The Perceptions and Lived Experiences of Leaders Practicing Mindfulness Meditation: A Phenomenological Investigation (original) (raw)
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A Phenomenological Investigation of Leader Development and Mindfulness Meditation
Regardless of the gap between the demands of the global work environment and the maturity of leaders, minimal research exists on the trend of the practice of mindfulness meditation and the developmental experiences of leaders. Consequently, scholars have little understanding of how an increasing number of leaders experience mindfulness meditation. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceived impact mindfulness meditation had on leader development for 20 manager-leaders who had a regular (at least 3 days a week) mindfulness meditation practice. The primary recruitment strategy included outreach to potential participants affiliated with professionally oriented mindfulness groups on LinkedIn. The main conceptual framework was Day's conceptualization of leader development. The central research question addressed leaders' perceptions and experiences of the impact of mindfulness meditation on their development as leaders. A modified Stevick–Colaizzi–Keen data analysis procedure was used in this study. Key results included the identification of 10 core themes and the associated conclusion that leaders who want to contribute solutions to global challenges will have to access more of their potential, which may require engaging in contemplative practices such as mindfulness meditation. The principal recommendation includes the serious consideration of mindfulness meditation by leaders and organizational decision makers of development investments. This study has implications for positive social change, in that a better understanding of how leaders experience mindfulness meditation may provide direction for leaders and organizations about developmental practices that support leadership effectiveness.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2019
Mindfulness training is a novel method of leader development but contrary to its rising popularity, there is a scarcity of research investigating how mindfulness training may affect leader capabilities. To gain a better understanding of the potential of a new research field, qualitative research is advantageous. We sought to understand how senior leaders experience the impact of mindfulness training in their work lives and leadership ability. The sample comprised 13 leaders (n = 11 male) working in six organizations that completed a 10-week workplace mindfulness training (WMT). We conducted semi-structured interviews 6 to 12 months following course completion. We analyzed the data following thematic analysis steps and based on these findings, we devised a framework of the perceived impact of mindfulness training on selfleadership and leadership capabilities. We show that WMT exhibited impact on three self-leadership capacities: mindful task management, self-care and self-reflection and two leadership capacities: relating to others and adapting to change. Participants' recounts additionally suggested effects may expand to the level of the team and the organization. We show that WMT may be a promising tool for self-directed leadership development and outline avenues for future research.
The Transformative Leadership Capacities of Mindfulness
Effective Executive, 2020
The paper explores participant leader experiences of mindfulness at the workplace and presents an inductive model that highlights the potential of the mindful individuals to transform their work world in the domains of productivity, relationality, and power. The model highlights the resources and capacities built through practice and considers capacities developed as antidotes to the three Buddhist poisons of greed, hatred and delusion. Using a phenomenological approach and semi-structured interviews from 53 participant leaders working in a variety of organizational contexts, this paper explores how individuals, trained in mindfulness, applied and understood this capacity at work. Participant leaders had trained in one of three different Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs): Executive MBA (EMBA) Mindful Leadership Program, Mindfulness Teacher Training, and a eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program. The research distinguishes some key individual meta-capacities (awareness of the wandering mind, embodiment, equanimity and kindness) and individual capacities (resilience, sense-of-self, multiple perspectives and possibility) that develop. These individual capacities enhanced participant leaders’ abilities to work with difficult emotions. The individual changes allowed for new behaviors and experiences in the areas of productivity, power and relationality.
Integrating Mindfulness Into Leadership Development
Journal of Management Education, 2020
In this article, we illustrate how ideas and practices of mindfulness can be integrated into management education, drawing from our work on postgraduate programs run with working managers. Our purpose is particularly to show how mindfulness can be introduced into the curriculum in a way that is acceptable for participants and clients, and brings benefit to participants. Following a brief review of literature on mindfulness in organizations, we share the curriculum innovation we designed and provide detail of its effectiveness derived from our follow-up evaluation.
2015
This chapter examines the complexities of mindfulness in leadership, exploring potential advantages and disadvantages of mindfulness for leaders. Such an inquiry is important for theoretical development but also has practical implications when considering the design of mindfulness training for leadership and other areas such as employee wellbeing. In the present discussion, we clarify the discussion on mindfulness by distinguishing between the dimensions of mindfulness -- that is present-moment attention, intentionality, attitude of self-compassion, witnessing awareness and clarity -- and suggest ways these dimensions affect leadership behaviors. We also distinguish between mindfulness as a construct and as a practice, to elucidate potential effects of mindfulness. Given the focus of most mindfulness research is on intrapersonal effects of mindfulness, we turn our attention to the interpersonal effects of mindfulness which we feel is particularly relevant for leadership. In particular, we discuss three leadership styles—authentic, charismatic, and servant—that are widely considered in contemporary conceptualizations of leadership, that have an inherent link to mindfulness, and whose effectiveness can be regulated by mindfulness. Finally, we consider how mindfulness may affect the developmental process of leadership focusing specifically on how witnessing awareness quality of mindfulness could play an important role in facilitating constructive development.
European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2018
No systematic review had previously been conducted examining the benefits mindfulness or meditation interventions for leaders and managers. However, the literature suggested that such interventions would have a positive impact on leaders' own wellbeing, their leadership capability, their 'post-conventional' leadership capacity, and their direct reports. The purpose of this study was therefore to systematically review research on mindfulness or meditation interventions for managers and leaders. Our review identified 19 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate some encouraging signs that mindfulness and meditation interventions may improve aspects of leaders'/managers' wellbeing and resilience, and leadership capability, possibly including their 'post-conventional' leadership, but research results are very variable in quality and strength, and there was no evidence on benefits for participants' direct reports. The studies reviewed explored a diversity of interventions, but provided little insight into which mindfulness and meditation interventions for managers and leaders are most effective, in what context they are best applied, or for whom they are most suitable. While the subset of studies that measured mindfulness found that the interventions used did increase participants' mindfulness, there was no exploration of whether improved mindfulness was the mechanism by which other positive outcomes were achieved.
How mindfulness impacts the positive forms of leadership and enhances performance at workplace
Human Systems Management, 2021
BACKGROUND: Mindfulness is a multi-millenary concept that is fundamental to meditative traditions. Nowadays it is a well-documented psychological construct and a proven therapeutic technique, particularly in stress reduction and depressive relapse prevention. However, mindfulness and its effects on management practices are still relatively unexplored in the literature. OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to address this shortage and demonstrate the claims that mindfulness is a psychological construct that is doubly beneficial to business executives by supporting a more balanced relationship to work while promoting the adoption of more positive and effective leadership behaviors (transformational leadership and authentic). METHOD: A model using positive forms of leadership as mediators of mindfulness / performance relationship is proposed for this assessment. A quantitate analysis is performed on a sample of 319 African managers, 95% of which are South Africans. RESULTS: The data supports th...
Mindfulness Matters in Leadership
OXFORD RESEARCH ENCYCLOPEDIA, EDUCATION, 2020
Mindfulness and leadership come together as a model for arriving at solutions in the field of education. Two approaches, Eastern and Western, present perspectives on mindfulness that are distinct, however both aim towards the same goal of enhancing awareness. Originating in the East, mindfulness is at the core of Buddhist philosophy and includes enhanced attention and an attentiveness to the present. Conversely, the Western approach to mindfulness gained traction in the 1970s in the field of cognitive and social psychology. Within the field of education in the United States, mindfulness has contributed, primarily in the classroom, as an activity to foster better classroom management and improved focus on learning. Mindfulness has also been applied to mindful learning, aimed at reveal ing enhanced approaches to learning. Along a similar vein, applications of mindfulness in the leadership field, encourage the approach of focused attention to individual leadership development, problem-solving, and self-reflection. Resonant leadership and authentic leadership are two of the primary leadership models that include the strategy of mindfulness. Moving beyond the individual perceptions of mindfulness in leadership development, a more collaborative approach of mindfulness has emerged, where social change emerges from interdependence and mutuality amongst a number of individuals. Whether at the individual or collective level, mind fulness is impacted by cultural influences. Educational leaders are tasked with leading ethnically diverse learning communities by necessity, as demographics change and ethnic minority populations become minority majority populations. Thus, awareness of one’s cultural mindset, both limitations and strengths, can contribute to one’s leadership abilities. Mindfulness, when directed inward, can paradoxically enhance one’s ability to better understand others and to breakthrough stereotypes. This perspective could foreseeably foster cultural competence and greater levels of cultural integration, but as a function of greater self-awareness. Thus, mindfulness and leadership, as a creative combination of self and other, come together as a promising model of leadership for educators. Whether integrated as a necessary element of existing leadership theories, or identified as an important process of reflection in leadership development, mindfulness opens a pathway to greater insight and awareness. Aspects of mindfulness can therefore contribute to leader ship, in particular, at the intersection of these elements relative to culture.
The Wheel of Mindfulness: a Generative Framework for Second-Generation Mindful Leadership
The field of mindfulness research and programs, in the workplace and elsewhere, has been a matter of considerable ambiguity and contestation. Distinguishing between first generation and second generation mindfulness-based initiatives has been a useful and positive response to this uncertainty and controversy Second generation mindfulness interventions in leadership are defined as going beyond views of mindfulness as a means to reduce the stress inherent in continual change and as instrumental support for organizational performance in an economy of attention. The purpose of this paper is to build on this work in two ways. Firstly, it acknowledges the contribution of first generation psychological-therapeutic programs. Secondly, it highlights the value of extending the range and depth of Buddhist-derived interventions beyond such programs and most importantly, also capturing and exploring the value of critical and collective approaches to mindfulness that derive from other traditions and schools of thought. In order to guide such a progression, this paper presents a Wheel of Mindfulness model that captures the different, and inevitably selective, lenses on mindfulness, and provides a generative framework for exploring and building on sources of controversy and debate.
EFFECT OF MEDITATION ON SELF-PERCEPTION OF LEADERSHIP SKILLS: A CONTROL GROUP STUDY OF CEOs
Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014
Using self-perception of leadership skills (SPLS) instrument, constructed from Leader Practice Inventory (LPI) and Moral Competence Inventory (MCI) and validated with a pilot study (N=20), we conducted a randomized pretest-posttest control group study for a period of 12 weeks in a laboratory setting to learn the effect of mindfulness meditation (MM) in its secularized Vipassana form on senior managers (N=64) selected from a sampling frame of companies registered in London. The effect was measured on five components of leadership: leader as a role model, inspiring a shared vision, demonstrating moral intelligence, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart/motivating, individually and collectively as a bundle. We found that meditation statistically significantly enhanced participants' self-perception of leadership skills as a bundle of all five skills, and the individual skills of inspiring a shared vision, demonstrating moral intelligence, and encouraging the heart/motivating. However, meditation did not statistically significantly enhance participants' skills as a role model and enabling others to act. Complete analyses with directions for further research are provided. A large number of studies document psychological and physiological benefits of practicing meditation or mindfulness meditation (MM) (see, for example, Kabat-Zinn et al. (1998),