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July 17, 2011
Mindfulness Matters
by Bob Tschannen-Moran

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In her extensive research and writing on trust in schools, my wife, Megan, notes that trust is hard to define because it is easier to describe the absence than the presence of trust. Trust is like air: we take it for granted until it becomes polluted or scarce. Mindfulness works the same way. So many definitions describe mindfulness in terms of what it is not: not distracted, not judgmental, not reactive, not bored, and not attached to an outcome. Although these statements are all true, they do not help us very much when it comes to incorporating mindfulness into our life and work as leaders. What, exactly, are we supposed to do and how, exactly, are we supposed to be? Read on to get some answers.

LifeTrek Provision

• Mindfulness is focused attention. Mindfulness starts when we bring our attention to what is happening in the present moment. This is best done with a gentle rather than a forceful spirit. Focused attention is not a matter of self-control. We are not commanding the powers of attention; we are rather inviting our minds to settle down and to focus on something. When our minds wander off, we gently bring them back. Returning to focus is a critical part of mindfulness.
  
• Mindfulness is single tasking. Mindfulness starts with turning off our cell phones! That's a metaphor, of course, for managing our environments so as to support our intention of getting and staying focused. How many times have you interrupted your conversation with someone to take a call or to attend to an entirely unrelated matter? How do you think they felt when that happened? Great leaders make people feel special by staying engaged with conversations and tasks until there is a sense of closure.
  
• Mindfulness is seeing perfection. There is a saying in the coaching industry, often attributed to one of the founders of the modern coaching movement, Thomas Leonard: "Everything is perfect just the way it is, even when it's obviously not." That saying reflects the mindset of great leaders. How can that be? Here is at least one way to understand the obvious: things are what they are, and that means they are perfectly designed for our own learning and growth. Think about it.
  
• Mindfulness is charge neutral. Although leaders have emotions as much as anyone else, both positive and negative, great leaders manage our emotions in real time until we are charge neutral in the contemplation and consideration of events. Whatever is happening now is happening now. Getting all worked up, one way or the other, can interfere with wisdom. Great leaders learn how to manage our brainstems and their accompanying Limbic systems.
  
• Mindfulness is openness to possibility. Yoda raised that spaceship from the swamp not because he set his mind to it and made it happen. It happened because Yoda was open to the possibility of it happening. What a different take on leadership from mental toughness and determination! By staying open to and inviting possibility, great leaders generate great results which surprise even us. We don't know the outcome ahead of time, but we trust it can be wonderful.
  
• Mindfulness is noticing novelty. I have written before about the difference between foveal and peripheral vision, most recently in April of last year in my Provision on the rituals of great leaders. Too often we see only what is in our clear line of sight, and then only what we want to see. Mindfulness encourages us to see the big picture and to notice stuff that is different than we might expect. When such curiosity carries an appreciative spirit, it often becomes the hallmark of innovation.

These are some of the positive attributes of mindfulness that great leaders come to embody and practice on a regular basis. No one does them all the time. But great leaders have a way of doing them more of the time than others. And this doesn't happen by accident. It happens on purpose. Great leaders set our intention to show up and to carry ourselves in a mindful way. With practice anyone can increase how often and how well this happens. We're never more than one decision away from making it so.

Coaching Inquiries: What is your decision when it comes to mindfulness? How do you show up and carry yourself in life and work? How well do you embody the six attributes of mindfulness identified in this Provision? What could help you to embody them more fully? What is one thing you could do right now that would make you more mindful? Who could join and support you on the journey?

To reply to this Provision, use our Feedback Form. To talk with us about coaching or consulting services for yourself or your organization, use our Contact for Coaching Form to arrange for a complimentary conversation.

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