Tag: Conscious Leadership

Leadership and the Sacred Pause

I’ve identified one leadership skill to practice this year.  It’s a tough one (maybe the toughest of all!), so I’ve given myself a year to practice and reflect on it, and maybe move one step forward to becoming a more conscious leader and human being.

You know that moment between when something happens that triggers you (aka “the stimulus”).  It may be a comment in a conversation or meeting, an action from a colleague (or yourself), or it may be an organizational decision that is completely out of your control.  Something happens that causes your emotions to kick into high gear. Most often in these moments, I react (aka “the reaction”).  In more cases than not, that reaction is sometimes more charged than I would like it to be. These reactions are often grounded in a space of judgment, rather than in a space of curiosity and learning. In those moments, I am not my ideal self as a leader.

The sacred pause

I first learned of the concept of the sacred pause from Tara Brach (n.d.).

Tara shares that the sacred pause involves stopping and “paying attention to your immediate experience” or what is happening within you. Say I am triggered by something that I disagree strongly with in a meeting (“the stimulus”). A typical response for me may be to interject, interrupt the conversation, and strongly state my point of view.  In most situations, I am not putting my ideal leadership self forward in these moments.

Insert “the sacred pause” in between “the stimulus” and “the reaction”, and you get a more thoughtful and intentional leadership response.

The sacred pause of breathing kindness

Breathing kindness is my go-to strategy for practicing the sacred pause.  Here is how it looks.

If I am catch myself feeling triggered in a meeting:

  1. I notice. I am experiencing a strong reaction and emotion.
  2. I identify the emotion and my inner experience. I am feeling anger and frustration.  My heart is racing, my jaw is tense, and my eyes are tightening.
  3. I breath. I take a deep breath (or 20!) breathing in kindness for myself and breathing out kindness for others.

After noticing, feeling and breathing, I am able to more thoughtfully and intentionally respond to the stimulus.  My most common response in these moments? Nothing at all. The more I practice the sacred pause of breathing kindness, the more I’ve come to recognize that my charged inner experiences pass naturally, AND what is triggering me in the moment passes as well. 

The sacred pause of inner inquiry

This is a mindfulness strategy that I use when something has triggered me, I hold onto it, and I am consumed by the experience. In these situations, I find myself stuck in my head, spinning in a mind trap. We’ve all been there.  We sit and fester in our thoughts and challenging emotions. When I  catch myself in these moments, I engage with a longer sacred pause of inner inquiry, reflecting on the following questions, which too are inspired by Tara Brach’s work (Brach, 2023).

  1. What’s important? What matters most right now? 
  2. What am I feeling and experiencing? What is happening inside me right now?
  3. How can I meet this (i.e., what is happening inside me right now), with kindness?
  4. What is my truest path forward? What does love want from me?

There are times when my reflections stop after the first questions, as I realize that what was consuming me, really wasn’t that important at all.  Other times, my journal is filled with reflections and options for moving forward that more clearly align with my values, and who I want to be as a leader.

Embracing our emotions at work

I work in higher education.  The affective or emotional part of our leadership practice is not something we often talk about, or make visible.  And yet, our work as leaders involves our emotions, and our reactions to those emotions – EVERY SINGLE DAY. We can’t leave the “beings” part of humanness when we walk out of our house in the morning. 

I’ve held onto a teaching shared by Arthur Brooks (2023) in his book, Build the Life you Want that he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey. He shares that emotions are just signals that there is something happening that requires our attention and action, AND if we take the time to pay attention to and observe these signals, our conscious brain gets to decide how to respond.  The sacred pause gives us time to do this; to transition our limbic reactions to more metacognitive and intentional actions.

A challenge to you 

Embrace your full self as a leader – emotions and all! Our emotions have a real impact on our experiences and actions as leaders.  Learning to lean into, reflect upon, and manage our reactions to our emotions is a leadership superpower. Try or adapt one of the strategies above the next time you feel triggered by your emotions at work. As always, I’d love to learn from you.  If you’d like to share another strategy for taking a sacred pause at work, feel free to add it to the comments below!

References

Brach, T. (n.d.) The Sacred Pause. Accessed at: https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/practices/view/21412?id=21412


Brach, T. (2023) Four Spiritual Inquiries: Finding Heart Wisdom in Painful Times. Accessed at: https://www.tarabrach.com/four-spiritual-inquiries/

Brooks, A. and Winfrey, O. (2023) Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier. Portfolio/Penguin, NY.

Decision-Making through the Lens of Conscious Leadership

“Blow Your Mind” by kozumel is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

One of my favourite grounding statements is “We are human beings not human doings.” A quick search on the internet reveals that this statement has been attributed to many, including the Dalai Lama. For me, this statement speaks to the importance of our inherent humanness, including the fact that we feel and experience thoughts and emotions in the workplace, which give rise to actions and responses that are deeply connected to and have impact on ourselves and those around us. Each action and response creates ripples across our organizations.

This year has brought rise to constant change and challenge in our workplaces. We have adapted to situations that most of us could not have imagined. Technology has both connected and distanced us. The global pandemic has impacted people and organizations differently. For many, it has drastically shifted workplace and personal practices. It has increased feelings of uncertainty, emotional exhaustion, isolation and stress. We have witnessed disproportional impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable populations and equity-deserving groups, and many of us have struggled from poorer mental health and well-being (Aristovnik et al, 2020; Brazeau et al., 2020; Giorgi et al., 2020).

As a leader, the global pandemic has challenged my decision-making abilities, with the sheer load of required resources, responses and actions often exceeding my cognitive capacity. I have found some relief in grounding my practice through a lens of conscious leadership.

What is conscious leadership?

Being conscious or mindful is about, “observing and attending to the changing field of thoughts, feelings and sensations from moment to moment” through self-regulated attention, and non-judgmental acceptance of experience (Bishop et al., 2004, p.232). It is often described as a being in the present moment, or “present-moment awareness” (Goldstein, 2013, p. 13).  Mindfulness helps us intentionally respond (as opposed to habitually react) to our thoughts, emotions, and surroundings as we reflect upon and broadened our perspective on experience (Bishop et al., 2004; Goldstein, 2013).  

Conscious leadership can be understood through three key processes: 1) awareness, 2) transformation, and 3) intentionality (Hofman, 2008; Jones, 2015).  Conscious leaders are aware of these processes across multiple levels.  First and foremost, from the perspective of oneself, then of others through to their organizations and community.  Conscious leaders are aware that everything across an organization is connected and impermanent (in constant flux), and that these interconnections influence continuous change. They act from a space of acceptance, curiosity, and reciprocity, recognizing that every organization is bound by human relationships and emotions (Bishop et. al, 2004; Hoffman, 2008; Jones, 2015).  They act through a lens of empathy, compassion, and shared leadership, and are oriented towards observation, openness, acceptance, reflection and ongoing learning.

Essential questions to guide a conscious approach to decision making

Awareness

  • What is my understanding of the challenge (or opportunity)?
  • Who is involved or connected to this challenge?
  • How does this understanding change if I view it from the perspective of those around me, and/or the organization as a whole?
  • What is happening for me, others and the organization right now?
  • What interconnections, emotions and/or patterns are associated with this issue for me, others and/or the organization?

Transformation

  • What possibilities for change exist for myself, others and/or the organization?
  • How could I involve others in exploring these possibilities?
  • What actions could result in change and transformation for myself, others and the organization?
  • What influence might these actions have on myself, others and the organization?

Intentionality

  • What is most important right now for myself, others and the organization?
  • What is the most appropriate response? How should others be involved in responding?
  • What emotions and reactions may be associated with this response for myself, others and the organization?
  • What actions could I take to demonstrate empathy and compassion to myself, others and the organization in light of these emotions and reactions?

Like all leaders (and humans), the joy, happiness and success I experience in the workplace is balanced by challenge, defeat, failure and pain. Never has that been more apparent than over this past year. The above questions have brought mindful grounding to these peaks and valleys. I’d love to hear how/if this approach resonates for you!

References:

Aristovnik, A., Keržič, D., Ravšelj, D., Tomaževič, N., & Umek, L. (2020). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life of higher education students: A global perspective. Sustainability, 12(20), 8438.

Brazeau, G. A., Frenzel, J. E., & Prescott, W. A. (2020). Facilitating wellbeing in a turbulent time. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 84(6).

Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., … & Devins, G. (2004). Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical psychology: Science and practice, 11(3), 230-241.

Hofman, R. E. (2008). A conscious‐authentic leadership approach in the workplace: Leading from within. Journal of Leadership Studies, 2(1), 18-31.

Goldstein, J. (2013). Mindfulness: A practical guide to awakening. Sounds True.

Giorgi, G., Lecca, L. I., Alessio, F., Finstad, G. L., Bondanini, G., Lulli, L. G., … & Mucci, N. (2020). COVID-19-related mental health effects in the workplace: a narrative review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(21), 7857.

Jones, V., & Brazdau, O. (2015). Conscious leadership, a reciprocal connected practice. A qualitative study on postsecondary education. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 203, 251-256.

Xiong, J., Lipsitz, O., Nasri, F., Lui, L. M., Gill, H., Phan, L., … & McIntyre, R. S. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review. Journal of affective disorders.