeling warmer. It’s these physical reactions to stress that cause high blood pressure, inhibit the growth of new neural tissue, prevent us from being open to new ideas, limit our peripheral vision and can cause life-limiting illnesses.
Dr. Richard Boyatzis, from Case Western Reserve University, explains more:
“It is said that our blood travels about seven and a half miles in our bodies, but when we get stressed or think about something that frustrates us, it knocks off about a mile...as your blood pressure goes up, your pulse rate goes up and your breathing starts to get more shallow... The net effect is, that when you're under this build up of chronic annoying stress, you don't have access to all of your neural networks...Under this chronic stress, you're much likely to have your first reaction to be reject any new ideas. Now with all this going on, our immune system is being relatively dysfunctional at this point. That's why people under a lot of this kind of, chronic power stress, have higher incidence of: viral and bacterial infection, influenza, type two diabetes, ulcers, at least three of the 87 diagnostic categories of cancer...You have a lot of problems with heart attacks, strokes sleep disorders, gastrointestinal difficulties and sexual dysfunctions. Welcome to leadership.”3
The good news is that groundbreaking studies, like those by Martin E.P. Seligman, show that we can actually choose the way we think.4 This means we can actively lower our blood pressure and lower the chances of the above happening.
3 Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence, Dr. Richard Boyatzis, Case Western Reserve
University
4 Learned Optimisim’, Martin E.P.Seligman (http://www.actnow.ie/files/Learned-Optimism-Book-
Summary.pdf)
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BrightCultures In fact, it was found that office workers who practiced mindfulness for just twenty minutes a day actually reduced stress by an average of 11%. 5
Findings by Dr Daniel J. Siegel, (co-director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness center) include the following
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University of New Mexico researchers found that participation in a MindfulnessBased Stress Reduction course decreased anxiety and binge eating. Eight weeks of MBSR resulted in an improvement in the immune profiles of people with breast or prostate cancer, which corresponded with decreased depressive symptoms. A prison offering Vipassana meditation training for inmates found that those who completed the course showed lower levels of drug use, greater optimism, and better self-control, which could reduce recidivism. Fifth-grade girls who did a ten-week programme of yoga and other mindfulness practices were more satisfied with their bodies and less preoccupied with weight. A mix of cancer patients who tried MBSR showed significant improvement in mood and reduced stress. These results were maintained at a checkup six months later. The likelihood of recurrence for patients who had experienced three or more bouts of depression was reduced by half through Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, an offshoot of MBSR. After fifteen weeks of practicing MBSR, counselling students reported improved physical and emotional wellbeing, and a positive effect on their counselling skills and therapeutic relationships.6
These observations highlight some of mindfulness’s immense positive effects on individuals - greater optimism, less stress, more self-control, improved relationships and more developed immune systems - all fundamental to building resilience.
5 Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation and co-director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness
Research Center, Dr. Daniel J. Siegel http://www.mindful.org/the-science/medicine/the-science-ofmindfulness 6 Dr. Daniel J. Siegel, Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation and co-director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center
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THREE AREAS OF FOCUS
When building resilient organisations, there are three key areas of focus - building change resilience in individuals, encouraging innovation and creativity and developing resilient leadership.
1. BUILDING CHANGE RESILIENCE
“The greatest thing in all education is to make the nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.”
– William James
During any change period, people move from a current state (the way they work now) to a future state (how they will work in the future). The time in between is what Arnold Van Gennep in his seminal work, Les rites de passage, calls a ‘liminal’7 period.
It’s this ‘liminal’ period that is most disruptive - it affects the way people think, feel and perform. It is during this period that, for people who are not properly equipped to deal with the change, engagement will reduce, stress will increase and the transformation process is likely to get stuck and even fail - because individuals will either get ill, be unable to fully commit, feel unhappy and sometimes even leave.
Being resilient means being able to respond well and thrive in periods of change, without becoming overwhelmed. It means an individual will maintain a high performance level and an overall sense of wellbeing.
Practicing mindfulness allows individuals to become more resilient by maintaining personal control as it brings them into what is referred to as an ‘approach mode’ and out of an ‘avoidance mode’ - the mode we might be in when we are running away from a sabre-toothed tiger8. It is this ‘approach mode’ that can help people cope with change and ambiguity by allowing them to respond, rather than react, and to think more clearly.
In fact, a study by Kabat-Zinn9 found that people who had completed an eight-week mindfulness programme scored highly on a number of resilient traits - participants were happier, more energised and less stressed. They felt their lives were more meaningful, that they had more control over their lives and were more likely to see challenges as opportunities rather than threats.
7 Liminal definition, Oxford Dictionary (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/liminal) 8 How practising mindfulness in the workplace can boost productivity, Personnal Today
(http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/how-practising-mindfulness-in-the-workplace-can-boost-productivity/) 9 (See footnote 4)
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BrightCultures 2. ENCOURAGING INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY
Ron Schlutz describes the opposite of being mindful to being mind-filled:
“In a state of mind-filledness, there is no room for anything new to enter. The paradoxical response people often have to this condition is often to distract themselves even more, with music, food, movies, the Internet, etc. When looked at from this perspective, it's easy to think this additional informational input would only exacerbate the condition — and guess what? It does. The more distractions you add to your mind, the less mindful you are and the more mindfilled you become. I would think at this point it would be fairly obvious why people might experience overload: There's simply no more room.”10
In contrast, mindfulness allows individuals to become free from those overloading thoughts and open the space upon which the opportunity for real innovation can emerge.
Mindfulness promotes divergent creative-style thinking, improves our ability to problem solve and enables us to be more open minded, less self-critical and be more curious. In fact, research by the Institute of Mindful Leadership found that for 93% of leaders surveyed, mindfulness training helped them create space for innovation. 11
This is also why the ‘liminal’ period (described above) is important - because if people can orient themselves and find clarity within this space, there is a massive opportunity for innovation and creativity.
10 The Mindful Corporation’, Paul Nakai and Ron Schlutz 11 How practising mindfulness in the workplace can boost productivity, Personnal Today
(http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/how-practising-mindfulness-in-the-workplace-can-boost-productivity/)
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BrightCultures 3. DEVELOPING RESILIENT LEADERSHIP
“Here is the very heart and soul of the matter of leadership: If you seek to lead, invest 50% of your time (attention) leading yourself: your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. …Lead yourself, lead your superiors, lead your peers, and free your people to do the same. All else is trivial.” - Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus Visa International
Mindfulness is at the heart of a number of popular leadership models, including Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee’s ‘resonant leadership’, James Scouller’s ‘three levels of leadership’, Otto Scharmer’s ‘theory U’ and Lee and Roberts’ ‘authentic leadership model’.12
Mindfulness allows individuals to enhance their emotional intelligence, practice attentional control and improve the ability to step back and think and act more rationally - all crucial skills for leaders leading change in 21st century business.
In fact, a study by business school INSEAD showed that being exposed to mindfulness training and coaching encourages managers and leaders to behave in a more socially responsible way. 89% of participants also said it enhanced their ability to listen to themselves and others and over 70% said it helped them think more strategically.13
12 How practising mindfulness in the workplace can boost productivity, Personnal Today
(http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/how-practising-mindfulness-in-the-workplace-can-boost-productivity/) 13 Introduction to mindfulness,Eddy Adriaenas
(http://www.academia.edu/5308383/Introduction_to_Mindfulness)
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WHO’S DOING IT
Businesses are equipping individuals, teams and leaders with mindfulness tools, techniques and the understanding required to build resilient organisations in the following ways:
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Building mindfulness into leadership and development programmes Incorporating mindfulness into coaching practice and into coaching interventions Hosting workshops, training days and long-running programmes Focusing on mindfulness during team-building days
Organisations who are taking a mindful approach to building resilience include:
TRANSPORT FOR LONDON
Transport for London (TfL) introduced its stress management course after it was revealed that mental health was one of the top health issues facing employees. Following the course, TfL “has seen improvements in relating to others and a reduction in absenteeism caused by stress, anxiety and depression since introducing the programme. Absenteeism caused by stress, anxiety and depression dropped by 71%; 84% of participants say they “are relating to others better”; 82% have increased the amount of exercise they do; 77% have improved their diet or tackled drinking and/or smoking problems; and 54% have improved their sleeping patterns.”14
GENERAL MILLS
General Mills introduced a seven-week mindfulness course for employees to help increase productivity of employees. After one course, 83% of participants said they were taking time to optimise their personal productivity. Also, 80% of senior leaders reported a positive change in the ability to make decisions and 89% said they became better listeners.15
14 How practising mindfulness in the workplace can boost productivity, Personnal Today
(http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/how-practising-mindfulness-in-the-workplace-can-boost-productivity/) 15 A guide to mindfulness at work, Drew Handson, Forbes
(http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhansen/2012/10/31/a-guide-to-mindfulness-at-work/)
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BrightCultures GOOGLE Most famously, Google’s ‘Search Inside Yourself’ (SIY) programme has been taught since 2007. And for many, it’s been life-changing - both at work and in their personal lives.
Chade-Meng Tan, head of mindfulness at Google said:
“Engineering manager Bill Duane discovered the importance of giving himself quality time, so he reduced his working hours to four days a week. After he did that, he was promoted. Bill found time to take care of himself and discovered ways to accomplish more while doing less. For Blaise Pabon, a sales engineer, SIY helped him become much more credible to customers because he is now better at calmly overcoming objections during product demonstrations, he speaks compassionately about competitors, and he is courageous and truthful when telling customers about our products. All these qualities earned him great respect among his customers. One engineer in the class found himself becoming much more creative after SIY. Another engineer told us that two of his most important contributions to his project came after doing mindfulness exercises he learned in SIY.”16
16 Search Inside Yourself, Ed Haliwell, Mindful (http://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-practice/mindfulness-
and-awareness/search-inside-yourself)
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CONCLUSION
The only way to truly understand mindfulness and its benefits is to experience it. However, there’s also a wealth of scientific research, studies and case studies that all demonstrate how mindfulness can help organisations become more resilient. And there’s a wealth of organisations already doing it.
“An increasing number of people pick up contemplative practices meditation, prayer, yoga, walking in nature and integrate these into their daily lives. Many organizations researched for this book have set up a quiet room somewhere in the office, and others have put meditation and yoga classes in place. This practice opens up space for individual reflection and mindfulness in the middle of busy days. A number of them go a step further: they also create collective moments for self-reflection…” - Frederic Laloux, author of ‘Reinventing organizations’
Being a resilient organisations means having the capability and engagement to deal with fast-moving, strategic challenges and opportunities. And that’s what mindfulness has the capability to do.
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ABOUT BRIGHTCULTURES
BrightCultures helps connect organisations to the 21st century customer.
We have a long history of helping big, complex organisations, such as Barclays, the Foreign Office, Cisco, BBC and American Express, become more resilient.
We focus on mindfulness, empathy and effective communication to create change through collaboration. We partner with international mindfulness gurus like Joel and Michelle Levey, founders of WisdomAtWork.com.
If you would like to chat about mindfulness and what it can do for your organisation, contact Caz Yetman on caz@brightcultures.co.uk or @cazyetman on Twitter
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