The benefits of mindfulness & meditation in the workplace

Personally, I have now been practicing mindfulness & daily meditation for over 10 years.  I am often asked “what are the top 4 things for your health & energy?” and these always include mindfulness & meditation, along with great sleep, great nutrition and morning exercise.

In 2014, energiseYou celebrates its 10^th year in helping companies to improve the health, energy & performance of their employees.  For almost a decade we have brought mindfulness & meditation into the workplace via our workshops, webinars, podcasts & health events.

That aside, I have observed a very interesting polarity with this subject. On one hand, there are so many amazing benefits associated with mindfulness & meditation, such as:

-       Improves happiness

-       Increases your energy levels

-       Improves sleep

-       Makes you more successful in business

-       Helps you manage pressure at work

-       Improves problem solving & creativity

-       Lowers blood pressure & boosts the immune system

-       Reduces negative emotions, stress, anxiety, fear and anger

Yet, on the other hand, there are so few people that actually practice mindfulness & meditation on a daily basis.

So given all of these benefits why is it not practiced more? Here are some of the reasons:

-       People and companies are not fully aware of its transforming benefits

-       Some of these benefits cannot be fully appreciated until they are personally experienced

-       People often expect to be able to quieten the mind and meditate like a Buddhist monk on day one, which just doesn’t happen

-       People often try meditation without being shown how, find it very hard and then immediately give up

-       People often over look mindfulness as a practice because it seems too basic and simple, yet it is in its simplicity that the magic lies.

-       As with many things, people need to be inspired by someone to start.  My personal inspiration to start TM meditation was the film director David Lynch who has been meditating everyday for the past 35 years and he’s still loving it!

So the reasons that mindfulness & meditation should be a key part of your wellbeing programme are because of their profound benefits that can transform overall health & energy. To achieve this we need to address the challenges in the list above to ensure we can actively and regularly embrace the gift of mindfulness & meditation into our lives.

Positivity is central to success

It can be difficult to remain positive when something goes wrong or you experience a setback. But being optimistic and taking a positive approach to how you deal with challenges is central to success.

In a world where change is constant it is only natural that we face challenges along the way, inside and outside work. These may appear to have a negative impact on circumstances/things around us but it is how we deal with them and move on that will determine the real impact.

Listen to any great leader and you will hear them talk about the little (and sometimes quite big) setbacks that they have experienced along their road to success. One thing they all have in common is that they don’t dwell on these setbacks or consider them ‘problems’, they focus on addressing them and then quickly move on.

Follow in the footsteps of the likes of Richard Branson and Steve Jobs – acknowledge mistakes, learn from them, make relevant changes and then move on. The moving on part is crucial and it is often this that so many people find impossible to do.

But dwelling on what’s gone wrong all the time and taking a negative approach to things around us or setbacks that we experience could leave us stuck, unable to move. This will not only get us down it will get everyone down around us.

Negativity feeds negativity and this is dangerous in the workplace. Because it not only has an impact on how we feel as individuals but it can lead to low employee engagement levels, poor productivity, an increase in sickness absence and high staff turnover. Positivity, on the other hand, builds successful organisations. It creates an engaged and high performing workforce.

So, how do we encourage our people to focus on the positive?

We need to ensure the culture supports this positive approach. This means making sure that our leaders and managers create a positive working environment for their teams, where people can talk openly about mistakes and learn from them but also where people are encouraged to share successes and build on what is good.

Doing this will not just influence how we feel, but also how we perform, individually and as teams. The more we are able to move our attention to what makes us feel good, the more able we will be able to deal with challenges that come along our way.

Creating an environment that builds on positive emotions can build the pathway to success. To find out more click here to register to listen to our free webinar on the 21 August, at 12pm – I will be joined by Chris Samsa, Positive Psychologist, from the NeuroLeadership Group, to discuss the power of positivity in boosting performance. 

Creating a healthy mind really can boost success

It’s not just famous athletes and celebrities that are reaping the success of mind management and meditation.

If you listen to any ‘great’ leader they attribute much of their success to having a healthy mindset and adopting the right attitude. Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Bill Ford have all spoken about their use of meditation and the benefits associated with creating a healthy mindset.

Now, if we can get our employees to do the same then we are really onto a winner.

A healthy mind offers huge benefits to us as individuals in terms of increasing happiness, improving creativity and aiding weight loss etc. But it also offers huge benefits to our businesses.

People who manage their mind effectively are more successful at work because they have higher energy levels, are generally much healthier and they are able to handle with pressure more effectively.

Our research, of over 4,500 individuals, shows the large majority of people score just 42% on the key drivers of positive mind management. This highlights a huge opportunity for us as employers to improve performance within our businesses.

In today’s nonstop 24/7 digital world, we lead such busy lives and as a result our mind rarely stops thinking. Most people’s habits mean they are using technology non-stop from the minute they open their eyes to the minute they close them at night. This over stimulation of mind and body can drain energy and cause poor health, such as sleep problems and mental health fatigue.

By helping our employees to manage their mind effectively we can really improve performance. 

To find out how you can create healthy mind and body in the workplace click here and sign up to my free 30 minute webinar today.

This is taking place on Wednesday 15 May 2013, at 12pm 2013. I will cover:

- How supporting your employees' health & energy can improve business performance
- Why your staff need a healthy mind & body at work
- The 7 essential ingredients to create a healthy body
- Innovative mind management practices to improve performance
- Practical steps to improve the health & energy of your staff this summer

The Best Companies Understand The Importance Of Wellbeing

With The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For Awards taking place this week I reflected on where we are now and what the future holds for employee engagement and wellbeing.

When I founded energiseYou, eight years ago, things were very different. Employee engagement was quite a new concept and as for wellbeing, well it was only a small minority of companies that were really leading the way.

I’m pleased to say things have really moved on since then. More employers understand that their people are key to the success of their business and as a result are focusing on employee engagement.

And this does not simply mean investing in people in a monetary way. The eight key factors that Best Companies feel drive employee engagement include:

-       Leadership
-       My company
-       Personal growth
-       My manager
-       My team
-       Giving something back
-       Fair deal

-       Wellbeing

 

We know that the large majority of organisations do now have employee wellbeing on their agenda in some shape or form. But it is the pioneers in this group, like the Top 100 Best Companies, leading the way and taking a proactive approach to wellbeing that are seeing a real return on investment. This is set to continue.

With research showing employee burnout is becoming more common employers can no longer afford to simply dabble in employee wellbeing. The best companies know they need to take a proactive approach to wellbeing and make it part of their people strategy – only when they do this will they prevent burnout and reap the rewards in terms of helping employees are able to perform at their best.

So in a further eight years I predict organisations will be doing more with regards to wellbeing. I will be as bold to say there won’t be any companies around just dabbling or dipping their toe in the water because these organisations just won’t be able to survive in the current climate.

To find out what the forward thinking companies are doing to engage staff click here to sign up to our free webinar. Guest speaker, Wayne Clarke, from The Sunday Times Best Companies Partnership will join me to discuss:

- The 8 key ingredients for a fully engaged workforce
- Best engagement practices from some of the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies
- How to get directors to buy into your staff engagement programme
- Q&A session with Oliver Gray (energiseYou) & Wayne Clarke (Best Companies Partnership)

 

Remember to thank staff this Christmas

Remember to say ‘thank you’ this Christmas. These two words can make all the difference in terms of retaining, engaging and motivating employees.
  

Whilst giving recognition needs to be part of a wider reward strategy and should definitely not be limited to the end of the year, Christmas is a perfect time to give staff an end of year reward and it is an ideal time to formerly thank staff for their hard work.

Do this successfully and you will not only make staff feel great before they take time off over the festive season but you will also set the tone for 2013. So instead of January being the month many employees hand their notice in, you have an opportunity to make staff feel excited about returning to work.

Get the end of year thank you right and employees will be more motivated, to hit the ground running in 2013.

Face-to-face communication is the ideal way to say thank you, as this really allows messages to be delivered in the way you want them to be, but thought also needs to go into the reward if you are giving one.

The research shows money isn’t the number one motivating factor. Whilst it’s important to give employees something that they will appreciate and value it is also worth thinking about what will help support your objectives – what will motivate them to come back to work feeling refreshed and ready to hit the ground running?   

There are lots of options in terms of low cost presents that employers can give their staff, from financial rewards to an activity based gift or something they can take home. Try to think about what you want to achieve and what fits into your culture. 

As Edenred highlight in their recent report, Christmas Rewards Unwrapped, who delivers the thank you is also important. The year end marks a more formal occasion and therefore it makes good business sense for the thanks to come from someone in the senior leadership team.

Doing this will enable you to not only make sure that employees feel valued and that they have made a difference to the success of the business but it will also enable you to set the tone for 2013.

A little thank you goes a long way so let’s get it right…

P.S. Click here to join our live webinar, on the 12 December, to find out how you can improve energy levels and performance this Christmas.
 

The rules of engagement

High levels of employee engagement is what every business wants.

According to research, from the Best Companies, high levels of employee engagement help to create a more profitable business. This is because it drives performance by:
- Improving motivation so that staff go that extra mile for the business
- Inspiring employees to be the best they can be at work
- Giving clarity so staff understand the organisations objectives & priorities
- Achieving great staff retention and the ability to attract top talent

If we were able to wave a magic wand to create a highly engaged workforce I’m sure most business leaders and HR professionals would take it. But sadly there’s not. As leaders we need to work hard to create a positive work environment where employees feel valued, where they are driven by what they do and able to perform at their best.

There is lots of employee focused research that has been carried out to investigate what creates an engaged workforce and what helps attract, retain and motivate workers. This all shows we are not simply driven by large salaries and job security. Our needs go much further, beyond just our material needs, and they become quite physical and emotional.

Wayne Clarke, International Partner, Best Companies Partnership says, “One of the most important things in achieving strong levels of employee engagement is the relationship between employees and their line manager – people join organisations, but they leave managers. Managers need to focus on providing direction and this means good communication.”

Think about a time when you have produced your best work or performed at your best. How did you feel? What type of environment were you working in? How did you feel about your employer and manager? Did you feel healthy, happy and energised? When we are able to meet our employees material needs and also make sure they feel valued then they are far more likely to put in extra work.

Employees want to know that their employers care about them. They want to be recognised for their work and feel valued, which is why the role of managers is so important – click here to read my earlier blog, which focuses on the role of line managers.

Wellbeing is very important. Wayne says, “Effective managers not only offer clarity for what is expected from their employees but they treat them as individuals, with fairness and respect and with a concern for their wellbeing.

"We know that when employees feel that they are fairly treated and looked after, in terms of their health and wellbeing, that they are much more engaged and far more likely to put in the extra effort when needed.”

As a business leader myself, I want my employees to be committed, feel motivated by their work, be passionate about what they do and able to perform at their best. This means listening to employees so that I can:
1. Understand what is most important to them
2. Identify any potential problems so that interventions can be put in place
3. Create a culture where employees are able to perform at their best

We know from our work with some of the best companies that they remain successful because they stay close to their people and have open communication. They listen to employees so that get a good understanding of their needs and by doing so they are able to create a culture where their staff are happy, energised and able to perform at their best.