People and Management February 2019 | Page 12

EXCERPTS TOWNHALL EXCERPTS FROM TOWN HALL QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ON WELLNESS OF EMPLOYEES AND ORGANIZATIONS What business benefi ts can we hope to derive from a mindfulness program at work? Does it mean we need to send employees for silent retreats? Who will work in their absence? What I am sensing in the first part of the question is that is there relevance of mindfulness in the corporate world. If I was to start enlisting the benefi ts, at least 15 very clear ones would come out. These would be spread over 3 areas: managing yourself, managing each other and infl uencing, and of course leadership. To put it into context, the aspect of real genuine employee engagement is one of the fi rst things that start seeing a positive shift once we start investing in these 12 | Vol. 10 Issue 2 • FEBRUARY 2019, Delhi NCR practices and the journey of mindfulness. If an organisation was to look at these 3 broad pieces from a leadership perspective they become the fi rst time manager, middle management and top leadership development programs. Really speaking, mindfulness helps people to work much more collaboratively with each other. To the point about the need to send employees for silent retreats – it is not mandatory however it definitely helps for us to deepen our personal journeys. As an example, if you are stressed and need an intervention, you have a range of options to choose from – a friend, family member, counsellor, psychotherapist, psychiatrist etc.