BUS603: Managing People

Our focus on interpersonal benefits of mindfulness points to several practical implications, especially with regard to leadership development. While a large body of research on mindfulness-based interventions provides evidence that mindfulness can be trained, research on mindfulness interventions in the workplace is still in its infancy. However, in practice, there is already a growing interest in mindfulness-based training programs, and many organizations presently use mindfulness-based trainings in personnel and leadership development. This interest of practitioners is accompanied, and partly caused, by a growing body of non-scientific, popular literature, and a number of articles in newspapers and magazines, praising the benefits of a "mindful leadership style". However, such reports are often grounded in anecdotal evidence and more rigorous research is needed to explore the role of mindfulness in the leadership context and to provide evidence-based approaches for practitioners in organizations. The findings of our study provide preliminary empirical support for the potential value of fostering mindfulness in organizations and suggest that mindfulness may not just promote personal wellbeing and resilience, as it has been shown by other scholars before, but also may have positive effects on interpersonal skills and communication behavior. Thus, since communication competencies are key to effective leadership, mindfulness-based interventions and training may represent a promising tool for effective leadership development. Despite the promising value of such leadership training, it is, however, important to consider potential pitfalls of mindfulness too. For instance, it is conceivable that a leader may use mindful communication for the mere purpose of impression management with selfish or unhealthy goals in mind. An ethically informed view on corporate mindfulness, as advocated by several scholars in the last years, may help to prevent potential dark side-effects of mindfulness.

As a general note of caution, it should be noted that mindfulness interventions in the workplace are not without risks. Several studies have shown that some participants may experience mindfulness interventions and related outcomes as challenging and distressing. One should generally not see mindfulness as a panacea for all sorts of challenges and problems leaders (and followers)  are facing in their organizational practice. Mindfulness interventions can be useful if they are conducted by experts and carefully tailored to the needs and individual requirements of the participants. Furthermore, as Purser pointed out, the trend of mindfulness interventions at work can also be problematic because it tends to focus exclusively on the individual when it comes to cope with stress, instead of changing tasks or thinking about job design.