Here, Now – The Mindful Manager

Please Join Us!

What: #MTtalk

Where: Twitter

When: Friday, Sept 30, 2016 @ 1pm EST (6pm BST)

Topic: Here, Now – The Mindful Manager

Host: @Mind_Tools

About This Week's Chat: the Mindful Manager

Have you ever worked with someone who wasn't particularly mindful? A while ago I had the opportunity to observe just such a manager interact with his team.

The team worked on a construction site populated with prefabricated offices and, because the walls of these offices weren't solid brick or stone, they made a big, loud noise when you hit something against them. It had become one of this seemingly not very mindful person's pastimes to throw stones against the walls when he walked past some of the offices.

I asked this manager about it and he said he knew the people working in the offices got a fright every time he did it. He thought it was hilarious.

I accompanied him on a number of site visits and was astounded by his tone of voice, especially when he felt under pressure. People were scared to talk to him because of how he reacted and at times only reported problems when it was almost too late. Because he was also a notoriously bad listener, employees often felt he disrespected them or didn't care.

Although it was never his intention to be harsh or rude, his lack of mindfulness certainly caused him to be seen in that way. Being a little more mindful would have gone a long way in this case. He would have thought about the effect of his behavior, reactions, tone of voice, and odd sense of humor on employees, and possibly decided to change them.

Instead, I witnessed how his lack of mindfulness caused havoc with his work-based relationships. Many employees didn't fully trust him, and some challenged his authority openly. Others did the minimum amount of work required and bad-mouthed him behind his back. Only the employees he liked were loyal to him.

In Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman says that about 50 to 70 percent of how employees experience their organization's climate can be attributed to what their leader does. The leader creates the environment that determines how people feel at the office. In turn, their mood affects their productivity and level of engagement.

So, in #MTtalk this week we're discussing how mindfulness can influence a manager's behavior. Here are some questions to get you thinking:

• Why should a manager bother with mindfulness?
• What does it mean to be mindful?
• What makes a mindful manager different from other managers?
• Does mindfulness impact on time management? If so, how?
• How can mindfulness be introduced at work?
• How can mindfulness reduce the operating costs of a business?

Resources

To help you to prepare for the chat, we've compiled a list of resources for you to read:

• Exploring Mindfulness
• Enjoying Now!
• A Leader’s Mood
• Building Good Work Relationships
• Managing Highly Sensitive People

At Mind Tools, we like hearing and learning from people from all over the world, and our Twitter chats are no exception. We'd love you to share your thoughts, ideas and experience in the #MTtalk chat this Friday at 1pm EST (6pm BST). Remember, we feature great participant responses right here on our blog every week!

How to Join

Follow us on Twitter to make sure you don't miss out on any of the action this Friday! We'll be tweeting out 10 questions during our hour-long chat. To participate, type #MTtalk in the Twitter search function. Then, click on "All Tweets" and you'll be able to follow the live chat feed. You can join the chat by using the hash tag #MTtalk in your responses.