Last week we talked about the importance of self-reflection and taking time for yourself. This week we spoke to Zoe Williams, executive leadership coach. She explained what mindfulness is and how to start practising both in your personal and professional life. 

What’s mindfulness?

“Mindfulness is focusing on fewer things, one thing or nothing, depending on how much you practise it.”

The majority of us rarely focus on just one thing; on the contrary, we are always carrying a lot of thoughts at the same time in our minds. This can lead to exhaustion and stress. 

“Mindfulness is about reducing the number of things that we focus on at a time.”

We are not our thoughts

The first thing to understand is that we are not our thoughts. As Zoe explains, we can think about our thoughts as a radio station. It’s something separate from us, and we can decide whether we listen to it or not and when. 

“Sometimes, at the end of the day, I talk to my friends, and we joke about the wild radio station we had in our minds that day. But then the next day, you will tune in to a different radio station, and your thoughts will be different.” 

And the beauty of it all is that you can always decide how much attention you pay to the “radio”. 

Mindfulness and meditation

Meditation is one of the techniques to practice mindfulness, but it’s not the only one. (More about this below)

When meditating, you usually try to sit very still and slow down the number of nervous system responses being sent to your body. This is why we should preferably sit on the floor, in silence and with our eyes closed. This way, we reduce the amount of sensory input we send to our brains. We also focus on our breathing. 

What meditation does is help slow our nervous systems down and allow our brains to relax. It’s about getting our minds into a restful state without going to sleep. 

“It’s actually better than sleep because you are conscious, and your nervous system is still alert.”

Our nervous system is the one that causes our minds to race, and through our breathing, we can regulate that response. (We talk more about breathing below)

What are the benefits of Mindfulness?

The main benefit of mindfulness is that we allow our nervous system to calm and rest. This is essential because it’s in this calm state that our nervous system focuses on healing.

Our bodies are constantly in a state of restore and repair. If our nervous system continually focuses on the outside and not on healing our bodies, we will suffer from more illnesses and diseases.

Therefore it makes sense that the more we allow our nervous system to focus on the inside, the better we will feel. 

“Practising mindfulness helps to slow our ageing too. I certainly look younger now than in my twenties.”

How can we start?

As mentioned above, meditation is not the only technique we can use to practise mindfulness.

Mindfulness practice is any activity that helps you focus on one thing and stop paying attention to your thoughts. This can be reading, gardening, sudoku, crosswords, baking, sewing, knitting, in essence, anything that helps you turn the volume of the “radio” down. 

Zoe recommends starting with an activity that we already enjoy. “It’s really difficult to create new habits and break old ones, so do something you already enjoy.”

Even going for a walk while listening to a podcast can be a way of practising mindfulness. 

Another great thing about Mindfulness is that once we have mastered it, we can practice it with other people. For example, many people practice it with their kids. You can use any activity and do it together while in silence.

She explains how beautiful and memorable her experience was, living in Tibet with Buddhist monks who practise mindfulness almost all day long. The great thing is that they do it as a community and thrive off of each other, as well as themselves.

Breathing Exercises

We asked Zoe to gives us some advice and exercises to help with our breathing. She mentioned “the box breathing technique”. 

The ideal way to practice this breathing technique is by lying down with your back flat on the floor and your hands on your stomach. The main focus point is that you start centring your breathing from the belly instead of the chest.

We breathe in through our nose and count to 4, hold in for 4, exhale through our mouths for 4, and wait for 4 until the next breath. 

This can make us feel lightheaded initially, which is another reason why it’s good to be lying down. 

We need to understand that the more oxygen we can get into our nervous systems, the safer and calmer we will feel. When we only do diaphragmatic breathing, which is breathing from our chest, we only fill 30 to 40 % of the capacity of our lungs.

This is a shallow type of breathing, usually the one we use when in a fight or flight situation. This sends a signal to our brains that tells it we are in danger and need to be alert. 

When we breathe through our stomach, we take in more oxygen into our lungs, which sends a message to our brains that it’s safe to relax and focus on healing. 

Doing this exercise just ten times has a tremendous effect on our nervous systems and the number of stress hormones that we get rushing through our bodies.

What are some of the biggest challenges when starting with Mindfulness?

“The biggest challenge is getting used to the discomfort of the brain not being able to switch off.”

Actually, when we start practising mindfulness, it’s pretty normal to have more thoughts and find it even more difficult to relax. According to Zoe, this is one of the reasons many people quit mindfulness at the beginning. But this is just the resistance from our brains because they don’t want to be without a job. 

If we think of our brains as a tool, it’s easy to understand that it wants to be helpful. Our brains are designed to solve problems, but most of us, in our everyday lives, have covered the main issues our brains are designed to solve; finding food, for example. So our brains create problems, issues and things to think about. 

“We are addicted to thinking.” 

The most important thing is accepting the fact that our thoughts will always be there, but we don’t need to focus on them. Instead, we can practise mindfulness and focus on something else. 

If we think about watching TV, our thoughts are still there, but we are just not engaging with them. They are running in the background. Our thoughts are there even when we sleep, which is why we dream. 

Zoe uses the example of the “parents filter”. “When you are in a birthday party with many kids shouting and screaming around you, parents can turn down the volume. It’s the same with our thoughts.”

Another big challenge for some people is to set boundaries. It’s quite normal for parents, for example, to feel guilty or selfish if they take time for themselves. Nonetheless, we all need our time just to relax and heal; this will also make us be better in our connections and relationships with others. 

Mindfulness in the workplace

Zoe works with many companies where she implements mindfulness practices. This can be very beneficial for innovation, creating psychological safety and deeper connections between team members. 

The first thing Zoe recommends for companies that want to implement some of these practices is to think about when it’s appropriate to practice mindfulness. 

There are many moments where we need to be reactive, fast in our thinking. This varies depending on the industry too. 

A good time to practice mindfulness within your team is before starting a meeting when you need people to be ready to listen and communicate effectively or when they need to be innovative, creative or feel safe. 

Some of the companies she works for use the box breathing exercise before starting a meeting. She calls it “setting the tone or intention”. As a leader, you need to set the tone and communicate to the rest of the team that now it’s the time to feel safe, relax, and be comfortable in bringing your best ideas and the best version of yourself. This simple exercise can have a dramatic impact on our team members, their confidence and their outputs.

It’s also a good idea for people to use this technique when they have back to back meetings. Taking the time to do 10 or 20 deep breaths between meetings can help our concentration and focus. 

The Optimist View…

Whatever activity feels comfortable for you, there is no doubt that practising mindfulness is beneficial and available to every one of us. 

We should never forget to take care of ourselves. Think about the instructions on the plane “put your mask on first”. The reason is that we need to be safe to help others. 

We can extrapolate the example to our daily lives. If we want to serve others, do our jobs properly and have a fulfilling life, we need to first focus on ourselves. 

Unfortunately, this is not an easy task because the majority of us are hectic and busy.

At Optimist Performance, we help people to overcome their challenges and achieve their full potential. Learn more about how our executive coaching programmes can help you readjust the balance and focus on you and how you fulfil your potential by clicking here. Alternatively, get in touch today and find out how we can help.

About Zoe Williams

Zoe Williams is the Founder of Luminary Mindset where she helps leaders to elevate the Emotional Intelligence (EI) culture of their organisations.

Learn more about Zoe and Luminary Mindset here.

The post How to start practising Mindfulness – Interview with Zoe Williams appeared first on Optimist Performance.

Research suggests:

• Companies with engaged employees are 17% more productive.  
• Companies with high employee engagement are 22% more profitable. 
• Teams who score in the top 20% in engagement experience a 59% decrease in employee turnover.
• And according to a Gallup study, highly engaged workspaces saw 41% lower absenteeism levels.

Yet the level of employee engagement in the UK is only 8%. And around the globe, only 15% of employees reported feeling engaged.

The good news is that the pandemic has brought a lot more attention to the value and care of the employee, with more significant concern for mental health and well-being. Also, it has accelerated many trends that were originally in their infancy, like the flexibility to work anytime, anywhere or the importance of investing in employee’s development. 

All of the above can have a significant impact on employee engagement. Still, a crucial part is to recognise engaged employees and work towards maintaining and improving those levels of engagement. 

Here are 7 characteristics of engaged employees and tips about how to keep increasing those levels of engagement.

HOW TO RECOGNISE AND NURTURE ENGAGED EMPLOYEES

Here are seven characteristics of an engaged employee and some tips as to how to maintain these seven attributes:

Committed 

Engaged employees have a sense of belonging; they feel part of the organisation. Their goals, growth and success align with the company, and they always look out for the company’s best interest.

OPTIMIST TIPS:

Create an environment that attracts people. It is not enough to offer a good salary and perks; companies need to provide a great environment that people want to belong to. 

As Gareth Southgate said on  “The high-performance” podcast when discussing the selection of players for the England team, “we should cut out the arrogance that everyone will want to belong to this team”. 

This example can easily translate to companies. With ever-growing opportunities, it’s naive to assume that people will want to be part of a company because of its name, salary or perks. Company cultures, workplace environments, diversity & inclusivity levels and ESG commitments are also significant factors in employees’ decisions. 

According to statistics, more than 4 million people quit their job in the USA in April because they felt confident about finding a new and better job.

Build an excellent company culture. Establish and communicate your vision and mission. In the same way that the work environment matters, people also want to feel that their jobs are meaningful. Younger generations not only care about their daily jobs, but they also want to work for a company with great values and purpose. 

Be open and transparent with every person in the organisation. Transparency is critical to create a great work environment and align people with the company culture. 

Listen to employees and what they have to say. Provide safe listening channels where people feel comfortable giving feedback and suggestions. Open chats are an excellent way for employees to communicate their doubts, worries and needs.

Motivated and Enthusiastic 

Engaged employees are the ones who brighten up the room. They are passionate about what they do, and they are always willing to go the extra mile. 

OPTIMIST TIPS:

Show appreciation. You can offer some types of reward, but showing appreciation sometimes is more about genuine gestures. For example, sharing and congratulating someone is a great way to recognise their efforts.  

“People want to know they matter, and they want to be treated as people. That’s the new talent contract.” – Pamela Stroko.

Provide constructive feedback. Feedback should be an ongoing process, and it should also be reciprocal. Leaders and managers not only should be giving feedback, but also they should be asking for it. 

“The biggest concern for any organisation should be when their most passionate people become quiet.” – Tim McClure.

Incentivise motivation. When possible, try aligning people’s personal goals with the company’s goals. In addition, try to keep morale high within the organisation by trying things out of the ordinary. Activities, events, support, anything that demonstrates thought and gratitude can help maintain and improve morale, motivation, and engagement. 

Satisfied and loyal 

They are content and happy with their jobs. Engaged employees are loyal to their teams, managers, and organisations, which means they are more inclined to stay through the tough times. Not only are they loyal, but they also show greater levels of resilience through difficult times.

OPTIMIST TIPS:

It’s great to have employees who are loyal to you or the organisation, but loyalty should be reciprocated. You need to have their backs too, and be ready to protect them if necessary. 

Keep open lines of communication. It’s in difficult situations when genuine and authentic communication is critical. Don’t be afraid of including people in difficult conversations; sometimes, you can be surprised at the ideas they can bring to the table. 

Show vulnerability. Sometimes leaders and managers feel the need to look strong when in reality, people feel more connected when they show vulnerability. It makes them more human, more relatable. 

Accept failure as part of the journey. Create an environment where failure is seen as a path towards learning instead of something to be avoided and ashamed of. Sharing mistakes and lessons learned can be an excellent way to overcome failure, and it also allows others to learn from previous experiences. 

Growth mindset 

Engaged employees want to keep growing and learning with the company. They engage not only with their tasks but also with other teams and work areas. 

OPTIMIST TIPS:

Set up training programmes that allow people to continually learn and grow. Training shouldn’t only be about technical skills; soft skills are just as necessary. After the pandemic, more companies are seeing the value of investing in reskilling. 

Personal growth matters too. According to the ADP Research Institute study about employee engagement, the most engaged employee is the one who has a side hustle. A great example is the 20% project at Google. They allow their employees to use 20% of their time on their personal projects. 

Fortunately, you don’t need to be Google to ensure personal growth within the people in your organisation. Connecting people, teams, and tasks according to someone’s passions can be a great way to secure personal development. 

Promote in-house hiring. Offering development and growth opportunities to engaged employees shows appreciation and keeps motivation and engagement levels high. 

Aware

They know the company values, vision and mission and align with them. They also know their role and the value they add to the company. 

OPTIMIST TIPS:

Establish clear roles, responsibilities and boundaries. Whilst providing clarity around roles, responsibilities and expectations within the role is important, it is essential to set up clear boundaries that allow people to separate their professional and personal lives. These boundaries are great contributors to mental health and work-life balance too.

Have high expectations that positively challenge people. When you expect great things from the people you work with, more often than not, they deliver. In contrast, if your expectations are low, no one will make an effort to do better. Nonetheless, high expectations should be moderated and kept within reason so that you continually aim to provide growth and improvement for the individual. 

Accountable 

Engaged employees feel accountable for their jobs. They are responsible and reliable; you can always count on them to do their jobs and beyond. 

OPTIMIST TIPS:

People feel more accountable for their jobs when they have some level of autonomy. It also shows trust. 

Give your employees flexibility. “Work anytime, anywhere” is becoming increasingly popular, and it will be a significant factor in employee engagement. 

Offer autonomy. Don’t tell people how to do their jobs. Instead, you should challenge them to be creative, resourceful and independent. Ask questions instead of giving answers. It’s a great way to encourage independence and accountability. 

Optimistic 

They believe in themselves, but also their teams, managers and organisations. An optimistic employee will always look at the silver lining and find the way forward in difficult situations. 

OPTIMIST TIPS:

Create a healthy and positive environment. We are all influenced by the people around us, and unfortunately, negative emotions and behaviours spread faster than positive ones. So engaged employees will become less involved and ultimately leave the company when exposed to a hostile environment. 

As Perry Belcher says, “Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one.”

Be conscious about emotions and behaviours at work. It’s not only productivity and performance that matters. Emotions and behaviours have a significant impact and should be considered too. Having frequently one to one conversations with your team, offering support for mental health, or if your company is working remotely, putting systems in place that allow enhancing the community can be great ways to maintain positive emotions and behaviours.

THE OPTIMIST VIEW…

At Optimist Performance, we are very aware of the value that engaged employees have for a business. But we also know that keeping high levels of engagement can be tricky, even more so in big companies.

Nonetheless, employee engagement should always be a priority for management because when you care about your employees, they care about your customers and about your business. 

If you are looking for that extra dose of motivation, and engagement, get in touch with us. We organise experiential events and motivational speaking sessions that aim to keep your team’s morale and engagement at an all-time high. 

What do you do to make sure your employees are engaged at work? Let us know in the comments. 

The post 7 Qualities Of Engaged Employees And How To Increase Engagement appeared first on Optimist Performance.