7 Ways Mindfulness Could Improve Your Business

Faced with these new challenges and experiences, priorities are shifting and so is corporate culture. One of these profound shifts is the need for more presence and, consequently, greater mindfulness.

Executive Mindfulness

Although there are many definitions of mindfulness that differ between traditions and researchers, most practitioners or researchers agree that it is an aspect of mental discipline that helps with self-awareness selfregulation, as well as the ability to relate to others and not just focus on one’s own needs.

Research about mindfulness’s effects on workplace collaborations has also been compelling. Evidence suggests that it can decrease employee stress, while helping create better companiesand a strong bottom line. This could explain why so many companies began to invest more in executive mindfulness

Three things have changed. First, mental health is now on the corporate agenda. Second, the stigma attached to the pursuit of mindfulness has decreased. Thirdly the number of companies in which mindfulness is considered a legitimate and even necessary investment has increased. This is why the headlines tell the truth.

The Harvard Business Review published a compelling headline in March 2020: ” Why Leaders Must Meditation Now More Than Ever.” Later that same year, the Wall Street Journal organized a roundtable of CIOs, with the headline “Less meeting, more meditation.” Additionally, consulting firms have been spending more time assessing the impact of wellness programs, and mindfulness. McKinsey has estimated that the global wellness market is worth $1.5 trillion.

Mindfulness and the Workplace

Mindfulness is based upon a powerful principle: that solutions are just about as likely to be found in oneself (i.e., through awareness and self-awareness) as they are out there. It is easy to see the many potential benefits of mindfulness in the workplace. Here are just seven of these well-known advantages.

1. Promoting self -awareness: The key benefit of mindfulness is the direct impact it has on self-awareness as well as emotional regulation . The impact doesn’t just happen at a superficial level. The evidence is mounting to show that mindfulness can also have a neurobiological affect.
2. Improving collaborations. It’s not surprising that mindfulness is known to improve team collaborations. This is due in part to its ability to enhance self-awareness, emotional regulation, and focus. Lingtao Yi and Mary ZellmerBruhn reported in the Harvard Business Review that mindfulness training helped individuals “stay focused, approach problems with open minds, and avoid getting into arguments personally.”
3. Reduce stress and reduce burnout. Another benefit of mindfulness is the powerful effect it has on stress reduction. Studies consistently show that mindfulness can significantly reduce stress when it is regularly practiced. Also, mindfulness is shown to help prevent burnout .
4. Driving innovation The impact of mindfulness training on creativity and innovation is one of its most remarkable effects. For example, take this 2017 study which was done by a team from the Netherlands. In controlled conditions, researchers split participants into three groups. One group participated in a 10 minute mindfulness meditation just before starting a brainstorming task. Another group was told to spend ten minutes letting their mind wander before starting the task. And one group started brainstorming immediately. While all three groups were able to come up with similar ideas, the meditation group’s ideas were more diverse.
5. Enhancing productivity. Employees that are less stressed , more agile and creative, as well as better able to collaborate are also more productive . This is good for your bottom line. One 2014 study revealed that mindfulness can make organizations up to $22,000 each employee per year.
6. Building more equal workplaces This is another benefit and concern of mindfulness. Every year, organizations spend $8B on anti biastraining. This training is not sustainable, according to evidence. While research on mindfulness is still inconclusive, increasing evidence suggests that it can be used alongside anti-bias training to help create more equitable organizations.
7. Promoting the ability to view things in perspective: Perhaps more importantly, mindfulness can help us see things in a new way. Perspective-taking is not about shifting between different perspectives. But sometimes, it is better to simply stop and be still.

Mindfulness training has become a mainstream activity within organizations. Leaders as well as human resource professionals recognize the profound and lasting effects of mindfulness training on individuals and groups. They are also realizing that mindfulness can be one the best investments they make to support their employees in this critical time in workplace history.