How we see the world around us impacts our lives and how we relate to others. Understanding your own emotions can be a powerful tool when interacting with the world, both personally and professionally. By learning how to cultivate company mindfulness, you can increase team interaction, employee productivity, and the bottom line.
What is Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a concept centered around self-awareness. Mindfulness is about being in the moment and experiencing your environment with no distractions. While being mindful, you pay close attention to your thoughts and emotions without judgment.
Mindfulness cultivates emotional intelligence and provides the skills needed to ignore impulsive, emotional reactions. Teaching your office how to be more mindful has the potential to increase the happiness of your work environment.
Why Company Mindfulness is Important
More companies are focusing on the wellbeing of their staff due to the increasing cost of an unhealthy workforce. Employees who are dissatisfied with their workplace tend to call out, resist work, and look for other opportunities. This could potentially leave companies with high turnover and a toxic culture.
The number of sick days used for mental health has increased exponentially over the past five years, causing mental health to be the number one reason for employees to call in sick.
Mindfulness can lower blood pressure, increase focus, and reduce anxiety and depression in employees. In fact, when employees practice mindfulness, they are more likely to be resilient in the face of stressful situations. Resilience and adaptability to stress play a key role in wellbeing.
When employees feel confident in handling stress, they are more likely to make good decisions for the business. A mindful employee is more likely to focus on productivity, reduce waste, and be conscientious. This will support the planet and your bottom line!
Teach Your Employees to be More Mindful
Educating your employees is the first step to increasing company mindfulness. It begins with establishing an open dialogue. Be open to discussing your employees’ emotional stance with the company and allow everyone to share what they love about their job and which areas need improvement.
Make sure you let them know that this conversation is a safe place designed to enhance their work experience. Teach them about mindfulness and why it is important. Some of your employees may be practicing mindfulness on their own. Encourage them to share their strategies.
Allow everyone to discuss any concerns and tackle their anxieties head-on. Allow an open flow of conversation and practice empathy and understanding.
Brainstorm ways to incorporate mindfulness into the workweek. Let your employees be a part of this shift in the company culture. This will allow them to feel valued and heard.
Incorporate Mindfulness into Remote Work
Many employees are now working from home to stay healthy and safe. It is more important than ever to incorporate mindfulness into your company’s work-from-home culture.
Stay accountable by touching base with your team. Make sure they are taking the time to be mindful while away from the office. Remind them to get fresh air, clear their mind, and make time for short movement breaks during the day.
During this uncertain time, it is essential that your employees feel as if they are part of the team. Take time at the end of video meetings to have everyone discuss their mindfulness practice. Prompt them to explain how mindfulness has impacted their new work environment.
Lead by Example
It is essential to lead by example when implementing mindfulness at your company. The first step is to make mindful decisions for the company.
For example, you could start a mindfulness accountability group. Gathering a team of dedicated, mindful employees could create a domino effect for the rest of the company. Before you know it, mindfulness will be ingrained in your work culture.
Manage with Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand, perceive, and manage your own emotions. When you manage with emotional intelligence, you use empathy, understanding, and self-awareness to communicate with your team.
Mindfulness is a powerful component of emotional intelligence. Managers with high EI communicate their message better because they understand who their audience is. Managers with high emotional intelligence are more persuasive and inspiring to their employees.
Practicing EI will allow you to gauge and control your employees’ reactions to difficult situations. With this in mind, you will see the efficiency of your team increase.
Allow Mindfulness Breaks During the Day
Creating space in the day for your employees to practice mindfulness is essential to increasing company mindfulness. Allowing time between meetings for self-awareness is a great solution.
By the end of a meeting, most employees have checked out. They are already mentally preparing for their next meeting. This train of thought can continue all day, leaving your employees feeling burned out.
Providing time between appointments will allow them to decompress and focus on themselves for a moment before focusing on their next obligation. Let your employees know this time is for mindfulness.
Encourage them to step outside, do some deep breathing, or reflect on how they are feeling. You will have more focused, productive meetings when you allow your team opportunities to be mindful.
Schedule Movement Breaks
Most office workers have minimal amounts of movement during the workday. This time can increase if employees are working from home. Sitting for long amounts of time has been reported to be as unhealthy as smoking. Schedule a five-minute movement break for your team.
During this time, they can get up, stretch, and walk around. Remind them that this is a part of their mindfulness practice. Encourage them to focus on the sensation of moving after sitting for so long. This will allow your employees to energize themselves by breaking away from their responsibilities and moving their bodies.
Mindfulness comes in many shapes and sizes. Regardless of how you increase company mindfulness, you will be rewarded with a happier, more effective workforce. For more tips on building a healthy work environment, and supporting the health of our planet, subscribe to our blog.
