by Andrew McLaughlin, Diploma programme director at the IMI
Sophisticated transnational companies are becoming increasingly interested in mindfulness and meditation as a practice for leaders. What is going on? This ancient practice forms part of many religious traditions.
And that makes sense. Why the corporate interest? For answers we need to turn to the world of psychology and the emerging field of neurobiology. Peter Drucker, the doyen of management gurus, advised leaders that they needed to be able to focus on a piece of work for extended periods in order to plan and control. Drucker practically invented time management to help executives to allocate time and attention. But are there other ways to increase our focus and attention?
Enter neuroscience, helped by sophisticated medical physicists, who found a way to monitor the brain in active mode. Examples are fMRIs, PET, CT and SPECT imagining. Such devices, unlike X-rays, for example, show how the brain works. The development of such devices enabled scientists to chart the areas of the brain involved in concentration and focus.
The great universities and teaching hospitals, notably UCLA medical school, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School studied life-long meditators and discovered that their brain structures were different to others. In particular, they had changed the structure of the brain in the area where attention and focus is located. In addition, they had reduced activity in areas where arousal and reaction are located. This involves a structure called the amygdala – the 999 area of the brain. Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn of Massachusetts General Hospital developed world famous programmes for mindfulness based stress reduction and mindfulness based pain reduction. Kabat- Zins book ‘Full Catastrophe Living’ is a classic. He also wrote, in 2006, ‘Mindfulness for Beginners’. Researchers have been checking how long is required to achieve some of these impacts and the startling result is that the changes appear at 6 weeks of daily meditation. Investigators are not sure how long per day is required but most studies have involved about 20 minutes. So 20 minutes per day for 6 weeks produces a changed brain resulting in more attention to what is happening (sensory acuity) a greater ability to hold a single point of focus (concentration and focus) and a less reactive and judgmental attitude to everyday events.
If a pharmaceutical company could produce a drug with these results and with no side effects the share price would rocket. That is why leadership needs mindfulness. The benefits are enormous and increase over time. The leader always needs to be self-regulating so he or she can behave in accordance with the needs of the situation. That entails not being too impulsive, being resistant to stress, and having empathy for those who are the followers.These are all known benefits of meditation.
Is there a difference between mindfulness and meditation. Meditation was the term given to the practices of the Buddists, Hindus, Christians and others who developed methods of stilling the mind. For example, many of the classic techniques have a mantra, whereby the name of a deity or Christ in Christianity is invoked in a repetitive fashion. Benson’s medical meditation was developed by Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard to take the religious connotations out of meditation. His system involves the repetition of the word one (sub-vocally) over and over. Stilling the mind from random thoughts by a single point of focus achieves the effect on the brain. It is challenging to train the brain. Practice is essential. For example, I have done three retreats of eight days each learning and practising meditation. The road to mastery is paved with patient practice.
Mindfulness is present moment awareness. This is achieved by full sensory immersion in an activity. So we can do mindful walking or mindful eating or even mindful washing of the dishes. Some people are bystanders in their own lives. Typically, our minds are too occupied with thoughts to allow complete immersion in what is right in front of us. A classic mindfulness exercise is to eat a raison with full awareness being fully conscious of the taste, the texture and the physical act of chewing and swallowing. The objective is to bring us back to where life is actually lived – the present moment. There are a number of excellent Aps available to help people to meditate. Head Space is an example where guided meditations based on the Buddhist tradition are available for all levels.
A mindfulness practice will increase personal effectiveness, self regulation and empathy. These emotional intelligence competencies are at the heart of effective leadership. And effective leadership is at the heart
of effective companies. And that is why sophisticated international companies such as Google, Microsoft and others support mindfulness for executive development.
About the author
Andrew McLaughlin is programme director of the IMI Diploma in Organisational Behaviour and the IMI Diploma in Executive Coaching. He is an experienced executive coach who has worked with national and multi-national companies including Revenue Commissioners, Departments of Industry and Commerce and Defence, OECD and EU. Andrew is a Master Practitioner and certified trainer/ consultant of Neuro Linguistic Programming.
