Mindfulness and Performance
Fact Sheet: Mindfulness and Performance
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is about our ability to pay attention to any situation we encounter with the intention to engage with the here and now in an open, curious, and authentic way, before making a judgment about the situation.
How Does It Work?
Practicing mindfulness is a mental exercise akin to the physical exercise many people engage in to build up physical muscles to keep our bodies healthy. This can lead to functional and structural changes in the brain over time. By intentionally focusing our attention, we can learn to disengage from being on autopilot or, in other words, from following previously automatic cognitive pathways that may not be appropriate for the situation at hand. Scholars suggest that this is because mindfulness reduces the amount of negative emotions we feel in the moment, helping to move our temporal focus away from thoughts about the past or the future (Hafenbrack et al, 2014). In this way, we can concentrate more fully on the present moment and on the information presented to us in the here and now.
Why is this beneficial?
In today’s business world, in organizations across the globe, people are increasingly required to multi-task while at the same time are less able to focus their attention. This means that people are more stressed and comparatively less able to make effective decisions (Dean & Webb, 2011).
An increasing body of neuroscience evidence indicates that mindfulness practices, such as meditation or attention exercises, lead to desirable “neuroplasticity” or the physical changes in the brain that help dampen down people’s stress response while strengthening brain circuits responsible for complex problem solving, attention management, and creativity (Davidson & Lutz, 2007).
Even very short periods of practicing mindfulness can be effective
According to recent research, 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation can help debias our decisions (Hafenbrack et al., 2014). After engaging in mindfulness training four times for 20 minutes each, individuals’ memory and executive functioning can significantly improve (Zeidan et al., 2010).
What is scientific evidence linking mindfulness with performance?
- Mindfulness is linked with improved decision-making (Fiol & O’Connor, 2003), divergent thinking (Colzato et al, 2012), and creative problem solving (Ostafin & Kassman, 2012);
- Mindfulness can improve employee task performance (Dane, 2010); Reb et al, 2012), lower turnover intentions (Dane & Brummel, 2013), and safety performance behaviors in nuclear power plants (Zhang et al., 2013);
- Mindfulness-based work interventions can lead to higher sales and faster learning (Flaxman & Bond, 2013) and fewer errors in attention processing (van den Hurk at al., 2010);
- Experimental studies with U.S. military demonstrate that mindfulness training can generate resilience (Stanley & Jha, 2009) and increase individuals’ working memory capacity (Jha et al., 2010);
- Mindfulness meditation is linked to higher emotional intelligence (Li-Chuan, 2009); and
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs can lead to lower burnout and higher well-being for healthcare professionals (Goodman & Schorling, 2012) and their patient encounters (Knowles, 2012).
Selected organizations that have implemented mindfulness programs
AOL, Apple, Astra Zeneca, BASF, BT, Comcast, Deutsche Bank, eBay, General Motors, Google, IBM, McKinsey, Nortel Networks, Procter & Gamble, Texas Instruments, Toyota, Unilever, Volvo, Xerox, Yahoo!