Leadership and a contemplative practice

Have you ever wondered how meditating affects leadership behaviours?

When I started to think about this I realised that the vision I have of my brain is a bucket of eels. Thoughts whizz about all slippery and hard to grasp. They rear up and slide away just like those eels and my day starts more in a sense of restrained panic than calm and focussed. Probably not conducive to good leadership behaviours, so I started to think about how my developing meditation practice impacts on my leadership.

Jan Yates

Having lived with moderate but clinically significant mental illness since I was around 13, I have had to find sustainable ways to get myself out of bed every morning, despite the eels, and into work. I have had to do this to be able to manage the leadership job that my intellect desires but my brain chemistry struggles with.

In searching for sustainable ways to keep myself well I have bumped into various practices which can be loosely lumped together as “contemplative”. In this group of practices I would include any kind of spiritual practice or ritual from religious prayer to shamanism, any form of meditation and types of yoga and martial arts which incorporate both a physical and a meditative aspect. There is also, in my view, some argument for other activities being included in this list if carried out with a contemplative purpose. This might include walking, running, art, singing or playing an instrument for example. The list of “contemplative practices” is quite fuzzy edged really but I suppose the defining feature, for me at least, is personal reflection and some kind of search for wisdom or mindfulness.

But I am also a public health consultant and a big bit of me would dearly love to find a strong evidence base for this stuff. The evidence base in this area is not easy to find or make sense of as the wide variety of populations, interventions, comparators and studied outcomes is so huge that anything resembling homogeneity is far off. But, on a non systematic search, there is SOME suggestion that SOME of these practices are SOMEWHAT positive with SOME physiological explanations for these effects. I can’t give you a nice clean Cochrane review reference that will provide all the answers but I can describe some of my experiences how they I believe they influence who I am as a leader.

My daily practice

I get up early every work day and really stick to this defined routine (ritual is probably a better word) before I turn on the laptop and pour the coffee. I’m not so firm with myself on rest days but will do these practices at some point during nearly every day. It means I set my alarm 90minutes early. I am definitely not a morning person but the benefits I’ve seen since I started this have been such that I’d rather lose the sleep than lose the benefits. This is what I do:

·       breathing exercise then 25 minutes of meditation (Zen at the moment)

·       gratitude practice outside,

·       movement eg yoga positions

·       set a daily intention (written somewhere visible on my desk) and alarm triggers during the day to stop to review

How do these practice elements affect my leadership?

Breathing and meditation – calming the bucket of eels

The breathing exercise and meditation stops the bucket of eels wriggling about and gives me the ability to take my brain to a state of having enough focus to start the day with a clear head and the ability to prioritise, strategise and respond. This is a critical starting point for me as a leader. It isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen just like that. I needed lots of practice and still need at least 25minutes as this is how long it takes for the eels to settle down. The meditation helps me become calm enough for the next stage of my morning practice and then helps me stay in a state of mind that avoids hasty decisions and poor prioritisation. With this in place I can open my email and see 110 unread messages without that gut wrenching sense of dread that used to be so familiar. I am much more likely then to tackle the difficult ones first while I’m fresh rather than ignore them for a bit and leave them looming over me. I’m more likely to pick up the phone and resolve issues with personal contact as I feel calmer and more in control my rational mind. I’m more likely to smile and this is actually a real benefit for me. As an introvert in an extrovert role I find smiling and being chirpy exhausting. The meditation, somehow, gives me more of this positivity in a way that I can sustain throughout the day.

Gratitude and compassionate leadership

The next stage of my practice uses the state of mind I’ve created to enable me to actively reflect on what I’m grateful for, how I feel that day and what my behaviour need to be to best tackle the challenges I face. I do this outside as I’ve learnt that one of this things I am most grateful for is the natural world and this bit of my morning always makes me smile and take a few more deep breaths. I am very lucky to live on a river – literally, in a boat, on the River Deben, so I have an immediate and up close impression of nature which draws me in to thinking poetically and smiling at the antics of the wildlife. If I lived in a flat in London I’d have to make do with a slice of sky outside my window and a potted rosemary bush or traipse to the nearest patch of green. Not quite as easy, I accept, but not impossible either. The brief focus on nature helps me as a leader as it puts a whole bunch of my work-related challenges in perspective. It makes me stop during the day and remember the beauty of something outside of my Zoom screen. It gives me a topic to use to connect with a colleague on a human level and build networks across diverse people. It just makes by breathing slower and allows me to respond with more compassion than when I am in emergency mode.

Movement – drawing on a range of perspectives

Next, I force my sleepy body to move. I have taken enough leadership and personality tests now to know that I am a visual and intellectually driven person. Therefore, adding movement into my practice jump starts me out of routine thought patterns and helps me think, even if it isn’t entirely comfortable! So I do this as part of the practice to help me think in different ways throughout the day, to use skills and tools which aren’t just my go to ones. Maybe bizarrely, it is the movement aspect of my practice that helps me see others from their perspectives and interact in different ways depending on the situation I am in. This is a direct and critical support tool for my leadership. It is also a direct benefit to my health, of course. I use a short sequence of yoga moves that mobile my spine in all directions and stretch my legs and arms. There is a lot of joint popping and groaning to be endured but I always feel better at the end and am much more likely to get up and stretch again later in the day, just like occupation health tell us we should.

Intention and reminders – bringing the practice together

To set my intention, I use a framework in my mind to check in with myself and work out what my needs are and therefore what my intention will be for that day. The framework I use is based on a traditional medicine wheel and allows me a few minutes of contemplation in each cardinal compass direction. This prompts me to check in on how my body feels, am I tired and achy, do I need a run or an early night? I review my emotional state, am I feeling sad or calm or excited? I can use the meditation skills to then let those emotions surge up and pass on, noticing how difficult or easy my day might be as a result. I focus briefly on breathing again and I check in with my intuition. I lead a session in Courageous Leaders on when to trust your gut feeling and this is one time of every day that I do this. My intuition by this time of my contemplative practice is freed up enough for me to know what one little intention will help me get through the day being the best version of myself I can be, for that single day.

An example intention might be to do my best not to talk in Zoom meetings without putting my hand up, or remember to check in with my team’s wellbeing today. The specifics change from day to day but this active process of taking the time to set the intention, the setting of the reminders and the time to check in has worked much better for me than the more haphazard version of bunging it in a CPD reflection and then forgetting about it in the mass of other stuff going on.

Other intentions I might set are more for my own wellbeing and give me another leadership benefit. These help me get through the day with enough energy and resilience. This might be to remember to stretch frequently or drink enough water or get outside at lunchtime for a short walk.

Concluding thoughts

In conclusion, I would like to offer up to you anecdotal evidence on a case series of n=1, that implementing a contemplative practice into how we reflect on and adapt our personal leadership skill set is beneficial. I know that without it, I am less healthy and a less adaptive leader. I am less competent in leading myself, others and systems when my brain is a bucket of eels. My personal set of rituals undoubtedly won’t fit with your personal needs. Type of contemplation, more or less physical activity, different frameworks, time of day, belief systems: all will vary from person to person. But what have you got to lose from experimenting and giving it a go?

Top tips for making it work

·       Take long enough at the meditation, especially when you start, 10minutes isn’t enough

·       Use a guided meditation podcast, find a voice you like and method that feels right

·       Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t stick to it, any time doing this is better than none

·       Vary it up from time to time

·       Any movement will do but bending your back through all its planes of movement is a good option if you then sit down all day

·       There is no one right way – find your right way by researching and trying things out

Some references I’ve found useful:

Practical Zen. The audio book is easy to digest and has separate practices as chapters for easy listening

Calling Us Home. Chris Luttichau is a great teacher and I’ve found this a very useful book

Waking Up. Sam Harris’ meditation app is one of my favorites for theory and practice

Down Dog. This app has yoga, exercises and meditation options. It is easy to use and works for beginners and experts. It is my go to app when I just want someone else to talk me through a session so I can switch my own brain off.