Canadian HR Reporter

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK In pursuit of mindful leaders Training the brain for better leadership BY MARCEL VANDER WIER The world is facing a leadership crisis, accord- ing to Vince Brewerton, Canadian director of the Potential Project, a global mind- fulness training eff ort. And the solution lies within the mind — training it to be calm, fo- cused and clear, he said at a recent SCNetwork event in Toronto. Today's business leaders face diverse expectations, high-stakes decisions, rapid sector change and uncertainty, said Brewerton. " is combination now of hav- ing to lead in times of all this dis- ruptive change, along with the ex- pectation of leaders to perform, to meet goals (and) objectives while engaging people (means) being a leader has become more diffi cult." Despite leaders' best eff orts, "signifi cant disengagement" is- sues and a "lack of happiness" per- sist amongst employees, he said. To affect change, leadership needs a framework shift begin- ning with how people think, said Brewerton. " is idea that one person has all the answers and can provide all the leadership no longer ap- plies," he said. " e world is just too complex." "Leadership is unlearning what we think of as management, and learning how to be human again." 'Truly human leadership' Leadership begins in the mind, according to research collected for the Potential Project's recent book, e Mind of the Leader. Leaders cannot manage oth- ers until they are able to manage themselves in terms of "moment- to-moment self-awareness" and how they formulate thoughts or make decisions, said Brewerton. "We can't lead ourselves with- out understanding ourselves," he said. That self-awareness allows leaders to understand internal bi- ases which, in turn, allow them to better understand others and lead organizations more effectively, said Brewerton. Ultimately, this results in "truly human leadership" — a move- ment that includes strategies such as putting aside annual per- formance reviews for processes encompassing on-the-spot feed- back, he said. "Our organizational culture is the collective of the minds, the behaviours of all the individuals." e three core qualities of lead- ership are mindfulness, selfl ess- ness and compassion, according to Brewerton. Combined with appropriate self-awareness, these represent the "required leadership capabili- ties for the 21st century," he said. Defined as "leadership pres- ence," mindfulness includes the actions of being present, focused and clear-minded, said Brewerton. Selfl essness means "getting out of our own way and not letting our ego drive our behaviour," he said, and should be matched with con- fi dence, while compassion paired with wisdom encompasses activi- ty meant to be of benefi t to others. When leaders are egotistic rather than selfl ess, it ultimately corrupts their behaviour. Addi- tionally, an infl ated ego can nar- row a leader's vision to confi rma- tion bias — a barrier to diversity and inclusion, said Brewerton. "Driving ourselves through our ego makes us vulnerable to criti- cism," he said. "And when people know it's all about us, they can manipulate us." On the other hand, selfl ess lead- ership enables staff by encourag- ing recognition, innovation and a sense of belonging, said Brew- erton. "We build this confi dence by constantly evaluating and be- ing self-aware." Similarly, compassion encour- ages benevolent leadership, which allows leaders to make stronger people connections while increas- ing trust and loyalty amongst staff . "People are more cohesive," he said. "Teams operate better to- gether. ey're more able to op- erate according to a vision." "Practising kindness — it's a good thing from a relationship perspective. It also changes our body chemistry and the chemis- try in our brain. It makes us feel better." Pursuing mindfulness Seventy-three per cent of lead- ers feel "unmindful" most of the time — meaning scatterbrained, not present, and agitated, accord- ing to research by the Potential Project. Causes of distraction include: demands from others (26 per cent), competing priorities (25 per cent), general distractions (13 per cent) and workload demands (12 per cent). Managers are consistently under pressure and are often required to be "always on," said Brewerton. "Workplaces can be very dis- tracting today," he said, citing open offi ces as an example. "It re- ally challenges our ability to pay attention and be present." Distracted workplaces can lead to "attention defi cit trait" — an or- ganizational experience of not be- ing able to stay focused, according to Brewerton. e minds of leaders and work- ers wander involuntarily 47 per cent of the time, according to the research. " at's the nature of our minds in today's world," he said. " is cumulative, chaotic mind-wan- dering is creating an issue for us, certainly in terms of performance and well-being." Pursuing mindfulness can al- leviate this to some degree, said Brewerton, who conducted train- ing examples with SCNetwork members in attendance. "If we're not able as leaders to be present, we're wasting a lot of time and we're actually impacting our organizations and our teams negatively," he said. Training the brain Through "basic mindfulness training" and neuroplasticity measures, workers can train their minds to get better at managing these leadership qualities, said Brewerton. He presented an ABCD (anat- omy, breath, count, distractions) formula to help train the mind's attention muscles by comfortably grounding the body and neutrally observing breath as a "focus an- chor." Simultaneous counting serves as a secondary anchor, while distractions are recognized and released during this process. Practising this for 10 minutes daily helps train the brain to pay Credit: GUGAI (Shutterstock) REFRAIN > pg. 13

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