Occupational Mindfulness: How can it benefit your organisation?

Organisational performance is traditionally linked to the skills and experience of its employees. However, “psychological capital”, the aspect of human capital which involves the employee’s mental strengths in terms of hope, confidence, resilience, and optimism, is now being observed by leaders as to how occupational mindfulness may play a key role in the overall success of an organisation. This is due to hopeful employees tending to perform well in adverse and challenging situations. In comparison to staff who are not as optimistic, hopeful employees give a potential competitive advantage in the marketplace.

What is Occupational Mindfulness?

“Occupational mindfulness” determines how attentive and aware employees are within an organisation. Potentially, occupational mindfulness can predict organisational performance in three ways:        

1. Reduced risk of accidents, as mindful employees tend to perform their tasks with attention and awareness. This decreases the rate of mistakes and errors.
2. Prediction of employee efficiency, as awareness of the context helps them to make better decisions.
3. Determinant of creativity, as mindful professionals tend to perform the task with attention and awareness that discourages automation. This conscious intention enables options for doing the job differently, allowing more chances for creativity, and potential to find innovative approaches that could save money.

Occupational mindfulness can occur through targeted training programmes and can be customised according to the task the employee performs. Exercises might include:

• Activities that focus on mindfully conducting everyday tasks to reduce mind wandering. This distraction is a common reason for mistakes and accidents in the workplace.
• The development of mindful ways of communicating and decision-making.
• Body awareness during everyday work tasks. Participants can be asked to reflect and notice what is happening with their bodies throughout the day.

Meditative Mindfulness vs Occupational Mindfulness

By contrast, some organisations adopt “meditative mindfulness” as a solution to workplace health problems, such as stress and anxiety, rather than as a tool for growing psychological capital. However, employees often struggle to develop a routine of practicing mediation and mindfulness, and the inability to form a routine becomes a problem in itself. Furthermore, a training programme focusing on occupational mindfulness as a way of doing, rather than meditative mindfulness as a regular practice, can be more effective in an organisational context.

Workplace mindfulness for a Competitive Edge

To stand out in the modern competitive work environment, organisations should focus on strengthening the psychological capital that predicts the organisational performance, rather than focusing on fixing workplace weaknesses. The incorporation of mindfulness through training of professionals can be challenging. However, it can be considered a potential predictor of the organisational performance long-term.

Wahab Shahbaz – PhD

If you’re in the position to put a workplace wellbeing strategy in place, let us know! Imago’s corporate packages can support your employees and help create a better workplace culture, a healthier team, and boost your bottom line!