The Gentle Power of the Mindful Leader

Mindfulness is defined as "the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something". I started my journey into mindfulness back in 2014 when I just happened to read a book by Ruby Wax called "Sane New World". Ruby's book helped me to recognise that I was suffering from high levels of stress, brought on from the juggle of work and caring for 2 young children. But what does this have to do with mindful leadership? Far more reaching was the realisation that I was living quite unconsciously, being unaware of what was happening in the moment. The impact on this is that it reduces your choice to respond skilfully to what is happening for you and others.

Since then I have been building my moment-by-moment awareness, and have noticed all sorts of ways that this can help me respond better to others as a leader, and to support people better. Some typical scenarios that we face every day:

• adopting different stances: how do you know whether in this moment the people you are serving need you to mentor, coach, advise or direct them?

• facilitating conflict: how can you be aware enough that you are in a moment of conflict first of all, then the feelings that this is triggering in you, so that you can respond in a helpful way for others?

• impact of hierarchy: what habitual patterns are triggered in you when interacting with someone you perceive as being more senior to you in the organisation? How can you become aware of this so that you can respond in a helpful way, both for you and them?

How can you build the mindful awareness needed to respond to these types of situation? Here are some tips:

• Meditation: building the awareness muscle is the same as building any other, and it will get stronger with practice. There are lots of free resources on YouTube. Even 5 minutes every morning will help you to develop over time

• Journaling: noting down your responses to situations and the end of the day, and thinking about what was coming up for you will help to build awareness

• Accountability buddy: let a trusted confidante know about your intentions to develop awareness and make choices on how you respond. Ask them for feedback on how you are doing, and talk over scenarios with them

Finally, utilise the tool that you have with you in every moment - breathe! When faced with a tricky situation, breathing slowly and deeply stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which brings to you back to responsiveness, allowing you to make a skilful choice. By doing this so you will bring a new type of gentle and powerful leadership.

Further resources: Book - "Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World" by Mark Williams and Danny Pennman