A leader’s interpersonal approach sets the tone for the workplace culture in an organization. In a world where widespread burnout and resignations are leaving companies scrambling for top talent, there’s a huge opportunity for leaders to create and maintain a positive work culture. This might mean looking for opportunities to improve leadership skills, even for those who are already seasoned executives.

In this article, we’ll explore 4 ways starting a mindfulness practice can enhance leadership skills and, in turn, foster a more positive work culture for employees.

The mindful leader:

top 4 mindfulness benefits

1. Enhances self-awareness

Self-awareness has been listed as the #1 skill for leaders to have, and has even been proven to impact a company’s profitability. It’s integral to effective leadership communication.

You might think self-awareness and leadership go hand in hand — but this critical leadership skill is fairly rare. A Hay Group Research Study of 17,000 leaders worldwide found that just 19% of female executives and 4% of male executives displayed self-awareness.

So, how can we strengthen the connection between self-awareness and leadership? One way is to help leaders develop a mindfulness practice. 

Mindfulness enables us to pause and consider our circumstances (including how our words and actions impact others) before we respond to a particular situation. This, in turn, improves our level of self-awareness and how we display that self-awareness in real time. 

2. Promotes self-regulation

Picture two different leaders in the face of a crisis: one is calm and reassuring to their team while the other is high-strung, adding even more stress to an already tense situation. 

Stressful events are inevitable in life. In the fictional scenario you’ve just considered, it’s likely that both leaders are feeling stressed, but the former understands how to manage that feeling while the latter does not. This is known as emotional self-regulation. 

Using the crisis example, it’s easy to see why self-regulation is a beneficial leadership skill. The good news? Leaders can cultivate this skill through a mindfulness practice. Becoming a more mindful leader means being better able to manage emotional responses, even during tough times. Practicing self-regulation is one of the most powerful ways to improve leadership skills.

3. Teaches curiosity and open-mindedness

The best leaders foster innovation by encouraging employees to think creatively and share ideas, rather than simply dictating how things will be done. This often leads to greater business outcomes, and it’s why curiosity is a key leadership skill.

However, curiosity, open-mindedness, and the ability to listen don’t come naturally to every leader. For those looking to improve their leadership skills in these areas, a mindfulness practice can be a highly effective tool. 

Mindful.org says it well: “Mindfulness involves the bottom up investigation of experience versus the top down process of thinking about it.” This kind of investigation promotes curiosity. Over time, it can help leaders form a habit of taking a curious, open-minded approach to situations, and listening deeply rather than assuming they have all the answers.

4. Increases compassion 

Compassion is a cornerstone of effective leadership communication, and it has tangible benefits in the workplace. According to Harvard Business Review, “It improves collaboration, raises levels of trust, and enhances loyalty.” 

However, being a compassionate leader requires emotional intelligence. Leaders must be able to read people and situations well to understand how to best respond in a variety of circumstances. So, how can we cultivate greater emotional intelligence in leadership teams? You guessed it: through mindfulness.

Mindfulness helps us be kinder and more compassionate not only to ourselves, but also to others. It gives us the tools to more easily withhold judgement, and approach people and situations with a higher level of empathy. This makes a mindfulness practice an excellent tool for increasing compassion and emotional intelligence in leadership teams.

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