Mindfulness at Work

Behnaz Gholami

November 05, 2014

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Agenda

What is Mindfulness?

What Mindfulness is to do with business?

Mindfulness at work

Companies Experience

SAP Experience

What is Mindfulness?

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What is Mindfulness?

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What is Mindfulness?

■ The process that promotes a mental ability to focus

direct and immediate attention on the present

(present awareness), while taking a non-judgmental

and non-evaluative stance on thoughts/experiences

as they unfold (acceptance). ■ (Hayes & Shenk, 2004; Kohls et al., 2009)

■ Hayes, S. & Shenk, C. (2004) Operationalizing mindfulness without unnecessary attachments.

ClinicalPsychology: Science and Practice, 11, 249–254.

■ Kohls, N., Sauer, S. & Walach, H. (2009) Facets of mindfulness – results of an online study investigating

the freiburg mindfulness inventory. Personality and Individual Difference, 46, 224–230.

Mechanism of Mindfulness

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Simple Mechanism of Meditation

Thinking Concentrating Contemplating Meditating

To form or have (a

particular thought) in

your mind

to cause (attention, efforts,

strength, etc.) to be used or

directed for a single purpose

to think deeply or

carefully about

(something)

to engage in

contemplation or

reflection

Merriam Webster Dictionary

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Object of Meditation

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Simple Mechanism of Meditation

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State of Brain

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Types of Meditation

• Relaxation

• Breathing

• Mindfulness

• Candle

• Focus

• Movement

• Mantra

• Compassion

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Theoretical Models in Neuroscience

Vago, D. R. P. D., & David, S. A. M. D. (2012). Self-awareness, self-regulation, and

self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological

mechanisms of mindfulness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 296.

Mindfulness and Work

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Theoretical Models in Organizational Studies

Hölzel, B. K., Lazar, S. W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z., Vago, D. R., & Ott, U. (2011). How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing

Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(6), 537–559.

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Attention Regulation

• Sustaining attention

on the chosen object;

whenever distracted,

returning attention to

the object

• Anterior cingulate

cortex

• Enhanced

performance:

executive attention

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Body Awareness

• Focus is usually an object of

internal experience: sensory

experiences of breathing,

emotions, or other body

Sensations

• Insula, temporo-parietal junction

• Self-reports of enhanced body

awareness

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Emotion Regulation

• Approaching ongoing emotional

reactions in a different way

(nonjudgmentally, with

acceptance)

• Exposing oneself to whatever is

present in the field of awareness;

letting oneself be affected by it;

refraining from internal reactivity

• Ventro-medial PFC, hippocampus,

amygdala, prefrontal cortex

• Increases in nonreactivity to inner

experiences, changes in self-

concept

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Benefits

• Reduced stress

• Lower blood pressure

• Improved memory

• Less depression and anxiety

Mindfulness Programs

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“Search Inside Yourself” Program - Google

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Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” program has introduced mindfulness to

more than 1,000 employees. Pioneered by Chade-Meng Tan, an early

Google employee, its popularity has been buoyed by Tan’s book of the

same title. Tan turned to General Mills for inspiration when he began

Search Inside Yourself in 2007, and is now bringing the training to other

technology companies.

■ www.ft.com

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Aetna

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Aetna, one of the largest healthcare benefits companies in the US, began

rolling out mindfulness and yoga programs to its employees in 2010. The

initiative was dreamed up by Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, himself a

meditator. After attracting 3,500 employees, Aetna this year began

offering workplace meditation and yoga as a service it sells to customers.

■ www.ft.com

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Target

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At the retail giant Target, a group called “Meditating Merchants” was set

up in 2010. The training is open to all employees and has so far attracted

500 participants, who meditate once a week at lunch time. Mikisha

Nation, a 33-year-old Jamaican woman who works in human resources,

helped pioneer the Target group and says the practice complements her

own work. “Happy, healthy, engaged team members create an

environment that is a great place to work,” she says, “even though it

might seem weird to sit on a mat in the middle of a conference room.”

■ www.ft.com

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General Mills

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General Mills, the company behind Cheerios cereal and Häagen-Dazs ice

cream, is headquartered on a leafy expanse outside Minneapolis,

Minnesota. High quality global journalism requires investment.

General Mills has a distinctly unusual corporate culture. Open the right

door on a Tuesday morning and you might find a few dozen team leaders

and executives meditating silently together on cushions, steeling their

minds for the work week ahead. Enter a conference room later that

afternoon and witness more than 50 senior employees from across the

organization standing on one leg in the tree pose as they practice yoga.

■ www.ft.com

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Wisdom 2.0 Conference