Mindfulness for leadership in enterprises

The power of mindfulness in enterprises leadership

Nowadays a company who wants to lead the market must lead the team first, and focus on the employee as the most important resource of the business. Employee is King and good leaders knows it.

We interview Montse Rojo

Montse Rojo, a mindfulness expert, is our guest today. She works as a mediator and facilitator of change. One of the many tools she uses in the development of her profession is mindfulness.

Why is mindfulness helpful for companies

Currently, this practice is being incorporated into wellness programs in many companies. It consists of one-hour sessions where mindfulness meditation techniques are taught. The employee becomes aware of what is happening at that moment and of his or her own thoughts. The regular exercise of this type of practice proves to be very effective in reducing stress, improving the ability to concentrate, and even developing creativity.

In this interview, you will learn what mindfulness is and how we can use this technique to develop leadership.

The interview with Montse Rojo: mindfulness for the leadership

1. What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness, in a nutshell, is a series of practices that allow focusing in the present moment. In a business or organizational environment, it is extremely valuable.

2. Why is it so relevant now?

Mindfulness has been implemented in organizations for more than 30 years. National and international companies have included it in their training agenda and wellness plans with very satisfactory results.

This pandemic and teleworking have tested our resilience and highlighted the need to strengthen emotional self-management and skills to generate and imagine from a new perspective. For all these reasons, mindfulness is more in demand than ever.

3. How can it be applied to leadership development?

Change and transformation dominate our environment and must be also essential in leadership. Today, a leader has to be honest, creative, capable of bringing together diversities, inviting involvement and creation. In essence, mindfulness offers effectiveness in reacting to a baffling work environment that demands strong but also more flexible leadership than ever before.

4. What benefits does it bring to an organization?

“Knowing how to function from respect following the same path, working as a group with the same sense of commitment, and knowing how to set goals collectively, requires fostering group awareness from different parameters.” - Montse Rojo

Effective communication, shared culture, respect, connectivity, are words that are here to stay. Mindfulness helps us to achieve all this and that is why organizations do not hesitate to integrate it into their training programs.

5. How can a company measure the ROI of investing in mindfulness?

I love this question. I think that if there is something positive about mindfulness, it is how quickly it permeates a way of performing or functioning. The level of the participants’ well-being usually increases very effectively and this reflects in their degree of engagement and the reduction of conflict. The companies that have hired me have valued very positively the impact these practices have in the short term in the development of their objectives and the improvement of the organizational climate.

Finally, I love the phrase of a great teacher and mindfulness promoter, Jack Kornfield, who says that in essence there are three things that matter: how we lived, how we loved and how we learned to let go. In all three, mindfulness can help us a lot.

Thank you very much, Montse!

Final tips

One of the fundamental aspects to create a good wellness program in organizations is to listen to people’s needs. For this, continuous feedback will be key. Having channels and tools to help us understand the state of mind of the employees will help the company to adapt its wellness plans. In conclusion, it is a matter of creating tailor-made programs that will improve the organization’s working environment and the team’s well-being. This is how a company changes for good.