As a business leader, you have plenty of responsibilities to juggle — whether it’s managing budgets, heading new projects, or finding new opportunities abroad. So why should teaching employees about mindfulness be part of your hefty to-do list? This article will explore the top 3 reasons why you should teach your company mindfulness.
What exactly is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of being present, aware, and calm. It can be achieved through a variety of methods — from at-home meditations to outdoor yoga classes. The beauty of mindfulness is how open it is to interpretation, and you can practice it in a manner that suits your needs the best. That means experimenting with time and intensity. For example, some people might practice mindfulness for 5 minutes every day by bullet journaling. Someone else might have more time and prefer more intensive mindful activities, like a 30-minute mindful meditation session each evening. But at the end of the day, all these mindfulness techniques will help you become calmer and focused, with a better understanding of the world around you. And it’s this flexibility in practice that makes mindfulness a great option for companies.
But why exactly should you teach your company mindfulness?
3 reasons why you should teach your company mindfulness
#1 Mindfulness builds resilience
Being part of a team can be tough — there are so many opinions to consider, conflicts with beliefs you hold, and your job might even be on the line. People today are struggling especially more with the transition from work-from-home to in-person meetings. This means that you’re often out of your comfort zone, being packed in a room, and expected to voice your opinion immediately. In this high-stress environment, it’s easy for you to lose your cool, react negatively and become miserable. But with mindfulness, you can manage these negative thoughts. You can nip them in the bud before they grow and acknowledge them in a calm, rational manner. This is incredibly important and will be valuable in conflict management among colleagues.
#2 Mindfulness will make your team focused
We live in an era of distractions — your computer is pinging you with Slack notifications and your phone is buzzing with messages coming from Facebook, Instagram and so many more social media platforms. How do you expect your team to focus in this environment? Mindfulness, however, is a great tool to train your team to become more focused. With mindfulness, people are more in control of their thoughts. This way, they can manage the impulse to look at distractions and also keep their thoughts related to the task at hand. This is an immensely useful skill that will improve your team’s productivity and the quality of ideas raised at meetings.
#3 Mindfulness improves relationships
This point boils down to a simple truth: if you can’t understand yourself, how can you expect to understand others? Some people can barely keep in touch with their own thoughts and emotions — and this explains why they struggle to work well in a team, an environment where everyone’s ideas and feelings should be considered. With mindfulness, you’ll learn to be more in touch with yourself. And you can apply the same mindfulness techniques to empathise with others in a team. At the end of the day, mindfulness could lead to better relationships being built among colleagues.
We’ve convinced you of the benefits of teaching mindfulness to your company — so how should you do this moving forward? Start with an activity like mindful meditation, a fun Friday yoga activity, or a cool office mindfulness tool like a Timeqube. A Timeqube is a mindful timer that changes color with the passing of time. It’s a simple, seamless tool that your company can use to practice mindfulness — whether it’s 5-minute meditations or timed Pomodoro work hours to make sure everyone gets the rest they need. Give these tools a go and get mindful today!
