Be Mindful for Better Decision-Making

Insights into Leadership

?Lead & Care? - Etienne Blondiaux

More and more mindfulness is present in organisations, mostly in the USA, although Europe is getting into the trend. Practiced in boardrooms in executive committees or in offices or workshops, this wave is now unavoidable. As a coach / trainer for top executives and a mindfulness trainer I often worked at bringing both activities together. The mindfulness business is getting nearly as big as the Yoga one and it may be interesting to explore various fields of leadership and management to understand the benefits of being mindful in the workplace.

In this reflexion we shall consider decision-making. We remember some 2015 paper by Ann Latham in Forbes explaining that the process was more important that the decision itself. Ann is known for her research on strategic clarity. In a few words focusing on the process gives more clarity, saves time and resources, brings better contribution and commitment of people involved and those concerned, better satisfaction… 

A VUCA World

We realise also that it had become more and more difficult to predict the outcome of your decisions and actions. The experts speak about a VUCA environment. VUCA meaning Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. The environment requires you react quickly to changes that are out of your control and unpredictable (Volatile), you take cation without certainty (Uncertain), presents many interdependencies (Complex) and is usually outside your own expertise (Ambiguous). VUCA is about the speed of change, the lack of predictability, the possible confusion in reading the context and the potential for misinterpretations.

Decision-making in such a VUCA world can become easily a source of anxiety and stress. For individuals often rely on their experience. The use beliefs, rules of thumb or mental shortest that have worked in the past. They may even be overconfident in their opinions and overestimate their capacity to make the right decisions.

Mindfulness as a resource for decision making

Being a meditator since the 70s, I had the opportunity to reconsider my practice when I discovered mindfulness as packaged by Jon Kabat-Zinn. When I met him and was trained by him and his team of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) I understood we had what organisations needed for their individuals in the current environment. The research of the last 30 years have proven all the benefits of mindfulness for health as well as for better leadership.

We make decisions every day. Good or bad ones. In organisations they may influence the future of the organisation. The latter have also to be able to rely on their people in the long term and ensure they are to make the best possible decisions but also can keep aligned and focused.

What is being mindful at work ? In his 2016 article in Mindful called “10 Ways to Be More Mindful at Work”, Shamash Alidina mentions that “you don't need to block out 30 minutes to practice meditation in order to experience the benefits of mindfulness at work”. He suggests :

• to be consciously present. Mindfulness is about awareness and self-awareness. Being to slow down to speed up.mindful is being aware of what is happening around you and what is happening inside you. It shall help you to make clear decisions.
• to do one thing at a time. In fact nobody can multi-task. Therefore when we try multitasking our brain is fighting to keep available for each task. You can practice mindfulness between the tasks, by creating or walking foe example.
• to slow down to speed up. “By stopping or slowing down, you can become more efficient, productive, happy, resilient and healthy at work”.
• to befriend with stress. Mindfulness can hep you looking at stress as a companion and as a positive challenge.
• to cultivate humility and accept what you can’t change. Mindfulness is about accepting the present moment and developing your awareness of it. It is about acceptance. In decision making, knowing what you can and what you can’t change helps you to take better actions and choices.

Clarifying the context and objectives

Making mindful decisions starts with understanding the context of the situation. Research shows that emotions have a huge impact on the understanding of the context of the decision. In fact emotions, thoughts and body sensations are all linked and may have a huge negative impact on the decision making process.

We suggest to take first some time to centre oneself in the present moment. You just need to focus on your breathing and relax and keep being aware of your sensations, emotions and thoughts.

Then define the objective of your decision making, close softly your eyes and think about this objective. This shall help you to clarify context and objective.

Generating options

Being mindful will make you more open to potential options. The bigger the choice the more appropriate the decision you make. As the situation has been made clearer and information more relevant, it becomes possible to generate options and come to a better conclusion. When mindful the analysis is more accurate and systematic, and will generate more options to reach the objective of the decision. 

Gathering the right information

Any negative information may influence your emotional state and create some bias in your thinking. Mindfulness allows you to be aware of the impact of the information on your emotional and cognitive state. This shall make you able to detach yourself from the effects on you. Gathering the right information is about choosing the necessary information to make the right decision.

Mindfulness allows to make the choice of information relevant. Research and experience show that mindful people have a greater acceptance for uncertainty.

Learning from experience

As Natalia Karelia, an INSEAD Professor, mentions in her INSEAD Knowledge article “Why Mindful Individuals Make Better Decisions”, the final stage of decision-making is the most important for improving one’s decision-making prowess in the long run, but is often neglected by decision-makers. Mindful individuals may be more likely to to learn from experience and detach from their personal concern to be more receptive to these learnings, positive or negative.

Thanks to mindfulness decision-making is less biased and we may disengage from our past stories, judgments(self-judgment and judgment by others) to be more open to what is really happening today. It also allows to become aware of our own fears. By recognising them we may fond the courage we need to make decisions in a more and more difficult environment.

To become a mindful individual needs discipline and commitment. You cannot become mindful from one day to other just by deciding it. It is a posture which needs to be practiced on a regular basis. It is a philosophy of life.

It does not prevent from using the right managerial techniques, screening all information, respecting ethics, and working hard to implement decisions and reach objectives. 

Etienne Blondiaux

Lead & Care@ : Besides coaching and professional training, we propose mindfulness workshops and MBSR programs to accompany organisations and their leaders at every level. We will be delighted to answer your needs and customize our answer to your demand. ([email protected])