As I listened to Susan, I was struck by the sense that her joy reflected a much deeper discovery: that a spaciousness and freedom from reactive, auto-pilot leadership can be accessed by cultivating mindfulness. Leaders remember something fundamental about being a human being as they recognize that there is a way to meet each moment of their lives without reactivity, judging, and storytelling. These are not only unnecessary but also cloud their ability to see clearly what is actually there and respond with greater wisdom. In these times, can leaders afford to do otherwise? The mindful leadership curricula we have been presenting combine some of the latest neuroscience discoveries with established mental disciplines drawn from the meditative tradition. Mindful leadership training is not about relaxation. It offers the intensive mental discipline training of mindfulness meditation in a context that recognizes the unprecedented challenges and opportunities facing leaders today. It invites leaders to explore for themselves the possibility of bringing all of their mind’s capacities to each moment of their lives. Mindfulness training teaches leaders to rely not just on analytical resources and strengths, but to intentionally cultivate and strengthen the mind’s capacity to be fully present. In so doing, leaders begin to see and hear and think with greater clarity, and perhaps to expand the repertoire of possibilities and responses in their lives. The journey to develop the mindful leadership curricula began in 2005 during a discussion among colleagues at the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness. We were talking about how, despite the increasing spread of mindfulness throughout many aspects of society, a comprehensive methodology to bring mindfulness to organizations seemed notably absent. Although there had been many attempts, none had the sustained impact I sensed might be possible. It seemed clear that the way to have the greatest impact on any organization was to bring mindfulness training to its leaders. But offering Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to leaders was not the solution. The classic MBSR format focuses on stress, and many leaders simply would not invest the time needed to experience and understand the potential of mindfulness training if the benefit were merely stress reduction. Mindful leadership training would need to explore benefits far beyond stress reduction. The journey would not be about bringing mindfulness training to leaders; it would be about cultivating leadership presence. Ideally, the mindful leadership program would bring together the mental training of mindfulness meditation with an understanding—from the inside out—of the challenges, complexities, opportunities, and responsibilities of today’s leaders. There was no road map to follow in developing this new approach, and it would depend on ongoing dialogue with the participants. A daunting challenge, but thankfully one that I began with an extraordinary partner: Saki Santorelli, executive director of the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness. Together, we began this journey with a pilot group of thirteen leaders and a newly developed curriculum entitled Cultivating Leadership Presence through Mindfulness. Four years and more than 350 graduates later, a unique exploration of mindful leadership has emerged. This exploration takes place in a laboratory that can take the form of a multi-day residential retreat or a series of consecutive weekly classes. Each leader becomes the experimenter and collects his or her own data. Some of the data is familiar; some is newly discovered and holds the promise of more deeply understanding ourselves and bringing our true and complete self to leadership. Over the last twenty years as a leader in for-profit and non-profit organizations, I have noticed a few common qualities among the most influential leaders: pursuit of excellence, open curiosity, integrity, and respect and caring for others. My experience with mindful leadership further reinforces this observation. Leaders who attend mindful leadership retreats are often taking a leap of faith into an area they know little about, and yet their inquisitive nature encourages them to explore mindfulness just as they would any other new territory. The retreats are intense, yet the leaders are willing to work hard to meet that intensity. In fact, the physical and mental challenge of mindful leadership training aligns with their belief in pursuing excellence. Rather than being a hurdle, it keeps leaders in the game. The training also draws out their integrity and caring for others when they take a pause from the constant busyness that can infect us all and begin to reflect on what really is at the core of their authentic leadership. They notice the potential to lead with greater clarity, with more transparency, and with less storytelling about the future and the past. When I speak with leaders about attending the retreats, I am frequently asked, “What do you know about the impact of this training on leaders?” To answer this question, we started collecting qualitative responses at the first retreat. This group was made up of leaders from General Mills, where I work, and I knew firsthand that they had access to some of the best leadership training available. I was pleasantly surprised, then, when the most commonly used word among all of the feedback responses was “transformative.” To take our research on impacts further, we wondered if there would be value in asking about specific leadership qualities, such as strategic thinking, decision making, listening deeply, increasing productivity, and decreasing reactivity. So in 2009, we undertook two studies. Since leaders were not so interested in whether the training would help them handle stress, we didn’t do typical mindfulness research, which measures biological and psychological indicators of stress. What we wanted to know was whether the training would affect how well they would lead, and to our delight the answers were consistently strong, as the sample data below shows. We also did a pre- and post-course survey of mid-level managers who participated in a seven-week, two-hour-per-week, Mindful [email protected] All 19 categories we looked at showed statistically significant positive change. In addition, we’ve noticed interest in the program going viral: colleagues of leaders who have participated in the programs routinely tell others about the changes they have noticed in the leaders who have taken part, and of course the leaders themselves speak about their experiences. One of our key assumptions in this work has been that if leaders embody mindful leadership, the impact on their organizations would be significant whether or not their teams were trained in mindfulness. If, for example, they use the calendar exercise on the preceding page, what kind of ripple effect does that have? What if the leader begins to question the volume of meetings, perhaps delegating more, or being more intentional about leaving space in the day for connecting with colleagues and direct reports? What is the impact on the organization and the community if a leader routinely has enough space in their day to ask if there are better ways to do things—ones that are more productive, more profitable, more compassionate, more socially responsible? The work that began with the four-and-half-day Cultivating Leadership Presence through Mindfulness retreat has unfolded to include many other offerings under the mindful leadership umbrella, including a seven-week course for all levels of an organization, an annual Mindful Leaders Alumni Retreat, a Mindfulness Meditations for Leaders CD and a wide variety of weekly, bi-monthly, and internet meditation practice supports. All of these emerged in response to leaders asking for something more to support their exploration. Leaders lead, so once they were touched by mindful leadership, they had plenty of ideas about where else mindfulness might be brought into their organizations. So, the mindful leadership work has spread quickly to leaders from more than 30 organizations, because leaders tell other leaders about their experiences—particularly when they help them find better ways to lead in the face of change and uncertainty. A 4 ½-day retreat, 80 respondents • Please rate how much change, if any, has occurred for you in the following attitudes and behaviors as a result of your participation in mindfulness (retreat and practice). Percent reporting positive change: 93% Taking time to reflect…space for discovery/innovation 89% Enhanced listening…to self and others 88% Exhibiting patience…with self and others 80% Making better decisions…clarity Mindful [email protected] A 7-week course, 40+ respondents • I am able to be fully attentive to a conversation. Pre-course: 26%, Post-course: 77% • I am able to make time on most days to prioritize my work. Pre-course: 17%, Post- course: 54% • I am able to notice when my attention has been pulled away and redirect it to the present. Pre-course: 23%, Post-course: 67% For more, read Marturano’s Mindful.org blog: On Leadership
title: “Finding The Space To Lead” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “Donald Doty”
Just as we know that we can train innate capacities of our bodies to be stronger, more flexible and more resilient, we now know through decades of research that this training can physiologically change our brain, and can enhance our ability to focus, see clearly, be creative, and embody compassion. We can cultivate and strengthen the capabilities of our minds. This allows us to be responsive rather than reactive. It allows us to enhance our ability to step off the autopilot treadmill we are often living on, and make conscious choices about our life. This is a critical capacity we all need whether we are leading our own life, our family, a team, a department or a global organization. Why do we need mindful leadership training in today’s world? As we consider the challenges leaders face today, it‘s relatively easy to see why we need to cultivate more of the mind’s capabilities through mindful leadership training. The environment we live and work in is constantly evolving. Time is now often measured in internet seconds. There are new and complex economic and resource constraints on our organizations. We are attached 24/7 to an array of technological wizardry that regularly generates anxiety-producing information overload and a sense of disconnection that can overwhelm and isolate us. One paradigm after another is shifting. It is also true, though, that these tumultuous times can be times of great opportunity and innovation as the world becomes smaller and we begin to see the potential to meet the complexities of the day in ways that are truly innovative, productive, and compassionate. It’s a time to take leadership and to bring all of our capabilities, including our capability to be fully present in this moment, to find the innovation, courage, integrity and compassion we need to make a difference in our world. My work life has become so overwhelming that my relationships are suffering. How can mindfulness help? Very often, the same distractions that keep us from being present in the workplace, interfere with our ability to feel connected to others in our personal and professional lives. We may find that even if we intend to pay attention to a co-worker or our child, our mind soon becomes distracted with our own internal chatter, or we find ourselves wondering about what may have just arrived on our iPhone. When we train our minds to pay attention and begin to learn that we can redirect our attention to the present moment when we notice our mind has wandered, we quickly begin to notice the differences in our communications with others. We notice more subtleties in the conversation and we are more able to deeply listen to ourselves and to speak from the heart. This kind of presence in a conversation is felt—by you and by others—and can become the basis for deepening a relationship. My day is packed with back-to-back meetings and mile-long to-do lists. I don’t have time to train. As you will see in the book, this training requires no special equipment and invites you to set aside only 10 minutes, twice per day. The effects are felt almost immediately and most people will quickly see that some of those meetings and ‘to dos’ start to change and lessen when they begin to see things more clearly and make some conscious choices about how they want to meet the moments of their lives. Meditation seems a little New-Agey to me, and I wouldn’t know where to begin. Finding the Space to Lead is a step by step approach from a senior legal executive at a Fortune 200 company. It was developed over a period of five years with the input of executives, and employees at all levels, to make it simple and applicable to the busy lives we all live. There is nothing New-Age about Mindful Leadership training. You begin with a guided 10 minute meditation (some of the meditations and reflections more fully explored in the book are available on this website) and add simple applications. The applications, called Purposeful Pauses, do not take any time from your schedule because they are done during your day-at lunch, walking down the hall, looking at your calendar, etc. Simplicity and clarity are the hallmarks of mindful leadership training in Finding the Space to Lead. Visit FindingtheSpacetoLead.com for meditations and to learn more about the book.
