Chapter 7

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Build a healthier business

This chapter will present a natural development of the mindfulness practices we have discussed and included so far, into looking at the health of you and your business as a whole. The journey into embracing mindfulness fully is one of discovering connection, well-being and insight – each of these are qualities which not only are central to good business practice but also encompass broad ethical implications and a radical paradigm shift of how businesses might operate. This shift is gradually being reflected in businesses and business practices as we write; it is occurring already in the world around us, because it actually makes good business sense. Once businesses and their employees begin to understand mindfulness, then there is an opportunity to really see that the ‘snatch and grab’, anxiety-fuelled working mentality is actually detrimental to the individual, to business in general and to global health. Instead, through simple, easily implemented mindfulness practices, creativity, confidence and contentment can start to grow and prosper, and business begins to boom.

‘We need to develop and disseminate an entirely new paradigm and practice of collaboration that supersedes the traditional silos that have divided governments, philanthropies and private enterprises for decades and replace it with networks of partnerships working together to create a globally prosperous society.’

Simon Mainwaring, CEO, We First, Branding Consultant

Perhaps your workplace is already one of the cutting-edge businesses catching on to the first wave of a mindful and compassionate revolution. Perhaps you, or those at the top (if that’s not you, yet!), are already beginning to look at the way in which we humans, can thrive together, rather than treating people as cogs in a machine, bent towards dominion at any cost? If so, we hope this chapter will give you even further confidence and support for the fabulous work you are already doing, and if not, we hope that this chapter can inspire you to find ways, even small and ordinary ones, to develop your practice and be part of the change you want to see in your place of work, and the world.

In this chapter we will discuss and consider:

• How overworking and overconsumption of our internal and external resources is unsustainable.
• The toxic nature of the workplace based on a ‘dog-eat-dog’ paradigm.
• How a business can stop working as if it has to survive once it learns how to thrive.
• Business examples and research supporting the efficacy and success of this new business paradigm.
• How mindfulness makes good business sense for us as individuals as well as within and between businesses, and how to implement mindfulness and compassion effectively in the workplace to ensure a healthy, thriving business.

How to stop pop from eating itself

As we have seen throughout this book, mindfulness has the potential to help us cultivate a calmer and clearer mind that increases our capacity for better decisions, more effective actions and improved performance on the job. Yet, as sharper and more effective workers, we then might also begin to question: is it possible to make more mindful business decisions for the greater good of ourselves, the people we work with, our organisations and our planet? Or, will we simply become more effective capitalists and continue to destroy ourselves and each other in the process and consume our dear home faster than its capacity to replenish itself? Is growth, capitalism and the current business model really working well for us? Is there need for change? We are going to address these questions, to some extent at least, throughout this chapter, but we sincerely invite you to make your own inquiries, to become curious and interested in this debate and how you choose to position yourself within it.

Popular culture and zeitgeist are hugely influential in the impact they have upon our behaviours, many of which remain unexamined and therefore unconsciously habitual or accepted as ‘the way things are’. In the workplace this means that we sometimes just function on autopilot, without looking closely at the way in which we and our company are operating. If we broaden the definition of consumption beyond food to consider consumption for areas such as our own energy, market growth and use of resources, we can already begin to appreciate the wider implications of bringing greater awareness to this area of our work in a whole spectrum, from the micro/personal to meta/global.

The awareness to recognise exactly what we need to do and consume and what we do not need to do and consume, in order to keep our bodies, minds, places of work and the earth healthy is a gift afforded to us via our commitment to practise mindfulness. As with all mindfulness, the initial part of the journey is simply to make contact with and become aware of what is happening in your direct experience moment to moment.

‘Mindful consumption is the way to heal ourselves and to heal the world.’

Thich Nhat Hanh

Exercise 7.1: Work in progress

Conscious consuming

To help you begin to make contact and develop interest in how you, within your work setting and other contexts of your non-working life, can develop greater consciousness of consumption, spend a few moments reflecting on the areas suggested in the numbered list below. As you do this exercise:

• Do feel free to add your own alternatives or additions.
• Please let go of ‘beating yourself up’ over anything you feel or are told is unwholesome; rather, contact mindfully your sensory, visceral experience as you consider each area listed below.
• Look to the quality of your breath, the tension/ease in your body, your habitual patterns of thinking or emotional reactions, and with curiosity then inquire as to what you consume alongside each area listed below – perhaps it is relaxation that is never quite achieved to satisfaction, or perhaps it is denial of harm; maybe you find intellectual stimulation, a sense of relief or distraction from your personal concerns, inspiration … or any number of other realisations.
• Consider how next time you engage in any of the following, you can track your experience to see if you can identify, in the moment, whether the experience is positive, negative or neutral … This way you can begin to contact and explore mindful consumption and make choices informed by your own direct experience rather than externally imposed or habitual beliefs (such as ‘smoking is bad for your health’, or ‘smoking really de-stresses me’; if you do smoke, inquire how the experience is directly, moment to moment).

1. Food: Are you aware of what you eat, when you eat it? Do you track your hunger and notice when you are full? Are you aware of the process that this food has taken to come to you? What about the energy, nutrients and quality the food has to offer you? And the impact this and the process of manufacture has on your mind, body and planet?
2. Watching television or playing computer games (including Candy Crush on your phone!): What do you choose to consume visually? How does what you watch/play affect your body, mind or emotions? Are you disturbed, numbed or excited by news, violence or distress reported on television or in computer games? Is the act of watching television/gaming enhancing your well-being and quality of life?
3. Magazines, newspapers, books and social media: How do you choose what you read? Are you engaged and enlivened by your consumption? Do you find it hard to stop once you begin to read or use social media? What else are you consuming as you read? Global strife. political unrest, murder mysteries, trivia, gossip, knowledge? How do these things impact on you emotionally? In what ways does this activity enrich your life?
4. Conversations: When you converse with others, how aware are you of your body, your breath or the content of your conversation? Are you able to listen or are you already planning your next move? Who do you choose to engage with and why? Are you enjoying your verbal interactions? Do you feel fulfilled by your conversation?
5. Physical contact: Who do you have physical contact with? Are you caring and sensitive about how you touch and are touched physically? What emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations arise when you are touched or touch others? Are you mindfully present with those with whom you have physical contact? Are you content with the amount and quality of physical contact you give and receive?
6. Drugs and alcohol: What are your beliefs about your use of drugs and/or alcohol? What do you consider to be a drug? (Class As? Marijuana? Nicotine? Caffeine? Sugar?) Does consumption of drugs or alcohol add value to your life experience? If so, how? If not, what is missed or missing? Do drugs and alcohol improve your sense of happiness and well-being?
7. Shopping: What mental state are you in when you are shopping? How does this affect how, where and what you might choose to buy? What are you left with, besides the goods you may have purchased, after the shopping is over: relief, anger, pleasure, dissatisfaction – an overdraft? Does the experience of shopping bring you joy? How and in what ways is shopping useful to you?
8. Work: Consider the reasons you work other than just financial necessity – does work bring you self-esteem, status, intellectual stimulation, social contact, meaning – or anything else? What is it that you truly want back from your work? Do you get this? What areas do you feel work detracts from in your life: relationships (especially family), leisure time, health – something else? How much of the time are you at work, physically, mentally and/or emotionally? Do you really have ‘days off’?

Never quite full enough

‘Feeling good about what we do for a living depends more on our moment to moment experiences than it does on prestige, status or pay.’

(Salzberg, 2013)

On an individualistic level, taking more than we need doesn’t seem to allay our anxieties of scarcity at all. Overconsumption (be that of work, food, noise, alcohol, sex, media, exercise, time, etc.) somehow still leaves us feeling fundamentally dissatisfied and staring into the great big fridge of life at midnight and wondering ‘what next?’ Socially, we tend to normalise these excessive behaviours and dress them up as temporary, macho, determined or some other form of justification – and let’s face it, they sell really well, right? Work hard, eat this, listen to that, drink this, play with this, jump over that … and then you’ll be happy, just like everybody else. Usually, of course, as we have explained throughout this book, everybody else is pretending just as hard as we are. So we continue to overconsume on a normalised, culturally accepted large scale, such as within businesses, and just try to work extra hard not to be the one at the bottom of the heap. This continual striving (‘you should always do better, more’, etc.) is something which is frequently promoted in the workplace and within many models of business, further fuelling the sense that something, somewhere or someone ‘else’ is better than where we are right now. This not only sets us up for a sense of perpetual dissatisfaction, but also keeps us constantly comparing ourselves with others (‘are we better or worse?’), and as our well-being is then dependent on being better than others, we can feel like a failure, isolated, disconnected and threatened – in all, a great set-up for a competitive, aggressive mentality focused on ‘bigger, faster, better, more’, which, as we are seeing in our health, planetary resources and communities, is exhausting and simply unsustainable.

Mindfulness, however, offers us a counterbalance to the competitive, dog-eat-dog mentality that prevails across our working cultures. When we utilise the skills and insights gained through mindfulness practice, we develop a different awareness of our co-workers and learn to treat them and ourselves with greater care and compassion. Instead of our defensive stance of fending off the other ‘dogs’, showing how tough and indestructible we are, we learn greater tolerance of our own vulnerabilities and humanity. Through this acceptance of ourselves and others, an inevitable consequence of consistent mindfulness practice, a natural compassion seems to arise and we then develop a work ethic based upon understanding and cooperation. And the good news is that as a result of this we actually also foster higher rates of performance, staff retention and profitability, leading to a more successful and healthy business. Rather than competing for the badge of ‘cut-throat of the year’, we can become more present, engaged and connected to our working life and colleagues. This way we are enabled to begin to care about what we do and how this impacts on the world around us in a truly satisfying and meaningful way.

Change is afoot

‘Change shall not take place because of decisions taken by governments or the UN. Real change will take place when individuals transform themselves guided by the values that lie at the core of all human ethical systems, scientific findings and common sense.’

Dalai Lama

Although cultivating a more mindful culture at work may be starting to sound like a very sensible and attractive way forward, it will undoubtedly bring with it some anxiety, as it also presents a significant challenge to our whole economic model and way of life. It rocks the very foundations on which corporate business is built, and it contradicts the endless pursuit of growth and the prevailing capitalist mentality that most of us in the West have become indoctrinated into. However, and especially, when we unplug for a millisecond to notice, we do know that we cannot continue at the same hectic, grasping pace, that we don’t have enough energy within or around us to sustain it and something has to change. Those who deny this are going to end up in A&E with a pulmonary just as we run out of the electricity needed to run the defibrillator. Nevertheless, like any such fundamental and radical change, fear will inevitably arise: fear of failure, fear of the unknown! Surely … no, should we do this? Can we?! Well, to help you along with all this and to begin to manage any such anxieties (should they arise for you too), consider again that our goal of endless growth is unsustainable and simply not even possible; change is simply inevitable. To help you utilise change, it helps to bring the very inevitability of it into conscious awareness from time to time. Change is in constant flow, resistance is futile! Being active or passive does not stop change – it may affect our intentionality, our sense of empowerment or impact on our well-being – but change will occur regardless. The universe, as the scientists say, is in constant flux, from planetary movements to the electrons in an atom. Nothing stays the same, and trying to fixate upon ideologies, structures or events in order to preserve them and keep them static is a denial of this universal truth and can lead to great suffering.

‘We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.’

Zhuangzi

When we attend to and accept change unfolding, as it inevitably will, we are then able to enter into a more fluent relationship with life and with our work, which, while not immunising us against the anxieties of the modern business world, does enable and equip us to realise them and allow them to pass on with greater ease. Any change process requires an acknowledgement, an acceptance, a letting go and an embracing of the new. This occurs all the time, mostly in unconscious ways, like with breathing or thinking. Like all mindfulness, beginning by drawing attention to these everyday processes enables us to enliven ordinary experience and presents us with opportunities to enhance our skills for using them with greater consciousness and intention. Try this simple exercise now in order to explore this mindfully.

Exercise 7.2: Mindful on the job

Times are a’changin’

• Begin by noticing the sensations of contact you have with the floor, chair or other surface, or where different body parts rest against one another – any of these bodily sensations will do.
• Now think about changing position, but know that in order to do so you will need to let go of that contact – that piece of earth, tile, foam, fabric or whatever.
• To move, you will need to lose. If you hold on, you will stay here.
• Now, for the purpose of the exercise, choose to either move or stay where you are and then follow the relevant steps below, depending upon your choice (neither is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’).

Deciding to move

1. You have decided to move in some way (this may just be lifting your hand from your lap or foot from the floor). Notice before you take action, any thoughts or sensations arising; these thoughts and sensations will pass. All material and immaterial objects arise and pass; it is their inherent nature.
2. Now observe the muscles tensing within the body as you prepare to move. Now move and allow the actions to be in slow motion. The body requires change in order to fulfil the intention of moving. Normally this is unconscious; you are now practising making this conscious through your sustained attention.
3. Feel the tension and focus of the body on the parts that are engaged with this movement. Maybe parts of the body are held by relationship between your muscles, your will and gravity. Some of these are conditions within your control, some are not.
4. Feel yourself make the movement through air or across a surface. Recognise that time has passed, as has your action and then come to rest.
5. Is the mind at rest? Is the body absolutely without movement?
6. Notice that you left one position behind. The thoughts of this process, the sensations, movements and efforts will not arise again in the same space or time. They are gone. You have experienced this change with consciousness.

Deciding to stay

1. You have decided to remain in the same position. Notice any thoughts or sensations arising; be aware of their arising, and also how they fall, evolve or change.
2. Now observe the body staying still. Notice that even in this particular posture there is movement: breath, heartbeat, digestion, blood flow, synapses firing. The body requires movement in order to sustain this stillness, your aliveness, your posture. Normally this is unconscious; you are now practising making this conscious through your sustained attention.
3. Feel how your body is supported by the relationship between your muscles, your will and gravity. Some of these are conditions within your control, some are not.
4. Be aware that sitting, standing or lying here, time has passed, while you have remained still and resting.
5. Is the mind at rest? Is the body absolutely without movement?
6. Notice that you have remained in one position, yet change has still occurred. The thoughts of this process, the sensations, movements and efforts will not arise again in the same space or time. They are gone. You have experienced this change with consciousness.

Whether we choose to stay put or move with the times, one thing is certain: change is inevitable. Yet by bringing consciousness and curiosity to the process of change in this way, we contact and enliven our wider sense of stability and presence. The part of us that can observe this change is certain and unchanging, and from this perspective we may find that we are at greater ease, even in the face of the inevitability of change.

Top Dog dilemma

Recognising the need to change, and understanding the anxiety which may ensue is critically important in order to find confidence and courage to even attend to your own personal struggles, let alone being part of a huge paradigm shift (but please also remind yourself that mindfully attending to your own anxieties IS being part of a very wholesome change). Nevertheless, the culture of the 1980s power-suit brute is still prevalent and worthy of further deconstruction in order to help us understand the reasons why it doesn’t work well, how depleting it is, how dissatisfying to our well-being and, yet, why it has been adopted as a dominant model for so long. It might look like we are bashing the notion of competition (which we really aren’t), but it is really useful to understand that, while competition has its place, there is a need for it to move on over (not a natural inclination of the highly competitive) and make room for something new. This means that there is a dilemma for the notion of ‘top dog’: to stop trying to eat all the other top dogs sniffing its bum and to learn a few new (mindful) tricks.

The arena of competition, so often fostered in the workplace, has aligned itself with machismo, pumped-up ego and status, but maybe these are becoming genuinely outmoded and boorish. The paradigm of ‘man as machine’, ironically expounded since the industrial revolution, fails to recognise our humanity and, frankly, if you’ve ever worked like this it feels pretty grim after a while; long term, as we have stated already, it is simply unsustainable. We see many clients in our practice who have burned out while trying to work like machines, by stuffing alcohol and white powder into their systems in order to try to stimulate their failing bodies and minds into action and to numb out the pain of trying to exist like that week after week. Somehow there is a notion that you need to be tough, hard and strong (and often rude too) to get on in business. Thankfully, this is not the case from birth or there would be no humans, as we are ridiculously weak and vulnerable as babies and take an inordinate amount of time to grow up – some of us never, ever reaching maturity. So somewhere in the development of an adolescent, say, into the next business guru, comes a toughening, hardening and (allegedly) strengthening rite of passage so you then get to go round and act like an arsehole too. Perhaps this is a moment you can recall, something shaming and finger-pointing, when after crying bitterly in the loo you thought, ‘Well sod this, I’m going to be the finger-pointing bast*rd next time!’, and you put a cage around that soft place inside and stormed off in your power-suit. But when we are not under threat, should we use this same strategy? What are the consequences of always feeling defensive, on edge and in the fray? Perhaps there is a difference between the strategy needed to survive and the strategy needed to thrive?

From a psychological perspective, being in a state of perpetual anxiety is very damaging to our health and our performance (please revisit Chapter 2 for a recap if you wish) and affects cognition so that many innocuous events and situations are perceived as a threat. If we consider the competitive business model (when mindfulness is absent) as reactive and anxiety-based, it makes sense that all other businesses are seen as rivals, that we treat others with suspicion and constantly seek power over anyone or anything we identify as an opponent. A competitive culture needs a threat, we need an enemy, and then, we need to ‘survive’ – this is how we re-enact and perpetuate the sickness culture at work and how we continue to buy into the notion of ‘strength/weakness’. No one wants to be bottom of the heap, to be the failure, the weakness or the one who gets the shaming pointing finger telling us (possibly with regret) that ‘you’re fired!’.

The truth is that in buying into a culture where ‘only the strong will survive’ – where anxiety remains rife, work pressures and stresses increase, cutbacks are efficiently made and competition is fierce – feels like the only way to survive among the other dogs in the pit. Competition takes out the weak in a survival of the fittest culture, but what does that mean? In animal populations ‘weak’ means those who are not thriving at their peak (infants, ill, elderly, infirm); this doesn’t make them ‘wrong’, but they are simply not at full capacity. However, ‘weak’ may also be those who do not adapt quickly enough, or evolve fast enough or who make poor choices. This ‘strong/weak’ dualistic paradigm is one often adopted in the archetypal workplace and it makes sense that we would want to fight to maintain the semblance of strength, rather than facing the internal or external consequences of being (perceived as) ‘weak’, where we are vulnerable and prone to rejection from our stronger colleagues and peers. When we adopt this paradigm, however, we are inevitably going to find ourselves, at times at least, in a weaker place, simply through the conditions of our existence – through illness, ageing and circumstance, etc. It enhances our sense of failure, disconnection and vulnerability and sets us up to perpetually fight against the reality of these conditions occurring, breeding anxiety and ironically enhancing our potential to be ‘weak’. Thus we firmly establish a culture of sickness.

Maybe for some of us, we think that if we can just ‘make it’ , then we can stop (perhaps that early retirement?) and finally relax. Perhaps you don’t even think or care much about bloody business models and paradigms and all that; you just have very long hours, struggle with debts, poor health, unkind managers and overwhelming workloads. In essence, even if we have a pretty peachy deal at work, we are still going to have cr*ppy days, we are still going to suffer from all the things that this earth throws to all of its planetary inhabitants (illness, ageing and death). No one of us is immune – even Mr Smarmy in his swanky penthouse office, on his six-figure-salary (plus bonus) and private jets to the Cayman Islands will suffer the consequences of eating a dodgy kebab, or get a nasty mystery rash, develop a spare tyre, find his hairline receding and finally join the ancestors pushing up the daisies. Because we are unable to guarantee that there is a great big after-party in the sky after we’re done with all this life stuff, and because, just like you, we spend an inordinate amount of our time working, we think that it is pretty darn crucial to make the workplace a healthy, happy and thriving environment.

The cycle of company sickness

Punitive work cultures, driven by fear, are not working intelligently. Their focus of attention, narrowed to outmoded strategies for survival (just like any individual in ‘fight or flight’ mode), ignores longer-term sustainability and simply resorts to reactivity; these types of work cultures are suffering from anxiety. And as we know by now, anxiety is an irrational fear based upon real or imagined (perceived) threat. Anxiety causes long-term health difficulties, loss of functioning and fatigue. Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health difficulties and are rife within the corporate sector; they directly reflect the business mentality of anxiety shown in the wider work group of many businesses (we see this every day in our clients and in our very own business practice). In models underpinning Systemic and Family Therapy, this is a well-known and well-understood concept, an understanding of how the system and individual are mirroring certain behaviours in each other, and can be really useful for conceptualising a particular work culture and also how change can occur effectively in the workplace. For instance, ‘Bowen Theory’ (from the systemic paradigm) suggests that change at a higher level of a hierarchical system will have more impact than change at lower levels. If we do sit at the higher echelons of power, or even have made it above ‘office dogsbody’, then we have a greater responsibility to wake up and get mindful, influencing the well-being of our colleagues and reducing company anxiety as well as our own. If we choose to carry on regardless, however, we enter a vicious cycle (as anyone who has ever experienced anxiety will know) which escalates until we reach breakdown.

‘The discomfort generated by the intensity of anxiety or degree of instability in the group will emerge typically as a strong pressure to relieve discomfort quickly. All things being equal, the pressures for quick relief will be self-centred on the individual or the subgroup, leading to conflict and potential polarisations as the self-interest of the various groups clash, heightened by the discomfort of anxiety. The outcome can be increased discomfort, anxiety, and instability, leading to even more intense pressures for rapid solutions which relieve discomfort.’

Daniel Papero, PhD (Please see ‘Useful resources’ section for link to the article ‘Anxiety and Organisations’)

So instead of mindlessly perpetuating this vicious cycle of anxiety, surely it is time to pass on a new model to the next junior running off to the loos, to free ourselves from being caged, disconnected and brutish, and find a way of reconnecting, being compassionate and healthy? Even after fighting his/her way up to the top, that war-wounded old dog is still going to look around for his/her pedigree chum and hope for a few mates to hang out with. We do not need to react to the reactionaries, turn into neo-liberalists, or new Marxists or kick the old dogs in the teeth. We are all suffering in the same old pile of poo after all; surely it’s bad enough without adding any more stress? This revolution is pretty peaceful, man. Grab yourself a poncho and sit down next to us.

Exercise 7.3: Mindful on the job

Making peace

Use this exercise as you commute to work, are sitting at your desk or dashing out for a meeting. Let your cue become that clenched feeling in your jaw, the wrinkled-up frown on your forehead and/or the shoulders up round your ears. Whenever you notice any or all of these, try this exercise and repeat it as often as you can by following the steps below.

1. Breathe in through your nose, open your mouth ever so slightly and wriggle your jaw sideways.
2. Take a long exhalation through your mouth and then close your mouth gently.
3. Repeat this or similar, ‘As I release my jaw I am making space for peace’.
4. Breathing softly, let your face uncrease – a slight smile can help with this.
5. Say to yourself, ‘As I soften my face I am making space for a sense of ease’.
6. Gently roll your shoulders down and away from your ears, and sit or stand up a little straighter if you can.
7. Take a few more gentle breaths, telling yourself, ‘As I let go in my shoulders, I am open to greater well-being in my body’.
8. You may wish to invite ease, well-being and relaxation to other parts of your body. Don’t worry if tension is still present; your intention is simply to be welcoming to the possibility of ease, and to expand even the smallest sensations of that, not to force anything.

‘Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.’

Often attributed to Gautama Buddha

Stayin’ alive

So let’s think about this shift in business models some more; rather than simply becoming a victim of our own success, or turning into some unsustainable Monopoly Monster, let’s begin to explore further how we turn from being in a state of ‘high-alert-crush-them-all-or-die’ to something a little more benign, peaceful, sustainable and less likely to cause you to die of that pulmonary (just after you’ve finished crushing them all).

Firstly, of course is the recognition that we, or our workplace, are representing something that feels unhelpful, perhaps inauthentic or even downright damaging and unethical. This may mean recognising that you are highly stressed, angry, working with people who don’t share your views and ‘pretending’ to fit in: this might be working for a company whose practices or products you find questionable, or you may yourself be actively part of something (e.g. a policy, practice, manufacturing process or product) you find unethical or which causes harm. This calls for a return to mindfully reviewing our values (see Chapter 6) and seeing if how we operate at work is aligning with them. Most of us, through working with mindfulness, deepen this awareness over the days, months and years we practise, and begin to see how deeply we are connected or disconnected from our peers, friends, family, our community, our environment or ecosystem. This sense of dis/connection is deeply linked with primal feelings of belonging and acceptance, which most of us, in our deepest hearts, yearn for. It is very difficult to feel the depth of this yearning at times, and can seem self-protecting to turn away from it, to shut off, shut up or shut down. Yet, of course, the ultimate cost of denying our vulnerability and the fundamental, innate need to feel deeply wanted and at peace is that we become further disconnected from our fellow human beings and the world we inhabit. As the practice of mindfulness is ultimately about cultivating more awareness, it becomes inevitable that we will simply keep bumping into ourselves (usually showing up as that pesky inner critic) habitually shutting off from connecting, and that we will learn that our knee-jerk responses are anxiety-fuelled, redundant and ineffective. As we have proposed, a large part of business culture has been based solely on models of competition and domination, typically market/economy-focused in terms of sustainability. As an anxious reaction to post-world-war depression and periods of austerity, these paradigms have appeared to provide an economic stability when fears are rife.

However, we can see from a mindful perspective that exclusively using this model of competition keeps business constantly reactive and in the ‘fight or flight’ arena. It’s not clever nor ultimately effective for the good health and consequential success of business (more on this to come), so what are the alternative models available for us to consider?

Business is thriving

‘Corporate workplaces probably aren’t in sync with our evolutionary roots and may not be good for our long-term success as humans.’

Eric Michael Johnson (Taken from Yes! Magazine; please see ‘Useful resources’ section for link to the article)

Ideas of competition and capitalism have a lot in common with the evolutionists’ theories of ‘survival of the fittest’, which have, as we have already discussed, manifested in the workplace as the ‘dog-eat-dog’ mentality of ‘good business’. We have considered how this is totally unsustainable, unpleasant and actually damaging as a long-term strategy. It is even a little misguided as a purist approach to survival, as Darwin himself, in fact, did make reference to the value of cooperation and sympathetic care as essential components of communities which produced ‘prolific and flourishing off-spring’, a piece of his theory which is often forgotten. Indeed, plenty of later research studying both human and animal (including bats, ravens, ground squirrels and monkeys – see the ‘Useful resources’ section for an astonishing video from News Hour India) behaviour has demonstrated and observed acts of inherent altruism. Humans do appear to differ from most animal species in that we can be seen to display altruism beyond our kin or close group members to include strangers. Although still debated, there is increasing psychological and neuropsychological evidence that motivation to act arising from empathy is altruistic as opposed to egotistical motivation. In fact, the same reward system in the brain becomes activated through individualistic material gain as through acts of altruism which provide these instead to others (Fehr, cited in Singer and Ricard (eds), 2015, loc 2186).

More recently, psychologists have researched this area and developed further theories on the evolutionary value and necessity of cooperation for humanity, as shown by collective activities such as hunting, farming and child-rearing. Indeed, promoting group acceptance, by sharing your food for instance (rather than scoffing it by yourself in a cave), would certainly have been more advantageous in hostile environmental conditions where a group offered protection and a greater diversity of expertise and skills. Scattered humans were, as a consequence of cooperative behaviours, able to form tribal communities which then evolved into more prosperous collective societies, with clear intentionality and shared cultural identities. As (Western) human societies today are resource-rich, technologically sophisticated and mobile, our social groups are becoming increasingly integrated and the opportunities and advantages of cooperation are abundant. In business this leaves us the enormous potential to trade skills and resources globally and develop global communities when measures are taken to ensure group cohesiveness and effective communication. The huge advantage of cooperation is that we are able to negotiate conflict and seek resolution skilfully; because it is mutually advantageous, we can benefit from collating skills and ideas, and sharing resources. This is the essential progression from fighting to survive to learning to thrive. Companies do need to be proactive about collaboration and not simply assume it will happen, or ignore it in favour of being overly competitive (the tools and skills we have encouraged you to develop in Chapter 5 are essential to this within working teams and organisations). Without skills in cooperation, larger teams with greater diversity and differing work ethics, cultures and backgrounds may be susceptible to fragmenting. Effective cooperation features several components:

Six key markers of a thriving, cooperative workplace

1. Supportive relationships demonstrated from top-down: senior executives and project managers model collaborative behaviours
2. A culture of praise, appreciation and care of others
3. Good listening skills and engagement in purposeful conversations
4. Productive and creative conflict resolution
5. Shared and transparent values and goals
6. Community building and time for shared social activities.

These key markers are in part very similar to those identified by the Nobel Prize winning American political economist Elinor Ostrom, who researched successful groups that she observed to function effectively and who developed a set of design principles critical for a group to thrive sustainably. Her work has recently been extended and developed by an enthusiastic development team of eminent evolutionary biologists, psychologists and therapists called Prosocial (please visit www.prosocialgroups.org), who have created a free internet platform offering an impressive programme designed to assess and help groups improve their performance, which involves a strong component of mindfulness. The very existence of organisations such as the Prosocial initiative, which are using evidence-based programmes to adopt an intelligent strategy towards the improvement of human welfare and the development of healthier business teams and other groups, shows that the mindset of group enterprises is really beginning to change. Collaborative practices unite communities, encourage group identity and loyalty and can become highly successful long-term projects.

The rise and success of cooperative businesses such as football clubs, farming groups, food retailers and community energy projects has taken collaborative work practices to the highest level and shows that when the focus is on sustainability, community and shared values, rather than on fierce competition, businesses can still succeed. Moreover, cooperative businesses represent a real growth market in which they are gaining consumer support exponentially. At the Annual Cooperatives Conference on 6 May 2015, Mike Beall (past-President and CEO of National Cooperative Business Association – NCBA CLUSA) unveiled the results of a public opinion survey on co-ops and spoke about the rising public interest and awareness of the co-op business model, and the need to harness their influence by developing cross-sector connections between co-ops (i.e. further enhancing collaboration). He stated:

‘We know the numbers: 1 in 3 Americans are co-op members, 75 per cent of the U.S. landmass is served by electric co-ops and more than 100 million people now identify as credit union members. We’ve got to keep connecting the sectors. That’s where we really are powerful.’

Mike Beall, past-President and CEO, NCBA CLUSA (Please see ‘Useful resources’ section for link to the full article)

Other companies are adopting a no/low growth policy. Rather than aiming for yearly growth targets, these companies, in line with the models above, are instead exploring different approaches which include community-based models, sustainability and quality maintenance. While the number of no/low growth businesses is still relatively small, and research is still somewhat lacking, new initiatives are beginning daily and offering thought-provoking paradigms. One company – Patagonia, the Californian outdoor clothing company – is engaging in a more mindful approach to consumption while still focusing on (sustainable) growth. The company’s mission is to build the best product, causing no unnecessary harm, as well as using business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, also sees that there is a ‘proper size’ for the company, and, as he says in his inspirational talk – ‘The Education of a Reluctant Businessman’ – ‘There are no three star French restaurants with fifty tables – it’s impossible.’ To read more about Patagonia and to hear how mindfulness could help to adjust ineffective business models, leading to a more sustainable future, please follow the link in the ‘Useful resources’ section at the end of the chapter.

Even more traditional businesses are also benefitting from making the focus on collaboration central to their operation. For instance, multinational professional services network, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have one of the strongest capabilities in productive collaboration. With responsibility for developing 140,000 employees in nearly 150 countries, PwC’s in-house training includes components addressing teamwork, emotional intelligence, networking, holding difficult conversations, coaching, corporate social responsibility, and communicating the firm’s strategy and shared values. PwC also teaches employees how to influence others effectively and build healthy partnerships. Other headline companies really examining the way we treat workers and also actively upholding ethical integrity, addressing sustainability, creating global communities, promoting innovative and reputable leadership and enhancing a culture of ‘thriving business’ include: Accenture, GE, Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano, Google Inc., Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), The Hershey Company, illycaffè spa, Kao Corporation, Marks and Spencer, Milliken & Company, National Australia Bank, Natura Cosméticos, PepsiCo, SingTel, The Rezidor Hotel Group, Voya Financial and Wipro Limited (please see the link in the ‘Useful resources’ section at the end of the chapter for an article about the world’s most ethical companies in 2015).

Businesses such as these, that are said to enjoy good health and success, are driven by a certain energy, an energy that comes from the deepest needs and aspirations of their own workforces (read here: need and aspiration to thrive, belong, achieve, flourish and find meaning in our lives).

‘By giving our employees choice and treating them like the capable adults they are, we’ve been rewarded with increased productivity, innovation and happiness in our workforce.’

Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group (Taken from huffpost.com; please see ‘Useful resources’ section for link to full blog post)

A healthy business provides its workers with a sense of community within which their needs and aspirations are proactively recognised, responded to authentically and ultimately satisfied. This sense of community can be established by paying great attention to:

• the thoughts, feelings and actions of each individual worker and the organisation as a whole;
• the shared development and use of helpful tools (such as mindfulness) to help employees to effectively manage thoughts and feelings that prevent the company moving toward its valued goals;
• identifying shared values (what is important) and establishing the means to express and act on these;
• managing relationships with care, kindness and respect;
• ensuring employees have a sense of their autonomy (while being guided in their actions);
• managing differences and conflict in open, honest and constructive ways.

A more collaborative model, within and between businesses, keeps alive essential components of long-term survival such as diversity rather than monopolisation, creativity and novel ideas rather than dictates and ‘established’ practices, and also fosters humanistic values rather than just mechanistic ones. This is not to say we must throw the baby out with the bath water; competitiveness can also be motivating and helps to establish efficient and optimal functioning. However, it clearly makes little economic sense to ignore the importance of more altruistic modes of operating in business, especially in terms of long-term sustainability, well-being and our own (and collective) happiness. The fact that there is room for diversity, from small-scale cooperatives to multinational corporations, means that business has never been so dynamic; but also there has never before been such a need to address sustainability, ethics, well-being and accountability – these are not ‘nice ideas’ or the dream of ideologists but fundamental to businesses thriving.

Health, wealth and happiness

‘In my view, genuine cooperation is ultimately very much based on respecting others’ rights and loving others.’

Dalai Lama (cited in Singer and Ricard (eds), 2015, Loc 1253)

New initiatives within business, economics, social sciences and environmental sciences are forming, which are moving towards wholeheartedly engaging with others in mutually trusting relationships which build healthier working relationships. The Dalai Lama is a big champion of this movement, and is the Patron of the UK-based initiative ‘Action for Happiness’, which has just recently launched its new science-based programme (consisting of an evening course) for increasing happiness and well-being across the UK (please see the ‘Useful resources’ section for more on this). Recent research cited on the Action for Happiness website reveals the key to a happy life is to invest in relationships and community just as much, if not more, as you invest in the markets. This is a view expounded by Richard Layard, Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, who has spent many years investigating the relationship between wealth and happiness. Layard maintains that well-being is a serious political issue, and a more relevant measure of a country’s status than GDP (although they are not unrelated). Layard argues for more economic awareness in order to increase global well-being and prosperity. He points out that as one person’s income increases this means that someone else’s must decline. Therefore, raising income does not increase rates of happiness – this is in direct challenge to the notion of free and competitive markets so prevalent within business, which ignores relationships or community. As such, we have seen a rise in living standards and income, but no perceptible difference in happiness. This is not to say that at an individual level happiness doesn’t increase with income increase (i.e. we become happier when we are richer), but this is counterbalanced by necessary adjustments elsewhere to become, at a meta-level, a zero-gains redistribution of wealth which does not affect national happiness. Also, individual gain in happiness when wealth increases is only relevant if we compare ourselves as rich relative to our peers, and even the effect of this plateaus.

Kahneman and Deaton, in their 2010 research¹ on income and well-being concluded that:

‘Lack of money brings both emotional misery and low life evaluation; similar results were found for anger. Beyond ~$75,000^* in the contemporary United States, however, higher income is neither the road to experienced happiness nor the road to the relief of unhappiness or stress.’

Money is not the only factor affecting people’s happiness of course; as we have just mentioned, relationships play a key part in our well-being, as does our level of physical and mental health. A YouGov poll commissioned by Action for Happiness in 2014, found that 87 per cent of the British public would choose happiness rather than wealth (8 per cent) for their society. The findings were largely consistent across all UK demographics. Furthermore, the top two most important factors chosen for personal happiness were:

1. Relationships with partner/family (80 per cent)
2. Health (71 per cent).

These were then followed by Money (42 per cent), Appearance (4 per cent) and Possessions (4 per cent). Dr Mark Williamson, Action for Happiness Director, commented on the results, saying: ‘The economy dominates our political and social discussions, but this survey shows that happiness is more important to people’. You can find a link to an article about this poll and some related commentary listed in the ‘Useful resources’ section at the end of this chapter (author England, R.).

Happiness is …

Clearly, while wealth does play its part, our well-being is primarily contingent on the quality of our social relationships and our health. With most of us spending the majority of time working, happy working relationships and well-being at work really start to stand out. Work-related stress and poor interpersonal relationships in the workplace may explain not only why you get the Monday morning blues but also the chronic cases of work-related depression and anxiety and a whole host of physical stress-related symptoms that are endemic in our working culture. Interestingly, a long line of research (some of which we have cited in Chapter 5) supports findings that social relationships are in fact a good predictor in both physical and mental health. Stanford University, on their BeWell@stanford website, includes an interesting article which reports.

‘Studies indicate that ‘social capital’ is one of the biggest predictors for health, happiness, and longevity. The problem: we often do not recognise the importance of social connection. Our culture values hard work, success, and wealth, so it’s no surprise some of us do not set aside enough time for social ties when we think security lies in material things rather than other people.’

(Please see ‘Useful resources’ section for a link to the full article)

So, we can see that connectivity, cooperation and community-building are absolutely essential to a happier, healthier workforce, which in turn will be a more productive and effective workforce. Happiness is good business. A recent (Sept 2015) article in the Telegraph (please see the ‘Useful resources’ section) entitled ‘Well-being at work is good for business’ agrees, citing a study undertaken by VitalityHealth which found that companies rated by employees as having the most supportive cultures also had the lowest productivity losses. The healthiest companies, in terms of well-being for workers, when compared with the unhealthiest companies, were found to have a 45 per cent lower cost of lost productivity. The report supports the clear relationship between work ethos and yield: healthier, happier employees equals healthier output and greater business success.

Mindfulness in action

‘[it is agreed] … it is vital to wellbeing that we decrease stress and threat in human environments, that poverty and inequality are major contributors to these conditions, and that we need to promote reinforcement and support for prosocial behaviour, including the cultivation of caring relationships.’

Anthony Biglan, Senior Scientist, Oregon Research Institute (Taken from evolution-institue.org; please see ‘Useful resources’ section for link to full article)

Implementing a new, happier and healthier business model must begin at the very core of any business: it must begin with its people. Only by looking inwards and changing our internal world will we be able to move forward with the changes that are truly necessary on a cultural and organisational level too. Mindfulness is the tool for doing just that.

Mindfulness can transform your business – have no qualms about it. It has the potential to pump a rosy, energetic glow back into the cheeks of any business that may be looking a bit grim, haggard, pale and anaemic. Specifically, with practice we begin to inject a greater sense of responsibility, care, attention and warmth into the company culture. Workers begin to take more responsibility for their own actions and reactions to situations as they are better able to notice the impact that they are having on those people and events around them. Mindfulness gives rise to greater awareness of the emotions that reside in both ourselves and others and improves our interpersonal dynamics. The attention given to what others have to say also improves with mindfulness practice. Workers, managers and senior leaders are better able to put aside their own rigid and fixed viewpoints, open up and listen more and then incorporate others’ opinions, views and ideas into their work, as well as changes in company procedures and policies, helping the individual, team and company become happier, healthier and more efficient. People naturally become warmer towards one another with mindfulness practice. A greater and more genuine sense of interest for one another begins to evolve, and as a result workers will begin to feel safer and better cared for and eventually creativity and general effectiveness ensues. You can rest assured that your personal mindfulness practice will help to kick-start the cultivation of all of this, and you can also strengthen the natural emergence of these qualities by purposefully implementing the following steps as often as you can, alongside your regular personal practice:

• Look for ways to assist your colleagues for no other reason than to be helpful and collaborative. Along with offering support to work tasks, this may also involve making simple, small efforts such as holding the lift doors open for a colleague, offering cups of coffee to the team, asking how people are doing and smiling more often!
• Incline your minds toward warmth while interacting with others and listening to your colleagues; try your best to reserve judgement, harsh criticism and evaluation. Replace judgement with understanding, compassion and kindness (more on this to come). And here’s maybe the most difficult:
• Respond to hostility and passive aggression that may be directed towards you with calmness, warmth, understanding and kindness.

We are now going to consider these and further ways of putting mindfulness into practical application at work, giving you examples and research to illustrate and back this up, as well as further exercises for you to try. This will help you to continue to integrate the conceptual with the practical and make mindfulness an action in your place of work.

We are going to briefly focus on four main areas of concern which are frequently presented to us in our London clinic, affecting the health and well-being of employees and which we also consider as ‘symptomatic’ of the sickness culture we have described above. These symptoms are:

1. Feeling overstretched and time-poor
2. Lacking in energy reserves
3. Bullying (being the victim or the perpetrator)
4. Lack of compassion and kindness (feeling neglected and uncared for).

Remember that change begins with a single and often simple (mindful) step, and any capacity you have to engage with the action points and practices that follow will bring benefits.

Working 9 to 5 – what a way to make a livin’

We have seen and discussed in some detail the unsustainability of the ‘work harder, longer, faster’ mentality. Striving for more (and more!) breeds an anxiety of scarcity (we never feel we have enough), disrupts our sense of ease and peace and gives rise to the competitive, dog-eat-dog mentality that so many of us are used to (and tiring of) in our workplaces. Destructive norms are established (some unspoken but they are there, i.e. staying on at the office way past clocking-off time) that grow like a cancer slowly but surely, eating away at the healthy organs of any organisation. This isn’t clever and is bad for business. In fact, research shows us that working long hours simply does not work and tends to backfire horribly for both companies and the very people that work there, in many different ways. According to one study² examining how employees at a large consulting firm navigated work pressures to uphold a professional identity of the ‘ideal worker’, working longer hours was not considered to produce superior output compared to working fewer hours, as perceived by mangers in that company. This study found no evidence that those employees working fewer hours actually accomplished less, or any sign that the overworking employees accomplished more. So despite what most of us have been led to believe, it would seem that working long hours is not actually necessary for the production of high-quality work.

Working long hours may actually be costly to both the individual employee and the company they work for in many ways. In fact, overworking has been associated with an array of health-related problems, including increased alcohol consumption³, sleeping difficulties⁴ and depression⁵, as well as type 2 diabetes⁶ and coronary heart disease⁷, and a decline in cognitive functioning⁸. In a very recent study⁹ (one of the largest research projects of its kind, involving more than 600,000 men and women from across Europe, the USA and Australia), researchers at University College London in the UK found that people who put in 55 hours or more of work per week had a 33 per cent greater risk of stroke than those working a more balanced 35–40-hour week. It goes without saying really, but all this just adds to the bottom-line cost for any organisation, as an overstretched workforce soon translates into increased rates of presenteeism, absenteeism, staff turnover and rising health insurance costs. Further research highlights how when we are exhausted, say, from putting in overtime at work, our ability to ‘read the emotional states of others’ (colleagues, clients, etc.) who we’re dealing with at work¹⁰, as well as our ability to refrain from aggressive knee-jerk responses in our heated communications¹¹, become severely impaired. Along with this, when we are exhausted, our ability to make clear rational decisions¹² is negatively impacted upon also. Another study¹³ found that employees that were overworked were less invested in their job a year later, and were more likely to report emotional exhaustion and physical symptoms, like headaches and discomfort and pain in their stomachs. So it’s pretty clear that the prevailing work ethic favouring and promoting an excessive working routine is problematic, more trouble than it’s worth, simply not healthy and ultimately detrimental for business. So where does this leave us? What else is there to do if we’re not working ourselves into the ground?

‘It is high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure for workmen is either ‘lost time’ or a class privilege.’

Henry Ford

You may be interested to know that the five-day, 40-hour working week interceded by weekends (and you may even be one of the lucky few that can remember such a time) was not just a fanciful notion that one day fell from the sky somewhere but instead a well thought-through formula for increased workplace productivity. On 1st May 1926 Henry Ford first proposed this model for all employees working at his Detroit-based automobile company. He realised that you could get more output from workers having them work fewer days and fewer hours. His model seemed to bring the expected results, and manufacturers all over the country, and then the world, soon followed suit, and the Monday-to-Friday working week became common practice. It seems that there is an optimal amount of working hours to ensure good health, performance and profitability, and if that threshold is overstepped the performance, output and health of both the individual worker and the company rapidly decline.

There are a growing number of companies that are in fact aware of the costs of employees working too many hours and have begun to address this by reducing the working week even further. For example, Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing company, has just recently joined in on the trend. The company is now paying more attention to its workers’ well-being and has very recently offered the option of working a four-day week to its full-time staff working across its stores in Japan. The company is hopeful that this change will free up time and allow workers to attend to pressing demands in their personal lives, and as a result it will increase staff retention and prevent staff scaling back hours – win, win for all! The company has expressed how it is willing to accommodate the challenges that this change might bring, and if it all works well it hopes to begin to roll out the four-day working week offer to corporate staff at its headquarters too (it will be interesting to see how this all pans out). Costco and Walmart are other US-based companies that are also listening more to their employees’ needs and offering flexible working hours and a variety of other options that might work for different people.

It would seem that more and more businesses are now considering the benefits of reducing the working week. In fact a number of companies are now moving towards a standard six-hour working day in Sweden, where over recent years there has been a lot of political interest, including publicly funded experiments, exploring a reduction in working hours as a means to redress work–life balance. Some of the companies that have already implemented this change include the Stockholm-based app developer Filimundus, as well as Toyota (service centres) in Gothenburg. Among the many benefits of working fewer hours that have been reported by CEOs and managers across different industries in Sweden are less stressed, happier and more energised staff, less conflict amongst staff, higher staff retention, improved focus, efficiency and productivity, and an overall increase in profits (you can find an interesting article from the Guardian listed in the ‘Useful resources’ section at the end of this chapter if you want to read more on the changes afoot in Sweden).

You may not be one of the lucky ones that are currently enjoying a reduction in your working hours – or maybe you are, but you’re still feeling overstretched. Either way, why not try this next exercise right now and repeat it as often as you like throughout your working day, to take a bit of time back for yourself. This way, you might start to feel more replenished and refreshed. You might even start to notice how you actually have more ‘time on your side’ than you first considered and how simply taking a moment or two back for yourself has huge benefits.

Exercise 7.4: Mindful on the job

The time is now

Just to give yourself a little insight into where you are right now with the time and some of the pressures or stresses zooming about (or not) in your mind, why not try this quick – yes, just one minute – practice. Try repeating this throughout the day to remind yourself that you are actually here on planet Earth with the rest of us and not trapped inside your thoughts.

Time yourself for one minute. You might like to use the hand of an analogue clock, as this is particularly effective for this exercise. Or guess approximately one minute if you must. Let yourself have this moment; one minute can be spared even on your busy, important and hectic schedule!

1. Find your feet, your contact with the floor.
2. Take just one breath and follow this in and out.
3. Be aware of any thoughts swirling around.
4. Notice any impatience or urges ‘to do’ something.
5. Tell yourself ‘I have time for this breath/stillness/moment/irritation/or whatever’.
6. Breathe and repeat steps 1–5 until one minute or so has passed.

With the above exercise try to encourage yourself to allow this tiny space for the voice that might say ‘I haven’t got time!!!’ In this exercise you do not need to shut this nagging voice up, or to act on it: simply be aware that it is there. Notice that it perhaps breeds frustration and dissatisfaction and that you, just like the workers reported in the studies above, will actually be happier, healthier and more productive, and just as effective, without paying such heed to this inner nag.

We know that there is a long road ahead before most of us have a deeper feeling that our well-being is taken seriously by our work and that we are not at risk of losing our job, promotion opportunities or respect from our employees if we put our well-being, or that of our families, into the spotlight. However, unhappiness and unhappy relationships do not work well for business and even some of the biggest corporations are finally catching on: for example, Accenture (please see the Huffington Post article which you can find in the ‘Useful resources’ section at the end of the chapter) are trying to make a difference by finally(!) acknowledging the benefits to themselves and their employees by better supporting new parents. Similarly, at Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, workers have been given options for flexible working hours and working from home. They have also been granted unlimited leave (it’s up to members of staff to decide for themselves how much leave to take and when to take it) and paid parental leave. The management at Virgin believes that their employees are their best assets and hopes that these initiatives will encourage their staff to focus on their well-being and improve their health and satisfaction – all for the greater good of the company too. Other companies are following suit as they too realise that continuing to push their already overstretched employees to work longer and harder is destroying the personal health and lives of those workers. It seems it really is the time to wise up and take action if you want a healthy business, as ignorantly continuing to work in such ineffective ways is doing a disservice to all involved.

The notion of putting in fewer hours on the job is bound to bring with it fear, even for those of us that moan about how much we have to do, and long for a time when we can work fewer hours: ‘How will get I everything done?’, ‘There’s no way I can do fewer hours. I’ll only have more to do later if I work less now!’ Well, if this sounds like you, then you’ll be pleased to know that spending less time on your work really doesn’t have to mean that you will achieve less or become less productive or effective on the job. Don’t believe us? Well, here are our five top tips to ensure you remain productive while putting in less time. Try them and see how you get on for yourself.

Five top tips for how to work less (without achieving less)

1. Stop trying to multitask, and revisit Chapter 2 to enhance your focus and efficiency. Focus on doing just one thing at a time.
2. Take frequent short breaks to keep mentally fresh (yes!!). This means getting up, stretching, walking, having a tea – not sitting and checking your emails!
3. Learn to say ‘no’ (nicely, though). Stick to assigned tasks and don’t take on more than your share or more than you realistically have the capacity to do within your working hours.
4. As much as possible, leave and start work at the same times each day – colleagues will soon know that they can’t ask you to just do ‘this or that’ before you clock off.
5. Work to your strengths and get training for your weaknesses. Work to show off your skills, don’t waste time and energy on what you may be less qualified or capable at doing; instead ask for support and training to strengthen these areas. This makes good practice and is a great point for annual reviews too.

Finally, but perhaps most radically, you can try (approximately ten minutes a day minimum) actually giving more time to others. Yes! Totally counter-intuitive, we know! However, research¹⁴ by Cassie Mogilner (Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School) found that people who gave time to help others felt more confident, capable and useful. Furthermore, they also felt a high sense of accomplishment, leading to greater productivity and a sense of time being expansive. She also found through her research that focusing on the present moment decreases the sense of being rushed or harried by slowing the perception of time passing (so do remember to repeat Exercise 7.4 above, often). Yes, it really would seem that slowing down to feed the dog, help an old lady across the road and take a few well-deserved mindful breaths on the way to work may just be the ticket to a greater sense of spaciousness, productivity and efficiency in your working day.

Energy is abundant whereas time is finite

‘When fashioned in a way that accommodates human needs and realises human potential, organisations are more productive and experience better growth. We call this being 100% Human at Work.’

Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group (Taken from huffpost.com; please see ‘Useful resources’ section for link to full blog post)

It really is great to hear how businesses are recognising the detrimental effects of excessive working hours and how many are taking active steps to reduce these. However, is a reduction in the hours we clock up per week the only necessary adjustment to the increasingly varied and modern work contexts that we find ourselves operating in today?

A focus on time and working hours alone may have been effective a century ago when trying to run factories efficiently. But maybe it’s time to have a complete rethink and recognise how tweaking the number of hours we work isn’t the only way to increase the effectiveness and productivity of a workforce. What most of us easily forget is that, as humans, we are distinctly different from machines. Therefore, maybe it is time to implement a new working culture altogether that truly appreciates and reflects our human nature. The truth is that excessive working hours, while simply churning out more and more, day in and day out, on an endless production line, take their toll and actually deplete our energy reserves – for most of us, anyway. Unlike machines, our source of energy may be a more complex affair, and understandably a crucial driving force behind our productivity at work. In their seminal paper entitled, ‘Manage your energy, not your time’ published in the Harvard Business Review (please see the ‘Useful resources’ section at the end of this chapter), Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy highlight how responding to increasing demands by simply putting in longer hours is not the answer – instead it is better to focus on our energy.

Yes, instead of working ourselves into the ground by working longer and harder, Schwartz and McCarthy helpfully outline four different types of energies that need our attention to improve our effectiveness and performance at work.

Take a look at the following exercise to reflect on how you/your company can begin to prioritise energy, instead of continuing to ineffectively put in excessive working hours to meet increased demands:

Exercise 7.5: Work in progress

Energy is of the essence

• Physical energy: How healthy are you/your employees? Do you/they eat nutritious food, exercise well and get enough sleep and rest? Does your company actively promote and encourage good physical energy?
• Emotional energy: How happy are you/your employees? Are you/your employees good at recognising when emotions (i.e. fight or flight response) are getting in the way of efficiency? Do you/your employees actively enhance a culture of positive emotions by expressing appreciation to each other/themselves, checking in with one another about how they are feeling, and listening and attending to each other’s needs? Can you/your employees effectively manage emotions, say, with mindfulness?
• Mental energy: How well can you/your employees focus on tasks? Do you/your employees deplete energy by multitasking or save energy by focusing on one task at a time? Do you/your employees take regular and deliberate breaks between tasks? Does the working culture of your company allow for breaks/staff leaving on time/promote a healthy work–life balance, etc.?
• Spiritual energy: Why are you/your employees doing all of this work? What is the purpose? Are your/your employees’ everyday work activities consistent with what you/they value most and with what gives you/them a sense of meaning and purpose (prosocial or altruistic action maybe)? Is there a culture at work which encourages you/your employees to uncover your/their deeper values and align their work to these?

Make no mistake about it; a company that only focuses on working longer and harder in response to the increasing demands it faces is going to find itself sick in no time. If this sounds like you and/or your business, then it’s time to wise up. Every business needs to recognise the humanity at its core and, instead of working its employees’ fingers to the bone, find effective ways to meet the needs and promote the energy of its workforce.

Bulldozing and browbeating

‘All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.’

John Steinbeck

Bullying at work is another common symptom of the sickness culture that prevails in many businesses. Numerous articles and studies show that the impact of bullying – showing up as mocking, taunting, discrediting, intimidating or blaming others – causes serious stress and health problems (please see the ‘Useful resources’ section for an article if you want to read more on this). Most of us, even those saints out there, know that we can be the aggressor as well as the victim at times. But bullying the bully is rarely a productive tactic in the long term either. When you feel attacked (by yourself or others), it is instinctive to defend yourself; our fight or flight response is kick-started and the most common form of this is to attack back. This is a base response. To attack is instinctual. Remember, however, that whether you lunge forward with your razor-sharp tongue or roll over in self-preserving defence, anxiety is rife in both positions, and we know all too well by now how a culture of excessive anxiety leads to ineffectual performance and is just not good for our or our company’s overall health. So instead, perhaps consider how being the bully, or even the victim, is not sophisticated or ultimately helpful. Try taking some of the following steps to diffuse the culture of meanness at work instead.

Exercise 7.6: Work in progress

De-meaning

Next time you’re about to bulldoze over a colleague (or yourself!) or you find yourself being browbeaten by someone else (or yourself!) at work, try:

• Generosity – Because … it feels great to give (to ourselves too!)
• Forgiveness – Because … it is healing to forgive and be forgiven
• Compassion – Because … we connect through our shared humanity
• Kindness – Because … life and work is hard enough!

Sometimes this can be easily and directly done towards the person or people with whom you are struggling, or yourself. For instance you can simply:

• Say ‘sorry’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘well done’ or just ‘hello’
• Offer your time and help to someone
• Give yourself/others a break.

If it is too hard in a particular moment to be direct or act in any of these ways with others/yourself, then:

• Water the plants
• Give to charity
• Wash up the mugs in the office kitchen
• Leave a nice note somewhere to no one in particular.

Do try one of the above today (and as frequently as you can), or invent something of your own. Start as small or big as you like.

Compassionate work

‘In Asian languages, the word for ’mind’ and the word for ’heart’ are same. So if you’re not hearing mindfulness in some deep way as heartfulness, you’re not really understanding it. Compassion and kindness towards oneself are intrinsically woven into it. You could think of mindfulness as wise and affectionate attention.’

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Being compassionate, certainly in the world of business, can often be misconstrued and considered a display of the softer and/or weaker side of someone’s nature. The truth is that there is nothing weak or even effete about compassionate behaviour; actually it’s really much more about being strong, confident and courageous and it takes great effort. Think about it: would you have the strength to remain calm and composed so you could offer a kind and warm response to a stressed colleague who failed to meet the really important deadline you’d set them? Would you even be willing to be seen responding in this way? Or how about spending your time at work listening and offering support to another distressed colleague, when there are other much more pressing tasks to be getting on with? To be compassionate, we need to face our fears. We need to find the strength to accept and own how we feel, rather than trying to avoid, eliminate or ignore unwanted and painful experiences with habitual knee-jerk responses. Further, we need the willingness to behave in less comfortable (but ultimately more helpful) ways in face of the inevitable suffering that is bound to show up at work. The good news is that there are many benefits to introducing more compassion into our working cultures, and the efforts that you make to be more compassionate will pay great dividends. Staff retention is certainly something that can improve. Have a think about it: would you want to work for a manager who shouts at you if you have to call in sick? Or would you prefer to work for someone that acknowledges and empathises with the difficulties and stresses that you may encounter in your personal life? You may be interested to know that one study¹⁵ found how compassionate people are rated more highly as strong, intelligent leaders than their less compassionate peers. People warm towards compassionate people as they generally feel better about themselves and less stressed when they are treated with compassion. They then want to extend those feelings to others; compassion becomes kind of contagious. When people are feeling supported by one another, they are more likely to work well together and productivity is then increased, which inevitably has a positive impact on a business’s bottom line.

Compassion is a basic human quality which seems mostly absent from our working lives and places of work (for the majority of us, anyway) these days. This is hugely unfortunate as it may in fact be the very missing link that can lead to a healthier and more prosperous business and to each of us experiencing a greater sense of satisfaction in our work. It is a universal language that has the potential to change our working lives for the better. One major and frequent obstacle when it comes to compassion in the workplace is that people don’t really know how they can, or if they even should, be compassionate at work. They may feel awkward in giving or being on the receiving end of compassion and are frequently left unsure about what is actually acceptable and appropriate to express in the context of their work. Many assume that they are expected to check their personal problems and feelings at the door before they walk into the office each day and to keep any ‘soft’ or overly kind or friendly qualities for their personal lives at home with friends and loved ones. The truth is that a workplace that ignores or tries to suppress human suffering and inevitable painful emotions and that doesn’t recognise the most important aspect of its day-to-day functioning – its people, (and the humanness that resides in each and every one of us – warts and all) is likely to suffer great costs. It’s nonsensical to assume that the psychological well-being of workers is not directly related to job performance. Companies that are able and, more so, willing to establish behavioural standards that cultivate a psychologically well workforce and work environment (such as with a culture of compassion) are at a distinct competitive advantage. The initiation of these standards can begin with small steps; even the slightest changes in behaviour have the potential to set off a ripple effect that can sweep across a whole team and eventually an organisation. Take the case of Robert, for example:

Cultivating a compassionate workplace

‘Compassion reduces our fear, boosts our confidence, and opens us to inner strength. By reducing distrust, it opens us to others and brings us a sense of connections with them and a sense of purpose and meaning in life.’

Dalai Lama

Compassion is an emotional response to someone else’s suffering that is characterised by qualities of kindness, care and concern. Embedded in this is the actual desire to behave in ways that can help to alleviate another person’s hardship. This is not always a natural response or something that is commonly experienced in the competitive culture of our work. We have spoken to many executives who have had a variety of responses to others’ suffering at work, such as anger, blame, avoidance, fear, discomfort and sometimes even enjoyment. We have lost count of the number of times that clients have presented to us in dismay, feeling aggrieved and neglected as they explain how they do not feel that their personal or work-related distress is acknowledged or supported by their places of work. They instead feel as if they are being penalised and treated unfairly in the context of their manager’s or wider team’s frustration with them. This is highly unfortunate as this seems to only escalate their levels of distress, which inevitably leads to a decline in their loyalty and productivity on the job.

Interestingly, a number of studies^{16, 17, 18} show us that as infants we actually start out in this world with a natural preference towards compassion and kindness, but as we go on to enter school we begin to display the more selfish side to our nature. It would seem that as our socialisation broadens and we move into the big wide world, our environment begins to shape our innate tendencies more and more. Then by the time we get to immerse ourselves into the cut-throat, combative and competitive culture of work, it’s pretty safe to say that our tendency towards self-interest is favoured and therefore more likely to be reinforced as the more helpful tool for survival, over and above any natural kindness that we may have once been more inclined to express. However, the fact that we are naturally wired as compassionate beings brings into question whether it is self-interest alone which has to motivate us through our working life. Can we be motivated by compassion at work? Is there actually a place for compassion in our working lives? By cultivating and harnessing more compassion, can we actually help our business to not only survive but also thrive? Now if the answers to these questions is ‘yes’, then bringing compassion into work may sound like an extremely effortful or even impossible task when we consider the common lack of compassion in most working cultures today. However, a number of social scientists and neuroscientists armed with a growing body of research into mindfulness and compassion are showing us that we can actually train and strengthen this compassionate side to our nature (via mindfulness practice), and in doing so we can begin to positively affect the environments and cultures around us too, as well as our own job performance, physical health and psychological well-being.

‘If you want others to be happy practice compassion. If you want to be happy practice compassion.’

Dalai Lama

So, when you are next around other people (if that isn’t right now), take the opportunity to try this next quick exercise. In doing so, not only are you training your mind to be more compassionate (each and every time you do it) for the greater benefit of your colleagues and the greater health of your company, but, as the research suggests, you will also be taking good care of your physical health. You may also notice how you can feel a whole lot better for doing it. A purposeful effort to repeat and direct the following few kind words towards others in a meaningful and genuine way can have a profound effect on your mood; you may notice that a dull, flat or even neutral mood can shift to one of contentment, pleasure or joy.

Exercise 7.7: Mindful on the job

Spreading the love and feeling good too

Wherever you are, be that sat at your desk, in a meeting, on the train, walking along the street or through the office building or sat at a café over lunch, make a purposeful effort to look upon different colleagues/people one at a time (don’t stare, it’s rude!), either strangers or people you may know and, as you do so, begin by reminding yourself that:

• s/he suffers just like you;
• s/he struggles with the same types of thoughts and feelings;
• s/he gets ill, will age and die;
• all of those s/he loves will age and die;
• s/he is human, just like you.

Then silently repeat these five sentences, as you genuinely direct warmth and compassion to each person, one at a time (no one will know what you are doing):

1. May you be safe.
2. May you be happy.
3. May you be free from suffering.
4. May you know well-being.
5. May you be well.

This exercise may feel a little odd at first and, if so, do try it anyway and practise it as much as you can. You’ll soon notice the effects that we’ve listed above and how, with a little more compassion, your experience at work will be transformed in a way that makes better sense for you, your colleagues and your business. Recognising that we are fundamentally similar, fundamentally connected and fundamentally prone to the same forms of suffering, like in the exercise above, is a simple way of increasing compassion. We can then demonstrate this naturally arising quality of our humanity by being more considerate towards others. Tara Brach, a renowned teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition and a clinical psychologist, writes:

‘To cultivate the tenderness of compassion, we not only stop running from suffering, we deliberately bring our attention to it … as we feel suffering and relate to it with care rather than resistance, we awaken the heart of compassion.’

(Brach, 2003, p. 200–201)

By injecting more compassion into our places of work, we can begin to build more prosocial, supportive, ethical and just environments that bring out the best in us all in terms of our health and well-being. Now, make no mistake about it, this takes commitment and courage. You can start this process right now by training your own mind to be more compassionate both towards yourself and others (please see the Breines article in the ‘Useful resources’ section for more ideas and strategies about how you can bring more compassion and happiness into your life and the life of others).

As we have highlighted, a work environment that cultivates a culture of compassion creates a much more positive and productive place to work. Hopefully you are with us on this by now and, if so, also eager to begin to introduce some more compassion where you work. So here are our top five tips for injecting compassion into your place of work.

Top five tips for getting more compassionate at work

1. Start with yourself: First off, remember to start with yourself. Sometimes the hardest person to feel caring towards is the one reading this right now. If you begin gently to be more kind to yourself, it will naturally follow that you are more compassionate to others (please revisit Chapter 3 to remind yourself of the exercises you can do to enhance your own self-compassion).
2. Proactively notice and take care of the well-being of colleagues: Colleagues who may have experienced some personal or work-related distress (family illness, loss or divorce, feeling overwhelmed with work, etc.) may need time and space to adjust. Look out for signs of distress among your colleagues and offer them genuine support. This doesn’t have to be anything grand, maybe just lending them a listening ear. Any support you can offer them can make a fundamental difference to how they feel (please revisit Chapter 5 to refresh yourself on how you can effectively interact with a colleague in distress).
3. Encourage open and honest communication: Try to cultivate a ‘no blame’ culture. This is best created via mindful listening and speech (please revisit Chapter 5), kindness and compassion. This way, trust will be improved and effective communication will provide a safe environment for managing any difficult and/or distressing issues which may arise.
4. Step into someone else’s shoes (put the high-heels down, we mean metaphorically!): Try to imagine the other person’s viewpoint, emotions and perspective (revisit the acronym WARM in Chapter 5). Encourage your own, and others’, empathy, by seeing or hearing a situation from different angles than your own. This can free up ‘stalemate’ situations, help people feel less defensive and also motivate others to do the same for you.
5. Create positive social contact between employees: Use meeting spaces for informal groups and socialising. When there are stronger, supportive and nurturing interpersonal relationships, people are more likely to notice and share concerns and to feel inclined to offer support, as well as offer their best efforts on the job.

As we come to the end of this chapter, we do hope that it has helped you to consider how healthy (or not) your place of work is. By reflecting on the insights and implementing the action points and practices included here, we are confident that you will have the foundations to build a healthier business. Mindfulness makes good business sense. It is the antidote to the sickness culture that prevails across many of our places of work these days and that frankly so many of us are fed up of. It has the potential to help any company thrive by supporting the structure needed for a healthier working culture both within and between businesses.

Here are our top take-away tips from this chapter:

In the next and final chapter we are going to pull together and summarise some of the key insights and learning points that we have covered throughout the book so far. We are keen to provide you with a summary of the mindfulness practices that we have introduced to you and when best to use them. We also want to provide you with some further information on some of the latest debates and happenings around the secular mindfulness movement and where you might go from here to further your journey and deepen your practice should you wish to.

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