Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Mindfulness and Management

From Forbes:
Self-awareness. I've said it before at different times and in different places, and I'll say it again: Without a reasonable degree of self-awareness, you can't be a highly effective manager. Without some awareness of how you're coming across to others and how they perceive you, it's hard to thoughtfully exercise authority over the long term. Without an accurate idea of how your employees are responding to you, you'll always be (avid fly fisherman speaking here) a trout swimming upstream. Meaning against the current. 
Empathy. Studies have shown that empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another) is a critical driver of successful management -- and that only 40% of "frontline leaders" are "proficient or strong in empathy." This stat doesn't surprise me -- if anything, maybe sounds a little high. People are usually selected for management more for reasons of authority than empathy. Though as noted earlier, the ability to understand employees (what their issues are, what motivates them and what doesn't) is no doubt part of managerial success. 
Patience. Amid the chronic deadlines and stress of the working world, employees appreciate working for managers who are patient, as opposed to say, those who are short-tempered. Why wouldn't they? This I can say with confidence: A management coaching style that patiently supports an employee when he or she needs help will 9 times out of 10 (at least) be better received than a traditional command-and-control style focused more on authority than assistance. 
None of this should be hugely surprising. (Read more.)
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