Mindfulness in the Workplace - Live Well Love Life

Reduce Stress at Work – Reach your Potential

Mindfulness training in the Workplace has become the latest tool to hit the corporate world in search of ever more innovative methods to create the ultimate efficient and creative workforce. There is no doubt from the research and from anecdotal evidence that mindfulness techniques lead to a happier more engaged workforce, and it makes absolute sense to take care of the people who are the creative force for whatever your company produce.

Mindfulness in the workplace has been adapted to suit the time restrictions of most corporate CPD programmes and is slightly shorter than the usual MBSR courses, and therefore can be incorporated into a 1 or 1.5 hour slot within the working week.

The present is the only time that any of us have to be alive – to know anything – to learn – to act – to change – to heal.

Jon Kabat Zinn. Full Catastrophe Living

Reduce Stress at Work – Reach your Potential

Mindfulness is now part of Continuing Professional Development as research demonstrates how learning techniques can reduces stress and interpersonal relationships, whilst also enhancing decision-making capability, creativity and emotional intelligence. Mindfulness practice helps release potential that has been diminished by over-busyness, stress and fatigue, but perhaps also efficacy that has been compromised through conflicting communication styles, relationships across vertical and horizontal hierarchies. “Hell” (Stress) is other people”, is a well known expression which in my experience, both at home and at work, can be very true, as can the opposite. Harmonious relationships, created via skilful communication skills and high levels of emotional intelligence are often innate, but frequently need to be learned in high stakes business. These innate skills are often the first to desert us when the going gets tough.

Mindfulness in the Workplace programmes are simple yet powerful practices that anyone can incorporate into daily life to help break the cycle of stress and its destructive effects on our ability to reach not only our own potential as an individual, with a sense of real pride in our contribution to the whole, but of the group’s potential to work toward common goals and achieve together.

Mindfulness in the workplace therefore implies working at many levels within and across teams and with individuals from different levels of hierarchy, often leading to benefits in personal, relational and social practices, including also the raised awareness of self and others which often also then leads to raised levels of understanding – crucial for customer and employee satisfaction.

The traditional Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Courses as conceived by Jon Kabat-Zinn and for which I have been trained, can be adapted to suit the time restrictions of most corporate CPD programmes and is slightly shorter than the usual MBSR courses, and therefore can be incorporated into a 1 or 1.5 hour slot within the working week, or indeed modified to suit from a menu of choices which reflect an organisations needs. These could be short half or one day introductory workshops, to 6 week in-house courses or the full 8 week MBSR. Week long intensives are also available for a smaller number of participants, perhaps from across leadership teams.

The present is the only time that any of us have to be alive – to know anything – to learn – to act – to change – to heal.

Jon Kabat Zinn. Full Catastrophe Living