5 Ways Mindfulness Will Improve Your Business Today!
Our world is full of distractions. One way to navigate through them is by practicing mindfulness.
Mindfulness training helps us to rewire our brains and become more focused and in tune with ourselves. In turn, we deal with distractions and conflict in a healthier, more productive way. Instead of reacting impulsively, mindfulness practices help you get to the core of the issue, get creative in your problem solving and communicate your needs and wants more effectively.
In the workplace, looming deadlines, distracting coworkers, and personal issues can cause us to either shut down or lash out. Mindfulness training helps us to know exactly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment. Training yourself and your team in mindfulness practices has many workplace benefits. Let’s explore a few.
The Benefits of Mindfulness in the Workplace
Improved communication
Reduced stress and burnout
Improved focus
Increased emotional intelligence
Greater creativity
Improved communication
In a recent study among CEOs, almost 95% of respondents cited effective internal communication as the most critical factor in their business. Building a better workplace culture around effective communication can greatly reduce conflict, and improve organizational relationships. Mindfulness training gives you the tools to do just that.
Being mindful is about being present. When communicating with others, the practice of mindfulness can help you focus on what the person is truly saying, not necessarily how it made you feel. For example, when someone interrupts us, did they do so because they felt that our voice wasn’t valued? Or, is it because they were just excited to share their own ideas? By noticing the patterns of our behaviors, including the paths our minds start to go down when things aren’t feeling right, we can learn to recognize and address these thoughts right away.
Conflict in the workplace is inevitable. But, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Learning to let go of negative emotions, and judgments surrounding our day-to-day interactions can help us take a step back and reflect inwards in times of conflict. After all, practicing mindfulness helps us to be more responsive, instead of reactive. As we’ve said before, your brain is like a muscle, and it can be trained like one too. Training our mind boosts our emotional immune system so we are less affected by the ups and downs in our relationships.
Reduced stress and burnout
Stress can be a daunting obstacle in the workplace. According to the American Institute of Stress, 83% of US workers suffer from work-related stress, while more than 50% of workers reported not being engaged to work as a result of stress. Employees are less engaged, less productive, and most importantly, less happy when in a constant state of stress. When you make mindfulness a priority in the workplace, you can help in reducing workplace stressors. Through mindfulness practices, you can train yourself to respond better to these challenging situations.
The practice of mindfulness helps remove you from being in a constant state of fight or flight and gives you the tools to take yourself to a more calm and relaxed state. Giving yourself more clarity and heightened awareness has the potential to decrease stress and anxiety. When you focus on being in the present moment, you can let go of the unproductive thoughts, and focus on what is happening in the current moment.
Improved focus
When we think of mindfulness, the first thing that often comes to mind is the practice of meditation. While this isn’t the only piece of mindfulness, it can be a great tool. According to a recent study, people who meditate may be better equipped to quiet brain activity related to mind-wandering compared to those who don’t. So not only does mindfulness reduce your stress and improve your communication skills, but it also helps you be more focused and productive.
Whether you are working from home, or in the office, having difficulty focusing on one task is a common challenge. Practicing mindfulness helps us remove distractions and focus on the work that matters. One simple way to redirect your focus is by practicing mindful breathing. If you aren’t sure where to start, take a mindful pause to check out our free guided meditations.
Increased emotional intelligence
Soft skills, like emotional intelligence, are incredibly useful in the workplace. Mindfulness is a key tool in understanding ourselves, our own thoughts and feelings, and what is important to us. By better understanding our own emotions, we can better empathize with our team.
Another way mindfulness can increase emotional intelligence is that it strengthens not only your self-awareness but also your self-control. When you are able to control your emotions, you can better understand the other person's point of view, and take a moment to pause and reflect before you respond. As mentioned, conflict in the workplace is inevitable. Mindfulness training gives you the tools to be able to navigate through times of conflict in a constructive and positive way, without emotions.
Lastly, mindfulness helps us be less judgemental. Once we notice our judgments and biases, we can work towards overcoming them. Consider putting a plan in place to improve communication in your workplace. Take part in a team-building workshop to help your employees learn how to show up for themselves, and their peers.
Enhanced creativity
Having the ability to get creative when looking to solve problems in the workplace is essential. And what’s one of the biggest killers of creativity? Stress. Mindfulness practices can be a great tool to combat those feelings of overwhelm. When you're not in a constant state of stress, you’re able to be more present. Being present when looking to solve an important problem. In fact, mindfulness practices, including meditation, enhance three key skills necessary for problem-solving. According to the Harvard Business Review, it first switches on divergent thinking, which opens your mind to new ideas. Next, it improves your attention, which helps in registering the new ideas as useful. Lastly, it nurtures courage and resilience in the face of skepticism and setbacks. Practicing mindfulness helps you get into a more creative frame of mind, and combat those negative thoughts that often hinder creative thinking.
Summary
Mindfulness has many benefits both from a personal perspective and from a business perspective. You can think of mindfulness as a tool with many different uses. By bringing mindfulness into the workplace, you can improve communication, reduce stress and improve focus and productivity, to name a few. Keep in mind, as a leader, mindfulness starts with you.