Mindfulness Is Not Enough

Are you tired of hearing about mindfulness? In many ways, I am.

If you look up “Corporate Mindfulness Programs” you’ll find about a zillion stories about how mindfulness can impact organizations’ performance, employee engagement, well-being, and so on. All of that is true. Mindfulness practices can be really great, and I practice them, I teach them, I offer them for organizations seeking to stem the “brain drain” in their organizations.

They’re Not The One True Path To Employee Engagement, and They Are NOT Enough.

Mindfulness (often a synonym for some kind of meditation practice — and that list is huge!) can be incredibly powerful when used well, and to be sure, many organizations are seeing benefits from incorporating these practices, but there are many other ways people can increase resilience, find greater well-being, decrease stress, and become more connected to their coworkers and their company’s mission, and it’s important to have a variety of options for your people, rather than pinning all your engagement hopes on mindfulness practices.

And, just as important, mindfulness cannot be a long-term antidote for a toxic culture. Having a weekly meditation in the cafeteria won’t help if people are expected to work 18 hour days and take work home on the weekends, or if they don’t have adequate psychological safety in their teams to address serious topics, or if they aren’t being provided with the tools they need to do their jobs, don’t see how their work adds value, and don’t have good relationships with their colleagues.

Here are three other ways you can shift your culture to one that’s more productive, more positive, and more likely to attract and retain top talent.

1. Results matter — even incremental ones. People need to understand that what they’re doing matters, and an easy way for that to happen is for leadership to TELL them. And I’m not just talking about a “Great job! You Matter!” Try showcasing incremental progress, with metrics around how it’s moving an initiative or project towards the ultimate goal. “Team Koala was able to complete 8 major and 15 minor revisions this month, putting us 27% closer to launch! Great job, Team Koala!” If you’ve got a recognition budget, you might include some gift cards to a local coffee shop, or some other tangible but right-sized reward. Don’t go crazy and send people to Tahiti every time they make incremental progress, but that little boost can go a long way towards increasing morale — and production!
2. Make Random Acts of Kindness not-so-random. Encouraging colleagues to just be nice to each other can have a powerful impact on team cohesion and functionality. It’s also been shown to decrease stress, increase energy, and have a host of other health and emotional benefits. So how can you encourage people to be nicer to each other? Make it easy! The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation has a ton of resources (including posters, cards, even Kindness Recognition Certificates!), for FREE! (how’s that for ROI!) One company I worked with asks people to nominate colleagues who are “Caught Being Kind” for a monthly drawing. What a great concept. You can take kindness to the next level by encouraging teams to engage in RAK activities together, too!
3. Cultivate Gratitude. Southwest Airlines transformed their culture by focusing on gratefulness with incredible results, and really showcases how leadership commitment to gratitude is a game-changer. To make gratitude a core value, you need to move beyond appreciation, and recognize how much our individual success is actually the culmination of many people’s efforts. So what does that look like in practice? It depends on your organization, and don’t overlook the physical design of how your people work together. A gratitude wall in the cafeteria can be a great way to encourage people to share their appreciation for colleagues, but it doesn’t do you much good if half your workforce doesn’t come into the office (and in fact this can deepen the divide between onsite and remote staff). The Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley has some great information on how to make gratitude a part of your culture.

In a world where “Army of One” and “Dog Eat Dog” have been (misguided but popular) core principles of our image of success, we need leaders who are willing to set a good example and show another path to the top. There’s an old saying about measuring a person’s character by watching how they treat the wait staff, The same is true of housekeeping/facilities, the barista in the coffee shop, and the person who delivers your mail, or any person who wouldn’t traditionally be seen as “a ladder rung to success”. Create spaces where kindness is the norm, not a reason to pass somebody over for promotion. Celebrate often, and build relationships. Bake gratitude into everything you do. These practices go hand-in-glove with mindfulness, and build on it in ways that we’re still discovering, but are all amazing.