Mindfulness at Work

When I worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, I had close to 200 clients in my case load. The demands were overwhelming. Each person had a history of injury, disability, and needs that were often heart wrenching. The stress for both my clients and me was over powering at times. I was constantly filled with gratitude that I had a longstanding mindfulness practice that helped me deal with these challenges. However, it’s a very limited view to see mindfulness training in a work situation as valuable only as a stress reduction or wellness program.

Mindfulness is the capacity to be aware of what’s happening in the present moment with a quality of attention that’s curious, and accepting. The point is to pay close attention, to see more clearly what’s happening in the moment.

How is this helpful? When your mind is going round and round in circles, then slowing down, taking a pause, and listening deeply, allows inner wisdom to emerge and many options to appear. 

“When we succeed in keeping alive a connection to our deeper source of knowing, we begin to better tune into future possibilities.” Otto Scharmer

For instance, in this video Sujatha Baliga describes how connecting with deep wisdom helped her bring about a career transition. As a lawyer, she initially intended to be a victim advocate and a prosecutor which, she says, was a direct result of abuse she suffered as a child. However, a “transformation of heart and mind” aided by a mindfulness practice, led her through a process of forgiveness. In this way, her career choice changed completely and she began developing restorative justice programs. These types of programs are starting to provide alternatives to an adversarial and criminalizing justice process. 

Mindfulness could also contribute to bringing about change in an entire industry. For instance, in the video below, Ed Earl describes an approach to construction project management based on mindful communication which he calls “collaborative construction”. He explains that construction is normally a top-down, competitive process between the architect, the contractor and subcontractors. When something goes wrong the blame game begins. With collaborative construction, however, everyone at all levels is empowered to speak their piece and to say “I think there’s a better way to do this”. It’s a method based on trust, co-operation, shared values, shared purpose and open communication. Ed states: “It creates harmony and lasting relationships” and he offers the opinion that “it can transform the construction industry”.

Maybe such radical change isn’t possible in your industry, and it’s not possible for you to drastically change your career. Mindfulness can also help you find options in the way you approach your job that go way beyond stress reduction.  For example, in the video below, police Lieutenant Richard Goerling details such a change he made in how he approached his work. He describes a call he was on where he had to deal with a 12-year old boy who was totally out of control. The boy’s mother was an admitted prostitute and drug user. Goerling says, in the past, he might have been very judgmental to the mother but after learning mindfulness skills he has found it possible to be more compassionate. He comments:

“In that moment she found humanity in this encounter with police. And even though everybody around her in her neighborhood was likely judging her and had their own conclusions and knew the right answer and had a prescription for how she could change her life, in that moment she got to encounter a police officer who wasn’t judging her or her world and who was simply able to help her. Mindfulness can really transform the relationship between police and the people we are sworn to serve.”

Mindfulness helps us to be more fully present which helps us respond to difficulties out of a creative, intuitive, connected place.  This can allow us to step out of fixed ideas of who we are and begin to see each other as fellow human beings.  This is an active, not passive, role that contributes to seeing more options and to identifying actions that will contribute to both your own well being and to creating change within organizations and entire industries. Yes, mindfulness is about much more than stress reduction.