On Friday 28th February 2020, associate consultant Susan Grandfield led our monthly event with a session titled ‘Mindfulness in Business and Leadership’
For over 20 years Susan has been working with individuals, teams and leaders to enable them to step out of autopilot, step off the busy treadmill of life and work and reconnect with what is truly important to them. With a Masters in Studies in Mindfulness and a qualified Mindfulness teacher (registered on the UK listing), both of which enable Susan to effectively bring mindfulness to people in business and all at Taylor Clarke were keen to find out more.
Leaders, employees and business owners across all sectors are feeling overwhelmed, “unable to switch off” and therefore more reactive and less proactive. The solution? Mindfulness.
But what is Mindfulness?
“A state of mind, a way of being, which we can bring to every situation and every relationship we have”, Susan Grandfield
Our session began with Susan asking all participants to close their eyes/look down and take a few moments. After this, Susan asked the room “How we were”. Jade noted she couldn’t help but wonder what emails might be in her inbox while she was away from the desk, Cameron was worrying about a relative in New Zealand and the fast-spreading Coronavirus, Lynne was feeling at one with herself after the few moments of relaxation and Ian was intrigued. So, as with most rooms in the workplace- mixed!
Susan went on to explain more about the meaning of Mindfulness. Susan explained that you “Don’t Do Mindfulness” as the practice is a way of being and that we should note this is not a new skill. We know how to be mindful; we just don’t remember to do it. Mindfulness is about settling the mind. When applied, mindfulness can alter our minds operating system and decreases activity in the “fight-or flight” part of the brain. Susan explained that mindfulness helps us actively select our responses and take our time to be more in tune.
Susan summarized this as “pressing pause” and stop living on fast forward. Learn to press pause and value pressing pause as this:
allows us to return to a sense of being
creates the opportunity for greater clarity
allows our mind and body to reconnect
opens up the space for creativity
improves communication, decision making and emotional intelligence
Susan then explained what Mindfulness in Business is and what it’s not. For example, it is, a springboard for Culture Change and it's not, just offering meditation, yoga or quiet rooms. Then moving on as a group to look at why we are not mindful. This is caused by “The triangle of Disruption” (see image)
This led into an insightful discussion about finding the balance with techniques such as switching off notifications, stop multitasking to focus on one single task at a time, schedule time in your calendar and of course, practice mindfulness.
Whilst we are all unique, there are two key factors which make the difference to personal and business success; focus and clarity of thought. When you can clear through the clutter of a busy mind, see clearly what is not serving you or your business and focus your energy on what is truly important then big changes happen. Susan’s approach combines psychology and neuroscience with experience in the business world. If you would like to speak to Susan about the changes that practicing Mindfulness can make to yourself or business/organisation, then please email mail@taylorclarke.co.uk
Watch Susan talk about why she is passionate about mindfulness in business in our video below!
Susan discussing Mindfulness in Business as part of Taylor Clarke's Passion Series