Mindfulness in the Workplace : An Evidence-based Approach to Improving Wellbeing and Maximizing Performance 9780749474904, 9780749474911, 2016004624, 2016007121

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Mindfulness in the Workplace

ii Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.

First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2016 by Kogan Page Limited Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 2nd Floor, 45 Gee Street London EC1V 3RS United Kingdom

1518 Walnut Street Suite 900 Philadelphia PA 19102 USA

4737/23 Ansari Road Daryaganj New Delhi 110002 India

www.koganpage.com © Margaret Chapman-Clarke, 2016 The rights of Margaret Chapman-Clarke and the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 978 0 7494 7490 4 E-ISBN 978 0 7494 7491 1 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Chapman-Clarke, Margaret, editor. Title: Mindfulness in the workplace : an evidence-based approach to improving wellbeing and maximizing performance / edited by Margaret Chapman-Clarke. Description: 1st Edition. | Philadelphia, PA : Kogan Page, 2016. Identifiers: LCCN 2016004624 (print) | LCCN 2016007121 (ebook) | ISBN 9780749474904 (paperback) | ISBN 9780749474911 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Organizational change. | Personnel management. | Stress management. | Psychology, Industrial. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Human Resources & Personnel Management. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Organizational Development. | PSYCHOLOGY / Industrial & Organizational Psychology. | BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Meditation. Classification: LCC HD58.8 .C4633 2016 (print) | LCC HD58.8 (ebook) | DDC 658.3/14–dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004624 Typeset by SPi Global Print production managed by Jellyfish Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY

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Mindfulness in the Workplace An evidence-based approach to improving wellbeing and maximizing performance Edited by Margaret Chapman-Clarke

Kogan Page

iv Publisher’s note Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.

First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2016 by Kogan Page Limited Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses: 2nd Floor, 45 Gee Street London EC1V 3RS United Kingdom

1518 Walnut Street Suite 900 Philadelphia PA 19102 USA

4737/23 Ansari Road Daryaganj New Delhi 110002 India

www.koganpage.com © Margaret Chapman-Clarke, 2016 The rights of Margaret Chapman-Clarke and the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 978 0 7494 7490 4 E-ISBN 978 0 7494 7491 1 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Chapman-Clarke, Margaret, editor. Title: Mindfulness in the workplace : an evidence-based approach to improving wellbeing and maximizing performance / edited by Margaret Chapman-Clarke. Description: 1st Edition. | Philadelphia, PA : Kogan Page, 2016. Identifiers: LCCN 2016004624 (print) | LCCN 2016007121 (ebook) | ISBN 9780749474904 (paperback) | ISBN 9780749474911 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Organizational change. | Personnel management. | Stress management. | Psychology, Industrial. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Human Resources & Personnel Management. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Organizational Development. | PSYCHOLOGY / Industrial & Organizational Psychology. | BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Meditation. Classification: LCC HD58.8 .C4633 2016 (print) | LCC HD58.8 (ebook) | DDC 658.3/14–dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004624 Typeset by SPi Global Print production managed by Jellyfish Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY

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Co n t e n t s About the contributors  x Foreword by David Sheffield  xvi Acknowledgements  xviii



Introduction 

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PA R T O N E   Mapping the mindfulness-

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at-work phenomenon 

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Mindfulness is on a roll 

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Margaret Chapman-Clarke

Mindfulness: an inside-out OD strategy  12 Mindfulness: an intervention to develop embodied emotional intelligence (EQ)  12 Coming to autoethnography  13 Coming to mindfulness  15 References  17 Further reading  18 Resources  18

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Mindfulness research: What counts as evidence, truth and knowledge in workplace MBIs?  19 Margaret Chapman-Clarke

Introduction  19 The nature of ‘truth’ and the post-modernist HR practitioner  20 The map is not the territory, just one map: criticisms of workplace MBIs  22 Core to organizational MBIs: adaptation without dilution  23 Workplace MBIs: from the margins to the mainstream  24 Evidence-based and evidence-informed practice: closing the gap  35

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Contents

What do we mean by mindfulness?  36 The evidence that mindfulness works  39 References  42 Resources  45

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Mindfulness research in practice 

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Margaret Chapman-Clarke

Introduction  46 The neuroscientific case for mindfulness and compassion  47 Workplace MBIs: towards an integrative approach?  53 Mindfulness and wellbeing  56 Conclusion  64 Implementing a workplace MBI  65 Appendix 3.1: Inquiry in mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs)  66 Appendix 3.2: Measuring mindfulness issues and tools  68 References  71 Further reading  72

PA R T T WO   Contributor stories

(case studies)  04

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Mindfulness in a media world: SMG 

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Liz Nottingham and Susan Peacock

Coming to mindfulness  77 Introduction  78 The SMG MBI: The Mindful Advantage  83 Spreading the word  91 Final reflections  91 Concluding comments – key takeaways!  92 References  92

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Creating a mindful culture within financial services: Capital One  94 Roz Kings and Emma Wardropper

Coming to mindfulness  94 Introduction  95 The organization: Capital One  95 Final reflections  111 References  112

Contents

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Bringing mindfulness to the social care workplace: Compassion in action  113 Sandra Gyaltsen and Jane Kellock

Coming to mindfulness  113 Introduction  116 Bringing mindfulness to social care  117 Our shared purpose: drivers behind our MBIs  121 Implementation  125 What we experienced  129 Evaluating the MBIs: what worked  133 Dissemination of our findings  138 Integrating mindfulness into everyday life: an ongoing journey  139 Appendix 6.1: Mindfulness-based Living Course curriculum  140 Appendix 6.2: Sandra’s Mindfulness-based Living Course feedback sheet  142 References  143 Further reading  148

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Mindfulness skills courses in the NHS: Implementing mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in a secondary care psychology and psychotherapy service  149 Dr Kamila Hortynska

Coming to mindfulness  149 Introduction  150 Setting things up  151 Implementation  155 Outcomes and impact  168 Reflections and recommendations  171 Final word  176 Ten tips for using mindfulness in the NHS organization  177 References  178 Note  180

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Appraising the implementation of mindfulness within a strategic approach to psychological health  181 Sally Rose

Coming to mindfulness  181 The context in which mindfulness has been implemented  182 Appraising implementation of mindfulness within the Staff Counselling and Psychological Support Service  187

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Contents

Cross-organizational collaborations and applications  195 Learning from this organizational implementation of mindfulness  203 Concluding thoughts  206 Acknowledgement  207 References  207

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Making mindfulness inclusive to all stakeholders in a university setting  209 Dr Jo Bramham and Dr Karen Neil

Coming to mindfulness  209 Introduction  211 Factors influencing wellbeing strategy in the higher education sector  211 The mindfulness skills programme  214 Evaluation  219 Reflections on lessons learned  229 Review  235 Appendix 9.1: Mindfulness programme brochure  240 References  242 Recommended resources  244

PA R T T H R E E   Critical reflections on

mindfulness at work 245 10

Making Mindfulness Meditation accessible and meaningful  247 Mark Leonard

Coming to mindfulness  247 Introduction  248 From Buddhist origins to evidence-based workplace training  249 The standard mindfulness model  251 Understanding the mind–body connection better  253 Interpersonal effects of Mindfulness Meditation  257 Going deeper into the process  258 Stress, workplace and society  260 Mindfulness and engagement  260 What would a mindful organization look like?  262 Conclusion  264 References  264

Contents

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A mindful path to a compassionate cultural diversity  266 Byron Lee

Coming to mindfulness  266 Modern-day prejudice and discrimination  268 Mindfulness and inclusion  271 A mindful path to working with bias, prejudice and discrimination  272 The transformational power of mindfulness  275 Developing a compassionate critical consciousness  277 Mindfulness and stereotyping threat  279 Mindfulness and letting go of anger  280 A compassionate cultural wisdom  282 Final reflections  283 References  284

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Exploring the role of mindfulness and compassion in developing ‘insight-based HR’  288 Robert Broughton and Sally Roberts

Coming to mindfulness  288 Introduction  289 Our work at the Northern Centre for Mindfulness and Compassion  290 Exploring insight  296 The role of insight in human resources  299 Insight-based HR  302 Looking to the future  311 Acknowledgements  313 References  313 Note  316 Index  317

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About the co n t rib u to r s Editor Margaret Chapman-Clarke is a chartered and registered psychologist, chartered scientist, chartered Fellow of the CIPD, mindfulness researcher, gestalt coach-therapist, speaker and writer. She is author of the Mindfulness at Work and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Pocketbooks, has written numerous practitioner articles and book chapters, and shared her work with peers in thought-leadership pieces, keynotes, workshops and masterclasses. Her passion is bringing peers together by way of establishing communities of practice to share and learn through dialogue and relationship. Her work is characterized by a series of ‘firsts’, being a pioneer in translating ideas from one discipline to another across human resources, applied psychology, health and social care, SMEs, education, the arts and social sciences. She is a founding member of the Association for Coaching, the Special Group in Coaching Psychology, and serves on the editorial boards for Coaching at Work, Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice and The Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring. She is a former non-executive director on the board of trustees, Oxford Mindfulness Centre, and it has been out of this experience, and her training in MBSR and MBCT and ongoing practice, that she has been at the forefront of bringing practitioners’ attention to the potential of mindfulness in the workplace, including the idea for this book. The intention has been to bring pioneering practitioners who have implemented mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) together to explore the state-of-the-art and practice in this emerging field. As she says in her Foreword, the majority of contributors are first-time writers with a shared passion in mindfulness at work. It is written for and by people who seek to put the human back into HR and who strive to create organizations ‘fit to house the human spirit’. This project and her doctoral thesis, exploring advanced coaches’ experiences of mindfulness using poetry, were written whilst on sabbatical, on a partial retreat overlooking the sea in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, during which she also married her partner of 23 years, Robin.

Contributors Dr Jo Bramham With the support of her employer (the University of Nottingham, a UK ‘Russell group’ university), Jo has completed two years of mindfulness teacher training with her co-author Karen Neil, and is now

About the contributors

working towards having a depth of mindfulness practice and teaching experience to be listed on the Mental Health Foundation’s UK register of mindfulness teachers. Her mindfulness training has included: mindful self-compassion; the neuroscience of mindfulness; mindfulness-based compassionate living; and mindfulness in poetry based on the ‘circles of trust’ approach. Jo is an engineer by training and qualified as a chartered engineer with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, working on the launch of new automotive manufacturing processes, before moving into higher education (HE). Within HE Jo has worked in educational development for new university teachers, women’s development, staff wellbeing and researcher training. She is a part-time member of staff and is a working parent. Robert Broughton is co-founding director of the Northern Centre for Mindfulness and Compassion (NCMC). After initially studying agriculture and animal health, Robert moved into a career in business management. Realizing his joy of working with people rather than computers, he moved into studying some of the ‘softer skills’, leaving finance in 2006 to set up his own coaching business. Whilst studying emotional intelligence, he was introduced to the work of Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, resulting in a moment of insight when he realized he could integrate his long-standing meditation practices into his client work. This lead Robert into the further study of human wellbeing, neurobiology and training as an MBSR instructor. Since teaching his first mindfulness course in 2009 he has not looked back, co-founding NCMC in 2011 as an organization to deliver mindfulness courses to charities, organizations, the NHS, schools and the public. He has spoken about mindfulness in healthcare on many occasions and is involved with universities exploring research into mindfulness. Robert’s work continues to be inspired by his own practice, a fascination with the human mind and emotions, and a concern for the wellbeing of others, believing that we all have the potential to live our lives with greater awareness and compassion, improving both our quality of life and benefiting society as a whole. Sandra Gyaltsen is a senior social worker, stress consultant and mindfulness teacher. She began her own mindfulness practice 21 years ago and trained as a mindfulness tutor with the Mindfulness Association. Sandra completed the MSc in Mindfulness Studies with the University of Aberdeen in 2014. Sandra has over 15 years’ experience working in children and families social work and has worked for several years in staff development and front-line improvement within the public sector. She is passionate about workforce development and how to build a resilient organization. Dr Kamila Hortynska is a clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioural therapist providing therapy, supervision and training in the Yorkshire area, who has been cultivating mindfulness in her personal and professional life since 2004. She has completed the Mindfulness Teacher Development Training levels 1 and 2 and is a qualified Mindfulness Supervisor. She works

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About the contributors

with individuals and groups and has over 10 years’ clinical experience in integrating mindfulness principles and practice with clients in the fields of adult mental health, chronic pain, oncology and palliative care. She also ­specializes in bringing the benefits of mindfulness techniques to professionals within physical and mental health fields and regularly speaks at conferences and runs workshops on this topic. She has a strong interest in bringing the benefits of mindfulness to organizations and workplaces, particularly the use of mindfulness as a method of personal and professional development. This culminated in her completing a doctorate looking at clinicians’ development as mindfulness practitioners. Dr Hortynska is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the British Psychological Society (BPS), and accredited by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP). She follows the UK Good Practice Guidelines for mindfulness-based teachers and teacher trainers. Jane Kellock is a senior social work manager, mindfulness researcher and trainer, whose interest in contemplative meditation began during her degree study of philosophy and psychology in the 1980s. Having completed a postgraduate Diploma in Mindfulness Studies with the University of Aberdeen in 2012, Jane is currently undertaking PhD research into the lived experience of long-term practitioners of mindfulness, compassion, insight and wisdom. Jane teaches on the MSc programme and has a strong interest in the development of authentic leadership in social work. Roz Kings is a chartered occupational psychologist and has over 15 years’ experience of working in the corporate sector. She works closely with public and private organizations to help develop and contribute to their absence management policies and health and wellbeing programmes. Roz has been self-employed for the past 10 years and specializes in working therapeutically with clients who have emotional difficulties including anxiety, depression, phobias and addictions. Roz is a qualified mindfulness teacher and is passionate about sharing her own knowledge, personal experiences and practice of mindfulness to teach others. Her regular mindfulness practice has taken her on a journey of self-discovery and insight, which has not always been easy but is certainly one of the most valuable journeys that she has been on and continues to travel. Roz currently teaches mindfulness courses to employees at Capital One and Experian. She is also involved with teaching mindfulness to members of the public, at universities and in the NHS. Byron Lee is an educator, counsellor, coach and mindfulness teacher and has spent the past 25 years working in the field of personal and organizational development, specializing in inclusion and leadership. Beginning his career in nursing, today he draws on his varied and in-depth training and experience in counselling, teaching, coaching, applied positive psychology and mindfulness to support individual, team and organizational development. Byron is

About the contributors

­ assionate about helping people, teams and organizations adapt and thrive in p a diverse, complex and changing world. He currently applies mindfulness in his work in leadership development, inclusion, transformative education, recovery from addiction and city-wide wellbeing projects. Mark Leonard. From his experience in working in fisheries and waste management, Mark came to the conclusion that raising awareness and working on policy has little impact on real and sustainable change. Realizing that change had to start from ‘the inside-out’, that is, with ourselves, he became involved in establishing the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (OMC) and then went on to adapt therapeutic mindfulness-based interventions for the workplace (starting with veterinary surgeons) and the general public. His approach is to combine his in-depth understanding of the Buddhist tradition and personal meditation practice with his background in biological sciences and experience in delivering workplace training to demystify mindfulness, to make it accessible and relevant and to realize sustainable change. Dr Karen Neil (MRPharmSGB) is a pharmacist and mindfulness teacher with a PhD in molecular pharmacology. She has been a special lecturer in clinical pharmacology at the University of Nottingham Medical School and co-authored the text book Disease Management with Michael Randall (Pharmaceutical Press, 2nd edn, 2009). She trained to teach mindfulness with Dr Patrizia Collard and ongoing training has included mindful eating, mindful communication and mindful self-compassion, how mindfulness re-wires the brain for happiness; cognitive behavioural therapy and compassion-focused therapy. Karen teaches an integrative approach to mindfulness, working in a variety of organizational settings and in private practice. She has worked in higher education, schools, various private organizations and the NHS. She has a particular interest in the impact of stress on wellbeing and how mindfulness empowers people to take control of their own lives, however challenging their circumstances. Liz Nottingham is the regional HR director (Western Europe) for Starcom Mediavest Group (SMG). SMG is a global media agency and part of the Publicis Groupe. She chaired the People Management Group for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) for 8 years and was awarded a Fellowship of the IPA for her contribution to the advertising industry. She also led the Future of Work research report for the IPA. Liz is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has won a number of HR-related awards. She has led SMG into the Sunday Times Top 100 and Best Companies rankings for three years and achieved the much coveted Mumsnet Gold status in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Liz is Chair for Art Against Knives, has shaped the corporate social responsibility agenda at SMG with recent work with the Rehabilitated Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPT), and set up an industry Back2BusinessShip for returning mums in 2014 and 2015. She introduced mindfulness into SMG in 2012. Liz started her HR career in North Tyneside as a domiciliary care

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organizer, having completed an honours degree in English and drama. Having left the North East, she joined the London Stock Exchange and later became the head of HR for Epson (UK) Ltd. She also spent several years lecturing part-time in the Employee Resourcing and Employee Development modules for the CIPD. Two children later, she moved into the land of advertising and PR agencies and joined Shandwick as their European head of HR and Grey London as their people team director. Susan Peacock is a chartered psychologist, coach and mindfulness trainer. She worked at the University of Surrey for 10 years where enhancing wellbeing amongst the 15,000 members was part of her remit. Prior to that, she spent 10 years working in corporate advertising environments, so understands and appreciates the realities and challenges of working in large organizations. Recognizing that we operate in an increasingly uncertain, highly pressurized environment, Susan’s training is underpinned by mindfulness, positive psychology and resilience coaching. She has run mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in a range of settings including a number of Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For. Susan works with both public-sector organizations such The Whitehall and Industry Group and Oxfordshire County Council as well as private-sector organizations such as News UK, RPC Law and McKinsey Consulting. Susan is highly sought after by businesses and individuals for the impact she has made through introducing them to mindfulness and in her skilful adaptations of MBIs within a range of settings. Sally Roberts is an HR manager (MCIPD) turned mindfulness teacher. Sally’s early career went ‘to plan’: BA (Hons) European Business; French graduate school of management; postgraduate diploma; HR experience within the private, public and charity sectors; and HR manager by the age of 27. By the age of 30, however, she found herself struggling and an unwilling student at the ‘graduate school of life’. The result was to take a forced year off work due to ill health (which categorically did not feature in ‘the plan’!). Despite an initial resistance to this turn of events, eventually she began to engage with the ‘syllabus’ and this became a period of significant personal growth, during which she immersed herself in mindfulness, attending meditation classes and retreats and exploring Buddhist philosophy and western psychology. After training to teach mindfulness in 2012, Sally now enjoys combining two passions, mindfulness and HR. Having experienced first-­ hand the transformational impact mindfulness can have, Sally is now passionate about the role of mindfulness in organizations and its potential to support HR in ‘championing better work and working lives for the benefit of individuals, businesses, economies and society’. Continuing now with her slightly ‘off-piste plan’ she continues to be inspired by mindfulness and amazed by the fact that she’s teaching it, let alone being invited to speak at conferences and now to write about it!

About the contributors

Sally Rose has a background in psychodynamic attachment-based psychotherapy in a variety of different settings. Her experience includes clinical supervision, service management and employee support. She is strongly committed to embodied relational therapy and to bringing insights informed by it into the workplace. She trained as a mindfulness teacher in 2010 soon after taking up the position of manager of a new in-house counselling and psychological support service for staff at the University of Leeds. Mindfulness is now embedded in the varied strands of her work, individual counselling and coaching, personal resilience training and mindfulness workshops and courses. Sally is undertaking a Professional Doctorate at the University of Derby looking at the application of her psycho-educational model ‘Workable Ranges’ to mindful stress and emotional regulation explored in her chapter. Emma Wardropper is the mindfulness champion for Capital One, an organization ranked as Number 1 in the Great Places to Work competition for the past three years. She is employed as an employee relations, HR advisor and has worked for the organization for 15 years. Emma has a degree in social psychology, is trained in both MBSR and MBCT, and is a Human Givens psychotherapist. Her achievements to date have included over 350 of the 1,000 staff attending a mindfulness introductory workshop; the design and implementation of a mindfulness room for all staff to use; the running of weekly guided meditation sessions for all staff; and promoting and gaining business buy-in to run regular 8-week mindfulness courses (approximately four per year, open to all staff). Emma integrates mindfulness into Capital One’s values and day-to-day life through a mixture of events, talks and ongoing initiatives. She also shares her work more broadly in the emerging mindfulness at work field and contributed to the 3rd International Mindfulness at Work conference, Mind and Matter, 2015 and the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group inquiry into the potential of mindfulness in business.

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Fo r e wo r d Merely thirty years ago, the idea that mindfulness was a serious subject worthy of academic attention would have been ridiculed by many. Yet in recent years, there has been an explosion of interest from both academics and the general public, with many buying books and making use of online resources. Many researchers and academics have written articles that indicate how effective mindfulness-based interventions may be, as well as examining the psychological and physiological mechanisms for these benefits. Indeed, while it is not a panacea, it does seem to relieve suffering and provide benefit in a wide range of contexts. For example, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been recommended for the treatment of recurrent depression by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) since 2004. At end of 2015, the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group reviewed and reported on the evidence of the transformational effects of mindfulness. Their report recognized that mindfulness has a role in helping those with mental illnesses in a manner that is less stigmatizing than many other treatments. It is also important that mindfulness was recognized as an approach that may prevent future mental illness. The workplace was identified as a key environment for mindful approaches to be tested and, where fruitful, adopted. Occupational settings afford the opportunities for mindfulness-based interventions to prevent mental illness and to help individuals flourish. It is noteworthy that parliamentarians are sufficiently convinced, for 115 of them attended a programme of mindfulness classes in Parliament, with many impressed by the potential of mindfulness after personally experiencing the benefits on courses held in Westminster. It is these first-person accounts that are impressive and persuasive alongside the scientific evidence. It is heartening to hear these first-person accounts in this book, which provides a much-needed collection of stories of practitioners in occupational settings. Margaret has gathered together a group of insightful practitioners who have shared their experiences of mindfulness in the workplace. Reading these stories has given me different perspectives on how mindfulness can be embedded within the workplace and within me as I work. I have gone ‘a-ha’ as I recognized myself in some of the accounts, and as I have made decisions since reading this book. In addition to providing inspiration and insight about embedding mindfulness in the workplace, many chapters provide practical examples and tools to help the reader. It is particularly noteworthy that many chapter authors have described how they have met barriers to change including organizational resistance and financial cuts and constraints.

Foreword

Mindfulness refers to paying attention to what is happening in the present moment in the mind, body and external environment, with kindness and curiosity: in doing so we may cultivate compassion in the workplace so that everyone benefits. David Sheffield Professor of Psychology, University of Derby

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A c k n ow l e d g e m e n t s

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There are people who come into our lives, for a reason, season or lifetime.

I

have been truly humbled at the creative energy, efforts and sheer desire of those who helped bring this book together. I have often read authors express how their work would not be possible, were it not for the support and engagement of others. This is true of this project. I start by thanking the contributors who overcame numerous challenges, personal and professional, to get their thoughts onto the page. Many are first-time authors and had to balance a myriad of commitments; the majority were unfamiliar with the nature of publishing and the number of iterations a chapter goes through before it goes to print. Your patience was immense. I want to acknowledge the commissioning, development and production editors at Kogan Page, Kate, Lucy and Arthur. Lucy in particular was a constant source of advice and support, on hand regularly. You responded encouragingly and positively to what might have seemed ‘daft’ questions from a ‘first-time’ editor. I want to acknowledge my colleague Liz Hall, editor of Coaching at Work, a well-seasoned author whose words have been a constant companion since my days as an operational HR practitioner. Your wisdom and compassion I drew upon in abundance at different stages throughout this endeavour and your contributions to our field in so many ways are cited here in this book. I thank my partner of 23 years and husband for five months, Robin Clarke, who took on the burden of supporting me financially (and did the proofreading!); it was not easy to be dependent. Nonetheless, as a result I was able to take a sabbatical and create the physical and mind space I needed to write. The view of the sea from my desk in Scarborough enabled both this book and my doctoral thesis to be realized. I know how painful a year this was and I hope that the final products are a suitable return on your investment! I also want to thank Kerry Smith and the volunteers of the North Yorkshire branch of the CIPD, who were welcoming, enthusiastic about my work and my return to a place where I call home. It doesn’t seem like five minutes since I was leading the amalgamation of North Yorkshire ITD with West Yorkshire IPM and initiating the first Northern Area Partnership Conference! The creativity and innovation that was the spirit of the North

Acknowledgements

Yorkshire branch then is alive and well and thriving. It has been a joy to witness and experience. I acknowledge the very many mindfulness teachers and practitioners whose words and presence at different times over the last eight years has helped shape my ‘mindfulness mosaic’. Finally, as an autoethnographer, my experience is shaped in relation to each and every person with whom I have had contact over the years. Their respective insights, whether offered explicitly and acknowledged or not in this book, have added to my way of thinking, feeling and doing and their inspiration has been incalculable. There are probably too many to mention. However, just in case they do pick up this text, I wanted to thank a few who have journeyed with me over the last 20 years, at different times and who (without their knowing) have, through their words, given me the confidence to find my voice. To Sarah Kivlin, Professor Miguel Martinez-Lucio, Sally Johnston, Jane Worthington and Dr Ho Law and Dr Linda Finlay – to each and every one of you… thank you.

Margaret Chapman-Clarke

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Introduction

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We tell stories in order to live… and to live better; stories allow us to lead more reflective, more meaningful and more just lives. Joan Didion cited in Chapman-Clarke, 2015, p 73

The philosophy and approach behind the book: autoethnography The stories in this book are a collection of autoethnographies, stories of the ways in which individual practitioners come to an aspect of a culture, their journeys into mindfulness. Their narratives demonstrate how we come to know, name and interpret the personal intertwined with the cultural, specifically an aspect of our way of ‘being in the world.’ Their work in and with organizations, in bringing mindfulness to improve individual wellbeing and to maximize organizational performance is recounted. However, organizations are more than places of work. They are social entities and are part of the wider cultural context in which they exist. What happens in organizations is shaped by what we as individuals experience; how we talk about that aspect of our experience and ultimately how we act in relation to it – that is mindfulness at work. All too often the ways in which organizations are written about generally, and human resource (HR) activities specifically, perpetuate a separation between author and reader; it is dualistic. Words take on a level of meaning and truth because they are seemingly written by an ‘expert’. As a result of this what happens, inadvertently, is a separation, or split, between the personal and the professional. Writing autoethnographically challenges this dualism, or heals this split (Chapman-Clarke, 2015). The approach and style of this book, now emerging out of the Kogan Page portfolio, is an attempt to ‘heal this split’. As with others (such as Hall, 2015) I believe it reflects a subtle shift in consciousness towards integration that is happening more broadly in work and society. It is a way of thinking, feeling, being and doing that attempts to put back the ‘human’ into HR and

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Mindfulness in the workplace

in doing so helping to create healthier and more compassionate organizations, fit to house the human spirit. For me, the mindfulness phenomenon (Cullen, 2011), revolution (TIME magazine, February 2014) and sheer explosion about which there is a buzz (Williams and Penman, 2011) reflects a wider zeitgeist, a spirit of our times. It is perhaps indicative of a yearning for a different way of being and doing, of living and working. As all contributors in this book attest, mindfulness is about challenging dualisms. At its core mindfulness, as a mind–body intervention, challenges the long-held idea of the mind–body split known as the Cartesian Dualism, an idea that originated from the French philosopher René Descartes. Anton Damasio has described this split as ‘Descartes’s error’ and the way this current book is written, including its illustrations of what mindfulness offers, is to integrate the cognitive and the experiential ‘ways of knowing and being’. It moves us from thinking as Descartes asserted in his well-known phrase ‘I think, therefore I am’ to the current zeitgeist where: I think, I feel, I do and I am.

Autoethnography: integrating the personal with the professional As Holman Jones et al (2013: 22) write, what binds all autoethnographies is the use of personal experience, to examine and/or critique cultural experience. In Mindfulness in the Workplace the authors each share their stories. Stories of how they came to mindfulness; the sense they made of their experience and how they went about implementing mindfulness in their organizations in the light of their emotionally intelligent, embodied knowing. In their willingness to engage in a dialogue they provide us with evidence yielding insights into what they did and how and why they did it. They share their passion and enthusiasm for their projects, what they learned, and what they would do differently in an authentic and unique way.

How the book is organized The book is divided into three parts. Part One, Mapping the Mindfulness-at-Work Phenomenon, starts by giving context. Chapter 1 introduces and and sets out what I mean by a phenomenon; how I, as the editor of the book, came to mindfulness; and what, out of this experience, I have observed to be some of the critical milestones that illustrate how mindfulness transitioned from the margins to the mainstream (Chapman, 2011). The latter is the focus of Chapter 2, where the intentions behind this mindfulness project are considered and the nature of autoethnography explored. A message here, and at the heart of this book, reflected by contributing authors, explicitly in some instances and implicitly

Introduction

in others, is that implementing mindfulness in organizations is an ‘inside-out’ organizational development strategy. As Mahatma Gandhi asserted, you have to be the change you want to see in the world. In the context of this book, this means that for an organization to become a mindful one we each need to be an adaptive, emotionally intelligent, mindful, practitioner and have journeyed into mindfulness ourselves. This is true of each contributor and speaks to the spirit and philosophy of integration; it is where the personal intersects with the professional. Implementing Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) is not a quick fix as all contributors emphasize. A mindful organizational culture grows organically (Kings and Wardropper, Chapter 5); it starts mindfully, first experiencing mindfulness and developing our embodied emotional intelligence. In Chapter 2, I explore the nature of evidence and touch on some of the research as it directly speaks to our world, specifically the world of people at work. I note in particular the calls for HR to be more evidence-based; to draw more directly on behavioural science to inform our practice. However, in this exploration I note how organizational scholars generally and work psychologists in particular have only recently woken up to the potential of mindfulness in the workplace as a legitimate field of study. This is not unusual as my earlier research that explored the translation of emotional intelligence (EQ)1 from a potentially obscure psychological construct into a practitioner phenomenon revealed (Chapman-Clarke, 2004; Chapman, 2009). As I have commented upon, and as writers on management fashions suggest, more often than not practice moves at a swifter pace and is driven by different priorities and by what counts as evidence. I reflect on why this is the case and touch on the dualism between practitioner interests and scientific endeavours, that is often referred to as the ‘scientist–practitioner divide’. My intention here is to suggest that mindful practitioners weigh up the evidence, thinking critically and reflexively about ‘what works for whom, and in what context’. Chapter 3 extends Chapter 2, and here I draw on the health and wellbeing literature to look at the origins of workplace MBIs. Whilst this naturally begins with the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, I alert readers to the importance of Ellen Langer’s work. Jon Kabat-Zinn brought secular approaches to mindfulness, key to enhancing wellbeing. Ellen Langer brings an understanding of how mindfulness can enhance performance through her theory of mindlessness/mindfulness (Langer, 1989). I look at the ‘gold standard’ of MBIs, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that originated through the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and the nature of adaptation. I introduce the idea of ‘integrative informed mindfulness’ as a guiding principle upon which to develop workplace MBIs. I draw on emerging research which suggests that shortened versions (variants) of MBSR can and do make a difference in the workplace. I outline the key features in the design of MBIs, and the teaching intentions and outcomes, so that in reading the case studies (stories) in Part Two you deepen your knowledge and can

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note in what ways the chapter authors have adapted their programmes to suit their particular contexts and organizational cultures. These professional accounts need to be read along with the authors’ own journeys into mindfulness, which shape their approach. Each chapter in Part Two begins with these personal narratives. In Chapter 4, by Liz Nottingham and Susan Peacock, we discover how mindfulness can make a difference in the fast-moving and competitive world of the media. What stands out in their work is how to engage both in fast and slow thinking and how an apparently ‘left-field’ idea can find traction when approached mindfully. The idea of ‘evolution, not revolution’ is reflected in Chapter 5, where Roz Kings and Emma Wardropper outline their collaborative project to implement mindfulness in Capital One. In recent years the financial services sector has received a bad press; what their story does is to inspire confidence that there are ‘good guys’ who can and do care deeply about their people, even in an age of austerity. What Emma and Roz show us is how creating a mindful culture can make a difference, improve employer brand and win awards for being a ‘great place to work’ not once, but three years running! Chapter 6 is a joint collaboration, where Sandra Gyaltsen and Jane Kellock talk about bringing mindfulness and compassion into two social care workplaces. They introduce the Mindfulness-Based Living Course (MBLC) which foregrounds compassion and they describe in detail elements of their programmes, share with us practical tools and show us how to engage professionals, for whom compassion to others is a ‘given’ but self-compassion is a challenge. The importance of mindfulness as an intervention for professional selfcare is explored further by Kamila Hortynska in Chapter 7. The UK National Health Service (NHS) has faced and is facing significant challenges, and mental health services in particular have suffered significantly from budget cuts. Although there is a desire for mental health to achieve parity with physical health, in reality this is still ‘work-in-progress’. What Kamila does well is show us how to influence stakeholders in a complex organizational system. She shares with us the ways in which she managed to mindfully navigate this complex system and offers peer strategies for implementing mindfulness skills courses for the benefit of patients and staff. Chapter 8, by Sally Rose, and Chapter 9, by Jo Bramham and Karen Neil, round off Part Two; both are illustrations of how to implement mindfulness in UK higher education institutions. Sally, in Chapter 8, speaks directly to the idea of adaptation without dilution, which is at the heart of this book. She introduces a new model, the Workable Ranges model, to help employees find a way of managing stress and well-being. Her work is innovative and is a lovely illustration of how to stay ‘true’ to the original MBSR curriculum and develop an evidence-based approach that extends our understanding of workplace MBIs, called for by Mark Leonard in Chapter 10. In the final chapter of Part Two, Jo and Karen show us how to make mindfulness inclusive to all stakeholders. What I particularly like in their chapter is the account of how mindfulness interventions can be taken out of

Introduction

the university into the community, which begins a re-thinking of mindfulness, taking it beyond being an individual-level intervention, something that is continued in Part Three.

Workplace MBIs, McMindfulness or adaptation without dilution? Adaptation without dilution is a message at the heart of the book. You are invited to reflect on what this means by exploring questions around what it is that authors have added or incorporated into the design of their MBIs. You are asked to reflect on how each of the case studies reflects ‘adaptation without dilution’. This is an essential point to note, since as you will discover in Chapter 1, workplace MBIs have been criticized for being a case of ‘McMindfulness’ in some way – of poor quality and a quick-fix solution. This book as a whole serves to challenge these criticisms. Ethical practice in implementing workplace MBIs is a value that is evident throughout and is being done with integrity and mindfully. An ‘integrative informed mindfulness’, which is an approach to the design and implementation of workplace MBIs, is contextual and reflects the realities of organizational life. Whilst in Part Two the stories are of what practitioners have done, in business, social work, health and education, the chapters that make up Part Three take a slightly different approach. I invited authors here to adopt a critical stance, to be a little provocative. In part these are ‘meditative reflections’, thought leadership pieces that serve to remind us of the challenges and caveats of implementing MBIs. All three chapters invite us to think really deeply and mindfully about the conceptualization and practice of mindfulness in the workplace. Chapter 10, by Mark, is a critique of the gold-standard MBI, MindfulnessBased Cognitive Therapy (MBCT, derived from MBSR). In this chapter he invites us to think critically about the research and the pedagogy that underpin the MBCT curriculum and to consider its relevance to the workplace. He echoes the arguments first introduced in Chapter 2 about the importance of expanding our ways of thinking about mindfulness and the dominant conceptualizations of mindfulness as an individual-level (specifically therapeutic) intervention and seeing it as a lever for real social change. He offers us suggestions as to how that might happen. He makes a distinction between mindfulness and Mindfulness Meditation (with capital Ms). Mark argues that not showing a willingness to go beyond dominant discourses will lead to narrow conceptualizations of mindfulness which will limit creativity and the potential impact that it can have, as a transformational practice. The notion of doing things differently is eloquently explored by Byron Lee in Chapter 11. Based on two decades in the field of promoting workplace diversity and inclusion, Byron argues that initiatives to address

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these issues have not worked. From a place of deep contemplation he invites us instead to take a mindful path to a compassionate cultural diversity. His chapter beautifully weaves theory with case examples to illustrate how to travel that path to create fairer and more inclusive workplaces. Someone once said that ‘diversity is a reality and inclusion a choice’ and Byron eloquently shows us how to make that choice by developing cultural humility and cultural wisdom. This he suggests is based on a tripartite ­approach of mindful presence, compassionate intent and deep listening. We do this, he argues ‘by stepping away from the role of expert and being open, accepting uncertainty and vulnerability and entering into an empathic ­collaborative exchange’. For HR practitioners this takes insight and courage, themes that are the focus of the final chapter by Robert Broughton and Sally Roberts. Marcel Proust said that the ‘real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes’. Robert and Sally invite readers to rethink what being an HR practitioner means in the 21st century, and specifically what insight means, something which is at the core of the CIPD’s professional map. They draw on evidence from neuroscience to explain the process of ‘a-ha’ moments – moments that they have experienced and witnessed in their mindfulness teaching and practice in exploring the role of mindfulness and compassion in developing ‘insight-based HR’. These authors bring us full circle, back to the core message in this book, which is that in order to create organizations fit to house the human spirit, we as professionals concerned with people’s wellbeing and performance need to develop our own insight, wisdom and compassion, that is to embrace mindfulness. However, what Robert and Sally also do is to bring to our attention how mindfulness as a wellbeing strategy is only a foundational first step towards the transformational potential of mindfulness. Their work reminds us that in order to live and work as emotionally intelligent and reflexive practitioners, we need to constantly observe ourselves, to challenge our assumptions and interrogate what we believe. To do this, however, we need to cultivate insight, and turn towards, rather than away from, difficulties in order to rethink and revise our lives to make conscious mindful decisions about who we are and what we want to become. In the light of a more insecure world, never was a ‘way of being’ so crucial. We hope that through our collective autoethnographies, our shared stories, we have offered you ways of taking your first steps to journey into mindfulness, ethically and mindfully, to improve your own wellbeing, and those of others. Enjoy the exploration. You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Richard Buckminster Fuller, in Laloux, 2014, p 1

Introduction

References Chapman, M (2009) Sense and sensibility: a special report on 10 years of emotional intelligence, Coaching at Work, 4, Issue 4 Chapman, M (2011) Mindfulness in the workplace: what is the fuss all about? Counselling at Work, Issue 74, pp 20–24 Chapman-Clarke, M (2004) Critical Competency or Passing Fad: Exploring emotional intelligence discourses in learning and development, unpublished PhD thesis, Loughborough University Business School Chapman-Clarke, M (2015) Coaching for compassionate resilience through creative methods: the case for a turn towards autoethnography, in Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation, ed L Hall, Kogan Page, London Cullen, M (2011) Mindfulness-based Interventions: an emerging phenomenon, Mindfulness, 2, pp 186–193, DOI 10.1007/s12671-011-0058-1 Hall, L (2015) Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation: How to help individuals and organizations flourish, Kogan Page, London Holman Jones, S, Adams, T and Ellis, C (2013) Coming to know autoethnography as more than a method, in Handbook of Autoethnography, eds S Holman Jones, T Adams and C Ellis, Left Coast Press Inc, Walnut Creek, CA Laloux, F (2014) Reinventing Organizations: A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage of human consciousness, Nelson Parker, Brussels Langer, EJ (1989) Mindfulness, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA Williams, M and Penman, D (2011) Mindfulness: A practical guide, Piatkus, London

Note 1 EQ or EI? The use of the shorthand EQ is subject to controversy and debate (see Chapman, 2009). The EQ label was originally coined by Dr Reuven Bar-On to describe and measure emotional intelligence (EI). Used in that context, EQ refers to an individual’s score on an emotional intelligence measure (their Emotional Quotient). But as EI has translated into HR discourse and practice, EQ has become a popular shorthand for the broader field of those emotional and social competences that fall under the umbrella of EI. EQ has since moved beyond its sole association with an individual score on a measure to a widely recognized shorthand for EI. Whilst I have alternated between EI/EQ in my own work, in this text I use the shorthand EQ.

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Part one Mapping the mindfulnessat-work phenomenon

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First an idea is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; Finally, it is accepted as self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788–1860

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Mindfulness is on a roll

01

Ma rg a r e t C h a pma n - C l a r k e

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am a seasoned researcher and practitioner and have been driven by a desire, in some small way, to help ‘create organizations fit to house the human spirit’. I first wrote about this in an article for human resource (HR) practitioners entitled ‘Emotional intelligence: the challenge for HRM’ (Chapman, 2002). In that piece I argued why we should not ignore this emerging idea. Interestingly at the same time I also observed that the ‘jury is still out in terms of the EQ phenomenon for HR!’(Chapman, 2001). In 2016, readers will perhaps smile, given that EQ (the popular shorthand for emotional intelligence) has translated into everyday HR and leadership discourse and practice. At the time of writing this present book, the end of 2015, mindfulness generally, and the mindfulness at work phenomenon specifically, is ‘on a roll’. This is in much the same way as Charles Woodruff described the HR interest in EQ in 2000 (Chapman-Clarke, 2004; Chapman, 2011a). Observational data to support this assertion is everywhere. For example, in the UK the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) has just published its final report on the potential impact of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) in health, education, business and criminal justice. The first academic text on workplace mindfulness (Reb and Atkins, 2015) has appeared and the publishers, Cambridge University Press, have another title planned that looks at the research evidence in terms of mindfulness and performance across a range of disciplines, specifically in sport, dance and music (Baltzell, 2016). One of my early mindfulness teachers, Michael Chaskalson, did a great job ‘waking up’ organizational practitioners to the potential relevance of mindfulness in the workplace (Chaskalson, 2011) and Juliet Adams, HR practitioner and founder of the website www.mindfulnet.org, collaborated with Shamish Alidina to produce Mindfulness at Work for Dummies (Alidina and Adams, 2014). As an early exponent of mindfulness at work in the UK, Juliet, along with academics at a leading UK business school, Cranfield School of Management, have just hosted the third (now international) Mindfulness at Work conference where a number of contributors to this book shared their insights with interested peers. It is also testimony to its widespread acceptance by the HR profession that

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an Introduction to Mindfulness workshop features in the 2016 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) short course programme. This book is indicative of the mindfulness at work phenomenon. It speaks to the ‘explosion’ of the interest in and the potential that mindfulness has for ‘creating organizations fit to house the human spirt’. The intention behind this book is for those practitioners who have travelled into mindfulness experientially and implemented MBIs in their organizations to share their stories. The collective purpose is to enter into dialogue with you the reader. It is, as I said, autoethnographic in style and execution. All the contributors share with you how they came to mindfulness and in writing their chapter take the opportunity to reflect on what they did, why and how and what the impact was in terms of benefits to the individual and organizations. They also look to the future, sharing with us their aspirations to build sustainability. Each voice is unique and they became involved with this project through being passionate about the impact that mindfulness has had on them personally, professionally and on the people who have participated in their workplace MBIs. Whilst these voices are diverse, and stories unique, nonetheless a central theme is that in order to bring about change in organizations, we first need to begin with changing ourselves. That is, to be the change we want to see in creating mindful workplaces, as Sally and Robert foreground in their chapter, champions of better work and working lives.

Mindfulness: an inside-out OD strategy What we mean by an ‘inside-out OD strategy’ is that in implementing MBIs each individual contributor has first ‘journeyed into mindfulness’ themselves. Each chapter begins with a section entitled ‘Coming to mindfulness’ and here each author gives us a glimpse of their individual routes into and experiences of mindfulness. From my own research and experience, conceptually what mindfulness does is to extend our understanding of what EQ means, and therefore the kinds of programmes we need to design to develop these essential qualities. MBIs deepen our capacity to use the wisdom of our body, our ‘embodied knowing’ or our somatic awareness (Strozzi-Heckler, 2014). The message here is simple: to champion mindfulness in the workplace you just don’t need to know about people and organizations, you need to have felt the power of and have embodied mindfulness.

Mindfulness: an intervention to develop embodied emotional intelligence (EQ) From a somatic point of view, living any distance from our bodies is dodgy and the consequences harmful, even grave. Strozzi-Heckler, 2014, p 9

Mindfulness is on a roll

I came to mindfulness in part accidentally and have subsequently looked at the phenomenon through two lenses, one pragmatic; the other evidence-­ based. I was and remain simply curious about ways in which to develop EQ leaders, teams and organizations. Sadly, it is outside of the scope of this book to fully expand on this thesis as that would take up a volume in itself! My intention in introducing this here is to sow a seed; to offer an idea which I hope will be one frame with which to ‘read’ the stories in this book. Empirical evidence is, as I explore in the next chapter, emerging, yet Daniel Goleman, whose work popularized EQ (Chapman-Clarke, 2004), has written that mindfulness and what we are learning about the brain offer new insights into our understanding, and so into developing EQ: Pay more attention, monitor yourself. Are you distracted now? Are you paying full attention, because it turns out the basis of emotional intelligence is this capacity to be aware of what we’re doing and how we’re doing and to make a mid-course correction. So, when it comes to managing your distressing emotions, you’ve got to know you’re having them, otherwise they’re going to highjack you before you know it. Goleman, 2012

The assertion that Goleman (2012) makes is echoed in the case studies. I realized the potential that mindfulness could offer in enhancing interventions to develop EQ. This arose out of my experiencing an epiphany, an ‘a-ha’ moment, what Robert and Sally eloquently explore as ‘insight’ in the final chapter. This epiphany emerged as a result of a ‘mindfulness minute’ in a workshop in 2008 (the notion of ‘epiphany’ is in keeping with autoethnography (AE) and a feature of the creative process – see Chapter 12). In the workshop we simply stopped, focused on the breath and that was all! Yet as someone who was very much ‘in my head’ and often in ‘doing mode’ I was struck at the power of just stopping, the ‘auto-pilot’, the ‘busyness’ of the mind. In this space I simply noticed and experienced, somatically what being in the ‘being mode of mind’ actually meant. Far from doing nothing (Kets de Vries, 2015) insight emerged. Developing our embodied ‘knowing’ is an EQ skill. This ‘a-ha’ represented a critical transition in my work and inspired my commitment to exploring, in research and in practice, how to develop an informed integrative approach to mindful-EQ interventions (Chapman-Clarke, 2016). Since that epiphany, I have continued to experience more insights through developing my mindfulness practice, including ways to nurture the creative aspect through alternative research methods, such as the use of poetry (Chapman-Clarke, 2015a; Chapman-Clarke, 2016). I have participated in a variety of mindfulness events and programmes, been curious about the different ways in which mindfulness was and is being defined and have created my own ‘mindfulness mosaic’.

Coming to autoethnography The reasons for my asking contributors to share their story speaks to my recent call for a turn to AE in our writing as practitioners and researchers (Chapman-Clarke, 2015a). I don’t intend to get into too much description

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of the nature, and criticisms, of AE (for a review see Chapman-Clarke, 2015a and Chapman-Clarke, 2016); nonetheless, for our purposes here this means explicitly including ourselves, and all the experiences that we bring to a particular endeavour, in this instance writing about workplace MBIs to improve our own and others’ wellbeing and performance. AE as an emerging research genre, methodology and method has at its heart a set of values and ethics which I believe resonate with what the CEO of the CIPD Peter Cheese called for in his opening address at the 2015 annual conference: that we need to ‘do HR differently’ and as Gandhi said ‘be the change we want to see’. AE is a philosophy that gives primacy to diversity, dialogue and relationship and as an approach attempts to break down barriers between the ‘splits’ or dualisms between you the reader, and the ‘I’ of the author, a number of which I touch on in different places in the book and which are at the heart of ‘embodied EQ’. It is an explicitly reflexive style of writing that comprises three elements: 1 Auto – ‘Self.’ In this book, me (author/contributor) as a practitioner: how I came to mindfulness. 2 Ethno – ‘Culture and human interaction.’ The context in which I practise and in relationships with others (organization/sector/ stakeholders). 3 Graphy – ‘The process and product of some activity.’ Here, the ways in which mindfulness is being implemented in the workplace. So in asking contributors to talk about how they ‘came to mindfulness’ and the context in which they designed, implemented and evaluated their mindfulness-­ based interventions, there is a greater degree of authenticity; it is a particular type of knowledge, which has the potential, as I say in the next chapter, to ‘subvert dominant discourses’, namely ways of talking about some aspect of organizational life or phenomenon – here, being mindful in the workplace. As Tessa Muncey (2010: xi) observes: … published work has a tendency to focus on the successful: the rags to riches victim to survivor, stories of successful research outcomes, and shies away from those with mistakes or of which we are ashamed.

Our intention then is not to ‘let it all hang out’ but to be what Holman Jones et al (2013) describe as ‘vulnerable with a purpose’, which here is to: ●●

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be open and honest about our successes and what we learned and would do differently; model autoethnographic values mindfully in our way of writing, the capacity to think critically about our assumptions,

and as a community of peer practitioners to: ●●

offer some insights and ‘evidence’ that mindfulness works – MBIs that are shaped contextually and indicative of ‘adaptations without dilution’;

Mindfulness is on a roll ●●

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demonstrate the integration of the personal with the organizational, with the cultural – integration and inter-connectedness; model embodied emotional intelligence (EQ).

Coming to mindfulness … coaching has continued to represent the Cartesian mind–body split… coaching primarily addresses what the client is doing, separate from how they are being, how the self is inextricably linked to the actions and behaviours in which they are engaged. Strozzi-Heckler, 2014, p 29

As the editor and lead author it is down to me to take the first step to ‘model embodied EQ’ by sharing with you the key milestones in my mindfulness journey and to articulate elements that make up my ‘mindfulness mosaic’. I do this with the expressed desire of sharing those experiences of the mindfulness phenomenon and how I made sense of this ‘embodied knowing’ in the context of my work in coaching for EQ and exploring the potential of mindfulness at work. I came to mindfulness in 2008 as part of my wider practice as a consulting coaching and organizational psychologist and researcher in the field of EQ. In an earlier research project, I interviewed leadership developers as to how they defined EQ; one asserted that ‘gestalt’ is ‘EQ in action’ (Chapman-Clarke, 2004). I subsequently trained as a gestalt OD practitioner and therapist at the Metanoia Institute. As part of my ongoing continuing professional development (CPD – a requirement by professional bodies in the UK for continued registration) I signed up for a workshop on integrating mindfulness into my practice (not really knowing what it was!). It was in this workshop that I had the ‘epiphany’, that ‘mindful moment’ I talked of earlier. From there I participated in two, what have now become ‘gold-standard’, programmes of mindfulness, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), against which workplace MBIs are being judged (discussed in Chapter 3 and critiqued by Mark in Chapter 10). The first was with Jyoti Nanda (her teacher being Thich Nhat Hanh) at Regents University in London. Jyoti is an integrative, existential therapist. The programme was entitled ‘Nourishing your way of being’ and made no explicit reference to MBSR, MBCT or theory/­ research behind mindfulness. It was purely experiential, focused on meditation practices. The second 8-week programme was with Barbara Reid, a teacher trained through Bangor University, and a course based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s original MBSR (I discuss this more in Chapter 3); again, the focus was on mindfulness meditation practices. There was little didactic input, or integration of any additional theory or exercises, such as are illustrated by different authors. Insight was facilitated through the process of inquiry (the process of inquiry is explored in some depth in Chapters 3 and 6).

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I found that the actual practice of mindfulness resonated strongly with my training as a gestalt practitioner. Gestalt is an approach that centres on integrating the mind and body, and our capacity to use our somatic (embodied) intelligence as a source of knowledge. However, what seemed to be missing for me in what I had experienced, in particular as a work psychologist specializing in people and organizational development (OD), was an explicit conversation about the relationship between the ‘being’ and ‘doing’. I recognized that links could be made with other interventions and ways of working and it was a culmination of ‘a-ha’ moments that promoted critical reflection on the standard MBIs and their applicability within organizations. The personal benefits were such that I trained as a mindfulness teacher, initially in MBSR with Michael Chaskalson and Eluned Gold at Bangor University, then in MBCT with Professor Mark Williams of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre (OMC) in collaboration with clinicians at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. I then experienced the foregrounding of compassion in mindfulness with the Mindfulness Association (an approach that informs the Mindfulness-Based Living Course (MBLC) that Sandra and Jane used in their work and discussed in Chapter 6). It was during the MBSR teacher training in the beautiful Welsh mountains that I discovered my poetic voice (see Chapman-Clarke, 2015a) and potential in facilitating creativity. Since then I have participated in short masterclasses on undertaking research in mindfulness, which centred on particular types of research and what counts as evidence (of which I say more in Chapter 2). I have also been on two brief workshops on teaching clients mindfulness skills, captured now in written form by colleagues Christine Dunkley and Maggie Stanton (Dunkley and Stanton, 2014). What I became aware of during this period of experiential learning was how so much of this work was individually focused, and the evidence-based examples situated in the clinical context. There is, as Sally (author of Chapter 8) and Robert and Sally (final chapter) and many other commentators observe, a dearth of empirical research in MBIs designed by and in organizational settings. With this insight I focused my own doctoral work on closing the gap. I designed the Mindfulness-Based Coaching Intervention (MBCI) (ChapmanClarke, 2015a; Chapman-Clarke, 2016) and spoke on the relationship between EQ and mindfulness at the first Mindfulness at Work conference in Cambridge in 2012. I initiated and facilitated a series of masterclasses, the first for the British Psychological Society, and since 2012 have delivered a range of keynotes, seminars and programmes for curiously-minded peer practitioners in HR, education, health, coaching and business psychology. I also wrote two articles entitled ‘Mindfulness in the workplace’ (Chapman, 2011b) and a follow-up piece two years later, ‘Mindfulness at work: where are we now?’ (Chapman, 2013). Along the route, as an organizational psychologist, with clinical training, I helped OMC navigate the explosion of interest in workplace mindfulness as a member of the Board of Trustees from 2012 to 2014. This led to the establishment of The Mindfulness Exchange (TME), co-founded by Mark

Mindfulness is on a roll

Leonard, former operations manager of OMC and author of Chapter 10. Described as a ‘spin-off’ from OMC, TME offers workplace mindfulness training based on Mark Williams and Danny Penman’s (2011) best seller Mindfulness: Finding peace in a frantic world. In 2015 I distilled some of my experiential learning into the Mindfulness at Work Pocketbook (Chapman-Clarke, 2015b) and this current book is designed to extend that by exploring the theory and research that speaks to the processes and practices that make sense in the context of work and organizations. My call is for an ‘integrative informed mindfulness’ inspired by Perlman (2015) that leads to MBIs that reflect ‘adaptations without dilution’. The examples in this book are pioneering such approaches and are doing so ethically, and mindfully. Above all, in the spirit of collaboration – as some describe it in their chapters, ‘spreading the word’ – with these examples we share our combined experiences of being part of the mindfulness at work phenomenon. In doing this we are embracing the writer Joan Didion’s call for stories that enable us, as Adams et al (2014) assert, to ‘… live and live better’. In conclusion: ●●

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Mindfulness at work is a cultural phenomenon and an emerging field of practice for workplace practitioners and it is ‘on a roll’. Mindful workplaces begin with mindful practitioners. It is an inside-out OD strategy. Mindfulness is an integrated mind–body intervention that reflects a wider, growing zeitgeist of ‘healing the split’ between cognitive and somatic ‘ways of knowing.’ It is an enhanced strategy for developing ‘embodied EQ’. The style of writing and approach to this book is autoethnographic, which reflects this growing zeitgeist, with practitioners sharing their own experiences of ‘coming to mindfulness’ to illustrate how the personal interacts with the professional and the wider cultural context.

References Adams, T E, Holman Jones, S and Ellis, C (2014) Autoethnography: Understanding qualitative research, Oxford University Press, New York Alidina, S and Adams, J (2014) Mindfulness at Work for Dummies, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester Baltzell, A L (ed) (2016) Mindfulness and Performance (Current perspectives in social and behavioural science), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Chapman, M (2001) Emotional Intelligence, in The Informed Student Guide to HRM, (eds) T Redman and A Wilkinson, Thomson Learning Chapman, M (2002) Emotional Intelligence: the challenge for HRM, Competency and Emotional Intelligence, 10, Issue 1, pp 26–28 Chapman, M (2011a) The Emotional Intelligence Pocketbook (2nd edn), Management Pocketbooks, Arlesford

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon Chapman, M (2011b) Mindfulness in the workplace: what is the fuss all about? Counselling at Work, Issue 74, pp 20–24 Chapman, M (2013) Mindfulness: where are we now? Counselling at Work, Issue 78, pp 4–9 Chapman-Clarke, M (2004) Critical Competency or Passing Fad: Exploring emotional intelligence discourses in learning and development, unpublished doctoral thesis, Loughborough University Business School Chapman-Clarke, M (2015a) Coaching for compassionate resilience through creative methods: the case for a ‘turn towards autoethnography, in Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation, ed L Hall, Kogan Page, London Chapman-Clarke, M (2015b) The Mindfulness at Work Pocketbook, Management Pocketbooks, Arlesford Chapman-Clarke, M (2016) Exploring Coaches’ Experience of Mindfulness Training: An autoethnographic study using poetic inquiry, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Derby, Derby Chaskalson, M (2011) The Mindful Workplace: Developing resilient individuals and resonant organizations with MBSR, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester Dunkley, C and Stanton, M (2014) Teaching Clients to Use Mindfulness Skills, Routledge, East Sussex Goleman, D (2012) New Insights on Emotional Intelligence [accessed online 1 December 2015], http://www.mindful.org/daniel-goleman-new-insights-on-emotional-intelligence/ Holman Jones, S, Adams, T and Ellis, C (2013) Coming to know autoethnography as more than a method, in Handbook of Autoethnography, eds S Holman Jones, T Adams and C Ellis, Left Coast Press Inc, Walnut Creek, CA Kets de Vries, M F R (2015) Doing nothing and nothing to do: the hidden value of empty time and boredom, Organizational Dynamics, 44, pp 169–75 Muncey, T (2010) Creating Autoethnographies, Sage, London Perlman, A (2015) Informed mindfulness as the foundation for leadership, Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 11, Issue 4, July–August Reb, J and Atkins, P W B (2015) (eds) Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, research and application, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Strozzi-Heckler, R (2014) The Art of Somatic Coaching: Embodying skilful action, wisdom and compassion, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA Williams, M and Penman, M (2011) Mindfulness: A guide for finding peace in a frantic world, Piatkus, London

Further reading Chapman, M (2009) Sense and Sensibility: special report on 10 years of emotional intelligence (‘EQ’), Coaching at Work, 4, Issue 4

Resources For information on courses and workshops offered by the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, go to: http://www.oxfordmindfulness.org/. For a great portal and gateway to a treasure trove of ‘all things’ mindfulness, go to: www.mindfulnet.org.

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02

What counts as evidence, truth and knowledge in workplace MBIs? Ma rg a r e t C h a pma n - C l a r k e

“

Bourdieu (1998) declared it is ‘infinitely easier to take up position for or against an idea, a value, a person, an institution or a situation than to analyse what it truly is, in all its complexity. Elliot, 2011, p 374

Introduction In this chapter my intention is to continue exploring the complexity that is the mindfulness at work phenomenon. I address the ‘evidence’ part of the title and the focus of the book. The central message is that whilst there is an extensive range of controlled studies looking at the positive impact of mindfulness on wellbeing it is only recently that workplace mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have appeared on the scholarly radar (Aviles and Dent, 2015; Elliot, 2011; Hyland, Lee and Mills, 2015; Reb and Atkins, 2015). To make the case for mindfulness at work, evidence has been translated from a rich range of literatures, from psychology, behavioural sciences and neuroscience. These are the roots which the CEO of the CIPD, Peter Cheese, asserts are the cornerstones of the 21st-century human resource (HR) profession. They are also ones we need to get back to if we are to rethink organizations and to respond to Laloux’s (2014) call to reframe HR processes and ‘do’ HR differently.

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Specifically my intentions are to: ●●

●●

●●

●●

●●

discuss the nature of truth and knowledge and what counts as evidence in relation to mindfulness and workplace MBIs; speak to the call that we need to return to our roots in HR and what that means in practice; highlight the limitations in our current knowledge as it relates to workplace applications of mindfulness; introduce the concept of evidence-informed in contrast to evidencebased practice; set out a framework by which to ‘read’ research reflexively as EQ-mindful, adaptive practitioners (EQ-MAPs).

A note on reading this chapter. I cover a lot of ground and want to support you in absorbing the material (and apply the lessons from neuroscience (Howard-Jones/CIPD, 2014)). I use a technique I learned from positive psychologist and Harvard academic, Tal Ben-Shahar. In his book Happier he invites readers to engage in ‘time-ins’ (Ben-Shahar, 2008). We will be familiar with ‘time-outs’ but here a ‘time-in’ is an invitation to read mindfully. To stop and to reflect, notice what you ‘feel’ about the material, as well as the content of what is being presented. A process that Mark in Chapter 10, describes as ‘self-inquiry’ and which Jo and Karen (Chapter 9 citing WebsterWright, 2013: 557) assert will lead to a clarity of intent (perhaps in this space even an ‘epiphany’!).

The nature of ‘truth’ and the post-modernist HR practitioner Words are not mirror-like reflections of reality, but expressions of group convention. Various social groups possess preferred vocabularies, or ways of putting things, and these vocabularies reflect or defend their values and politics, and ways of life. For participants these forms of talking (or writing) take on a local reality, for each renders the believer heroic and the nonbeliever a fool. Gergen, 1991, p 119

All researchers make claims to truth and their research is informed by both a particular view of the world, ontology, and what counts as knowledge, epistemology. This work is positioned within an emerging approach to research and practice, autoethnography (AE). Adopting an AE approach is not simply a style of writing that arises out of a particular philosophy; it reflects a post-modernist orientation that raises questions around the nature of truth, knowledge and, in the context of this book, what counts as evidence in relation to workplace MBIs.

Mindfulness research

The post-modernist believes that knowledge is socially constructed and this is captured well in the quote from Kenneth Gergen. This suggests that in the current cultural, historical and social context, there are different ways of making sense of particular phenomena, in this case mindfulness in the workplace. There are multiple discourses, ways of talking or writing about mindfulness reflecting multiple truths, each of which some people accept as a given, as ‘the truth and only truth’. Whilst there are others who reject or question any given truth, or single way of interpreting what mindfulness, in the context of work, means. Post-modernists, as implied in Elliot’s (2011) use of Bourdieu (1998) above, do not shy away from complexity or revere authoritative or ‘expert’ voices. The post-modernist philosophy urges us to seek out alternative ways of knowing that are inclusive and give voice to under-­ represented groups, here translated into the voices of practitioners who have implemented MBIs in their organizations ethically and mindfully. Relating these philosophical principles to the wider HR context, for example, an illustration would be the way in which the search for evidence of ‘best practice’ is carried out. This has long been considered one of the ‘sacred cows’ in the HR field and a post-modernist ‘take’ would be that there is no such thing as best practice and no ‘one size fits all’. Interestingly, the CEO of CIPD, Peter Cheese, at the annual conference in 2015 called for HR professionals to be ‘post-modernist’ (although he did not name it as such). He urged delegates to look beyond ‘best practice’ and to rely less on rules and to challenge conventional ways of thinking in order to be creative and innovative (an assertion directly engaged with in Chapter 12). The style and approach of this book responds to that call. In the context of this project we are urging you to develop as ‘emotionally intelligent, mindful, adaptive practitioners’ (EQ-MAPs) to respond to 21st-century challenges; to do HR differently. EQ-MAPs are those who don’t seek out the ‘holy grail’ of best practice, but gather ideas from across different disciplines and contexts to engage in ‘good practice’, sifting and selecting ideas to suit the specific organizations in which they operate. In essence, what the EQ-MAP does in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world is to gather, like magpies, different ‘takes’ (or truths) around a particular phenomenon and build their own mindfulness mosaic. The task is then to analyse, sifting through what is useful and relevant, and integrate it with what they already know, to inform ‘good practice’ in mindfulness in the workplace, adaptation without dilution (Chapman, 2013). The long drive for efficiency and too much focus on so-called ‘best practice’ have constrained thinking into a ‘one size fits all’ approach, in which it’s easy to lose sight of purpose. Good HR is contextual, individually and organizationally, and the world of work is evolving so quickly anyway that focusing on finding best practice versus most appropriate practice, or ‘best fit’, makes less and less sense. CIPD, 2015

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon

The map is not the territory, just one map: criticisms of workplace MBIs Hardly a day goes by without a new media report on the benefits of mindfulness. In the corporate world mindfulness training programmes are becoming increasingly popular… At the same time, many leaders, human resources and well-being professionals are probably still wondering what mindfulness is and whether mindfulness training would work in their organization. Organizational scholars, having taken note of research on mindfulness conducted mostly in medical and clinical psychology, are also wondering whether mindfulness is a valid research area for organizational sciences. Reb and Atkins, 2015, p 1

Along with Jochen Reb and Paul Atkins I similarly want to urge a note of caution; in empirical terms, the jury is still out in the case of workplace MBIs. As an EQ-MAP you will naturally be pragmatic; it is, as Liz and Susan elegantly note, the nature of the territory! Mindfulness is a contemplative practice that encourages us to stop, take a breath and notice both our cognitive and somatic reactions, to develop insight and wisdom, and respond choicefully. It is the antithesis of the busyness of organizational life (Kets de Vries, 2015). In getting ‘back to our roots’ we need to think critically and reflexively and challenge taken-for-granted assumptions implicit in arguments that are put forward by any single community (or authorial voice). It is important to hold in mind Kenneth Gergen’s assertion that there are multiple discourses, which render the believer heroic, and non-believer a fool and, because as Liz Hall writes ‘words have power’ (Hall, 2015: 5). What I mean by this is that the dominant discourse shaping how we look at mindfulness in the workplace has been translated from research informed from an individual rather than a social psychological evidence base and empirically from largely clinical and medical settings as the quote from Reb and Atkins (2015: 1) notes. Criticisms levelled at the mindfulness at work phenomenon come from outside this territory and so are just one map. Organizations are social entities and we need to bear that in mind when, for example, talking about the design, content and duration of programmes, along with who ‘should’ teach them and issues around ethics (the focus of Chapter 3, illuminated in Chapter 6 and critiqued in Chapter 10). It is important to question what works for whom and in what context. Can this study or piece of research readily translate? What is being assumed? What is not explicitly stated? Our context is different from those informed from a clinical or medical context and so we need to ‘do’ mindfulness differently. As a number of authors in this book observe, it is only recently that organizational practitioners’ voices have been heard in the mindfulness field. This is pressed home by Robert and Sally who, in the final chapter, observe that: ‘… organizations have not been at the forefront of the mindfulness movement. Our experience, until more recently, has instead been through individuals having experienced mindfulness personally, creating openings

Mindfulness research

into organizations’ (p 290). This book is designed to address this gap and to begin a more assertive dialogue about the value of workplace MBIs, using practitioner-based evidence, to get our voices heard. The reason why it is important for you to know this is because, as Kenneth Gergen suggests and Liz Hall observes, discourses are not neutral, and without organizational practitioners’ voices being heard, criticisms levelled at workplace MBIs are one-sided and lessons cannot be learned. As the playwright Dennis Potter wrote: ‘The trouble with words is that you don’t know whose mouth they have been in!’ As workplace mindfulness practitioners we need to develop our own discourse, if we are to answer the question: What works for whom and in what organizational context? The case studies in Part Two are designed to stimulate that dialogue. To illustrate what I mean in terms of criticisms: corporate mindfulness training has been described as reductionist and indicative of ‘McMindfulness’ (Purser and Loy, 2013 cited in Hyland, 2015). Implicit in this assumption is an inference that somehow organizational MBIs may be of poorer quality, unethical, implemented by people who don’t know what they are doing, or are interventions designed as a ‘quick fix’. What is presented in this book challenges this critique.

Core to organizational MBIs: adaptation without dilution ‘McMindfulness’ is a concept and criticism with which I am uncomfortable. It arises out of an unfounded belief that workplace MBIs are a commodification of the ‘present-moment awareness’ and are only being implemented in organizations in the pursuit of corporate objectives and commercial profit, done for instrumentalist ends (Hyland, 2015) and even conceptualized as a ‘Buddhist pill’ being taken to cure the stresses evoked through operating in a VUCA world. This could be explained in part by Bourdieu’s (1998) assertion that it is easier to criticize an idea than to engage with it in all its complexity (Elliot, 2011). From my observations and those of peers who are designing, implementing and evaluating MBIs in their organizations, such as those written about in this book, this criticism is not rooted in empirical evidence. It is far from the reality of what workplace mindfulness practitioners are doing. From my immersion in the field over the last eight years, I argue that MBIs in the workplace are being implemented ethically and adapted with integrity by EQ-MAPs, who know their contexts well. They understand the way change happens in organizations and have journeyed into mindfulness themselves. What is different however is the language (discourse) that is used in order to communicate the benefits of implementing mindfulness and getting different stakeholders to ‘buy in’. Again Liz and Susan’s chapter

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon

(Chapter 4) is an exemplar of a pragmatic approach to implementing mindfulness, as they say, gently and with care. As you will discover, adaptations of mindfulness do not diminish the benefits. What the stories illustrate are skilful translations of what Liz and Susan describe as a potential ‘left-field’ intervention into organizational reality. Mindfulness opens the door, as Sally and Robert suggest, to a new way of being, back to the wholeness that Laloux (2014) suggests we are yearning for.

Ethics in workplace MBIs As the contributors here attest, what MBIs offer is a real opportunity to respond to Peter Cheese’s call that we need to put the human back into ‘human resources’. That is, mindfulness, far from being a ‘happy pill’, offers the potential to develop mindful, emotionally intelligent and compassionate leaders, who have the power to create mindful, compassionate and ethical organizational cultures, fit to house the human spirit. As the CIPD report From Best to Good Practice HR: Principles for the Profession suggests, ethics and ethical practice are at the heart of what we do’ (Zheltoukhova and Baczor, 2015). And furthermore because I would suggest: … no one ‘owns’ mindfulness. Adaptations already exist and indeed fit with the original spirit of MBSR. Jon Kabat-Zinn never intended that the original curriculum should be prescriptive. But a well-defined, systematic [client] centred approach… designed to be delivered in a flexible way. Chapman, 2013, p 8

So with these caveats in mind, I explore how this seemingly ‘left-field’ idea moved from the marginal to the mainstream: from Buddhism to business (Chapman, 2011).

Workplace MBIs: from the margins to the mainstream In 2011 I explored how mindfulness was moving from a seemingly counter-­ cultural idea at the margins to the mainstream (Chapman, 2011). The flurry of activity has been truly remarkable and described as a phenomenon (Cullen, 2011), and by TIME magazine as a revolution (Pickert, 2014). By 2013, in a follow-up piece I recorded how the benefits of mindfulness were permeating the very corridors of power (Chapman, 2013). Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of MBSR and credited as the man who bought Zen Buddhism to the masses (Bunting, 2013) visited the Houses of Parliament in Westminster to explore ways in which MBSR could be incorporated into government policy, particularly with a view, Bunting (2013) suggests, to saving the National Health Service (NHS) money. As she observes, this ‘… is unsurprising, given that mindfulness has a compelling proposition: it has unlimited applicability to almost every healthcare issue we now face – and it’s cheap!’ (Bunting, 2013).

Mindfulness research

A year later Professor Mark Williams and Chris Cullen of Oxford Mindfulness Centre (OMC) were teaching parliamentarians how to meditate and by 2014 over 85 MPs and peers had participated in the 8-week mindfulness programme. Inspired as to the benefits of practising mindfulness, it is perhaps not surprising then that a Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) was set up to explore the potential of mindfulness in shaping public policy across health, education, the workplace and criminal justice. The expressed aims of MAPPG were to: ●● ●●

●●

review the scientific evidence and best practice for mindfulness training; develop policy recommendations for government based on these findings; provide a forum for discussion in Parliament for the role of mindfulness and its implementation in public policy.

An interim report appeared in January 2015 in which the authors concluded: We find that mindfulness is a transformative practice, leading to a deeper understanding of how to respond to situations wisely. We believe that government should widen access to mindfulness training in key public services, where it has the potential to be an effective low-cost intervention with a wide range of benefits. Interim Report of the Mindfulness APPG, December 2014

In October 2015, the final report by the advocacy project and organization Mindfulness Initiative appeared, in which MAPPG concluded: We have been impressed by the quality and range of evidence for the benefits of mindfulness and believe it has the potential to help many people to better health and flourishing. On a number of issues ranging from improving mental health and boosting productivity and creativity in the economy through to helping people with long-term conditions such as diabetes and obesity, mindfulness appears to have an impact. This is a reason for government to take notice and we urge serious consideration of our report. MAPPG, 2015

And in terms of the workplace, the MAPPG makes four recommendations which are: 1 The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) should demonstrate leadership in working with employers to promote the use of mindfulness and develop an understanding of good practice. 2 We welcome the government’s What Works Centre for Wellbeing, and urge it to commission, as a priority, pilot research studies on the role of mindfulness in the workplace, and to work with employers and university research centres to collaborate on high-quality studies to close the research gap. 3 Government departments should encourage the development of mindfulness programmes for staff in the public sector – in particular in health, education and criminal justice – to combat stress and improve

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon organizational effectiveness. One initiative could be seed-funding for a pilot project in policing where we have encountered considerable interest. 4 The National Institute of Health Research should invite bids to research the use of mindfulness as an occupational health intervention and its effectiveness in addressing occupational mental health issues such as stress, work-related rumination, fatigue and disrupted sleep. MAPPG, 2015

Despite these aspirational assertions, in practice it remains to be seen how much influence the Mindful Nation UK report will have, given the change in UK government and continuing period of austerity. Nonetheless it is a start. It foregrounds the importance of a healthy workforce to the health of the nation and society, and the importance of undertaking and communicating the outputs from specific types of workplace research, based on the stories of ‘mindfulness champions’ and the impact of their MBIs on improving life for people at work. Sadly, however, the phrase ‘best practice’ does not sit comfortably with the principles of diversity and inclusion which underpin this book (and which are beautifully articulated by Byron, Chapter 11). Neither does it reflect the message in the recent CIPD report on the future of the HR profession, which is to propose a move away from the search for the ‘holy grail’ of ‘best’ towards ‘good’ practice’ enshrined, I would suggest, in Robert and Sally’s concept of ‘insight-based HR’ in the final chapter of the book. What is helpful is that the Mindfulness Initiative report includes case studies by way of evidence. They do this is on the basis that: In an era dominated by statistics (usually in the context of clinical applications of mindfulness, Randomized Control Trials (RCTs)) case studies can really bring to life the potential that mindfulness can have for a diverse range of individuals. From schoolchildren, to NHS staff, policemen, and members of parliament, mindfulness courses have offered significantly improved wellbeing by reducing stress, fostering compassionate care and providing greater clarity in prioritizing the demands of life. MAPPG, 2015

Time-in OK, I have covered a lot of ground so it might be useful to stop here and reflect on my intentions, thus far, which are to: ●●

Describe the buzz around mindfulness at work as a phenomenon. A phenomenon is something that breaks forth and becomes ubiquitous – it is seemingly everywhere and taken as a ‘given’ (that is, everyone is ‘doing’ it!).

Mindfulness research

●●

●●

●●

●●

●●

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Show how, in the trajectory of a phenomenon, an idea usually goes through a translation process and criticisms emerge when different occupational groups recognize the benefit and translate and adapt the emerging idea to suit their particular needs and contexts. Highlight how such criticisms are driven by particular voices or social groups and can often assert a particular discourse, or way of talking about the idea: here, the translation of mindfulness from the medical and clinical conceptualizations and practice to the workplace. Argue how such discourses are not neutral, but shape particular meanings and practices and become the authoritative voice, positioned as the map, rather than one map among many, with implications. Discuss in the context of workplace mindfulness what this means; the way in which it is defined, the purpose or drivers behind implementing MBIs. This includes the design and content of programmes and who is qualified to deliver mindfulness training (issues explored in Chapter 3). Suggest that 21st-century HR practitioners need to be savvy as to the power and limitations of dominant discourses, use readily available knowledge in a skilful, mindful way and be curious about who is saying, what and why? Encourage a ‘beginner’s mind’ to create your own mindfulness mosaic, not indicative of ‘best’ but ‘good’ practice’, an approach that I introduced in Chapter 1 and described by Perlman (2015) as ‘informed mindfulness’. Informed mindfulness… connects mindful self-awareness and selfregulation with educated decision-making. The mindful person is aware, non-judgementally, of what is occurring in the present moment, and understands that his or her response is a choice. With informed mindfulness, as situations arise and decision points faced, that same person is able to place what is happening in its larger context and, having clear values and being sufficiently educated, he or she is able to make an informed choice within that moment. Perlman, 2015, p 1

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon

Key milestones in the mindfulness at work phenomenon What I want to do now is to look at the key milestones that characterize the transition of mindfulness into the workplace, to start building up the ‘bricolage of evidence’. I do this in two ways. Firstly, Table 2.1 is an update on the version that appears in Chapman (2011: 21) and looks at some landmarks indicative of the ‘buzz’ and explosion of interest in workplace mindfulness. The second, often a clear indicator of a phenomenon, is the number of academic publications that have appeared with the word ‘mindfulness’ in the title. Often there is a ‘spike’ perhaps indicative of the emergence of a seminal piece of writing as, for example, in the case of an increase in scholarly interest in EQ as a result of the 1995 Goleman text (Chapman-Clarke, 2004; Chapman, 2009). If we look at Figure 2.1, Jon Kabat-Zinn notes a dramatic increase in the number of scientific publications with the word mindfulness in the title. For him, just the sheer size of the growth in the literature represents a watershed in scholarly clinical/medical interest in mindfulness (Chapman, 2011: 22).

Organizational psychological research in mindfulness As I noted earlier whilst there has been an explosion of scholarly interest in mindfulness in the medical and clinical fields, what is particularly noteworthy, considering the increases in publications in Figure 2.1, is that despite the ‘buzz’ around mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn in McCown et al, 2010) the phenomenon has received comparably little interest from within the occupational sciences (Elliot, 2011) including the industrial-organizational (I/O) community, or what in the UK we call work or occupational psychology (Hyland, Lee and Mills, 2015). These are communities that should be key HR sources, as they are the scientific roots of people and organizational practice. Indeed, whilst the key database PsychINFO includes over 2,000 articles, books and dissertations addressing mindfulness (Glomb et al, 2012 in Hyland et al, 2015), Hyland et al (2015) only found two relevant articles in the Journal of Applied Psychology and these were published by the same author (Hülsheger et al, 2013; Hülsheger et al, 2014). Looking at the European equivalent of this US journal a similar search of The European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology yielded 11 articles published between 1991 and 2013, none of which investigated workplace applications of mindfulness. In some instances the search simply picked up the word ‘mindful’ having been used in a general sense. A search on the British Psychological Society’s Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology produced a further four, including another paper led by Hülsheger (Hülsheger et al, 2015). Again, there were no empirical papers employing case study methodology that looked at issues of design, implementation, facilitation and evaluation of MBIs in the workplace.

Based on evidence from Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) MBCT becomes recognized by NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). That is a treatment of choice for people who have experienced three or more episodes of depression

2007

2009

2008

Clinicians/psychologists, Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale visit and experience MBSR and integrate with CBT to create MBCT. Their work becomes popularly known amongst practitioners as ‘The Green Book’ (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A new approach to preventing relapse)

2002

●●

●●

(Continued)

Corwin Press (Sage) publish Michael H Dickmann and Nancy Stanford-Blair’s Mindful Leadership: A brain-based framework

Leading coach, Gladeana McMahon, and academic and mindfulness teacher and researcher, Dr Patrizia Collard, publish first article on mindfulness and coaching in Coaching at Work

INSEAD report published which shows that, when compared to a typical executive development programme, an intervention that includes one-to-one coaching and mindfulness delivers a greater likelihood of leaders acting with greater compassion and corporate social responsibility (in the context of this book, ethically)

●●

Google designs and implements Mindful EQ Programme ‘Search Inside Yourself’ involving Daniel Goleman and Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn translates the benefits of Buddhist meditative practices and integrates Eastern philosophy with Western science to create ground-breaking programme, with dramatic results in helping people with chronic pain, University of Massachusetts. Publishes Full Catastrophe Living

1990

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Buddhist tradition: ‘the mind can observe itself and understand its own nature’

2,500 years ago +

Table 2.1 From Buddhism to business: key milestones in the transition of mindfulness – from marginal to mainstream to workplace phenomenon

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2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

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Leading business school, Cranfield School of Management, co-hosts with mindfulnet.org the second Mindfulness at Work conference

Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) begins research/consultation on applications of mindfulness in education, health, the workplace and criminal justice

American Association of Mindfulness Research founded. Originally free access to resources, now membership-based, although open access to Mindfulness Research Monthly

Kogan Page publishes Liz Hall’s seminal coaching text: Mindful Coaching: How mindfulness can transform your coaching practice

Jon Kabat-Zinn visits Downing Street and engages with UK Parliament

Juliet Adams, founder of mindfulnet.org, conceives first Mindfulness at Work conference, held at Robinson College, University of Cambridge. Speakers include Ruby Wax, Professor Mark Williams and Michael Chaskalson

Mark Williams and Danny Penman publish international bestseller Mindfulness: Finding peace in a frantic world which becomes accepted widely as a ‘low-dose’ adaptation of MBCT

Dolman and Bond of Ashridge Business School publish article entitled ‘Mindful leadership’

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Michael Chaskalson publishes seminal text on applications of mindfulness to the workplace

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Seminal report by Ed Halliwell on mindfulness for the Mental Health Foundation as part of its ‘Be Mindful’ campaign

Ta b l e 2 . 1 From Buddhism to business: key milestones in the transition of mindfulness – from marginal to mainstream to workplace phenomenon (Continued)

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2015

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First article on mindfulness at work published in Journal of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Hyland, Lee and Mills, 2015)

First systematic review published to explore the role of mindfulness in leading organizational transformation (Aviles and Dent, 2015)

Interim and final reports of MAPPG published

Third (now international) Mindfulness at Work conference held in London, co-hosted mindfulnet.org and Cranfield

The Mindfulness at Work Pocketbook published

First academic text, Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, research and applications, published by Cambridge University Press

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon

F i g u r e   2.1 Incidence of the term ‘mindfulness’ in scientific publications Mindfulness Journal Publications by Year, 1980–2014 800 700

Number of Publications

600 535 496 505

500

443

400

351

300 200

156 151

100 0

3

0

6

1

5

4 1

2

3

3

8

2

6

3

31 19 18 17 21 22 3 6

46

68 73 70 72

102

1980 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 1990 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 2010 11 12 13 14

32

Year Source: Reprinted with permission from the American Mindfulness Research Association (AMRA), https://goamra.org

However, widening the search to cover all British Psychological Society (BPS) sources, covering applied psychology, using the key word mindfulness yielded 1,036 articles. A cursory review of these papers covered MBIs and applications of mindfulness to physical and psychological health. For example, MBIs in relation to psychological disorders (social anxiety; bipolar disorder; obsessive–compulsive disorder; generalized anxiety; depression; PTSD); the role of mindfulness in self-care of patients recovering from cancer; in protecting against sexual insecurities; in impulsivity in adolescents; cell-phone near-miss accidents in young people; weight loss, even resisting the temptation of chocolate; client–therapist attunement and pain management (for a review see Didonna, 2008; Baer et al, 2006). Narrowing the search to include mindfulness and coaching yielded 8 articles; mindfulness and ‘workplace’ revealed 11 (extracting 2 that related to coaching (Virgili, 2013a; xx); and removing Hülsheger et al (2015), again no studies explored workplace MBIs of the type discussed in this book. When I carried out a search on mindfulness and human resources, zero articles were returned. The dearth of publications and work in applied work/organizational psychology is worthy of note given the increasing emphasis on the behavioural and social sciences as a cornerstone in providing the evidence base for developing the 21st-century HR professional. However, the apparent lack of published interest by, predominantly UK, organizational/HR scholars in

Mindfulness research

workplace MBIs does not necessarily mean that none exists (or that now is the time to close the book!). What this means is that the case examples and stories shared in Part Two are pioneering and timely. It also means we need to be creative and open-minded about where we look for evidence, to seek roots outside of our usual territory. At the same time, being mindful of who it is that is doing the research, in what context and for what purpose, translating the claims they make in a way that makes sense in our setting.

An EQ-mindful, adaptive practitioner is interdisciplinary and pluralist By going outside of our usual sources, with a ‘beginner’s mind’, we can break down the silos/barriers that I talked about at the start of the book. To reframe HR processes means looking to different types of knowledge and research methods, more akin to the pragmatic approach of ‘integrative informed mindfulness’ asserted in this book. My mosaic is integrative. It is informed from an eclectic mix of study, which, after qualifying and gaining experience as an HR professional, I extended to organizational, positive and clinical psychology: gestalt, existential and cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy, adult education, mental health and a rich mix of mindfulness experiences, plus working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This inter-disciplinary, inter-professional and pluralist mindset is characteristic of the 21st-century practitioner without which, Mark in Chapter 10 argues, what can be learned about mindfulness in the workplace is limited. We can develop insights from other fields, yet still retain our core identities as mindfulness at work practitioners. Indeed, operating as knowledge entrepreneurs is what will not only keep us employable in a VUCA world, but working across disciplines helps innovation and creativity (Dowds, 1998).

The relationship of clinical-/medical-based mindfulness to organizational research As illustrated in my cursory review of the 1,036 articles using the search term ‘mindfulness’ in the psychological sources, an ongoing theme in this chapter, and touched on by the contributing authors in the book, is that a great deal of evidence in terms of mindfulness has largely been based on particular types of research and so claims to knowledge. To date, evidence for the benefits of mindfulness has been drawn from clinical and medical settings and usually based on data (statistics) collected through randomized control trials (RCTs). RCTs are particular types of research that are regarded as the ‘gold standard’ in medical settings, yet in the messiness of what Robson (1995/2011) calls the real world, namely organizational life, RCTs have limitations for informing practice. However, this has not prevented researchers adapting RCTs to

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organizational settings such as a recent study by Hülsheger et al (2015). Here researchers explored what they describe as an ‘economic mindfulness intervention’ involving 140 employees and the role of mindfulness in helping them to recover from work (see box below).

Emotion regulation (Hülsheger et al, 2015) Three central recovery processes (psychological detachment, sleep quality and sleep duration) were assessed with event-sampling methodology involving daily measurements over 10 workdays. Growth curve analyses revealed intervention effects on sleep quality and sleep duration. No effects were found for psychological detachment after work and for the proposed treatment-by-baseline interactions. Our findings are discussed in the context of occupational health promotion in general and mindfulness-based interventions in specific. Practitioner points: although daily recovery from the demands of work has been shown to be vital for employee wellbeing and performance, research on how workplace interventions can help improve recovery is still scarce. This study investigated the effectiveness of a brief, economic mindfulness intervention on processes that are vital for recovery – psychological detachment, sleep quality and sleep duration. Findings revealed positive ­effects of the intervention on sleep quality and duration, but not on psychological detachment.

The reason that RCTs are not wholly appropriate for researching the impact of workplace MBIs on employee wellbeing and performance is that in RCTs patients are randomly allocated to different ‘conditions’; this includes one group not getting the medication and/or intervention or being given a placebo. This core feature of RCTs is problematic in organizations, as it raises the question as to whether it is fair or equitable to include some employees and exclude others, or offer something that ‘might infer an intervention’ just to see if the MBI works! (the equivalent of the placebo). RCTs have to be adapted to study workplace MBIs (for an innovative approach to this see Grégoire and Lachance, 2014). What typically happens is that employees might be held on a ‘wait-list’ and will get a chance to participate in the MBI at a later date. However, with the uncertainty of budgets and changing

Mindfulness research

organizational priorities, it is not always certain that such an opportunity in the future will be available (see Virgili, 2013b). There is nothing wrong with RCTs; indeed we would want to know that a particular drug or treatment for some medical condition had been rigorously tested under laboratory conditions and then replicated in clinical trials. However, research in organizational applications of mindfulness, using different methodologies, need be no less rigorous but adapted with integrity. As the case studies in Part Two illustrate they use a range of data collection methods, measures and sources that are suited to the purpose of and the drivers behind implementing mindfulness, in the workplace.

Evidence-based and evidence-informed practice: closing the gap In addition to the search for the ‘holy grail’ of ‘best’ practice the HR arena has been littered with attempts to find direct causal links between a particular practice, say performance management or learning intervention and its impact on the organization (usually related to the ‘bottom line’). We have had the ‘balanced scorecard’ adapted to create the HR Scorecard and yet many HR specialists in the course of their day-to-day work do not operate as ‘evidence-based practitioners’ (if indeed such research is readily accessible in both form and content). In reality what is needed are heuristics, measurements, both quantitative and qualitative, that are contextual. Again, you will find illustrations of what are called ‘mixed methods’ approaches in Part Two and a way of doing workplace mindfulness research differently as in Grégoire and Lachance (2014). The case studies in Part Two are indicative of practitioner-based research where the statistical data that is generated comes by way of measures that are relevant to the needs of the organization. These may include measures of mindfulness (see Appendix 3.2 to Chapter 3), alongside other survey data and tailored questionnaires sitting alongside benchmarks that relate to the purposes for introducing MBIs (eg to reduce stress, improve absenteeism or, in the case of Grégoire and Lachance (2014), levels of client satisfaction). This quantitative (statistical) data is valued alongside qualitative data comprising narrative feedback on peoples’ experiences (examples of which are littered throughout Parts Two and Three). As Gorard and Taylor (2004) suggest, numbers serve to convince policymakers, whilst narratives can easily be remembered and used by way of illustration and example (Chapman, 2007). What I have suggested to practitioners previously and revisit here is the idea of ‘evidence-informed’ practice (EIP) (Chapman, 2004). I use the term EIP, rather than evidence-based practice (EBP) because it moves us away from positivist to pluralist approaches to knowledge and acknowledges multiple truths or ways of interpreting mindfulness. It fits with the reality of organizational life, which in research terms is messy (Robson, 1995/2011). It also fits with values underpinning autoethnography in that it is democratic

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and inclusive. EIP offers the potential for opening doors to alternative ways of knowing in researching mindfulness at work and even the use of creative approaches (Broussine, 2008; Chapman-Clarke, 2015a).

HR specialists as evidence-informed practitioners The call within the HR profession to turn towards the behavioural science base is that this offers the potential to heal a split, a dualism, that has long existed between HR practitioners and occupational psychologists which became established at the turn of the 20th century. The first group, working with and in organizations, was concerned with employee welfare whilst the other group investigated implications of work/organizational practices on the workforce, and was driven by the scientific method. This dualism arose when organizations became hierarchical, when silos became established, and professional bodies set standards and qualifications that separated, rather than united, occupational groups, although both were concerned with championing better work and working lives. The result was the separation of the subjective, relational and objective evidence base from specific organizational contexts to generalized knowledge. Interestingly, however, as Shimmin and Wallis (1994) reflect in their study into 50 years of occupational psychology in Britain, the numbers of occupational psychologists between the wars was small, and even today the CIPD has a membership of 140,000 whilst the BPS has 49,000, with the largest division being clinical with 10,700 members whilst occupational psychology has less than 4,000. One wonders then how it is that psychologists have become the ‘unacknowledged legislators of mankind’ (Rose in Chapman-Clarke, 2004).

What do we mean by mindfulness? A particular form of consciousness Each chapter author or authors share with you the way in which they define mindfulness, operationalizing the concept for their purposes and shaped by their own experiences and journeys into mindfulness. What you will find is that, as you read around the topic of mindfulness yourself, definitions of mindfulness get pulled in different directions and applied in different ways, as Reb and Atkins (2015: 12) suggest. Nonetheless, alongside this diversity, the most often cited definition in the literature is that offered by Jon Kabat-Zinn (1994: 1), who defines mindfulness as ‘the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally’. Holmes (2015: 6) observes that it is: ‘… this ability to be present without judgement that is connected to our ability to feel empathy and compassion for others’. And, she continues: … Kabat-Zinn (1990) reflects, ‘it is important to keep in mind what we mean by heartfulness… in Asian languages, the word for mind and for heart is usually

Mindfulness research the same’ (p xxxv). The ‘heart of wisdom’… is indeed a rich site of knowing and being. When we are mindfully aware, without judgement, we are better able to observe and understand the content and habits of our mind, including the shadow aspects. Holmes, 2015, p 6

Interest in consciousness is not new. Indeed, the ‘father’ of modern psychology, William James (1842–1910) had a particular interest in the study of consciousness and was damning in his assessment when he suggested that the average person was only ever half awake (and no, he wasn’t referring to the other half of our time being asleep!). What he was arguing is captured in a core concept in mindfulness discourse and practice, which is about being on auto-pilot. For the other half of our time that we are not awake (but not sleeping) we are mindless or functioning out of habit. Moment to moment our minds wander and create stories. In mindfulness training the emphasis is on developing the skill of harnessing what psychologists have called the wandering mind (Zedelius and Schooler, 2015). That is, mindfulness is about waking up to the present moment; to experience all that is present for us, in that moment to really pay attention and focus. Brown and Ryan (2003) define mindfulness as a quality of consciousness that is characterized by clarity and vividness of current experience. Try this for yourself. Here is an exercise that will reveal just how much we have, as one of my clients described her experience of mindfulness, the ‘attention span of a gnat’: Stop what you are doing Take a breath Observe your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations – without judgement Proceed What do you notice? The quality of our consciousness is not only what shifts moment to moment, as does our emotional experience. When we stay in the present moment, without forward thinking, planning what we might do, or get caught up in the ‘story’, we lose sight of the present. Or if we ruminate, worry about what we ‘should,’ ‘could’ or might have done, we move away from the present. We make errors and forget what we have just done (do you recall the key themes in the previous section? Or the sentence you have just read!). That is not to say that the wandering mind isn’t useful; it is. It is where creativity happens. What is less useful is when we just don’t pay attention. Just think of this ‘writ large’ in organizational routines that represent organizational cultures.

The cost of being on automatic pilot (mindlessness) in organizations People who take the mindfulness-based emotional intelligence (EQ) course say it makes a difference in how they operate, how they communicate. They learn they

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon don’t have to leave their emotions at the door when they come to work and that is big. If Wall Street traders, for example, had more EQ, they might have realized that the crazy derivatives they created were wrong. Chade-Meng Tan, champion of Google’s MBI

Organizational routines can become fixed and typify particular organizational cultures or ‘ways of doing things around here’. Examples of mindless organizational behaviours are numerous. Take for example Volkswagen and the scandal around falsifying emissions; or the travel company Thomas Cook’s initial defensive response to the deaths of two children from carbon monoxide poisoning in one of their holiday resorts, and the 10 years it took for them to accept the need to change; major sporting bodies such as FIFA; or the sadly regular reports of unnecessary deaths in the NHS. Human error, or mindless behaviour, through organizational routines, costs at best sub-optimum performance and at worst lives. Coming back to Google again, as Boyce (2009) writes: Google’s main value is not the hard-edged, profit-seeking mind’ says Norman Fischer. ‘They really believe that if you foster the creative, altruistic mind, you will make money and you’ll also be able to do good things.

What a mindful organizational culture looks like and how to create one is explored in the Capital One case study by Emma and Roz (Chapter 5), and one source of evidence for the impact of their MBIs on the business is low absence levels and the other is winning awards as a ‘great place to work’. Data not yielded from RCTs! Nonetheless, in the context of their organization, the results are significant – and changing the organizational culture, to create a mindful climate, means that employees regard it as a ‘great place to work’ and have done so for the last three years! The implications for employer brand and employee reputation are immense. And being a mindful organization will attract talent, as Liz and Susan note in Chapter 4.

Time-in  OK, so here is a second ‘time-in’ and the ideas to reflect upon are: ●●

●●

What counts as evidence that mindfulness works is translated from clinical and medical research that is predominantly concerned with particular types of evidence generated through RCTs. RCTs are the ‘gold standard’ in clinical research, based on large data sets and evidence based on statistics and ‘big data’. Such studies are conducted in controlled settings to minimize extraneous variables. Organizational research in the ‘real world’ is much messier; it is difficult

Mindfulness research

to identify, let alone ‘control’ all the variables. We have to do ‘good enough’ research, informed through pragmatism, rather than idealism. ●●

●●

●●

There is an abundance of mindfulness research to indicate benefits in psychological and physical health, yet a dearth of research in the organizational applications of mindfulness. Scholarly interest in this area is in its infancy; it has to be ‘mined’ and then translated from a range of relevant literatures. This includes both a focus on the individual and the social. In order to investigate the impact of mindfulness in organizations, EQ-mindful, adaptive HR practitioners need to look to other ways of conducting research that is context specific (as illustrated in the case examples in Part Two). Mindfulness, as well as being a broadly contemplative practice, is defined as a particular type of consciousness that has a long history in psychology and mindfulness training in the workplace. At its simplest it is about harnessing the wandering mind purposefully, without judgement, something that can yield individual and organizational benefits.

It is to an exploration of these benefits that I now turn.

The evidence that mindfulness works Mindfulness offers the potential to transform internal and external ­environments in a way that nurtures growth, emotional intelligence, creativity and innovation… in business mindfulness may confer powerful advantages. ­Research suggests that fear-based, top-down hierarchies inhibit creativity and innovation. Whereas attuned, empathic, and spacious environments catalyse human capacity. Shapiro et al, 2015, p 17

Notwithstanding the current gaps in our research ‘roots’ my earlier work in emotional intelligence suggests that an idea can be a product of ‘two worlds’, largely separated by the demands of those worlds and what counts as ‘truth’ in them. The world of the theoretician and scientist that seeks construct validity, replicability and generalizability, and the world of the practitioner seeking solutions to pressing problems. At the heart of this dualism are the differences in beliefs that inform priorities, practice and what counts as knowledge, between two philosophies, pragmatism and idealism.

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The former may drive the implementation of MBIs simply as a leap of faith; however, it does not make it a case of ‘McMindfulness’. It is simply a way of doing things differently. I attended the introduction to mindfulness workshop and learned about what it is, what it isn’t (that is, it’s not a religion or emptying the mind; stopping emotions or feeling ‘spaced out’) and why everyone should do it… that is, improves coping strategies, your physical self, reduces stress, boosts your immune system, makes you more creative and innovative, helps you maintain better relationships, helps your attention and memory – to name just a few! I now practise mindfulness... for 30 minutes a day, 6 days out of 7. I quickly noticed a number of the benefits, I have more energy, feel happier, feel less stressed about my workload and am able to prioritize and complete work better. Emma Wardropper, Capital One’s mindfulness champion, in Chapman-Clarke, 2015b, p 19

This quote from Emma, mindfulness champion for Capital One speaks to the propositions put forward by Shapiro and her colleagues. It is an example of qualitative data and, in the context of autoethnographic work, this is evidence as it meets the canons by which such evidence is judged. It is important to recognize this in the context of workplace mindfulness. This is not to say that quantitative data isn’t important, it is. Yet RCTs or adaptations of the kind discussed in Hülsheger et al (2015) take time and are costly, and yet both types of research, driven by pragmatism and idealism can be equally rigorous, in different ways. Both have value. The starting point in this book is that in implementing MBIs, the evidence that exists is not yet derived from empirical work by practitioners within organizations. Indeed, as indicated in the earlier quote by Reb and Atkins (2015: 1): ‘Organizational scholars… are wondering whether mindfulness is a valid research area for organizational sciences, or is some wishy-washy, esoteric, or religious topic not qualifying for serious scholarship.’ Our intention is to begin to address this gap by sharing practitioner-based research, case examples that work with the messiness that is organizational life. The benefits of MBIs are subjectively experienced and phenomenological research methods are capable of capturing this subjective experience and are equally as important as using measures that generate numbers. The organizational benefits that Emma talks about are expressed in organizational discourse – terminology – that speaks to the contexts in which practitioners work and can relate to and understand. In terms of phenomenological (subjective) data, mindfulness has enabled her to: ●● ●● ●● ●●

feel less stressed about her workload; be more focused; be more creative and innovative; and improve working relationships.

Mindfulness research

All of these factors are not just about individual wellbeing; they are that and more. They take place within the context of an organizational setting and as I said earlier organizations are social entities, made up of people! And in some cases implementing interventions including mindfulness might mean simply taking a leap of faith, because intuitively it is ‘the right thing to do’. Whilst in my own field (EQ) there is a continuous desire to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) for organizationally funded learning programmes (and despite the proliferation of ever more s­ ophisticated matrices to measure ROI), nonetheless, measuring the inputs from a specific programme and subsequent performance outcomes remains problematic. Very often organizations rely on a ‘leap of faith’: that is, that some useful learning will take place (see Chapman-Clarke, 2004 cited in Chapman, 2007: 5). In terms of the participants in this study, implementing emotional intelligence development appears more a case of an intuitive ‘leap of faith,’ rather than based on any hard evidence to support a causal link between the implementation of an emotional intelligence intervention and subsequent performance improvements. As one programme implementer observed: ‘One of the benefits we wanted to get out of this was to look at it in terms of recruitment… to get the best people… I don’t feel at the moment that we have sufficient evidence. I wanted to see it as a performance technology, all the claims in the books position it as a performance technology, the more I do, the less I am convinced… I still believe there is something in it…’ HR specialist in financial services in Chapman-Clarke, 2004, pp 180–81 Bringing mindfulness into the workplace back in 2004 was a bit of a leap of faith. We wanted to introduce an intervention that would provide an additional dimension to the support we were already offering employees. Counselling is a great solution for a whole range of people and problems, but we felt that we needed to provide something more active and direct. Alison Dunn, Transport for London, in Chapman-Clarke, 2015b

In the next chapter I highlight particular examples from the emerging literature on workplace MBIs that help to illuminate why it is that mindfulness has captured the attention of organizational practitioners. These, along with the evidence cited in individual case studies in Part Two, indicate how, far from being a case of ‘McMindfulness’, workplace MBIs are making a

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difference to championing better work and working lives. Adaptations without dilution are achieved through skilful translations of mindfulness by EQ-mindful practitioners in a way that ‘speaks’ using the discourse of organizational life. What is offered is by no means exhaustive. It is, as with the MAPPG report, a start and is part of a growing field. Collectively in this book we are confident that you will be given resources and signposted to further reading and materials, with which you will be able to make decisions informed by evidence. Our intention is not to ‘tell you’ the right way of implementing MBIs, but simply to share our stories. Experiences which we hope will speak to you and help you navigate the mindfulness at work phenomenon and to appreciate why workplace MBIs, adapted ethically and with integrity, can improve wellbeing and raise performance. In conclusion, here is a final summary of themes from the literature that speak directly to issues of concern to mindfulness at work practitioners. Implementing workplace MBIs can: ●●

●● ●● ●●

●●

●●

●●

●●

●●

Help us be more effective at decision-making (Kirk, Downar and Montague, 2011). Deal more effectively with complexity (Hunter and McCormick, 2008). Improve working memory in stressful environments (Jha et al, 2007). Increase awareness and reduce absent-mindedness, so improve job performance and wellbeing (Reb, Narayan and Chaturvedi, 2013). Create more mindful, emotionally intelligent leaders who act with greater corporate social responsibility and compassion to create kinder work environments (Zollo et al, 2008). Reduce conflict and improve working relationships (Dolman and Bond, 2011; Glomb et al, 2011). Facilitate individual and organizational cognition to more efficiently meet the challenges of change (Aviles and Dent, 2015). Optimize those workplace processes most vulnerable to stress, problemsolving, decision-making and productivity (Shapiro et al, 2015). Bring back joy at work! (Hall, 2013).

References Aviles, P R and Dent, E B (2015) The role of mindfulness in leading organizational transformation: a systematic review, The Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship, 20, Issue 3, pp 31–55 Baer, R A, Smith, G T, Hopkins, J, Krietemeyer, J and Toney, L (2006) Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness, Assessment, 13, pp 27–45 Ben-Shahar, T (2008) Happier, McGraw-Hill Professional Bourdieu, P (1998) Acts of Resistance: Against the new myths of our time, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK

Mindfulness research Boyce, B (2011) The Mindfulness Revolution, Shambhala Publications Inc, Boston, MA Broussine, E (ed) (2008) Creative Methods in Organizational Research, Sage, London Brown, K W and Ryan, R M (2003) The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, Issue 4, pp 822–48 Bunting, M (2013) Zen and the art of keeping the NHS bill under control, The Guardian, 7 April 2013 [accessed 1 December 2015] http://www.guardian.co. uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/07/zen-buddhism-nhs Chapman, M (2004) What is evidence-based coaching and why do we need one in coaching? Selection and Development Review, 20, Issue 4, August, British Psychological Society, Leicester Chapman, M (2007) How Do You Develop Emotional Intelligence in an Executive Population? Unpublished dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of Masters in Education, The Open University Chapman, M (2009) Sense and sensibility: special report on 10 years of emotional intelligence (‘EQ’), Coaching at Work, 4, Issue 4 Chapman, M (2011) Mindfulness in the workplace: what is the fuss all about? Counselling at Work, Issue 74, pp 20–24 Chapman, M (2013) Mindfulness: where are we now? Counselling at Work, Issue 78, pp 4–9 Chapman-Clarke, M (2004) Critical Competency or Passing Fad: Exploring emotional intelligence discourses in learning and development, unpublished doctoral thesis, Loughborough University Business School Chapman-Clarke, M (2015a) Coaching for compassionate resilience through creative methods: the case for a turn towards autoethnography, in Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation, ed L Hall, Kogan Page, London Chapman-Clarke, M (2015b) The Mindfulness at Work Pocketbook, Management Pocketbooks, Arlesford CIPD (2015) Putting the human into HR [blog] available from http://www.cipd. co.uk/blogs/cipdbloggers/b/peter_cheese/archive/2015/08/26/headline-putting-the-­ human-into-hr.aspx Cullen, M (2011) Mindfulness-based interventions: an emerging phenomena, Mindfulness, 2, pp 186–93, DOI 10.1007/s12671-011-0058-1 Didonna, F (ed) (2008) Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness, Springer, New York Dolman, E and Bond D (2011) Mindful leadership: exploring the value of meditation practice, The Ashridge Journal, Spring Dowds, N (1998) Helping students make connections across disciplines, Creativity Research Journal, 11, Issue 1, pp 55–60 Eliot, M L (2011) Being mindful about mindfulness: an invitation to expand occupational engagement into the growing mindfulness discourse, Journal of Occupational Science, 18, Issue 4, pp 366–76 Gergen, K J (1991) The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life, Basic Books (HarperCollins Inc), New York Glomb, T M, Duffy, M K, Bono, J E and Yang, T (2011) Mindfulness at work, in Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, eds H L Joshi and J J Martocchio, 30, pp 115–57 Gorard, S and Taylor, C (2004) Combining Methods in Educational and Social Research, Open University Press, London Grégoire, S and Lachance, L (2014) Evaluation of a brief mindfulness-based intervention to reduce psychological distress in the workplace, Mindfulness, DOI 10.1007/s12671-014-0328-9

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon Hall, L (2013) Bring back joy, Coaching at Work, 8, Issue 2, pp 34–38 Hall, L (2015) Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation, Kogan Page, London Holmes, K (2015) Reflections on teaching and learning in undergraduate education, Creative Approaches to Research, 8, Issue 2, pp 86–99 [accessed online 30 November 2015] http://iaqr.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/CAR8_2e1.pdf Howard-Jones, P (2014) Fresh thinking in learning and development research, Part 1 of 3, Neuroscience in Learning, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), London download from http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/fresh-thinking-inlearning-and-development_2014-part-1-neuroscience-learning.pdf Hülsheger, U R, Alberts, H J E M, Feinholdt, A and Lang, J W B (2013) Benefits of mindfulness at work: on the role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction, Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, pp 310–25 Hülsheger, U R, Lang, J W B, Depenbrock, F, Fehrmann, C, Zijlstra, F and Alberts, H J E M (2014) The power of presence: the role of mindfulness at work for daily levels and change trajectories of psychological detachment and sleep quality, Journal of Applied Psychology, 99, pp 1113–28 Hülsheger, U R, Lang, J W B, Schewe, A F and Zijlstra, F (2015) When regulating emotions at work pays off: a diary and an intervention study on emotion regulation and customer tips in service jobs, Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, pp 263–77 Hunter, J and McCormick, D W (2008) Mindfulness in the workplace: an exploratory study, paper presented at Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, available from http://www.mindfulnet.org/ Mindfulness%20in%20the%20Workplace.pdf Hyland, P K, Lee, A R and Mills, M J (2015) Mindfulness at work: a new approach to improving individual and organizational performance, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, June, DOI 10.1071/iop.2015.41 Hyland, R (2015) McMindfulness in the workplace: vocational learning and the commodification of the present moment, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 16, Issue 2, pp 219–34 Jha, A P, Krompinger, J and Baime, M J (2007) Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention, Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7, Issue 2, pp 109–19 Kabat-Zinn, J (1990/2004) Full Catastrophe Living: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation, Piatkus, London Kabat-Zinn, J (1994) Wherever You Are: There you go, mindfulness meditation for everyday life, Piatkus, London Kets de Vries, M F R (2015) Doing nothing and nothing to do: the hidden value of empty time and boredom, Organizational Dynamics, 44, pp 166–75 Kirk, U, Downar, J and Montague, P R (2011) Interoception drives increased rational decision-making in mediators playing the ultimatum game, Frontiers of Neuroscience, 5, Article 49, available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC3082218/pdf/fnins-05-00049.pdf Laloux, F (2014) Reinventing Organizations: A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage of human consciousness, Nelson Parker, Brussels, Belgium McCown, D, Reibel, D and Micozzi, M S (2010) Teaching Mindfulness: A practical guide for clinicians and educators, Springer, New York MAPPG (2015) The Mindful Nation, Final Report, available from http://www. themindfulnessinitiative.org.uk/images/reports/Mindfulness-APPG-Report_ Mindful-Nation-UK_Oct2015.pdf [accessed 5 November 2015]

Mindfulness research Perlman, A (2015) Informed mindfulness as the foundation for leadership, Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 11, Issue 4, July–August Pickert, K (2014) The art of being mindful, TIME magazine, 183, Issue 4, pp 80–88, available from http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20140203,00.html Reb, J and Atkins, P W B (2015) (eds) Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, research and applications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Reb, J, Narayanan J and Chaturvedi, S (2013) Mindfulness at work: antecedents and consequences of employee awareness and absent-mindedness, Mindfulness, DOI 10.007/s12671-013-0236-4 Robson, C (1995) Real World Research, 1st edn, Blackwell, Oxford, (2011) 3rd edn, John Wiley and Sons Shapiro, L S, Wang, M C and Peltason, E H (2015) What is mindfulness and why should organizations care about it? in Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, research and applications, eds J Reb and P W B Atkins, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Shimmin, S and Wallis, D (1994) Fifty Years of Occupational Psychology in Britain, British Psychology Society, Leicester Tan, Chade-Meng (2012) Search inside Yourself: Increase creativity, productivity and happiness, Collins, London Virgili, M (2013a) Mindfulness-based coaching: conceptualisation, supporting evidence and emerging applications, International Coaching Psychology Review, 8, Issue 2, September Virgili, M (2013b) Mindfulness-based interventions reduce psychological distress in working adults: meta-analysis of intervention studies, Mindfulness, DOI 10.1007/s12671-013-0264-0 Webster-Wright, A (2013) The eye of the storm: a mindful inquiry into reflective practices in higher education, Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 14, Issue 4, pp 556–67 Zedelius, C M and Schooler, J W (2015) Mind wandering ‘ahas’ versus mindful reasoning: alternative routes to creative solutions, Frontiers of Psychology, available from http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00834 Zheltoukhova, K and Baczor, L (2015) From Best to Good Practice in HR: Developing principles for the profession, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), London, available from http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/best-goodpractice-hr-developing-principles-profession.pdf Zollo et al (2008) Understanding and Responding to Societal Demands on Corporate Responsibility (RESPONSE): Final Report, INSEAD, Copenhagen Business School, Bocconi, Impact and the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, available from http://www.corporatejustice. org/IMG/pdf/Response_FinalReport.pdf

Resources For information and resources on the EQ Mindfulness Programme (Search Inside Yourself), go to: https://siyli.org/.

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03

M a rg a r e t C h a pm a n - C l a r k e

Introduction In the previous chapter I mapped out themes in mindfulness research and noted how organizational scholars are only just beginning to look at mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). As a number of contributors in this book highlight, there is a dearth of empirical studies, that is, data collected from the field. This is noted by Reb and Atkins (2015) and an early observation made by Hunter and McCormick (2008: 6) reads: ‘Our survey of the literature shows that there are no published research studies on mindfulness in the workplace’. What has been written about is largely a synthesis of evidence drawn from interventions within and across medical and clinical settings rather than from work and organizational psychology or occupational science (Elliot, 2011). As Aviles and Dent (2015: 31) note in their systematic review of the potential of mindfulness in organizational transformation in the Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship: The preponderance of literature on mindfulness and change is broad and far reaching, with most examining the mindfulness construct from a psychological perspective and exploring the impact and influence on individual well-being. What is not so readily discussed is the correlation of mindfulness to leading organizational change and transformation.

In this chapter I want to ‘mine’ a little deeper into the psychological and wellbeing literatures and extract from these what is helpful in understanding the relevance of mindfulness in the workplace. In doing this, I intend to set the scene for Part Two and signpost why it is that pioneering practitioners, whose work is explored in this book, did what they did and how they did it. What useful evidence did they find ‘out there’ and how did it inform their decision-making? In some of the chapters this is implicit, indicated by the particular approach taken, and in others it is explicit in that

Mindfulness research in practice

the authors explain directly the adaptations they made at each stage, from design, implementation facilitation through to evaluation. Taken together they provide a smorgasbord of MBIs in the workplace. The intention of the ‘coming to mindfulness’ sections at the start of each chapter is autoethnographic (AE). This provides an opportunity for you to get behind the thinking, the philosophy or ‘truths’ that inform their practice. I invited authors to make explicit and transparent the influences that inspired their work. This offers you a window through which to look and reflect upon how these experiences have shaped their strategy. In part this is a response to the AE values that guide the book whilst another purpose is to encourage you to explore the lineage, the roots, that Peter Cheese suggests we get back to, in order to ‘do HR differently’ and, as urged by Laloux (2014), to rethink organizations. Holding these ideas in mind then, the intentions in this chapter are to: ●●

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draw out key themes from the research that have relevance and can inform workplace MBIs, yet may not be so figural in the emerging discourse (critiqued directly by Mark in Chapter 10); touch on the neuroscience behind mindfulness, with a brief discussion on relevant concepts and relationships with other strands of work that are relevant, and emerging; consider what the ‘essence’ or key elements of the standard Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) are in order to understand what is meant by ‘adaptation without dilution’ and how each case study is similar and different, and why; move our dialogue on from seeing mindfulness as purely an interesting phenomenon to evidence-informed practice; set out a framework with which to ‘read’ reflexively the case studies and respond to the question: What works for whom, in what context and how might this translate to my context?

The neuroscientific case for mindfulness and compassion In my earlier work which explored emotional intelligence (EQ) as a management fad (Chapman-Clarke, 2004), I discovered a body of literature that considered ways in which ideas became fashionable in organizations. Interestingly what I found was a one-sided argument with academics criticizing practitioners for ‘me-too-ism’, the argument being that just because other organizations were implementing EQ interventions, and so as not to be left out, practitioners had to keep up and often reacted by seeing it as a quick fix. Liz and Susan, in the next chapter, note that this can be far from the case. In introducing mindfulness into the fast-paced world of advertising they talk of their approach as one of evolution, not revolution, which was

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implemented gently and offered considerable business benefits, such as attracting and retaining talent. The literature on the management fashion-setting process argues that the legitimacy of an idea is achieved by writers in the popular press and business media, using science to underpin their claims. Here is an example drawn from Cooper (1997): According to a number of leading neuro-scientists, emotions are not at odds with good judgement and reasoning. Instead they inspire and enliven good judgement and reasoning and are linked to success and profitability. Chapman-Clarke, 2004, p 38

I wonder, as you read this, whether you find some resonance in the surge in the interest in mindfulness in the workplace? In the final chapter Robert and Sally introduce the concept of ‘insightbased HR’ to make the case for integrating emerging findings from the world of neuroscience and mindfulness. Being a ‘brain-savvy’ HR practitioner is de rigueur in the current zeitgeist and they do a neat job in illuminating what that means and why we should take note. Similarly, in my chapter Coaching for Compassionate Resilience in Liz Hall’s (2015) text, I talk of how findings from neuroscience are underpinning the case for ‘compassionate conversations’. Drawing on the work of Andrew Neuberg MD who offers ‘six lessons for developing compassionate leadership’ (see Table 3.1), neuroscience matters because: Something quite surprising occurs: both your brain and the brain of the person you are talking to begin to align themselves with each other... A phenomenon known as ‘neural resonance’ and in this enhanced state of mutual attunement two people accomplish remarkable things together. Why? Because it eliminates the natural defensiveness that normally exists... Neuberg, 2012, in Chapman-Clarke, 2015a, p 82

Neuberg’s assertions and Brown and Barker’s (2015) exposition of the relevance of neuroscience in coaching in times of crisis offer us ways of understanding the influences of the brain, which is more than not (as William James asserted) out of our conscious awareness.

Workplace MBIs – focus on the task and nurture compassion Introducing workplace MBIs offers us the opportunity to train our mind to focus, and also to nurture compassion (Zollo et al, 2008). Compassion and mindfulness are, as Professor Paul Gilbert asserts (and Sandra and Jane explore in Chapter 6) ‘two wings of a dove’. The Mindfulness-Based Living Course (MBLC) which is the focus of their chapter on introducing mindfulness into two social work organizations is an MBI that foregrounds kindness as the precursor to self-compassion, as Sandra and Jane note. Nonetheless, as leading mindfulness proponent Christina Feldman asserted

Stay present

Cultivate inner silence

Access a pleasant memory

Observe nonverbal cues

1

2

3

4

(Continued)

In gestalt practice this is called phenomenological observation, as Neuberg refers to it: ‘keeping your eyes on the ball’. However, this does not mean that you should gaze unceasingly at the other person – that could feel invasive – but if you maintain softness in your eyes, generated by a pleasant memory, eye contact stimulates the social-network circuits in your brain. It decreases the stress chemical cortisol, and it increases oxytocin, which as Brown and Barker (2015) observe is the neurochemical that enhances empathy, social cooperation to build positive relationships.

The brain cannot distinguish between what we create through stories and the reality of what is happening. Think of the taste of a lemon. Through the concept of neural resonance we cannot fake compassion, we need to recall a time when we experienced compassion in order to, as Brown and Barker (in Hall, 2015: 106) assert: ‘… let the oxytocin, the neurochemical of attachment, make the eyes shine…’.

An early exercise I introduce in mindfulness training is called ‘calming the mind: clearing a space.’ It builds on the STOP practice I introduced in the previous chapter (p 37). It interrupts the auto-pilot (operating out of habit) and nourishes our ability to focus our attention – shutting off the chatter of our inner world!

Focus on your breathing and bring your attention into the present moment. When we focus our attention on some object (such as the breath) our inner chatter stops. This enables us to become aware of the subtle things that are immediately happening around us, on sounds we rarely notice; sensations in our body. In bringing this ‘presentness’ into a conversation, we hear more of what is not being said.

Ta b l e 3 .1 Six lessons for strengthening compassionate leadership based on neuroscience

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Listen deeply

6

In 1999 I wrote about the concept of the ‘felt sense’ in coaching practice, that is our capacity to use our ‘somatic awareness’ which can only come from being silent, turning off the chatter of our inner minds and being fully present. ‘To listen deeply and fully, you must train your mind to stay focused on the person who is speaking: their words, tone, gestures, facial cues – everything. It’s a great gift to give to someone, to be fully listened to and understood by others.’

‘Compassionate communication has a basic rule: whenever possible, limit your speaking to 30 seconds or less. And if you need to communicate something essential to the listener, break your information into even smaller segments – a sentence or two – then wait for the person to acknowledge that they’ve understood you’. In NLP the concept of ‘chunking down’ is rooted in cognitive psychology and relates to our capacity to absorb information. Miller (1956) talked of our ability to retain 7 ± 2 units of information. Our conscious minds can only retain a tiny bit of information, and for 30 seconds or less. Then it’s booted out of working memory as a new set of information is uploaded.

Source: Adapted from Neuberg, 2012, http://www.fastcompany.com/1840226/6-exercises-strengthen-compassionate-leadership [accessed 18 November 2015]

Speak briefly

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Ta b l e 3 . 1 Six lessons for strengthening compassionate leadership based on neuroscience (Continued)

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in her keynote address at the 2015 annual conference of the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, it is an advanced practice. Indeed, the Mindfulness Association make this explicit in their marketing literature. They distinguish it from the MBSR/MBCT curriculum by describing their programme as a ‘conversion course for those who have participated in other MBIs’ (http://www.mindfulnessassociation.org/ AboutMAConversion.aspx). Thus implying that participating in an MBSR or variant is just the first step, a theme that is picked up explicitly by Robert and Sally in the final chapter.

Modes of mind or the Two Minds model Another way in which neuroscience is useful for our purpose is captured in the concept of ‘modes of mind’. This is referred to in mindfulness discourse as the mode of doing and mode of being or ‘Two Minds model’ (ChapmanClarke, 2015a) as set out in Tables 3.2 and 3.3. As Crane (2011) observes, both modes of mind are essential, but have become imbalanced, a theme I return to later in this section. In organizational settings, it is the constant ‘doing’ or ‘seen to be doing’ (presenteeism) mode of mind that counts. However, in a recent TIME magazine article Parrish reports Daniel Goleman’s assertion that the mind needs down-time: Tightly focused attention gets fatigued – much like an overworked muscle – when we push to the point of cognitive exhaustion. The signs of mental fatigue, such as a drop in effectiveness and a rise in distractedness and irritability, signify that the mental effort needed to sustain focus has depleted the glucose that feeds neural energy. http://time.com/4088830/cognitive-exhaustion/

Ta b l e 3.2 The Two Minds model Analytical mind (system 2, slow thinking)

Intuitive mind (system 1, fast thinking)

Narrow band-width

Broad band-width

Effortful processing (long road)

Automatic processing (fast road)

Step-by-step analysis

Whole pattern recognition

Conscious

Unconscious

‘Talks’ to the language of words

‘Talks’ to the language of feelings

Recent

Ancient

Features on management education and training

Ignored by most education and training

Source: Adapted from Sadler-Smith/CIPD Report, Fresh thinking in learning and development, part 3: insight and intuition, 2014, in Chapman-Clarke, 2015, p 82

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Ta b l e 3.3 Characteristics of two modes of mind Doing mode

Being mode

Judging

Letting be

Goal-setting and problem-solving

Accepting ‘what is’

Conceptual

Direct experience ‘here and now’

Focus on the past and the future

The present moment

Automatic pilot (out of awareness)

Intentional (act with awareness)

Actions: avoid and escape

Action: lean into experience with curiosity

‘Thinking about’ experience

‘Being with’ our experience

Source: Adapted from Segal et al, 2013, in Chapman-Clarke, 2015, p 83

Similarly, Kets de Vries, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at INSEAD in France talks about the ‘hidden value of empty time and boredom’. He observes: Many people would be better off if they did less and reflected more… the biggest problem we have today is not doing too little, but trying to do too much… But a lot of this busyness, when we take a closer look, has little substance… the secret of truly successful, creative people may well be that they learned very early in life how not to be busy. Kets de Vries, 2015, p 169

In this article Kets de Vries draws on examples from the arts, such as the sculptor Michelangelo, who was criticized by his sponsors for doing nothing, and then in that ‘liminal space’ created the great statue of David. To underpin his arguments, Kets de Vries draws on what we know about the brain, specifically the delineation of activities attributed to the left and right hemispheres. What in mindfulness is described as ‘modes of mind’ by Segal, Williams and Teasdale (2013: 63–93) and by Kahneman (2011) as the processes of ‘fast and slow’ thinking.

Fast and slow thinking The idea of modes of mind and concepts of thinking fast and thinking slow is eloquently captured by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman in his 2011 text, Thinking Fast and Slow. System 2 thinking (what happens in the left-brain hemisphere) is deliberate, concerned with cost–benefit analyses and requires sustained effort. In contrast, System 1 (right-brain) thinking; is fast, out of our awareness, automatic and concerned with pattern matching.

Mindfulness research in practice

As the Crane (2011) quote implies, Kets de Vries (2015) observes and Riddell (2015) argues: ‘… neither approach is superior… they both are useful in particular situations. And an understanding of the nature of both types… can increase the ability to use each wisely’. In cultivating mindfulness, the training is designed to enable us to ‘work out’ the unique contours of our mind, to become aware of which mode we are operating in, and to skilfully and consciously ‘mind-switch’. There may be times when we want to allow our mind to wander purposefully – when we need to be creative (Kets de Vries, 2015) and then there will be other times when we need to systematically focus, when we need to engage in analytical problem-solving. As the literature suggests, both of these activities can improve through the practice of mindfulness meditation. For a review on the influence of mindfulness on creative thinking see Capurso, Fabbro and Crescentini (2014) and Kets de Vries (2015).

Workplace MBIs: towards an integrative approach? Mindfulness and mindlessness Whilst the most commonly used definition of mindfulness in this book is that conceived by Jon Kabat-Zinn, there has been a significant and parallel line of research developed from the seminal work of Ellen Langer and which Elliot (2011) suggests has a great deal to offer occupational science and practice. Langer’s contribution, whilst not as figural in the discussion of workplace MBIs, is nonetheless significant and has potential implications for reframing HR and in rethinking leadership and organizations (Laloux, 2014). Jon Kabat-Zinn writing from a medical perspective brings our attention to the importance of the present moment, experientially to improve wellbeing, and conceives mindfulness as a state of mind that emerges out of meditative practice. On the other hand Ellen Langer, coming from a psychological perspective, assumes a trait of mindfulness, and her 30-plus years of experimental work serve to explain why it is we are mindless for much of the time, including at work, and why it is all-pervasive and with what implications (Langer, 2014: 8) (see box below).

The pervasiveness of mindlessness (Langer and Abelson, 1974) Therapists watched a video of a person being interviewed. Half of the time, the person was labelled as a ‘patient,’ and half as ‘job applicant’. Despite the fact that these therapists were experienced and trained to be careful

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observers of behaviour, the label primed how the person would be seen. The ‘patient’ was seen in need of therapy, whilst the ‘job applicant’ was seen as well-adjusted. The study revealed two things. First the illusory correlation effect and second the pervasiveness of mindlessness. Study after study demonstrates that people engage in hypothesis-­confirming data searches, ignoring all other information. Langer and Abelson, 1974, cited in Langer, 2014, pp 7–8

Langer (2014) describes an innovative study by Chung and Langer (2013) who studied the mindlessness that arises from our reliance on GPS systems. Employing what they described as a ‘mindful navigation system’, in their experiment participants were given options rather than specific instructions. They found that participants noticed the differences between the options which led to increased engagement with the environment: fewer errors, improved decision-making and decreased travel time. Participants also reported feeling a greater sense of control, and experiencing less confusion. She observes: ‘Multitasking looks different through the mindfulness/mindlessness lens. The mindless use of so many electronic gadgets … has shown to decrease performance’ (Langer, 2014: 9). Whilst it is not possible in this book to engage in a full exposition of Langer’s work and to attempt to tease apart whether mindfulness is a trait or state conceptually, I want to alert you to her contribution and its relevance to many aspects of organizational practice. The main reason is that going back to these roots is a useful way in which to think about the nature of mindfulness in the workplace and the implications for MBIs. Consider for example the process of automaticity (mindlessness) and its relationship with the concept of ‘unconscious bias’. This is an idea now emerging in discussions around recruitment, selection and diversity (Lueke and Gibson, 2014) and the focus of Chapter 11 by Byron. Langer’s work, along with that of Kahneman (2011) and assertions by Kets de Vries (2015), is derived from what we are learning about neuroscience and from different literatures. This broadens our understanding of the value of implementing MBIs in the workplace and in exploring what is meant by adaptation without dilution: Mindfulness allows for doubt and that allows for choice. When mindless by contrast, our behaviour is predetermined by the past, closing off choice and new possibilities. Langer in Ie, Ngnoumen and Langer, 2014, p 10

Before I end this section of the chapter I want to bring us back to the notion of integration, in contrast to dualism (mindfulness as a state/trait). Langer (in Ie et al, 2014) is eager to emphasize that whilst her work began during the ‘cognitive revolution’ in psychology in the 1970s, she does not regard her work as being purely to do with the mind. In keeping with the current zeitgeist, she argues that in fields as diverse as neurobiology, social psychology

Mindfulness research in practice

and cognitive science, there is a move towards reconsidering the mind/body ‘problem’ from separation to integration: The Langer and Rodin (1976) study suggested that simply by changing the content of one’s thinking this could generate significant effects on the body and that the mind and body are not as divorced from one another as the dominant scientific paradigm assumed. Langer, 2014, p 13

Making connections Where neuroscience, cognitive psychology and mindfulness as conceptualized by Jon Kabat-Zinn meet is captured in part through the concept of ‘neuroplasticity’: the capacity of the brain to reshape itself, to fire off new neural pathways. However, it is not straightforward; learning new behaviours, breaking habits, takes time. As Kabat-Zinn (2014) has argued, mindfulness is not for the faint-hearted! Evidence for this is captured in Kahneman’s concept of ‘slow’ thinking, in Langer’s ‘mechanisms of mindlessness’ and Kets de Vries’s (2015) notion of the value of inactivity. We can underpin this with the seminal study by Norman Farb and his colleagues (Farb et al, 2007) which demonstrates how mindfulness meditation reveals two distinct neural networks. The ‘default or “narrative” network’ is cognitive and is where we store information; it holds together accumulated storylines. It becomes active when we are planning, day-dreaming and ruminating and doesn’t take much effort to operate (fast thinking). The other way of experiencing is via a network of neurons defined as ‘direct’, that is, what is felt in the body. Brain imaging techniques allow us to ‘see’ that when the direct experience network is active, different parts of the brain ‘light up’. Rather than engaging in telling ourselves stories, past or future, our attention is switched to the present and what we are experiencing ‘in real time’. These researchers found that when people practised mindfulness regularly they had an increased capacity for knowing which ‘path’ they were in at any one time and could actively switch between them more easily. They had greater meta-­cognitive control – capacity to think about thinking! In terms of organizational practice, what we can draw from this is that those who have higher levels of mindfulness have a greater awareness of their unconscious processes (the patterns of their own mind). They have a greater ability to shape what they do, what they say and, ultimately how they perform. John Teasdale, a leading mindfulness researcher whose focus has been on the meta-cognitive aspects of mindfulness observes: Mindfulness is a habit, it’s something the more that one does, the more likely it is to be in that mode with less effort… it’s a skill that can be learned. It’s accessing something we already have. Mindfulness isn’t difficult. What’s difficult is to remember to be mindful. Rock, 2009

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The question of sustaining a mindfulness practice is noted by a number of contributors. In their reflections they talk about how and in what ways they are actively going forward to support people in their organization to ‘wake up’ and to ‘remember to be mindful’. However, before we explore those strategies, I think it would be useful at this stage in the chapter to recap and capture the key takeaways. Time for a ‘Time-in’.

Time-in ●●

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There is a scientific base that underpins the argument for implementing mindfulness at work; at the root is a translation of what we are discovering from neuroscience. Whilst the most recognizable and discussed approach to mindfulness is that of Jon Kabat-Zinn there is a parallel strand of work, inspired and conducted by Ellen Langer, which has equal relevance to workplace MBIs. Langer’s work has significance for understanding adaptations to the original MBSR captured in the idea of integrative or informed mindfulness described in the previous chapter (Perlman, 2015). The developments in brain imaging techniques allow us to understand more about how the brain works and to ‘see’ the changes that take place when engaged in mindfulness practice, and work such as that conducted by Farb et al (2007) is regularly used to argue the ‘business case’ for MBIs. Put simply, mindfulness in the workplace is, at one level, an intervention that trains our capacity to ‘mind-switch’ between the ‘doing’ mode and ‘being’ modes of mind; between slow and fast thinking; between direct experience and self-narrative; between activity and inactivity. Practising mindfulness, which when observed might be seen as ‘doing nothing’, has implications for nurturing creativity by enhancing what professor of leadership Kets de Vries describes as the ‘liminal space.’

Mindfulness and wellbeing We cannot stop the waves but can learn how to surf. Jon Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p 30

Coming back to Langer (2014), mindfulness is not just about our capacity to develop a skill that has implications for cognitive and thereby task

Mindfulness research in practice

performance. It is as Halliwell (2010) describes it: ‘An integrative mind– body-based approach that helps people change the way they think and feel about their experiences, especially stressful experience.’ The price of the busyness is, Kets de Vries (2015) suggests, ineffectiveness and stress; the price of burnout – synonymous with the cyber age and our constant engagement with mobile technology – has a dark side, which is addictive. As I wrote in the Mindfulness at Work Pocketbook, and as Langer has noted, believing that we can multi-task is a myth and even delusional: There’s a time to work and a time to play. Balance is crucially important in our lives. If we don’t know how to calibrate the balance between action and reflection, we may become a casualty of psychological burnout. We can be so busy making a living that we forget to make a life. Perhaps our motto should be ‘better lazy than crazy’. Kets de Vries, 2015, p 171

As Virgili (2013a) observes, and as you will discover in the case studies in Part Two, the key decision behind implementing mindfulness in organizations is to help support employees, at all levels, to ‘surf the waves’ of a ‘volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous’ (VUCA) world. People at work, at all levels, spend most of their time responding to e-mails, talking, making calls and networking. Add to this the endless sources of (over-) stimulation characterizing the 24/7 cyber age, then it is unsurprising that we are overwhelmed, stressed and simply burned out. As Kets de Vries (2015: 171) states: ‘Observe a member of generation Z… you will see them migrating simultaneously between a TV set, computer game and texting and searching on a mobile phone, we may wonder if they ever think to look away… to simply look at the sky!’ The philosopher Martin Heidegger in the 1950s warned against what he saw as the looming tide of the technological revolution in that it might so ‘captivate, bewitch, dazzle and beguile mankind’ that ‘calculative thinking becomes the only way of thinking, and reflective, contemplative thinking lost’ (Goleman, 2013: 18). Mindfulness-based interventions have become an antidote to the busyness in our lives, the means to achieve a rebalancing between the calculative and contemplative modes of mind between ‘being’ and ‘doing’. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme (KabatZinn, 1990/2004) is synonymous with mindfulness and the template from which all other variants of MBIs are derived (Virgili, 2013a). In this final part of the chapter I want to explore the key characteristics of the MBSR and in so doing consider issues around adaptation in the workplace. To do this I draw on two key papers by Virgili (2013b) and Grégoire and Lachance (2014). I do so because they are recent papers and they highlight themes that help us make sense of the uniqueness of workplace MBIs and why, far from being a poor relation to the gold-standard MBI, adaptations are both necessary and beneficial. The first is a meta-analysis and the second an evaluation of a brief MBI designed to reduce stress amongst employees in three call centres.

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Whilst there is a significant body of literature that explores MBSR, upon which I might have drawn, the Virgili (2013b) paper is the first that looks systematically at all those studies published up to 2012 that centre on working adults and the outcomes from a range of different variants (adaptations) of the MBSR in the workplace. It is also seminal in that it is the first to review published studies of non-clinical applications of MBIs and their effectiveness in reducing stress at work. In the other paper Grégoire and Lachance (2014) provide us with further evidence that adaptations of mindfulness can and do impact on improving wellbeing at work and can impact on measures of critical importance to performance, in this case client satisfaction. What their work does is demonstrate an innovative approach to researching mindfulness at work, thereby offering the potential for real-world research in MBIs at work discussed in Chapter 2.

Reducing psychological distress in working adults (Virgili, 2013b)  Virgili reviewed 37 studies that met specific criteria: 1 They evaluated the effects of the MBSR or a variant/adaptation of the standard programme. 2 Participants were working adults. 3 The programme was conducted in the workplace or with an occupational group. 4 It used validated scales for the measurement of psychological distress. 5 Samples size greater than 10 participants. 6 Researchers provided data on the ‘effect size’ (a mathematical calculation that illustrates the impact on levels of stress from participating in the MBI). Definition For a study to be included mindfulness had to be explicitly stated as a core component. Structure (length) The programme had to be for a minimum of four weeks. In synthesizing and distilling the findings for our purposes these are Virgili’s key observations:

Mindfulness research in practice

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MBIs in the workplace are as effective as MBSR in improving psychological wellbeing. The improvements in wellbeing were maintained in those studies that did a follow-up, on average five weeks after the MBI. Brief interventions adapted for the workplace are as effective as the standard 8-week programme developed for clinical applications. Reducing stress levels in working adults is not down to the duration of the intervention, whether measured in weeks or quantity of face-to-face time.

Nonetheless, Virgili was not able to show: ●●

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Whether an MBI was any more effective than other stress management interventions. Whether the amount of home (personal) practice made a difference in terms of effectiveness at the follow-up stage. What impact the quality of the course materials and teacher’s skills had. Whether there is a difference between on- or off-site, within or outside of working hours, self-funded or paid for by the employer. Crucially, what the relationship is between psychological (individual) and workplace functioning and the impact on relevant organizational outcome measures, such as job performance, absence levels, working relationships. What was the impact of those factors shown to affect levels of stress, such as demands of the job, degree of control, management style and social support in the workplace.

The standard MBSR Before exploring Grégoire and Lachance (2014) in relation to Virgili’s (2013b) observations, I want to bring us back to look at the structure of the standard MBSR developed in a medical setting by Jon Kabat-Zinn (KabatZinn, 1990/2004) (see Table 3.4). My purpose in doing this is not only to put the two articles into context and to help you to compare the authors’ observations, but also to begin the process of providing a framework with which to ‘read’ the case studies in Part Two, and to identify what, if any,

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Source: Kabat-Zinn, 1990/2004

6-hour silent retreat

2-hour weekly sessions

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Large and small group discussion; and Insight-based inquiry based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory; and where teacher demonstrates particular attitudinal qualities (see Appendix 3.1)

Didactic input minimal, related to nature and reactions to stress – emphasis on increasing ‘space for silence’

Compassion (loving-kindness) meditations to face difficulties

Mindful movement walking; gentle yoga exercises

Body-scan Sitting meditation (mindfulness of breath, body sounds, thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations)

Informal activities, incorporating mindfulness into everyday tasks

6 days out of 7, supported by workbook and CDs – sometimes, recorded by the in-class teachers, others using commercially available audiodownloads, eg such as provided in Williams and Penman (2011)

45 minutes a day,

Comprising formal and informal practices

Instructor-led training on formal (core) mindfulness practices, educational and experiential designed to bring participants’ attention to present-moment experience

8 weeks, 9 sessions

Small groups (10–12)

In clinical settings grouped by presenting problem

Personal (home practice)

Content

Duration

Format

Ta b l e 3 . 4 Elements of the standard MBSR

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adaptations contributors made, the reasons behind their decisions and the evidence that exists to underpin these adaptations. As I noted earlier in the book, the original MBSR was not intended to be prescriptive or formulaic. As McCown, Reibel and Micozzi (2010: 140) state: The template program undergoes a transformation based on local population, setting and teacher factors. For example, the frequency and duration of classes may be altered significantly… the changes required to adapt… are made primarily in the amount and kind of didactic material presented, and in the opportunity for discussion and inquiry, rather than in the presentation and practice of core meditations.

Keeping these assertions in mind, read a summary of Grégoire and Lachance (2014) in the following box.

Evaluation of a brief MBI in the workplace (Grégoire and Lachance, 2014)  Synopsis of the study Forty-nine employees in three call centres working in three different locations of a financial institution in Canada participated in a brief MBI. Of these, 75 per cent were call centre agents, and 25 per cent managers, 91 per cent were female, with an average age of 35.8 years. The MBI lasted five weeks and each day participants listened to two short guided meditations at their workstation (10 minutes in the morning; 5  minutes after lunch) recorded by a Buddhist nun. Pre- and post-measures were used to assess changes in mindfulness, psychological distress (stress, anxiety and depression, negative emotions and fatigue) and client satisfaction (an internal survey developed by the organization). The results showed that mindfulness increased whilst levels of stress and anxiety decreased and levels of client satisfaction increased significantly over time. Observations The main aim of the researchers was to explore the impact of a brief MBI, given that convincing organizations simply by demonstrating its effect on the mental health among employees might not be enough. As the researchers observe, these can be time-consuming and typically offered in a classroom setting, ill-suited for a growing number of organizations. The findings are ‘promising’ in that, although the effect size was small, nonetheless these suggest that brief MBIs can impact on the way that employees approach their clients, that is by:

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●●

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using their moment-to-moment experience with greater clarity and objectivity; recognizing the impermanence of emotions and thoughts so being less reactive.

Implications for workplace MBIs Advantages ●●

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A novel MBI that is less time-consuming, 15 minutes a day over five weeks – substantially less time than standard MBSR. Busy employees with no experience with meditation may be more inclined to try and follow through with the programme. Flexible mindfulness training at their workstation and easier to integrate with their work pattern, so reduces stress and strain by incorporating it into their working pattern; for the employer, can reduce costs of gathering employees from different locations in one place

Disadvantages ●●

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Does not allow for employees to benefit from group dynamics, the social support in terms of enquiry which are regarded as beneficial in the standard MBSR (McCown et al, 2010). No personal supervision and support or guidance from the trainer. Programme is generic and may not be as rich and insightful as those in traditional MBIs, including MBSR. The impact on client satisfaction was the aggregated scores, so not possible to explore the impact of participating in the MBI on individual levels of work performance.

Questions prompted by the study ●●

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The mindfulness teachings were presented by a Buddhist nun. What might the implications/differences/impact be if delivered by an HR instructor with less meditation experience? The teacher spent time ‘virtually’ with participants. To what extent can mindfulness be self-taught? Would the effect sizes have been larger?

Mindfulness research in practice

Adaptation without dilution? The study reported in Grégoire and Lachance (2014) yielded positive results; nonetheless, McCown et al (2010) are keen to urge readers that any adaptations are done with integrity and fidelity to remain ‘true’ to the roots of mindfulness, which are in silence, stillness and spaciousness (Kabat-Zinn in McCown et al, 2010: xiv) – in the context of this book, adaptation without dilution. The degree to which this is possible in workplace MBIs is, as yet, not known. However, from my experience, implementing a simple three-minute breathing space enables people to develop an embodied ‘knowing’, to know what it is like just to stop and disengage from the busyness of the day, to calm their minds and clear a space (Chapman-Clarke, 2015b and illustrated in Figure 6.1 in Chapter 6). Mindfulness as conceptualized within the 8-week MBSR has, suggest McCown et al (2010: 143), a metastructure. This is a developmental pathway which has an interrelated set of learning intentions, outlined in Figures 3.1 and 3.2, that leads to three outcomes. A key question that arises in the literature and which is explored by contributors in this book is how much practice is enough? To answer this question I am drawn to the idea of incremental ‘moments of mindfulness’ that cannot be reduced to measureable numbers. However, it is, as McCown et al (2010: 144) observe, the paradigm in which mindfulness researchers are currently working. Indicative of this is the meta-analytic study by Virgili (2013b) which only included statistically robust studies that met certain inclusion data including those MBIs that had more than 10 participants. As Chapter 2 highlighted and Mark argues in Chapter 10, over-reliance on RCTs limits our knowledge and creativity in the development

F i g u r e 3.1 The MBSR metastructure A set of inter-related teaching intentions which are to:

Raise awareness of BODY, EMOTIONS and THOUGHTS Deal with the unpleasant/face difficulties Develop self-compassion Respond choicefully rather than react

TIME Week 1

Mindfulness Developmental Pathway

Source:  McCown et al, 2010, p 143

Week 8

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F i g u r e 3.2 Learning outcomes from MBI teaching intentions

Intention

Attention

Awareness s

• Concentrated attention/focus on an object/task • (Formal and informal mindfulness practices)

• Reflections on experience • (Inquiry)

• Insight into unique patterns of our mind • (Choiceful decision-making)

of workplace MBIs. Qualitative studies will involve fewer than 10 and ­explore subjective experience; studies that use first-person and creative methodologies to capture the felt or embodied experience are conspicuous by their absence. Given that mindfulness is an integrative intervention, that has the intention of bringing into awareness present moment experiencing of thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations, then it makes absolute sense that such methodologies are reflected in the mindfulness at work literature and in our workplace MBIs. Sally’s Workable Ranges model, described in Chapter 8, is such an innovation and illustrative of adaptation without dilution. Also, in terms of research methodologies that can capture somatic (embodied) experience, sadly neglected in the current discourse, is poetic inquiry (Chapman-Clarke, 2015a). This, within the context of AE, offers the potential for a kind of knowing, that which cannot be articulated in narrative form, because as Jon Kabat-Zinn (2004: 443) said: Mindfulness is a lifetime’s journey along a path that ultimately leads nowhere, only to who you are. The way of awareness is always here, always accessible to you, in each moment. After all is said and done, perhaps its essence can only be captured in poetry and in the silence of your own mind and body at peace.

Conclusion In this chapter my intentions were to dig more deeply into three ‘roots’ or literatures that help to inform our understanding of the theory that underpins the current practice of workplace MBIs. These include neuroscience, cognitive psychology and wellbeing. The ideas of Ellen Langer and Jon Kabat-Zinn have much to offer us in terms of developing an integrative strategy, based

Mindfulness research in practice

on a pragmatic or, what Perlman (2014) advocates, an informed mindfulness approach. This is not about adaptation without dilution; it is about providing the necessary conditions in organizations for individuals to take those first steps. This, as Robert and Sally assert, takes courage and in the case studies that follow you will discover how practitioners found the courage to take their first steps on the developmental pathway. And how they then brought that insight, their embodied EQ, into practical strategies to make a difference to the wellbeing and performance of people in their organizations. Their stories are inspiring and the voices of those who have participated in their MBIs are testimony to the difference mindfulness has made to their lives and their work. In this part of the book I have set the scene and mapped the mindfulness at work phenomenon. Now as you turn to Part Two I want to offer a ‘route map’ to guide you through the case studies, a series of questions and observations, suggested intentions, if you like, to explore how mindfulness can be implemented as a change management strategy in the workplace. Ethically and mindfully enjoy the journey!

Implementing a workplace MBI 1 What were the main drivers or triggers for implementing mindfulness? Is there a business case – or is a leap of faith needed? 2 What outcomes are to be achieved and how will mindfulness help? 3 Who can act as the mindfulness champion? Can he or she talk from their embodied EQ, passionately and develop an evidence-informed MBI with integrity? 4 Who are the key stakeholders? In what ways can they influence the implementation of mindfulness? What is the power to interest ratio? 5 What measures can be used? Do different stakeholders want different types of data? (See Appendix 3.2 for mindfulness measures.) 6 Do you need to demonstrate return on investment (ROI), how and in what ways? Build this into the design. 7 Pay attention to how you use language. In the Grégoire and Lachance (2014) study, the recordings were reviewed prior to the launch of the MBI, to ensure that these fitted within the corporate world. The words Buddhist and meditation were not used. 8 Keep it secular and deal with any misperceptions and fears that it might be ‘religion by the back door’ head-on. Quoting the HR director in Grégoire and Lachance’s (2014) study: ‘Many managers are still uncomfortable with the idea of gathering their employees together in a room and having them sit cross-legged in the lotus position.’ 9 Proceed mindfully. As many commentators have noted, research into workplace MBIs is in its infancy, so give due consideration to who

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your mindfulness teacher/partner will be, and whether they understand your business and how have they come to mindfulness. As McCown et al (2010: xix) note, the lineage of the teacher is important: ‘How did you arrive at this spot, in this moment, carrying the message of awareness, of mindfulness, of presence, allowing yourself to be the catalyst in its dissemination to others?’ As the field matures, there will be greater consideration paid to the identified competences and credentials for who is able to teach mindfulness in the workplace (an argument at the heart of Chapter 10). 10 Mindfulness is an inside-out OD strategy. You need to embody the change you want to see. In all examples in Part Two, each author has journeyed into mindfulness and all are at different stages on that journey. As a number have noted, that path is not easy; however, this book has been written with the expressed intention of offering you a smorgasbord, from which to select what is right for your context and to inspire you to take the first steps. As Martin Luther King once said: ‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step’.

Appendix 3.1 Inquiry in mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) In MBIs meditation practices are followed by an inquiry into the participant’s somatic experience. This is based on the idea that the aims and intentions of the practices, and the learning points arising from them, emerge from this process of inquiry rather than being introduced or interpreted by the mindfulness teacher (or if the MBI is being delivered one-to-one, by the coach – see Chapter 6 for an example of ‘inquiry in action’).

The ‘Inquiry’ process in MBIs Kolb’s (1984) model of adult learning, the ‘learning cycle’, is one that is familiar to HR, L&D and OD practitioners and informs the inquiry process in mindfulness. Indicative questions that relate to each of the points in the inquiry cycle are:

Observation ●● ●● ●●

What did you notice? In your mind? Your emotions? Your body? What stayed the same? What changed? In particular, what happened at any points of transition?

Mindfulness research in practice

F i g u r e 3.3 The inquiry process in MBIs The Starting Point The Mindfulness Practice.

By Invitation What might be the implications? How might this learning apply to future practices? Future experiences?

Reflection Awareness of what happened: thoughts, feelings, sensations. Description, not analysis/interpretation. Context Making sense of what has been observed: how this relates to personal experience. The mind–body interaction and how it works; in the group discussion, what is unique, what is universal.

Reflection ●●

●●

What does this tell us about how the mind works? (What are we drawn to? What do we avoid? What do we like/dislike?) What does it tell us about stress? What triggers it and what feeds it? (eg rumination, constantly asking why?)

Planning ●●

●●

What can be taken from this experience and further explored in subsequent mindfulness practices? What are the implications for personal practice, ongoing development?

The qualities and attitudes that facilitate inquiry in mindfulness (Adapted from Segal, Williams and Teasdale, 2013) The language used is that which invites awareness, exploration, interest, friendly investigation into moment-by-moment experience: ●● Not knowing – inquiry is acknowledging to yourself you don’t have all the answers – a ‘beginner’s mind’.

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●● ●●

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Curiosity – inquiry involves taking an interest in whatever is being described. Compassion – inquiry involves welcoming whatever is present. Embodying the practice – inquiry involves bringing awareness to present moment experience embodying, not modelling. Not fixing – inquiry involves recognizing that solutions are not required when the intention is to foster discovery. Opening the space for dialogue – inquiry involves recognizing possibilities and trusting emergence. For example, ‘can you say more about that?’ Asking permission – inquiry involves detecting when a boundary or strong emotion is present and checking in before proceeding. For example, ‘may I ask you about that?’ or ‘how is this for you?’ Letting go – inquiry involves working with no fixed agenda of where one needs to get to; staying with the process. Asking open questions – inquiry involves maintaining a focus on the participant’s/client’s experience. For example, ‘please say more about that’ or ‘and what happened next?’ Humility – inquiry involves recognizing that the person/client is the expert on their experience. For example, ‘did I understand you?’ or ‘I heard you say this – is that correct?’ Avoiding attachment to insight – inquiry involves less about ‘why do you think this is happening?’ and more about ‘how is this happening?’ and ‘what do you notice about this?’ Flexibility and letting go – inquiry involves sometimes choosing to ask follow-up questions and at other times saying ‘thank you’ and then moving on.

Appendix 3.2 Measuring mindfulness issues and tools A number of contributors in the case studies have used a mindfulness measure to evaluate the outcomes of their MBIs. As an emerging field questionnaires have been developed to measure specific aspects of mindfulness, which as Chapter 2 highlights is predominantly based on research involving the standard MBSR/MBCT. No workplace measures of mindfulness are as yet available. The current issues around measurement of mindfulness are: ●● No consensus around the psychological construct of mindfulness exists; however, for the purposes of measurement it is defined broadly

Mindfulness research in practice

●●

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as a quality of consciousness – defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn (2004) as: ‘paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally’. Measurement has only begun in the last decade and it is currently difficult to draw conclusions about the relationship between aspects of mindfulness and the ‘Big Five’ personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness) (Gulik, 2009). In the meta-analysis conducted by Gulik (2009) into the relationship between mindfulness and the ‘Big Five’ personality traits, she found that the strongest relationships were with neuroticism, negative affect and conscientiousness. She observes that conscientiousness is ignored by mindfulness researchers. Gulik (2009) noted that mindfulness is inadequately conceptualized and measurements that currently exist rely on self-report. Self-report measures typically include five component mindfulness skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience (Baer et al, 2006). In choosing measures, factors to consider are: –– reliability; –– validity; –– ease of use. You may wish to use a battery of tests (as illustrated in a number of chapters) – measures that are relevant to the purposes behind introducing the MBI (eg absence levels; levels of stress and wellbeing; organizational measures, such as attitude surveys; performance data; client satisfaction).

The most widely used and readily available measures include: ●●

●●

●●

Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) (Baer et al, 2006) – described in detail in Chapter 9. Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown and Ryan, 2003). Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) (Baer, Smith and Allen, 2004) – used in Chapter 5.

Access Unlike other psychometric measures, mindfulness questionnaires have not yet been subject to the same controls in the UK as other commercially available tools used in HR. A primary consideration is to ensure that before any

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Ta b l e 3.5 Available measures Name of measure

Type of measure and number of items (questions)

FFMQ

Self-report 39 items

What aspects of mindfulness are measured Measures five elements of mindfulness: 1 observing; 2 describing; 3 acting with awareness; 4 non-judging internal and external experience; 5 non-reactivity to inner experience.

MAAS

Self-report 15 items

KIMS

Measures dispositional (not trait) mindfulness; assesses attention to and awareness of present-moment awareness; acting on automatic pilot; being pre-occupied and not paying attention.

Self-report

Measures four mindfulness skills:

39 items

1 observing; 2 describing; 3 acting with awareness; 4 accepting without judgement.

measure is used it is ‘fit for the purpose’ for which it is intended. When questionnaires are used, then for ethical reasons, it is essential that sources are acknowledged: ●●

●●

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MAAS: http://www.mindfulness-extended.nl/content3/wp-content/ uploads/2013/07/MAAS-EN.pdf FFMQ (short version): http://www.goodmedicine.org.uk/files/ assessment,%20mindfulness%205%20facets%20short_1.pdf FFMQ (full version): http://www.ruthbaer.com/academics/ FFMQ.pdf KIMS: http://www.ruthbaer.com/academics/KIMS.pdf

A key figure in measuring mindfulness is Ruth Baer, PhD, and she has generously made available some really useful mindfulness resources at: http:// www.ruthbaer.com/academics/index.html.

Mindfulness research in practice

References Aviles, PR and Dent, EB (2015) The role of mindfulness in leading organizational transformation: a systematic review, The Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship, 20 (3), pp 31–55 Baer, R, Smith, G T and Allen, K B (2004) Assessment of mindfulness by self-report: the Kentucky inventory of mindfulness skills, Assessment, 11 (5), pp 191–206 Baer, RA, Smith, GT, Hopkins, J, Krietemeyer, J, Toney, L (2006) Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness, Assessment, 13, pp 27–45 Brown, KW and Ryan, RM (2003) The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84 (4), pp 822–48 Brown, P and Barker, HL (2015) Insights from neuroscience, in Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation, ed L Hall, Kogan Page, London Capurso, V, Fabbro, F and Crescentini, C (2014) Mindful creativity: the influence of mindfulness meditation on creative thinking, Frontiers of Psychology, 4, January, DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01020 Chapman-Clarke, M (2004) Critical Competency or Passing Fad: Exploring emotional intelligence discourses in learning and development, unpublished doctoral thesis, Loughborough University Business School Chapman-Clarke, M (2015a) Coaching for compassionate resilience through creative methods: the case for a turn towards autoethnography, in Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation, ed L Hall, Kogan Page, London Chapman-Clarke, M (2015b) Mindfulness at Work Pocketbook, Management Pocketbooks, Arlesford Chung, J and Langer, E (2013) Mindful Navigation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Cooper, R (1997) Applying emotional intelligence in the workplace, Training and Development, 51 (12), pp 31–38 Crane, R (2011) Keynote Presentation: Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University [online] http://www.bangor.ac.uk/mindfulness/ conference_2011.php.en Elliot, ML (2011) Being mindful about mindfulness: an invitation to expand occupational engagement into the growing mindfulness discourse, Journal of Occupational Science, 18 (4), pp 366–76 Farb, NAS, Segal, ZV, Mayberg, H, Bean, J, McKeon, G, Zainab, F and Anderson, AK (2007) Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference, Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2 (4), pp 313–22, DOI 10.1093/scan/nsm030 [online] http://scan.oxfordjournals. org/content/2/4/313.short Goleman, D (2013) Focus: The hidden driver of excellence, Bloomsbury, London Grégoire, S and Lachance, L (2014) Evaluation of a brief mindfulness-based intervention to reduce psychological distress in the workplace, Mindfulness, DOI 10.1007/s12671-014-0328-9 Gulik, T L (2009) Mindfulness, Big Five Personality, and Affect: A meta-analysis, Personality and Individual Differences, 47, pp 805–11 Hall, L (2015) Coaching in Times of Crisis and Transformation, Kogan Page, London Halliwell, E (2010) Mindfulness Report, Mental Health Foundation, London Hunter, J and McCormick, DW (2008) Mindfulness in the Workplace: An Exploratory Study, paper presented at Academy of Management Annual

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Mapping the mindfulness-at-work phenomenon Meeting, Anaheim, CA [accessed online http://www.mindfulnet.org/ Mindfulness%20in%20the%20Workplace.pdf] Ie, A, Ngnoumen, CT and Langer, EJ (eds) (2014) Wiley Handbook of Mindfulness: Volume 1, Wiley/Blackwell, Chichester Kabat-Zinn, J (1990/2004) Full Catastrophe Living: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation, Piatkus, London Kabat-Zinn, J (1994) Wherever You Are: There You Go, Mindfulness Meditation for Everyday Life, London, Piatkus Kabat-Zinn, J (2014) Meditation is not for the faint-hearted, Mindfulness, 5, pp 341–44, DOI 10.007/s12671-04-0307-1 Kahneman, D (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow, Penguin, London Kets de Vries, K (2015) Doing nothing and nothing to do: the hidden value of empty time and boredom, Organizational Dynamics, 44, pp 166–75 Kolb, D A (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ Laloux, F (2014) Reinventing Organizations: A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage of human consciousness, Nelson Parker, Brussels, Belgium Langer, EJ (2014) Mindfulness Forward and Back, in Wiley Handbook of Mindfulness: Volume 1, eds A Ie, CT Ngnoumen and EJ Langer, EJ, Wiley/ Blackwell, Chichester Lueke, A and Gibson, B (2014) Mindfulness meditation reduces implicit age and race bias the role of reduced automaticity of responding, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11/2014, 6 (3), DOI 10.1177/1948550614559651 McCown, D, Reibel, D and Micozzi, MS (2010) Teaching Mindfulness: A practical guide for clinicians and educators, Springer, New York Miller, G A (1956) The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information, Psychological review, 63 (2), pp 81–97, DOI 10.1037/h0043158 Neuberg, A (2012) [online] http://www.fastcompany.com/1840226/6-exercisesstrengthen-compassionate-leadership [accessed 18 November 2015] Perlman, A (2015) Informed mindfulness as the foundation for leadership, Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 11 (4), July–August Reb, J and Atkins, PWB (eds) (2015) Mindfulness in Organizations: Foundations, research and applications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Riddell, P (2015) Coaching and the Brain, handouts from Coaching at Work masterclass, 6 May, British Psychological Society, London Rock, D (2009) The neuroscience of mindfulness, http://breatheforcompassion. com/Downloads/The_Neuroscience_of_Mindfulness.pdf [accessed 30 November 2015] Segal, ZV, Williams, JMG and Teasdale, JD (2013) 2nd edn, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, Guilford Press, London Virgili, M (2013a) Mindfulness-based coaching: conceptualisation, supporting evidence and emerging applications, International Coaching Psychology Review, 8 (2), September Virgili, M (2013b) Mindfulness-based interventions reduce psychological distress in working adults: a meta-analysis of intervention studies, Mindfulness, DOI 10.1007/s12671-013-0264-0 Williams, M and Penman, D (2011) Mindfulness: A practical guide, Piatkus, London

Mindfulness research in practice Zollo et al (2008) Understanding and Responding to Societal Demands on Corporate Responsibility (RESPONSE): Final Report, INSEAD, Copenhagen Business School, Bocconi, Impact and the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, available from http://www.corporatejustice. org/IMG/pdf/Response_FinalReport.pdf

Further reading Baer, RA (2008) Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Non-meditating Samples, available from http://asm.sagepub. com/content/15/3/329.abstract [accessed 21 September 2015] Baer, RA (2013) Measuring Mindfulness, in Mindfulness: Diverse perspectives on its meaning, origins and applications, eds MJG Williams and J Kabat-Zinn, Routledge, London Chapman, M (2013) Mindfulness: Where are we now? Counselling at Work, Issue 78, pp 4–9 Chapman-Clarke, M (2016) Exploring coaches’ experience of mindfulness training: An autoethnographic study using poetic inquiry, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Derby, Derby Tan, Chade-Meng (2012) Search inside yourself: Increase creativity, productivity and happiness, Collins

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04

SMG

L i z N ot t i n g h am a n d S u s a n P e aco c k

Coming to mindfulness Liz: SMG’s mindfulness champion I started my career in social services as the youngest domiciliary care organizer in North Tyneside. I couldn’t get a grant to complete my postgraduate personnel management studies, yet since leaving the North East in the 1980s I have been in HR for 25 years and in agencies for over 15 years. I have worked at the heart of the millennial population. It comes up against fierce competition for talent from businesses influenced by Silicon Valley, so at SMG (Starcom Mediavest Group) we have to be on top of our game to attract, develop and retain good people. I am proud to be part of an organization in which our young employees advise FTSE 100 clients and are recognized by many as leading-edge in our approach and in setting the standard for the advertising industry. I was introduced to Authentic Leadership by the poet David Whyte and have a desire to leave our people with a legacy of personal development, to enable our people to flourish and to be the best that they can be. I help shape learning and development programmes that support all ages and life stages, ranging from technical skills to support with raising a family. For me, my journey into mindfulness sits perfectly with our encompassing approach to wellbeing which in turn underpins the necessary resilience to perform in

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today’s VUCA world. My joy is in pioneering new innovations that can support our people so that when they are as old as us they look back and recognize the value of their time with us! Our mindfulness programme was successfully inspired by several trips to India and visits to a Buddhist monastery. After being dissuaded by the team from bringing a monk into the agency, we found a way of adapting mindfulness, to bring the benefits to all. This is a story of how we did that. Susan: the mindfulness trainer Although my formal introduction to mindfulness began when I attended one of Mark Williams’s training events at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre in 2005, it began far earlier when I was a child about 6 years old. My father had begun practising Herbert Benson’s ‘Relaxation Response’ (Benson, 1975) and this has been a part of his life ever since. Although I didn’t realize it, the seeds were planted and from an early age I was interested in understanding human nature and what enabled us to bounce back from challenges. Soon after I qualified as a psychologist I was introduced to the idea of mindfulness which I saw as a coming together of mind, body and soul in a very real, holistic way that made complete sense to me. I’ve continued my development as a mindfulness teacher through ongoing training at Bangor University, attending retreats and receiving invaluable supervision with Cindy Cooper. It has been an utter joy to work in organizations introducing mindfulness as a ‘way of being’ which has the potential to enhance and transform how we engage in the world.

Introduction For anyone who thinks that mindfulness is the latest HR fuzzy people fad, our story shows that at Starcom Mediavest Group (SMG) there are real and dramatic improvements in the wellbeing of the employees who have attended our pioneering 6-week programme, The Mindful Advantage. We introduced this training to the business four years ago, at a time when mindfulness still conjured up images of mountain tops, far-away retreats and even mysticism (Kabat-Zinn, 1990/2004: 21). So what could this possibly have to do with the crazy wonderful world of media? The proof of the pudding is in our results. As many peers in this book discuss, the benefits of mindfulness in improving wellbeing and performance are supported by extensive scientific

Mindfulness in a media world

research; however, whilst mindfulness has great potential, nonetheless it is not a ‘quick fix’. The journey to introducing what is a seemingly simple, yet powerful tool for daily living has not always been an easy one. In this chapter we share our journey with peers and outline The Mindful Advantage, a pioneering 6-week mindfulness programme developed in response to the realities of working in an exciting, high-pressure environment; whilst at the same time seeking to establish a broad-based wellbeing agenda and differentiating ourselves from other talent-driven agencies. We begin first by outlining why SMG invested in mindfulness training and something of the values and culture of the organization. We then discuss the main objectives of the Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) and the process by which mindfulness was introduced. We outline who the key stakeholders were and the arguments used for introducing what might seem a mystic or ‘left-field’ intervention. We describe the nature of the programme and the process of demonstrating return on investment (ROI) through a mixed-methods approach, yielding quantitative and qualitative data. Our approach to introducing the MBI is pragmatic. Nonetheless, the strategy can be seen as a gentle and committed process which continues to ripple through the agency, resulting in fundamental and sustainable change; it has been a case of evolution, not revolution.

Why SMG invested in offering mindfulness training The culture and values of a business are vital and integrative to its success; for us mindfulness ‘as a way of being’ underpins this and it is central to wellbeing. It also enables people to weave greater awareness of self-care into their busy lives rather than adding it on to the ‘to do’ list. Shifting the culture of an organization takes time and requires advocates. SMG is recognized as a Sunday Times Top 100 Employer, and we pride ourselves on creating a destination for people at work. We are constantly adapting and improving our employee offering and mindfulness is seen as integral to that.

Mindfulness and its fit with the culture of the company SMG is an international media network which is part of the Publicis Group of companies; globally connected with 110 offices in 67 countries with around 620 people based in London. We recognize that our people, with an average age of 31, work in a 24/7 culture with super-fast deadlines across a number of time zones. We accept that we can’t change the reality of the busyness of everyday lives but we can equip our people with tools, techniques and a way of being that impacts upon how they ‘show up in the world’. Talent is in short supply and retaining talent is central to our success. We recognize that we operate in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world (Bennett and Lemoine, 2014). People’s jobs are getting bigger. Time is moving faster and nothing seems to be slowing down. The volume

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of information for employees is relentless, coupled with the day-to-day pressures of home life. Offering mindfulness was explored as a way of enabling people to find their ‘off button’, ways to recharge, refocus and manage their attention wisely and effectively. At the outset, however, we recognized that mindfulness can’t be used as a ‘sticking plaster’; it has to be introduced authentically, with care, gently and with sensitivity into an organizational culture that is respectful and supportive.

Our objectives for introducing mindfulness We have taken the agency on a journey in the last eight years and have developed the structure of our business along with the creation of our learning and development programme. We were a highly numbers-based business with a fairly regular learning and development offering. The senior team is supportive of our innovative approaches in learning and development, despite some of these approaches taking them out of their comfort zones. In taking the decision to provide mindfulness training to our people, we invited them to become aware of their personal resources and encouraged them to take ownership of their own wellbeing. These are skills for a lifetime. Our objectives for the mindfulness training were: ●●

●● ●● ●●

to provide alternative approaches to manage daily stresses and personal effectiveness; to provide our people with a legacy of practical tools for the future; to assist with consistent levels of energy and performance; to focus on the emotional health of all of our people.

Defining mindfulness As Margaret noted in Chapter 2, the most widely recognized definition of mindfulness originates from the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, who defines mindfulness as ‘paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally’ (Kabat-Zinn,1994: 4). For us this worked. Conceptualized in this way it is an intervention that can equip individuals with the permission, guided space and tools to manage stressful situations, find ways of looking after themselves and engage actively in self-care. At SMG we see mindfulness as a way of being: of paying attention, being awake and aware of ourselves, those around us and our environment and a fundamental part of being authentic and resonant leaders (Boyatzis and McKee, 2005).

Creating a culture that is open to new ideas Building trust is a core value of any HR department. Employees need to trust the HR team with their issues; the business needs to trust the overall

Mindfulness in a media world

HR direction with their partnerships and interventions. Trust takes a while to build and can shatter in a moment. It is a fragile commodity and needs to be protected at all times. A key visible contribution to the business is the learning and development activities as they affect the whole business. At SMG we work with training partners who have been with us for almost eight years. To deliver mindfulness we needed to find unknown and unproven providers. The selection of a ‘mindfulness partner’ is important as a reputation can be won or lost in an agency on the basis of a workshop. Who we partner with, what the content of the sessions is, how these sessions are positioned, communicated, set up and delivered is central. This is even truer of the choiceful selection of a partner to deliver mindfulness training. The content is bold for some and may not sit comfortably with others. Finding the wrong partner will set this agenda back and may take many years to recover. A mindful, gentle and appropriate choice is key.

Mindfulness within a broader wellbeing agenda at SMG In 2008 we introduced a bespoke, experiential self-development workshop at a yoga retreat. The delegates acknowledged their anxiety when they realized that there was no published agenda and their blood pressure rose further as post-dinner they entered the sitting room laid out with candles and cushions. We even had delegates demanding to go home! Eight years later we have run 13 sessions and the ‘SMG Academy’ is now a key part of our DNA. The Academy is an experiential leadership programme for senior managers/associate directors, designed specifically to promote excellence, drive, self-belief and the ability to be our best, ultimately translating into a better business offering and delivery. Areas of responsibility, apathy and the habits of working in silos were highlighted as needing attention. The Academy is about how to be our best, even when the circumstances are challenging and how to inspire others to be their best too. The programme works at the level of behaviour, attitudes and beliefs to create a shift in mindset in order for people to be better able and equipped in employing new and learned abilities. Working with the attitude and behaviour of management and leadership, and transferring that shift into the business, is the only way to cause real change in individuals and therefore to impact the business. The Academy is a shared experience which fosters a sense of collective responsibility and enhances relationships and communication between teams, clients and in the business generally. This was the first bold step to shape the future. Next we introduced neurolinguistic programming (NLP) for everyone and our pioneering work with The Parent Practice to support our young families as well as our recent inspiring work with female leadership retreats.

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Each of these pieces was met with some resistance as they were unknown and carried some degree of risk. All were a success and reminded us as leaders and managers that we have to be bold and authentic if we are to make a difference. As the years have passed, the organization expects and anticipates the next piece of inspired learning. People easily criticize things they don’t understand. Fortunately, we now have the science and the facts and all the data needed to demonstrate the benefits.

How mindfulness was introduced into SMG Meditation was gently introduced to the female networking group, Breathing Space, which provided support to senior talent. The sessions included short taster sessions of two or three minutes of mindfulness, which enabled people to feel more grounded and find ways of connecting with their breath and body. These introductions were recognized as helpful with many of these women who are balancing home, children and international careers and needed the support to focus and set their personal boundaries. Mindfulness was a way into this new way of being. The challenge was how to make this initially innovative approach work in a business context. We recognized that it needed to be introduced in an accessible, achievable, non-threatening way which respectfully met our people where they were. The UK HR team is recognized as a hub of HR excellence for the entire group. As mentioned earlier, the HR team has created new approaches to learning and development for several years, so on one level the senior team expected to hear what was next in store for the business. They were probably not however expecting to hear that mindfulness was on the agenda and, without the science to back it up, we were open to the challenge of the stereotyping that inevitably accompanies something that can be seen as new age and alternative: left-field as we described it at the start of the chapter! After the dinner at which the idea was first introduced, two senior board members came up to Liz and said: ‘We do sport; we absolutely get it and use it as part of our training’. With two supporters to confirm that she had not lost the plot, we went ahead with the agency-wide taster session and allowed the people the chance to sign up. The strategy worked as actions always speak louder than words! We recognize that part of our role is to take our leadership team to the edge of what is familiar and comfortable and, at the same time, invite them to explore possibilities. Working at this edge is delicate as we don’t want to lose people or their support along the way. It required the HR team to hold steady, stick to our values and maintain our confidence. The next step was to identify a cross-section of 10 receptive individuals to understand the relevance of mindfulness and talk to them about how to incorporate this brave approach into a corporate environment. We needed to make sure that we framed it in a way that would provide both relevance and a context to business success so we introduced it through coaching by

Mindfulness in a media world

offering a 4-week Mindfulness for Coaches programme with Michael Chaskalson. This helped us pave the way as the benefits at both a personal and team level became apparent. We had teams practising mindfulness at the start of their weekly meetings. Our next step, based on the success of these sessions, was to take the concept to the wider business. We invited Susan to run a 45-minute Inspired Guest Speaker session, which was open to all employees. At this session people had the opportunity to learn about mindfulness; hear about the benefits and the evidence base, rooted in neuroscience, as well as an opportunity to experience mindfulness. The event proved an overwhelming success, with over 40 people signing up for the programme. In the light of our experience, here is a summary of some ‘HR tips’ that we found helped to pave the smooth transition of, as we said at the start of the chapter, a potentially left-field idea: ●● ●●

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Be bold: the HR mantra. HR set the agenda: develop the people, push for change and be inspiring. Core message in this book: you need to be the change you want to see in your organization and that means taking risks. Being in HR does not make you popular, but sometimes the tough, the new and the difficult are exactly what the organization needs to hear. As Margaret said at the start of the book – 21st-century HR means doing things differently! Stick to your guns. Find some supporters: build a critical mass. Pick some who don’t necessarily support. Take the knocks. Do what you believe to be right in your gut. Stick to your guns.

The SMG MBI: The Mindful Advantage In this section we describe our 6-week MBI, which was implemented ‘gently,’ organically, evolution not revolution.

The first phase Ethical considerations: commitment, timing and screening We asked potential participants to give consideration to participating in all six of the weekly workshops as we acknowledged this is a sizeable commitment

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of time. Susan requested that participants complete a confidential form so that she was aware of any potential risk factors such as a recent bereavement, major life transition or previous experience of mental health issues. Where she had any reservations, she conducted telephone conversations to ensure that the timing was appropriate for the individual. It is widely acknowledged that while mindfulness equips people with tools to manage stress (Bashford, 2012; Chaskalson, 2011), taking part in workshops like this with a group of colleagues can itself be stressful. As Jon Kabat-Zinn (2014) suggests, mindfulness is not for the faint-hearted and it requires (as Sally and Robert in their chapter assert) the ability to ‘sit with’ difficulties rather than engaging in the usual distractions of busyness and avoidance. For this reason it is, as colleagues Sandra and Jane (Chapter 6) state, vital that the trainer is able to contain and work with difficulties that may arise during the sessions, having travelled their own mindfulness journeys. In terms of the evidence base for our MBI, the course is integrative in its approach. It draws on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) (KabatZinn, 1990/2004), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) (Segal et al, 2002) and is underpinned by strengths-based approaches informed through positive psychology (Seligman, 2011; 2003) and psycho-educational concepts which inform Susan’s work as a practising psychologist and mindfulness trainer. As is emphasized throughout this book, partnering with a trainer who is authentic and embodies mindfulness is vital.

Structure of the MBI The courses are offered to groups of between 16 and 20 participants who meet for 90 minutes once a week over the six weeks. Our decision for using 90-minute sessions is that this allows sufficient time for people to engage in meditation practices, discussion and reflection and additional experiential exercises. Examples include becoming aware of stress triggers; exploring daily activities that deplete or nourish; and noticing thought patterns. As Margaret outlined in Chapter 3, our MBI progresses along a developmental pathway, with each week building on the previous session, as follows: Week 1  Week 2  Week 3  Week 4  Week 5  Week 6 

Stepping into the Moment What stops you Being Here? Staying Present – Breath, Body and Movement Reactions to Stress Thoughts are not Facts Acceptance and Change – Keeping your Mindfulness Alive

Disclosure One of the decisions, explored in Chapter 8, is about whether to include people who work together, as homogeneous teams. The way in which we handled this was to invite participants to take responsibility and give

Mindfulness in a media world

consideration to how much or how little they chose to disclose, recognizing that they were with people with whom they worked side by side. Rather than offering the training to specific groups within the agency, each course is open to all departments and all levels, with places offered on a ‘first come, first served basis’. As we observed earlier, the take-up and popularity has been immense and the places fill up quickly! We find that offering the training across departments means that there is cross-pollination of ideas and experiences, people realize that no matter the level of seniority or specific area of expertise, we all grapple with similar challenges and need support and nourishment from a variety of sources. The programme workbooks, CDs and meditation practices recorded during the sessions are made available to participants to support them with their personal (home) practice between sessions to enable continuity and to establish a routine. We offer this training as an invitation to explore mindfulness; while we believe it is worthwhile, we fully accept that it isn’t for all and the approach we use encourages any scepticism or reservations to be fully discussed – people can take part in the course and then see whether it is for them. We do ask however that people commit to the full six weeks and block out the sessions in their diaries in order to maximize participation. Our observations are that realistically people do tend to miss at least one of the sessions. Nonetheless, we do discourage people from booking if they know upfront that they will not make two or more sessions.

Tips Before offering a course ●● ●● ●●

Assessment of the suitability of timing for each participant is key. Be clear about the commitment you are asking for from participants. Choose a trainer who embodies mindfulness; who knows the business, the context – and with care!

Language ●●

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Be mindful around your language – how you position the sessions – how you introduce the sessions. Ensure that the language of the trainer matches the tone of the business. Ensure that the trainer has a full appreciation of the culture of the business.

Pace ●● ●● ●●

Move at the speed of the organization (evolution not revolution!). Achieve more with slowing down. Take it steady, introduce mindfulness slowly: mindfulness is not a ‘quick fix’.

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Evaluation of the MBI – measuring the benefits using mixed methods We recognize that as well as initiating change, we needed to be able to show return on investment (ROI). That is: is it worth it? So right from the start we have been evaluating the programme. We have now run five courses since our initial taster session in 2013. In order to measure the benefits of the MBI, we gathered both qualitative and quantitative data pre- and post-programme. Each participant is asked to complete a questionnaire at the beginning of the first session (pre-course questionnaire) and at the end of the sixth session (post-course questionnaire). The questionnaire was deliberately kept brief and takes about five minutes to complete so that it is feasible to complete it during the session. In keeping with the fast-paced nature of the business, we wanted to maximize response rates. We felt this would be significantly lower if they were asked to complete questionnaires in their own time. Data is anonymized: that is, participants are asked to create an identifier (eg mother’s maiden name) so that the pre- and post-course questionnaire can be linked. The questions asked at pre- and post-course for SMG were: ●● ●● ●●

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Are you able to be as focused as your work requires? Do you feel able to manage work-related pressure appropriately? Do you feel able to manage relationships with colleagues effectively? Do you feel able to perform to your highest ability? Do you feel able to engage fully with your work? Do you feel that your work–life balance is healthy?

Participants score these along a 6-point scale indicating frequency so that 1 indicates ‘never’ and 6 ‘always.’ We acknowledge it would be preferable to ask several questions to assess each of the topics covered in the questions above, but again, we felt this would result in a longer questionnaire and potentially reduce the response rate. As peers have explored in and across this book, it is vital that the measures used are contextualized, that are appropriate to your organization and the drivers behind introducing mindfulness. They may have more of a focus on absenteeism, or interpersonal dynamics. In our case, upon reflection, we are now exploring the relationship of mindfulness to the issue of sustainability of their mindfulness practice, a potential question being: ‘Do you feel that you have the tools to continue practising on an ongoing basis?’ The driver behind our desire to capture this data is that one of the intentions in offering the programme is to offer a set of tools that becomes a ‘way of being’.

Mindfulness in a media world

Results and findings Quantitative data The questionnaire scores were collated and sent for statistical analysis to senior lecturer Linda Morison at the University of Surrey. Table 4.1 shows the results from five courses run at SMG and shows the mean score pre- and post-course and then the percentage difference. Wilcoxon’s matched-pairs test was used to examine the differences between the pre- and post-course scores for statistical significance. All differences were statistically significant. The least significant change was for ‘feeling positive about relationships with colleagues’ (p=0.016). However, this is unsurprising, given that this question also had the highest mean pre-course score so there was less scope for increase. For all the other questions the evidence for change was very strong (p