Chapter 9

Improving Team Performance with Mindfulness

In This Chapter

Working on team dynamics

Helping your team to improve their performance

Enhancing business relationships

Dealing with team morale

The old adage ‘many minds are better than one’ is true. Working as part of a great team is usually better than struggling alone in isolation. Team working can increase creativity as members share knowledge and build on each other’s ideas. It can provide a great opportunity for members to develop and acquire new skills. It can get things done more quickly and, when it works well, increase employee satisfaction. But as any leader knows, teamwork can also be one of the most challenging aspects of the job. In this chapter you discover how mindfulness can help you make teams work together more effectively. Let’s get started by exploring team dynamics.

Identifying and Harnessing Team Dynamics

As a leader, you already know the impact that team dynamics can have on your team. As a team member, you’ll have observed its impact also. You can see team or group dynamics at play in a variety of situations: the family gathering for Christmas or a wedding, friends socialising in the pub or a group of people meeting for the first time.

Although you may have seen many complex theories on team dynamics in management textbooks and academic journals, understanding team dynamics is really quite straightforward.

Understanding team dynamics

Few humans exist in isolation. As a human, in common with many other animals, your behaviour is likely to be based largely on habit, adapted and influenced by your social networks. These social networks include family, friends and work colleagues. Your behaviour is also likely to be influenced by social and cultural norms.

The modern workplace is rarely set up to accommodate the human need to connect, understand and work with each other. Neuroscience research into areas such as how the brain enables you to undertake tasks such as decision making and prioritising (cognitive neuroscience), the way the brain processes social interactions (social neuroscience) and how the brain deals with emotions (affective neuroscience) is beginning to identify the drivers of human social behaviour.

Chapter 5 describes the evolutionary principle, which means that your brain seeks to minimise danger and maximise reward. This fact often motivates humans to spend more energy avoiding things they think may be risky or non-beneficial than approaching and exploring new possibilities. Many aspects of work can be seen as threatening or rewarding, including:

• Job role or position within the organisation. Your position in the organisational hierarchy is likely to shape your social relationships at work; that is, those with whom you feel relaxed or those with whom you have much or little in common.
• Extent to which you can control your working environment. In a senior or specialist role you may have a high degree of control over your work, but in administration or manual labouring role you may have little. Research suggests that staff with low job control are more prone to stress and four times more likely to die of a heart attack than those with high job control.
• Sense of equality. Lots of research demonstrates that humans are drawn to fairness and dislike unfairness. If you feel unfairly treated, or see others unfairly treated, you’re likely to experience a strong threat response.

So what’s all the above got to do with mindfulness? Mindfulness can help both leaders and employees to become more aware of these social dynamics as they arise and change in the present moment. This awareness is key if you’re to be successful in identifying team dynamics at play and harnessing them for the good of all concerned.

Before we look at specific ways that mindfulness can be used to assist with team dynamics at work, we need to look how social dynamics work.

I (Juliet) used to work with Peter. Peter (not his real name) worked for a major rail maintenance operator in the UK and managed large teams that are responsible for repair and maintenance of the railway tracks and buildings. Peter approached me as he knew that in a few weeks time he would be managing a major renewal project that involved coordinating a team of signal engineers (who maintain the signals) and Pway Engineers (who maintain the track). The team of signal engineers had a different working culture to that of the Pway engineers. Although all are dedicated to keeping the trains running safely, communication problems are evident between the teams and all sorts of other frictions existed.

I helped Peter to identify some of the social dynamics at play in his work. The signal engineers regarded their job role as being more skilled and of higher status than the Pway engineers, whom they described as ‘monkeys’. As highly trained and qualified engineers, the team had considerable control to decide on the right course of action, and how the job would best be carried out. They felt a strong sense of social cohesion with other signal engineers, and those on the railway who had similar technical jobs. They had little in common with the Pway staff, who mainly did routine, manual, heavy work.

The Pway staff regarded the signal engineers as ‘geeks’. They argued that, without the tracks themselves, electric masts, points, bridges and other railway infrastructure, no need for signals would exist. Their work was thus, in their eyes, of equal importance. They felt that their job role as Pway workers should be equal to that of the signal engineers, and resented the inequality evident in the signal engineers being treated with more respect by those in charge. On top of these issues, they had less control over their work, which was often dictated by factors beyond their control. If new track was late being delivered, they could not lay it. If the signal engineers were at work on one area, they had to work somewhere else. They regarded the signal engineers with mistrust, as several years ago a signal engineer had reported a (now redundant) Pway engineer for larking about on the job. They saw inequality in the situation whereby signal engineers always seemed to spend the last hour of work ‘doing nothing’ while they bust a gut to get the job finished in time.

Peter recognised that the Pways staff worked in a much more uncertain environment, and had much less control, both factors that humans can find highly threatening. He also recognised that the roles of the two teams were different so they were unlikely to feel part of the same social group as they had little in common. Peter saw that the Pway staff were feeling threatened by the apparent preferential treatment they felt the signal staff received. Peter started to understand how these factors may be making the Pway staff feel unconsciously threatened, and that this situation explained why they sometimes appeared to be arguing over trivial points or being difficult. It was just their brains trying to look out for them, trying to keep them safe and well.

Although Peter could see the problems, and why the friction was occurring, he was not sure how to deal with it. This situation where mindfulness (Had I known about it then) would have come in.

Managing team dynamics mindfully

If you look at Peter’s dilemma from a mindful perspective. you discover that:

• Consciously or unconsciously the Pway staff were feeling threated by the working methods and attitudes of the signal staff. This threat was likely to release powerful hormones into their bodies, and to some extent diminish their capacity for rational behaviour.
• Over time, both the signal and Pway staff had created their own mental record or story of what was going on. It was highly likely that they then treated this story as reality – a solid fact – and based their behaviour to each other on this story rather than what was actually happening. Believing their story to be reality, it was likely that their brains were actively seeking evidence to reinforce this picture of what was going on.
• Peter needed to find a way to get his teams to start work with a clean slate, working together in the present moment rather than defaulting to auto-pilot reactions.

Peter’s task was to:

• Try to get staff to work from a present-moment perspective, working on present-moment facts and setting aside past working relationships
• Try to get both groups to feel that they were equally valued on this job (similar status)
• Help increase certainty as far as practical for the Pway staff
• Provide some more autonomy if possible for the Pway staff
• Try to engender a feeling of ‘all working together to make this project happen on time and to maintain line safety’ (a feeling of all being related or belonging to the same group)
• Offer a reward for all staff if the project was completed on time to the required standard (fairness and valuing all).

So how could Pater have applied this knowledge to his work challenge? It might have gone something like this …

At the planning meeting Peter gathered together team leaders from the Pway and signal teams. He ran through the tasks, describing what needed to be done and when, and outlined the fines that would be incurred if they overran and trains were stopped or delayed as a result.

Peter explained his findings, and asked for ideas about how they could start this job with a clean slate. He encouraged the staff to look at what was happening in the here and now. Together, they made plans to address the six points that Peter had identified. It was agreed that some Pway staff and signal staff should swap places so that they could gain a greater appreciation of each other’s roles, and also increase certainty and relatedness for both groups. They agreed on the joint reward of a free breakfast for all if things went according to plan.

Peter started the project by bringing the staff together and emphasising that everyone was responsible for getting the job completed, to the required standard, on time. He explained that the company would get fined for lateness and delays caused, and that would impact on each and every one of them. He emphasised the importance of all the workers playing their part, with no job being any more or less important than another.

The team leaders worked hard to nip things in the bud when staff reverted to old thought patterns and behaviours. They brought team members back to the present moment if they started to spiral into anger or frustration in anticipation of what would happen next, based on past experiences. They reinforced Peter’s messages and changed the subject if anyone started to moan about other teams working on the project.

Peter’s project finished early, leaving time for an additional quality check at the end, resolving some last minute issues. Breakfast was enjoyed by all, and Peter gained a sense that this shared experience was the start of better working relationships within his teams.

Here are some tips for mindfully creating better team dynamics:

• Use up-to-date models to identify things that may detract from good working relationships within your team.
• Lead your team with fresh eyes every day. Focus on what’s happening in the here and now, rather than what you think is happening based on past experiences.
• Remember that, although your team members are there to do a job of work, they’re human beings, not human doings!
• Be constantly aware of the huge impact that emotions and physiology have on thoughts. If your team members are worried, angry or uncertain, their work suffers. Help your team to create as much certainty as possible and stay focused on the present moment.
• Give your team a break – literally and emotionally:
• Encourage staff to take a few moments to refocus their efforts by taking a three-step focus break (see Chapter 6).
• Encourage team members to celebrate success and achievement, ticking off each little job as another task done.
• Encourage self-kindness. As a leader you probably want all your team members to strive to be the best they can, but working harder and harder and later and later results in less performance. Encourage staff to take some time out and come back to the task with fresh eyes and renewed attention.

Walk the talk! Demonstrate a mindful approach to your work and the way you lead. Doing so encourages your team members to adopt new, healthier, more productive working habits.

Remind your team members that the problem isn’t the problem! Your interpretation and response is what can cause the problem. You may not be able to make the problem go away, but you can alter the way you think about it and respond.

Improving Team Performance

As a leader, your primary role is to motivate and lead team(s) to achieve desired organisational outcomes. A key aspect of this leadership role is identifying team dynamics at play, and encouraging good working relationships and understanding between different teams and team members.

When trying to improve team performance, leaders often lose sight of what’s really important. Mindfulness is a great way to bring yourself back to the present moment, see what’s really important and refocus your efforts.

As more neuroscience research into mindfulness emerges, leaders are adopting more mindfulness techniques to assist them lead effectively in times of constant change, pressure and uncertainty. Wise leaders are introducing mindfulness within their teams, helping their staff to get more from their job role and to find a new way to relate to their work.

Lastly, as a leader, keeping your eye on the goal is vital. What is it that your team are supposed to be doing for your organisation? What is the greatest contribution you can make? We need to look at each of these in turn.

Recognising what’s important

Why do you do the job that you do? Why do you work for the organisation you work for?

You may have chosen to work for your company based on a mental picture of it formed from your perceptions of its products, services, mission and vision or what you have read. You may have been lucky enough to have insider knowledge gained from friends and family. When you started to work for your company, you may have found that your perception of what it was like to work for it was different to the reality – for better or worse!

In much the same way, when you applied for the job role you now hold you formed a mental picture of what the job role was all about, the difference you could make, and probably things you could improve or introduce. Again, you may have found the reality somewhat different to your perception of how it would be. Why is this?

Humans tend to dislike uncertainty. Thus, when you don’t know what the future holds; your brain tries to anticipate what will happen in the future based on past experience. Your brain then treats this mental picture of the future as a fact until something happens to make you alter or replace this representation of reality.

Being conned into thinking that how you see the world is the same as how others see it is all too easy. The same applies to what you think is important. In order to be effective as a leader, you need to take a step back now and again to see what’s really important for yourself, your team and the organisation as a whole.

Mindfully seeing what’s important

Here’s a 15 minute exercise to help you identify important issues at work. Follow these steps:

1. Settle yourself into a dignified upright position in a chair or on the floor. Make sure that you’re in a place where you feel comfortable and where you won’t be disturbed for a short while. Put a pen and notepad nearby.
2. Spend around three minutes focusing on the sensation of breathing. Feel the breath coming in and the breath going out. Experience your breathing in the present moment, as it is right here, right now. You’ve nothing else to do in this moment except experience breathing. Nothing else matters.

   If your attention wanders, congratulate yourself on recognising that it has done so and then gently escort your attention back to your breath.

3. Spend around three minutes focusing on how your body feels at this moment in time. Start at your feet and work up to your head:
   • Look for sensations such as stiffness or tingling. In some areas, you will feel sensations and in others nothing.
   • Let go of any expectations regarding how your body should feel; just see what’s there at this moment in time.
   • Gently escort your attention back to your body if your attention wanders.
4. Spend two minutes focusing on what you currently do for your organisation.

   See what arises. Observe your thoughts impartially, with kindness and curiosity. Avoid the temptation to think about what’s arising and to get involved or judge it – just observe.

5. Spend two minutes focusing on what your team could do to add most value to your organisation

   See what arises. Again, just observe and avoid the temptation to think about it.

6. Spend two minutes focusing on how you could be leading your team in this present moment

   See what arises. Again, just observe and avoid the temptation to think about it.

7. Return your attention to your breath. Focus on your breathing for the remaining two minutes.
8. Open your eyes and spend a moment gathering yourself together.
9. Write on the pad the thoughts that emerged in steps 4, 5 and 6. Consider whether:
   • Any disparities exist between your job role to date and what you should be doing in the future
   • Your team’s efforts are focused in the right direction
   • Anything needs to be done differently in the future

Five minutes to refocus your work efforts

If you’ve been practising mindfulness for some time, you may wish to try a shortened 5 minute version of the ‘Mindfully seeing what’s important’ exercise. Follow these steps:

1. Settle yourself into a dignified upright position in a chair or on the floor. Make sure that you’re in a place where you feel comfortable and where you won’t be disturbed for a short while. Put a pen and notepad nearby.
2. Spend two minutes focusing on the sensation of breathing.
3. Bring your focus to your job role and spend two minutes asking yourself:
   • ‘What do I currently do for my organisation’?
   • ‘How should I be leading my team in this present moment?

   See what thoughts emerge.

4. Bring your attention back to your breath. Focus your attention on your breath for the remaining minute.
5. Open your eyes and spend a moment gathering yourself together.
6. Write on the pad the thoughts that emerged in step 2. Consider whether;
   • Any disparities exist between your job role to date and what you should be doing in the future
   • Your team’s efforts are focused in the right direction
   • Anything needs to be done differently in the future

Introducing Mindfulness to Your Team

Mindfulness is increasingly being offered to employees as a development option. More research into the impact of mindfulness in the workplace is needed, but data suggests that it can help you:

• Function better when under pressure
• Focus your attention better on the task in hand
• Improve the way you manage strong feelings and emotions
• Respond differently to challenges and difficulties at work
• Improve relationships with colleagues
• Look after yourself better at work

If doing more of the same isn’t producing the results you desire, why not try a different approach? Why not offer staff mindfulness lessons in work time? See Chapter 12 for more information on introducing mindfulness to your organisation. Mindfulness equips staff with the tools and techniques that can help them work with their brain rather than against it, and gain new perspectives and ways of working.

Keeping your eye on the goal

As a leader, keeping your eye on the goal is crucial. From time to time, you need to check and, if necessary, redefine your team’s purpose and goals. Peter (who we met earlier in the chapter) redefined his team’s purpose using the ‘Mindfully seeing what’s important’ exercise.

Peter identified the following:

• His job title is ‘senior infrastructure project manager’.
• His role is to ensure that projects are delivered on time, to budget and matching specifications.
• He currently spends 60 per cent of his time documenting, agreeing, monitoring and refining project plans; 20 per cent on reporting to stakeholders and documenting items; 10 per cent directly supervising work teams to ensure project delivery to the required standards; and 10 per cent on routine administration and attending organisational planning and strategy meetings.
• He is finding it more difficult to deliver projects on time and to budget despite being confident that his skills as a project manager are still effective and have improved over time.
• He is spending an increasing amount of time managing team dynamics and adverse reactions to organisational change.
• Peter concluded that, at the present moment and for the foreseeable future, the important things he needs to do are:
• Manage projects on time and to budget
• Provide more support to his direct reports to help them cope with the organisational changes and uncertainty they are facing

Peter rescheduled his diary to allow more time to lead and support his team, which led to improved team working and projects being completed faster and to a higher standard. He identified those aspects of his project management role that required the most skill and those that were more administrative. He started developing a member of his team as a project management assistant, supporting her to take on some of the more routine aspects of his work. He made more of an effort to identify the impact that planned changes were likely to have on his direct and indirect teams, and actively involved them in deciding the way forward.

As you can see, by taking time out to clear his mind using mindfulness, Peter was able to identify what was important in the present moment and to take steps to restructure his work and the work of his team to ensure that organisational goals continued to be met.

Staying focused using mindfulness

To mindfully keep your eye on the end goal, bear these tips in mind:

• Set aside regular time to practise mindfulness. Doing so reduces your tendency to work on auto-pilot and help you see things more clearly.
• Every three months or at the end of your mindfulness practice, ask yourself, ‘What’s important in my work at this present moment?’ Restructure your work if necessary.
• Every six months or so, test your understanding of where the organisation is heading. Try to:
  • Arrange to meet with a few carefully selected senior managers to identify the organisation’s key priorities at this moment in time and how your team can best contribute.
  • Prepare for each meeting by practising mindfulness for five to ten minutes, ideally just before walking into the meeting.
  • In the meeting really focus on what’s being said, avoiding the temptation to jump to conclusions.
  • After the meeting identify four or five key things you’ve discovered, and decide whether any of your work goals need to change.

Enhancing Internal and External Business Relationships

Whatever your role within an organisation, actively cultivating good businesses relationships with colleagues and external contacts and clients is important.

Most relationships at work develop and are maintained with little effort. Some, however, require a lot of input. In the busy world of work, you need to make time to be really present when you’re involved in one to one or group interactions with others. Many people say, ‘Of course I’m fully present when I meet with people; I’m in the same room at the same time.’ Although you can’t argue with this statement, many people are rarely present. Their body may be there but their brain is juggling multiple things, retrieving related past experiences and trying to anticipate what will happen next. Mindfulness can help you quieten the mind, reduce your ‘mental noise’ and return to the present moment. In the present moment, you can see more clearly what is going on in full Technicolor glory – body language, facial expressions, tone and intonation, all of which add to the message but are often unnoticed.

The next sections show you how to be ‘ready for anything’ in meetings and get the most from your face-to-face interactions.

Becoming mindfully ready for anything

Managers and staff spend a huge amount of time in meetings. Research suggests that many managers regard much of this time as unproductive. With a little mindful preparation, this need not be the case. Most meetings are arranged with one or more goals in mind; indeed, many start with a set agenda. ‘Without a reason to meet, why meet?’ I hear you ask! While establishing the issues to be discussed is a good idea, retaining some flexibility to deal with equally or even more important things that arise unexpectedly in the moment is useful.

Are you one of those people who are too busy to prepare for meetings, arriving just in time and ‘winging it’? You’re not alone! However, taking a little time out to prepare leads to better meetings in which you get more done.

When preparing for meetings, use a three-minute focus break (see Chapter 5) to calm your brain chatter and return to the present moment.

Consider:

• Why the meeting has been arranged
• The organisational benefits that may be achieved
• What you can contribute to the meeting and gain from it
• Who will be there and why

Bear in mind that all the above points may or may not be true and accurate; they may just be mental constructs you’ve put in place to make sense of the world. Your thoughts here are only a starting point – be open to the meeting taking a new direction if beneficial.

Being in the meeting

When you enter the meeting room, try to ensure that you’re fully present. The same applies if you’re holding a one-to-one meeting in your office. Make an effort to be aware of any preconceived ideas you bring into the room with you, and try to set them aside as they may be inaccurate or unhelpful. If you’ve been practising mindfulness for a little while, you should find it easier to quieten your brain chatter and accurately identify these ideas, realising that they’re only mental constructs and that they should be treated as such.

If, as the meeting starts, you find that lots of thoughts are going around in your head, try grounding yourself in the present moment.

Grounding yourself in the present moment

You can use this simple MAWT (see Chapters 6 and 7) technique when you enter a meeting as a participant or as the chair. If you’re chairing the meeting, you may wish to start with a mindful minute (see Chapter 7) for everyone to centre themselves in preparation for the meeting. State the following:

• Observe your thoughts as mental processes that come and go. No need to fix them or do anything with them, simply focus on observing them.
• Experience how:
  • Your feet feel in contact with the floor
  • Your bottom feels in contact with the chair
  • Your neck, shoulders and jaw feel in this moment in time
• Observe any sounds in the room or outside the room. Observe which are constant, which change, and notice any impact the sounds have on you.
• Return your focus to the meeting.
• Check every now and again that you’re still in the meeting in the present moment and that your thoughts have not hijacked you and taken you elsewhere.

As the meeting continues, try really focusing on each agenda item, seeing it with fresh eyes and contributing to the discussion when appropriate. When you’re more present in meetings, you may notice a host of other things going on that others may miss as their minds take them in different directions.

You may notice positive or negative body language, weariness or subjects that keep arising that aren’t on the agenda, are dismissed and then pop up again. These subjects may need to be discussed and resolved in order to make the remainder of the meeting more productive. If appropriate, try to get these hidden issues on to the table and discussed. If doing so is wholly inappropriate, publically acknowledge that you’ve noticed them, and propose another time to discuss and resolve them. While this approach may seem counter-intuitive because you’re adding more items to an already packed agenda, if people are distracted by a burning issue the meeting is likely to be unproductive or take longer. Surfacing, acknowledging and setting aside time to discuss important hidden issues saves you time in the long run.

Always ensure that meetings end with a thank you – so few meetings do! If you’re the chair, propose a mindful minute to end the meeting. Next, sincerely thank attendees for their time and attention, and acknowledge what’s been achieved. This simple act pays dividends. If done correctly, it has the power to activate people’s parasympathetic nervous system (associated with rest and relaxation), resulting in them leaving the meeting feeling good. In addition, it recognises and rewards the efforts people have made to make the meeting a success and engenders a sense of completion and accomplishment.

Following up mindfully

Always make sure that you follow up promptly on the promises you made in the meeting. These problems may include minuted actions and more informal promises such as getting data for someone or even a favour that someone asked of you in a coffee break.

Always make a note of these promises before you leave the meeting room. Your mind may easily be hijacked when you leave the meeting room, and as your working memory becomes overwhelmed, it may drop these promises and you may forget them. Noting the promises down means that you can delete them from your working memory, which frees it up to do other things.

Deliver on your promises as promptly as you can – especially the informal ones. Sometimes the more you think about doing something, the more of a story you create in your mind about it. This self-created story (based on your past experience and anticipation of the future) is treated by your brain as reality. It may procrastinate or try to avoid doing the task. Diving in and getting a task done without over-thinking it probably leads to its faster completion and stops you wasting time and distracting yourself from other tasks by over-analysing it.

Boosting Team Morale

Mindfulness can benefit individuals and teams in many ways, but isn’t a magic solution or cure all. Being more mindful as you carry out your work can help you improve relationships with those you work with, and become more aware of what’s happening, both of which are important when trying to boost team morale.

Morale is all about the team’s capacity to consistently pull together in pursuit of a common purpose. Organisations with high morale tend to experience higher productivity and staff engagement. They have lower employee turnover and absenteeism, and a happier workforce.

Team morale may suffer as a result of change and restructuring, poor communication or a lack of control over work. Often managers are so busy with their inner story that they fail to realise what’s happening right before their eyes. Increased complaints about work or team members, greater workplace conflict, more absenteeism and higher staff turnover are all indications that morale may be low.

The leader’s morale can also have a profound impact on the morale of the team. Maybe you’ve been lucky enough to have worked for an energised, enthusiastic, positive boss. You may also have worked with a negative or disenchanted manager and noticed that this experience is a very different one. Team morale often starts with the leader, so leaders need to be good role models.

Improving morale with mindfulness

Here are a few tips for boosting morale:

• Set a good example. Whether you’re the boss or the most junior member of staff, you can still set a good example at work. Mindfulness shows you that you may not be able to control everything that life throws at you, but you can choose your response. Your behaviour has an impact on how others think and behave, so make sure that you set a good example.
• Look for signs of poor morale and nip them in the bud. The sooner you notice that morale is taking a turn for the worse, the easier it is to do something about it. Always be mindful of the signs of low morale, such as increased absenteeism, work conflict and complaints. Look for the causes, and take steps to bring things back on track. If you’re a leader, try to discuss the issue with the team in an open and honest way and really listen, without judgement, to people’s responses.
• Bring in the good. When you become particularly busy, you may find it yourself stopping doing the things that nourish you (such as meeting friends for coffee or playing a musical instrument) and to focus more on the things you think are important, such as work deadlines and projects. This focusing more on work is a mistake. When you’re busy you need more of the things that nourish you, not less! Make sure that you pencil into your diary time to do the little things in your life that feel really good. If you’re a leader, try to encourage your team members to make time to do what they enjoy too. Discourage routine late working, and encourage staff to have a more appropriate life/work balance.
• Celebrate success and gain a sense of completion. Do you find yourself complaining that you’ve got nothing done today? In reality, you’ve probably got lots done, but you just haven’t acknowledged it. When you’re busy you may find that one job tends to merge into another and another, giving you little sense of completion. Mindfulness shows you the need for a sense of completion; the need to be kind to yourself and acknowledge that you have completed one task, before you start the next. Each time you complete a task, congratulate yourself on a job well done – however small –‘another email responded to – yes!’, ‘another meeting concluded – yes!’, ‘another customer order completed – yes!’. Congratulating yourself helps you recognise just how much you’ve achieved and allow you to end the day with a sense of achievement.
• Create certainty and avoid threat. Mindfulness shows you how your brain craves certainty and tries to avoid things that may be threatening. If little certainty exists at work, most people try to create some by anticipating what will happen next. This self-created story may be accurate or inaccurate, and yet you’re likely to respond to it as if it is real and really happening. If things are uncertain at work, try to find out as many facts as you can, and be aware of when your mind is trying to fill in the gaps. Try to respond only to present- moment facts rather than worrying about things that haven’t happened, and may never happen. As a leader, be mindful of the negative impact of uncertainty on team morale. Try to create as much certainty as possible. Be open and honest and take steps to actively involve staff in what’s going on. Doing so gives staff a greater sense of control and certainty, reducing stress and improving morale.
• Encourage staff to get in the happy habit. Happiness is a state of mind. Try to encourage happiness in the workplace. The Action for Happiness (www.actionforhappiness.org) website offers lots of free resources including posters for the workplace.

Focusing team effort with mindfulness

Mindfully refocus your team’s efforts on what was important in this moment in time – just like Peter did earlier in this chapter.

Mindfulness is all about being able to switch your attention to the present moment, seeing things as they really are rather than how you perceive them to be. Even if your team has little knowledge of mindfulness, you can still use mindful techniques to focus on what’s important in the here and now.

Try to make time to prioritise prioritising. Individually or as part of a team, make time to regularly reassess what’s important. Try to do this reassessment early on in the workday, when your mind is fresh. If possible, use the mindfulness technique described earlier in this chapter, ‘Mindfully seeing what’s important’.

Recognise the power of habits. The more often you perform a task in a certain way, the more likely you are to do it in the same way in future. Each time you repeat a behaviour or set of actions, you strengthen the connections in your brain associated with those activities. Routine tasks you do regularly become habits and get stored in a primitive part of your brain as a ‘habit’. Research suggests that you cannot erase a habit when it has been formed, but you can, over time, replace it with another set of behaviours and thoughts. Use this knowledge to help yourself and others change habits so that they can do things differently at work.

Improving team relationships with mindfulness

Sometimes conflict may occur between members of your team. Maybe an actual incident has created problems or possibly team members simply don’t get on. Whatever the cause, your team is less effective if it doesn’t pull together. As the leader, you need to resolve such situations. Follow this three-step guide:

1. Diagnose problems. At the first signs of poor relationships within your team, using the diagnostic methods used by Peter (detailed earlier in this chapter), or another method of your choice, to bring the issues to the surface.
2. Bring the problems into the open. While problems remain beneath the surface and not discussed, there’s little you can do about them. Bringing them to the table in a supportive non-judgemental environment allows them to be explored and resolved. To ensure that the meeting is as productive as possible:
   • Prepare yourself for it by practising mindfulness for a short while to centre yourself and help you approach the meeting in a supportive, non-judgemental, less reactive manner.
   • Create a calm space for the discussion to take place.
   • Explain to the people involved that you think there may be some tension and you’d like to help all of them discuss it, air their views and collectively agree a way forward. Avoid telling them what you think is going on – let things unfold in the moment.
   • Allow all sides equal time to state their case, without interruption. Be mindful to ensure that everyone sticks to present-moment facts rather than judgements and ‘their own story’ of what’s going on.
   • Allow the team members to decide a way forward for themselves. Only intervene or mediate if absolutely essential.
3. Observe the unfolding situation and support all concerned as they make the changes needed. Reward and encourage improved behaviour.

   Be mindful that, however hard you try, some people are never going to get on. In this case, encourage people to ‘sit with the difficulty’ (see Chapter 7) and find a way to acknowledge the discomfort and accept the impact that the person has on them without causing themselves any more unnecessary pain.