By Guest Contributor Gail DePriest | director of corporate relations and leadership development, Clemson MBA
Modern corporations are learning the importance of mindfulness and reflection
At a recent gathering of human resource professionals from various corporations, the issue of soft skills came up. Leaders spoke candidly about the importance of having employees who know how to manage themselves and their relationships with others. As organizations become leaner and employees are called upon to perform a variety of functions, it becomes more important for them to work well together and depend on one another for success. Developing soft skills allows for smoother interactions between employees and most likely will have a positive effect on the following:
–Productivity: Softs skills contribute to productivity by helping individuals stay in an emotional “toward” state – working proactively rather than reactively – and by building stronger relationships, enhancing collaboration and increasing accountability.
–Psychological well-being: Soft skills contribute to well-being by encouraging social support, reducing stress and helping employees align their actions with their values.
–Retention and employee satisfaction: Employees who have a sense of psychological well-being at work feel supported and safe and do not tend to leave this type of culture.
As organizations seek competitive advantage in the workplace, a group of fully engaged employees can spell the difference between success and failure. Organizations are seeking new models and best practices in these areas to find ways to support employees in order to gain their best contributions and retain them for the long haul.
You may have seen the recent Time magazine cover story, “The Mindful Revolution.” Corporations such as Apple, Medtronic, Aetna, Google and Goldman Sachs are offering mindfulness classes to calm negative energies and help employees focus on creating innovative products. Some have set up dedicated meditation rooms within the workplace as a symbol of their company’s commitment to mindfulness and creativity.
Aside from increasing innovative ideas, practicing mindfulness may have a positive impact on their health care costs over time. When you consider that the use of practices like meditation, reflection and journaling are contributing to the success of many organizations, maybe we should all be taking a look.
What these organizations understand is the extreme pressure their employees experience every day. They understand the need for employees to have more time to reflect so they can create ways to overcome difficult challenges. We are all challenged to find ways of sorting through our various daily demands and distractions so that we can achieve more clarity when making important decisions, more creativity in our work and more compassion for our colleagues and clients.
To address these issues, students in the Clemson MBA program are now taking an advanced leadership course complete with exercises in mindfulness, journaling and reflection. This 10-step process challenges students to think about how they are managing themselves, how they are helping others be successful and how they are adding value at work.
Management and leadership research in the past few decades has significantly enhanced our understanding of human workplace behavior, and with the recent emergence of neuroscience, the benefits of soft skills are now supported by hard data. MBA students are using brain science to prioritize more effectively for better allocation of brain resources. This new field of neuroleadership allows for better decision-making, facilitation of change and personal interactions.
As part of their educational experience, Clemson MBA students are given a framework that directs their attention on three areas:
1. Strategies for mindfulness, personal renewal and staying positive
2. Methods of supporting others through coaching, compassion and perspective-taking
3. Tools for contributing more effectively, such as solutions-focus and creativity methodologies
Students are asked to complete daily entries in a structured journal, which provides them regular introspective practice so that they can move away from their routines and reflect on their work and life.
Our hope is our students will cultivate daily practices that allow them to regularly renew themselves. We believe these critical skills will enable our students to be more successful, happier and more fulfilled in the long run.
What do students say about this unique class?
“I am nearly certain that advanced leadership class might be the single most important course of my MBA journey,” said one student, a BMW engineer. “My perspective on how I can contribute to the workplace has taken on a whole new dimension, one that will be much more fulfilling.”
Since this program launched two years ago with a waiting list, a similar undergraduate leadership class is in the works, so Clemson students can learn these critical skills even earlier and apply them to enhance their college experience as well as their future careers.
