www.peopleandmanagement.com
The choice is based on what your real need is
and what would you want out of it.
Who will work in their absence? Are we
saying we don’t send employees already for
L&D programs? We don’t factor in planned
or unplanned off time? We don’t factor in less
than 100 percent productivity even when they
are at work? Instead what is often noticed is:
when we have such empathetic engagements
through mindfulness practices, people realise
that others need time off. They voluntarily
pitch in to ensure everything is done – as a
team, as a group; and often to an even greater
level. These are results on the ground.
Does mindfulness fi t any company culture?
What are the parameters to access?
The answer to this is a bit of a yes and a no.
Yes, in the sense that there are certain enabling
environmental factors that make it easier, but
the bigger answer is No.
In Mindfulness, we talk about being more
aware of ourselves and being able to manage
ourselves better in a social construct. Now
which organisation does not need this? The
only issue is our understanding of how we
perceive mindfulness. We believe it is fi t for
only some specifi c criterions. To the contrary,
it is a way of being. When and if we are able to
contextualise it to every organisations unique
context in the immediate, medium and long
term, we will fi nd that it blends in beautifully
everywhere. We speak of culture, of ethics
in organisations – these are the bedrocks in
mindfulness. It starts with personal culture
and personal ethics. As leaders, we set the
tone. Now which organisation will not be a
fi t for this? In fact, a lot of work is being done
with startups – start building these cultural
practices as founders right in the beginning -
it’s not for only when you hit series C funding.
How do we launch mindfulness training
inside a corporate training curriculum,
which already includes hundreds of
leadership development programs?
The organisation can additionally
consider providing an ongoing
mindfulness program to support the
process of the attendees even once
the program is over. Structurally and
behaviourally a blend of both can
provide the most benefi ts.
Organisations and leaders do not require
their employees to become mindfulness
trainers themselves. To reap benefi ts, they
need to be able to bring enabling practices from
mindfulness into the unique working context
of their employees and leaders.
Mindfulness practices need not be yet
another new leadership model – instead, it
blends easily into most existing leadership
programs. The organisation can additionally
consider providing an ongoing mindfulness
program to support the process of the
attendees even once the program is over.
Structurally and behaviourally a blend of both
can provide the most benefi ts.
Having said that; it is best to identify each
organisation’s unique scenario and create
programs that blend systemically rather than
a one size fi ts all approach. It is important
to note – mindfulness approaches help
create behaviour shifts to more constructive
desirable behaviours. And such behaviour
shifts are essentially culture enabling shifts
and therefore need to be given the due focus
rather than be viewed as yet another training
program. P & M
Vol. 10 Issue 2 • FEBRUARY 2019, Delhi NCR |
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