How to manage with mindfulness

Are you a mindful manager?

I have taught psychology at the University of Manitoba for the past 25 years. One of my favorite psychologists is Dr. Ellen Langer. I find her work on mindlessness and mindfulness both fascinating and practical. I strongly recommend her 1989 book, Mindfulness. The book is as valid today as it was 18 years ago. The book is both practical and entertaining. Langer does a masterful job of including all kinds of interesting anecdotes and tidbits that keep you interested and engaged with mindfulness. The book includes a specific chapter on mindfulness on the job.

Dr. Langer is a Harvard psychologist who looks at the topic of mindfulness from a Western perspective. We become more mindful when we consciously:

• create new categories
• remain open to new information
• maintain awareness of more than one perspective
• pay close attention to context
• focus on process before outcome

Here is a quotation on mindfulness and management that stood out for me from page 143:

Of all the qualities in a manager conducive to innovation and initiative, a degree of uncertainty may be the most powerful. If a manager is confident but uncertain – confident that the job will get done but without being certain of exactly the best way of doing it – employees are likely to have more room to be creative, alert, and self-starting. When working for a confident but uncertain leaders, we are less likely to feign knowledge or hide mistakes, practices that can be costly to a company.

Can you embrace the paradox of confidence and uncertainty to foster creative, alert, and self-starting employees?

Click here to read a short PDF PowerPoint presentation on Mindfulness at Work by Ben Dattner and Allison Dunn or click here to read the article Mindless in America based on Dr. Langer’s work.

David Zinger believes if you don’t mind your mind it will mind you!

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