BUS603: Managing People

Following de Vries et al. a leader's communication style represents a "distinctive set of interpersonal communicative behaviors". Mindfulness, with its inherent focus on being present and non-judgmental, seems particularly suitable for promoting the quality of communication. Specifically, we assume mindfulness to be related to specific communication behaviors that we term mindfulness in communication. Drawing on the mindfulness literature, we propose that mindfulness in communication consists of three facets: (a) being present and paying attention in conversations, (b) an open, non-judging attitude, and (c) a calm, non-impulsive manner. These features inherently reflect interpersonal attunement and thereby fit well with a relational view of communication in leadership, in which influence is understood to result from interaction. In what follows, we provide a detailed rationale for our assumption that leader dispositional mindfulness is reflected in these three facets of mindfulness in communication.

First, an inherent element of mindfulness is presence, referring to "the bare awareness of the receptive spaciousness of our mind". With this, the link to communication is straightforward: bare awareness, or the conscious and "direct experience of here-and-now sensory information" is expected to result in a high level of attention in interactions. Individuals who are able to focus on the immediate now are not distracted by thoughts and rumination concerning past or future events. This, in turn, is an important prerequisite for effective listening. The importance of listening for effective leader–follower communication has been stressed by several scholars. In a survey of van Vuuren et al., for example, listening was shown to be the second most important factor of leader communication style for follower commitment. Furthermore, there is empirical evidence that careful listening is associated with transformational leadership and effective interpersonal influence. Also, a qualitative study conducted by Alvesson and Sveningsson revealed that leaders themselves consider listening a central feature of their role. Empirical support for the notion that leaders' dispositional mindfulness may translate into improved listening skills comes from several studies linking dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness trainings to reduced rumination and improved attentional performance. Moreover, an intervention study conducted by Beckman et al. showed that physicians who participated in a communication training, which included mindfulness meditation, reported that mindfulness improved their abilities to be attentive and to better listen to their patients.

The second rationale for linking leader mindfulness to leader communication style is based on the second essential feature of mindfulness, namely acceptance. Acceptance refers to "being experientially open to the reality of the present moment", "without being swept up by judgments". This non-judgmental, present-centered awareness may help leaders to keep an open mind in interactions with their followers and to be open to other perspectives and opinions without rashly evaluating and categorizing incoming information. By paying attention in a non-judgmental manner, mindful individuals (i.e., leaders) are better able "to retain information and thus see their true significance rather than being carried away by their reactions". In this understanding, mindful leaders are not free of making judgments and evaluations. However, before doing so, they give their followers the opportunity to fully communicate their message and let their attention not be influenced by automatic reactions and rash interpretations.

The third rationale refers to research linking mindfulness to effective emotion regulation. Accounting for this effect, scholars have consistently referred to the process of reperceiving or decentering and argued that mindfulness permits individuals to disidentify from their emotions and experience them as transient cognitive events rather than aspects of their self and thus as less threatening. There is robust empirical evidence that mindfulness is associated with lower levels of negative affect and higher levels of positive affect. Accordingly, mindfulness enables leaders to better deal with negative affective states and stressful events. In terms of communication, better emotion regulation should be reflected in an increased ability to maintain composure in tense situations instead of being overwhelmed by emotions.

Empirical support for the assumed relation of mindfulness and communication behavior comes from marital and family research. Several studies in this area found a positive relationship between mindfulness and outcomes pertaining to communication quality among couples, such as perspective taking and empathic concern, constructive conflict, and mutual acceptance. Moreover, Krasner et al. designed and evaluated a communication training for primary care physicians that included mindfulness meditation. After the training, participants demonstrated improvements in dispositional mindfulness and, importantly, perspective taking when relating to patients.

Taken together, we propose that leaders' dispositional mindfulness is positively related to specific communication behaviors (mindfulness in communication), as perceived by their followers.