by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.®

“Mindfulness= Puts us in the present, aware and responsive, making everything fresh and new again.” Article by Matthew E. May, ‘Zoning In, No Cushion Required:’ New York Times – Business Section, April 2016

Reality shows that the more your people are closely “managed,” the more disinclined they are likely to become mindful. Conventional managers “shoot themselves in the foot” every day in the belief that they secure better results by managing and making decisions for their people. Of course, there’s always a certain percent of staff that prefer to be told what to do or be “baby-sat.” Fortunately these are usually in the minority. Most of them prefer to think for themselves or envision and decide on their best course of action. How often do you as a leader-manager take advantage of this reality within your workplace every day?
Just think if everyone were in a mindful mood when they arrive at work every day? Many are, but they often quickly switch into a mindless mode owing to the highly managed situation they are exposed to. There’s not much vision to inspire them and there’s not much energy to “on-fire” them. Such mindless environments mean they often don’t look at how much they’re contributing. They also don’t ask many insightful questions about what’s transpiring around them or offer alternative suggestions. “Just keep your head down and pass the hours away,” is in their thinking. To what extent is this going on within your firm or venture today?

On the other hand, enlightened leaders regularly encourage their people to make decisions and pursue actions that keep their minds fresh and mindful. Like you feel when introduced to a completely fresh situation or visit something new. At such times, you are alert, picking-up on everything around you, and noticing what’s going well and not so well – all things that mindless-state people don’t have the opportunity to enjoy.

Our most effective leaders ask insightful or Socratic questions to inspire fresh thinking with those around them. When their people produce new ideas or take different stances, they commend and encourage them. Furthermore, they allow their people a reasonable degree of latitude to experiment and innovate. They also encourage their people to start visualizing any new choices through a mode called option solving rather than problem solving.

Option solving (OS) is an amazing approach for switching your people’s mindset from thinking about “problems” into thinking creatively about a range of likely alternatives. Once you become adroit at this approach, you will find there are always a variety of options for dealing with any problem situation: besides the word problem is a negative, inhibiting word. So you will have already changed their mindset from a potentially pessimistic scenario into a constructive, optimal one. (NOTE: If you go to www.optionsolving.com, it will expose you to many practical examples where thorny issues have been resolved in an optimal way.)

OS usually follows seven easy moves:

» Move 1 – Form a rational “issue related” question with associated considerations – either alone or preferably with your team: “What is our optimal choice in ordering lunch today, considering 1) we won’t have much time to eat, 2) we intend to be frugal, 3) we want to make it a majority choice, and 4) we want to enjoy each other’s company?”

» Move 2 – Create “bookends” to limit their range of options – Yin= boiled potatoes and beans; and Yang – a three course meal? These create unlikely buffers at each end of your most likely range of options.

» Move 3 – Draw-up a range of at least five eating options between your “bookends” – for example: pizza, hamburger, egg salad sandwich, hot dog, pastrami sandwich…based upon input from likely lunch participants.

» Move 4 – Use a few minutes for “lunchers” to reflect on their choices – known as emotional distancing – as their powerful intuitive and imaginative minds go to work.

» Move 5 – Return to their picture-list of options and discreetly check-off their choices – a majority option will emerge…e.g. hamburgers.

» Move 6 – Stick with that overall conclusion and make your order at the most convenient eating house, while everything is still top-of-the-mind.

» Move 7 – Have an enjoyable team lunch.

(NOTE: This is a simple fun example. It can be utilized very effectively for your highly complex decisions, too. Again, go to www.optionsolving.com )

Such an exercise encourages mindful thinking in so many workplace scenarios. By pursuing such an approach, you will give your people the confidence to draw upon their best talents and intentions. Regular positive outcomes – not always perfect ones – will stimulate everyone to put their best foot forward.

Now take the time this month to reflect upon all those envisioning challenges within your team or organization. Where are you shooting yourselves in the foot because your people don’t feel empowered or mindful enough to offer their best judgment and intentions? They pursue situations like this all the time in their personal lives, even though they may not necessarily demonstrate it around you or their colleagues at work for fear of not “toeing-the-party-line” – that’s clearly their mindless response.

To learn more about envisioning and decision clarity, talk with: