Mindfulness: An Emerging Leadership Competency

A few months ago, my friend Jason told me about one his best bosses, Robert. Among his fine traits, the one that left the biggest impact was Robert’s ability to be ‘present’ when they had a conversation. Being young and new to his job, Jason needed plenty of guidance and direction. While Robert was a busy executive with limited time available, he always gave Jason his full attention when they were able to meet. As Jason told me, “Even if Robert only had 15 minutes for me, he made sure there were no distractions – phone calls, interruptions, etc. In those moments he was all mine.” As those who have read my other Linked In Pulse articles know, I’ve done a considerable amount of work on what Best Bosses can teach us about great leadership. The ability to truly listen, be present and available for direct reports is a common thread from most Best Boss experiences.

I was thinking about my work and Jason’s story while participating with my Vantage Leadership Consulting colleagues in mindset, or mindfulness, training with @Russ Rausch of @Vision Pursue (www.visionpursue.com). VP is a firm that helps people lead, perform, and live better lives by improving the way their mind processes their experiences. 

What sold our firm on VP was their mindset test that asked how much stress, annoyance, monotony and escape we experienced on a typical work day. The test went on to ask:

·      Do you have to re-read things?

·      Do you have trouble being present at home?

·      Do you have trouble sleeping and maintaining energy?

·      Do you lack resiliency from your mind replaying past and future events, over and over?

·      Do you waste energy on things you can’t control?

After considering our responses, it was easy to believe Russ’ assertion that a high percentage of people, including me and my Vantage colleagues, battle these things on a regular basis. After all, in our frenetic, overcharged, and multi-tasking world, many of us struggle with a wandering mind, poor sleep habits, decreased resiliency, and an overwhelming propensity to attempt to control uncontrollable situations. It was enlightening to find out that this strife was caused by our minds and how they are working. We were hooked when Russ went on to explain the science behind improving mental processing and then showed us Vision Pursue’s impressive results with their clients, which includes leaders in high profile corporate organizations and professional sports teams.

After two months of training (8 hours of facilitated meetings with Russ supported by 60 daily lessons via an easy to use app), the results were very positive. Across the board we had improved mental focus, emotional patterns, and interpersonal relationships. Personally, I was sleeping better, felt less stress, and my wife volunteered, without provocation, that I was much less likely to get annoyed (and, conversely, I was less annoying to be around) with her and my two sons. Now, that is an accomplishment!

It also became clear that this shift my colleagues and I had encountered improved our ‘professional’ selves. Our minds were quieter, leading to less stress and annoyance, allowing us to listen more closely and be much more present in our work and with those with whom we work.

Through my work at Vantage, I am provided great exposure to emerging trends that are expanding our definition of great leadership. Over the past few years, leaders have increasingly been expected to possess a global mindset, be digitally competent and become officers of employee engagement. I think mindfulness should be added to this list. And, I will bet that Jason and anyone else who has had a boss like Robert, would agree.