Mindfulness and its impacts on managers: A pilot study

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Nowadays most companies look for innovations in managerial training in order to develop among their employees some qualities such as motivation, commitment, creativity, autonomy or the ability to adapt to change and manage intensive pressure. Mindfulness is drawing the attention of a growing number of companies.

OBJECTIVES:

The aim of this study is to explore how mindfulness can be a tool that helps managers not only to develop their capacities but also to better cope with stress and contribute to great workplace performance.

METHOD:

13 managers went through MBSR training and their managerial practices were evaluated after the training. Data were collected during individual semi-directive qualitative interviews before and after the training of the managers.

RESULTS:

The results indicate that organizations may reap considerable benefits from training their managers in programs that support the practice of mindfulness in the workplace. The MBSR training generated significant impacts on two major skills that managers have identified: the ability to supervise a team of employees with all that this implies in terms of interpersonal skills and the ability to organize and prioritize their activities. Also, the research methodology sheds light on the innovative nature of mindfulness in a favorable organizational environment.

Keywords

Mindfulness manager managerial innovation organization

Aboubacar Garba KONTE is a PhD Research Scholar in the field of enterprise Management. Donlinks School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing. Research interests: Leadership development; Mindfulness.

1 Introduction

Staff self-development is considered as very important to an organization’s survival, its growth and development, and as such one of the key elements of production that cannot be neglected [1]. In fact, many studies on human resource management based on a strategic approach emphasize on systematic effect of actions of personnel management [2].

Given the important challenges facing executives in managing both their own health and well-being and that of their direct reports [3], many organizations are searching for new ways to support those in management positions with both these areas. Today’s stressful working conditions have drawn attention to the significance of well-being and productivity at workplace [4]. Handling the well-being of staff in organizations has become an essential issue in maintaining overall performance [1]. While existing well-being interventions, including management development, have been depicted to achieve change in the desired direction [5], there is potential to take this a step further by applying the learning from other areas of psychology to the workplace, and particularly to finding ways of supporting leadership/ management development for well-being. One of the areas that is ripe for this transfer of learning is mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a concept derived from Buddhism (and other spiritual traditions). Its origins date back thousands of years. However, the application of mindfulness in secular contexts has particularly flourished over the past 30 years, with its adaptation in workplace settings a fairly recent phenomenon [6], and its application in developing managers and leaders more recent.

Mindfulness is about “focusing intentionally one’s attention on the present moment with an attitude of acceptance and non-judgment” [7]. In recent years, this topic is being vulgarized and mindfulness programs are getting more and more popular. This keen interest in mindfulness has reached the universe of management. Many people who underwent the trainings of mindfulness witnessed that the practice has changed their lives and the way they work. Instructors in mindfulness techniques are being interested in leadership theories and organizations that are specialized in management training are deploying new concepts that include mindfulness. Is this a new managerial style that will soon be swept away or on the contrary a movement that prefigures the evolution of contemporary management?

More than 30 years ago, many studies have established the effectiveness of mindfulness in the field of health. They have largely validated its therapeutic effects, particularly in regards with stress reduction and the limitation of recidivism for depressions [8 –10]. However, the effects of mindfulness on managerial practices are still the subject of a limited number of research [11, 12]. In this paper the purpose is to explore how mindfulness can provide a positive tool to help managers and organizations develop their capacities, better cope with stress and contribute to great workplace performance. The focus of the paper is applied rather than theoretical and the aim is to help managers to develop a deeper understanding of the potential effects of mindfulness in organizations. As the use of mindfulness in workplace environment surges, there is clearly a need to develop an evidence base for what works, where and for whom. However, research about applying mindfulness interventions for managers’ development appears still to be in its infancy [13] and there has not yet been an empirical intervention study. In order to fill this gap, a pilot study was conducted in the Malian Company for the Development of Textile (CMDT) which is the first company in Mali that has experimented mindfulness among its staff. During the study, the evolutions of managers were observed at each stage of the training, from an individual viewpoint (roles, relationships to work and management style), to interpersonal and organizational perspectives (adoption and diffusion of the mindfulness practices).

The first part examines how mindfulness can be a lever that responds to the current concerns of management: the redefinition of the manager’s position and the managerial practice, emotional intelligence and a more balanced relationship at work. The second part presents the results of an empirical study that analyzes the evolution experienced by managers who went through MBSR training. MBSR is an 8-week program that meets once a week for 2.5 hours, with an additional full-day class between the sixth and seventh weekly classes. In addition, there is the expectation that participants spend about 45 minutes a day in mindfulness practice. In the last part these results are discussed and the future research perspectives are presented.

2 Mindfulness: Definitions and theoretical supports

As the practice of mindfulness is getting more and more popular, research on mindfulness has surged exponentially. However scholars have faced difficulties in translating the concept into a clearly operationalized construct. For example, teachers, practitioners, and researchers define mindfulness differently. Thich Nhat Hanh, a well-known Buddhist monk, defines mindfulness as “keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality” [14]. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of MBSR defines it as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” [15]. Elainor Rosch, a cognitive psychologist indicates that mindfulness is “a simple mental factor that can be present or absent in a moment of consciousness. It means to adhere, in that moment, to the object of consciousness with a clear mental focus” [16]. Because of the multitude of definitions, Grossman claimed that “mindfulness is a difficult concept to define, let alone operationalize” [17]. Although definitions differ, most of mindfulness conceptualizations have three common elements. First, mindfulness is present-focused consciousness [11]. At the core of most definitions of mindfulness is a focus on the “here and now” (Herndon, 2008, p. 32), which requires “giving full attention to the present” [18]. If a person is ruminating about the past or focused on the future, he is not showing mindfulness [19]. Second, mindfulness involves paying close attention to both internal and external phenomena [11 , 20]. These include internal stimuli, such as thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, as well as external stimuli, including sights, sounds, smells, and events, occurring in one’s physical and social environment [15, 20]. Third, mindfulness involves paying attention to stimuli in an open and accepting way, “without imposing judgments, memories, or other self-relevant cognitive manipulations on them” [20]. Brown, Ryan, and Creswell’s [21] definition of mindfulness—one of the definitions most commonly cited by researchers and academics—captures these three elements. They claim that mindfulness is “a receptive attention to and awareness of present moment events and experiences”. Most scholars have defined mindfulness as an individual, state-level variable that develops cognitive, psychological, and physiological functioning in many different ways. The most commonly cited benefit is self-regulation [20]: Mindfulness prevents an individual from thinking or behaving in mechanical or mindless ways by disrupting the automaticity of mental processes [22]. Mindfulness enables an individual to disengage from automatic thought patterns, engrained brain states, emotional filters, and cognitive schemas and “experience what is instead of a commentary or story about what is” [23]. Bond, Hayes, and Barnes-Holmes argue that in a state of mindfulness, one has more psychological flexibility [24] and can make choices that are influenced more by personal values and goals than by private fears or environmental demands [25]. Based on a growing body of research showing that some individuals are more mindful than are others, mindfulness has also been described as a dispositional or trait-like quality [26]. Studies have found that dispositional mindfulness is positively related to a number of other beneficial individual difference variables, including emotional intelligence, self-compassion, openness to experience, and psychological well-being [21]. In addition, mindfulness has also been described as a set of skills that can be learned through practices like meditation and therapeutic interventions like acceptance and commitment therapy ([27], dialectic behavior therapy [28] (Li, MBCT [29], and MBSR [30, 31]. As discussed in the following section, these practices and therapies have been shown to produce a number of benefits. Before concluding this review of the conceptual foundations of mindfulness, it is important to consider one additional line of research. Throughout this section, the focus is made on definitions of mindfulness that emphasize an open, receptive quality of mind that is free from judgment and analysis. It is important to note, however, that an alternative definition has been posited by Langer [32], who defined mindfulness as an “active information processing” mode. Although there are some similarities between Langer’s conceptualization of mindfulness and those described earlier, there are a number of fundamental differences. For example, Langer emphasizes that mindfulness requires categorizing, judging, and problem solving, activities that are inconsistent with concepts like acceptance and non-judging. Aware of such differences, Langer [33] cautioned against making comparisons between her conceptualization of mindfulness and those influenced by Buddhist thinking.

3 Developing new managerial approaches through mindfulness

Because of the uncertainty that characterizes today’s society, the high levels of pressure from stakeholders, the “always-on” cultures of the digital era, the complex interpersonal relationships, and the constant changes, paradox and ambiguity has become part of most managers’ everyday working lives [34, 35]. All these factors result in stress, stress-related health problems, sickness and absenteeism [3], which consequently affect the outcomes of the managers themselves. Consequently, some scholars witness the disappearance of the Western figure of the manager. In fact, the manager was seen as hero or a visionary thanks to whose extraordinary talents, any difficulty could be easily overcome with the help of a purely rational approach to management [36]. Now the literature theorizes new conceptions of management and leadership and these conceptions are being relayed by consultants, schools of management and the management press calling for a new posture of management. The representation of the manager as someone who is responsible for making decisions or someone who only manages by objectives is therefore being questioned. Desmarais and Abord de Chatillon highlighted the role of managers and they claimed that managers’ role consists of interpreting and articulating the concerns of the different stakeholders [37] and inscribing the action of the collaborators in a certain coherence, even if this coherence is always local and temporary [38, 39]. As a matter of fact, the contemporary manager is someone who creates meaning, guarantees the coherence of the action, he is the main actor of the co-regulation, and he plays this role by sharing emotions of the stakeholders. During the last decade, in response to the recent problematic of leadership and management, an emerging field of academic research is being focused on the types of leadership which are centered on ethics, collective, and pro-social behaviors [40]. On the one hand, leadership is viewed as collective or shared behaviors resulting in a set of actions of interdependent individuals from a non-linear perspective [41]. On the other hand, the new emerging leadership styles, emphasize the leaders’ ability to foster employees development through empathy, ethics, altruism, especially through servant leadership [42 –44]. Thusly, this style of leadership has been associated with important effects such as increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment [44], creative behaviors [45] and performance [46]. At the same time, the literature on leadership rehabilitated emotions and their role in managerial performance.

Although there are leadership approaches that have been interested in emotions for a long time, it is only recently that this topic has become the subject of systematic research [47]. In fact, in the research on leadership, the analysis of the impact of emotions and emotional work is omnipresent. There are many approaches and definitions of concept of emotion. A simple and synthetic definition conceptualizes emotions as intense reactions to an event, person or entity [48, 49]. According to the meta-analysis of Gooty et al. [50], the research unanimously shows the existence of an emotional contagion between leader and followers, ie a positive impact of positive emotions of the leaders on the followers, and conversely for the negative emotions. For example, Avolio et al. [51] demonstrated that the hope and the optimism of the leader had a key influence on the behavior of the followers, while Huy [52] shows that in a situation of change, effective managers build an emotional balance that is characterized by an emotional involvement and an increased attention to the emotions of their employees. Rubin, Munz and Bommer [53] showed the impact of the recognition of emotions by the leader on the exercise of transformational leadership.

Hence the portrait of a new type of manager has emerged: that is a humble manager who is able to integrate the emotional dimension of the work and who is able to control his level commitment in order to respond fairly according to each situation. Many managers find this representation very attractive as it is being promoted by numbers of human resource manager and business executives. This trend is at the heart of some corporate policies for example by deploying programs that develop the quality of life at work or training sessions on the notion of mindfulness. So, using mindfulness in management development makes sense as, by enhancing managers own well-being, it permits not only to provide benefits to the participants, but also to knock-on positive effects for those that these people lead and manage. Since organizations face increased complexity affecting the ways they take actions for change, leadership and management practices have become essential factors of performance and sustainable competitiveness advantages for businesses [54, 55]. That is the reason why inside organizations the ability to change management practices must be developed. The contemporary approaches to management emphasize the urgency of reinventing human resource management even if organizations are finding it hard to apply concretely these new approaches in their managerial practices. Thusly mindfulness becomes a useful tool that is likely to help organizations to support the emergence of new managerial practices.

The traditional figure of the manager is associated with a requirement of total dedication to the organization. However the contemporary approaches to management propose to have a more balanced relationship with work. Given the social and organizational evolutions (the feminization of management, the transformations of the family structure, the aspirations of new generations ...), balancing professional life and personal or family life is now considered as an essential factor, a factor of attractiveness for organizations and even a source of performance [56]. A Balanced attitude at work and performance imply to have the ability to stand back from one’s activity, to mentally stay back (psychological detachment) and but also physically observe distance (breaks, weekends, hobbies) from work [57]. Recently, scholars have developed theory with regard to integrative rather than causal relationships between work and family that feature the construct of work–family balance [58 –61]. Based on self-regulation and role balance theories, there are many reasons to claim that mindfulness is related to work-family balance. In their theory of role balance, Marks and MacDermid [62] state that positive role balance is the tendency to approach every typical role and role partner with an attitude of attentiveness and care. The present moment alertness that characterizes mindfulness should enable individuals to fully immerse themselves with care and attentiveness while engaged in each role. Mindfulness has been associated with increased concentrative capacity and attentional control [21]. For example, FMRI research (Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow) has demonstrated that self-report of trait mindfulness relate to amygdala activation in ways that suggest more mindful individuals have greater affect regulation ability [63]. As stated previously, mindfulness is a present-centered, clear, non-judging, non-reactive and receptive form of awareness [21, 64]. Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, and Freeman [23] suggest that by consciously bringing awareness and acceptance to present moment experiences, individuals are enabled to use a wider and more adaptive range of coping skills. Through attending to information contained in the present and creating space between emotions and reactions to them, clarity and self-regulated functioning are improved.

Although the literature of management science perceives commitment as a positive dimension [65], the pathologies of over commitment are being increasingly studied: workaholism, stress and their negative impact on the private life [66]. Thus, today’s managers are urged to observe a fair and reasonable distance from their work. Also, even if organizations are interested in the new approaches, they find it very hard to put them concretely into their managerial practices. For example there are many companies that advocate for a radical questioning of the hierarchical structure, as if they fail to change attitudes and behaviors. So, despite the existence of many studies on the new approaches to management, the literature provides little information on the conditions to favor their emergence [67, 68].

Furthermore business executives encounter a lot of difficulties in putting into practice the new dimensions of management. The observation of the forms of management in most contemporary organizations shows a weak evolution of the managerial practices. In fact, the contemporary evolutions of many organizations hardly seem to lead to the renewal of management practices but tend to maintain and strengthen the status quo: the Information Systems strengthen centralization and control, the financial goals determine the performance of managers through very short-term considerations; pyramidal and centralized models yield little ground ... Managers are busy executing the numerous management processes and consequently, they have no time to effectively manage and support their teams [69].

This difficulty to integrate new dimensions of leadership into the managerial practice is demonstrated in the analysis of the six reference points of the managerial skills of French big companies carried out by P. Vernazobres [70]. The posture of traditional leadership, centered on an individual figure, with outstanding qualities, is widely highlighted. Conversely, the spiritual, plural and collective dimensions of leadership do not appear.

Despite the depletion of the model of the rational manager, the universe of management is still refractory to emotional aspects [36]. The model of bureaucracy, focused on rationality is the model that develops the most the negation and the control of emotions [71]. However although this model is controversial and questioned, it continues to underpin much of the dynamic of contemporary organizational structures.

4 Mindfulness, a tool that promotes the development of a new managerial posture and new behaviors for managers

Good et al. [12] analyze the current research on mindfulness at work and call for more academic research on this topic. They classify the possible impacts of mindfulness at work in three categories: performance, relationships and well-being.

Without relying on this categorization, these topics are approached by studying mindfulness in the light of the role of manager and leadership, emotional skills and work relationship.

In a context of search for cultural and behavioral changes, it seems that the concept of mindfulness which is focused on awareness and training will be a promising research avenue. Already two studies have demonstrated that mindfulness trainings generate more positive behaviors than the traditional approach of training. In 2010, Schneider, Zollo, and Manocha showed that corporate social responsibility training was more effective in inducing behavioral changes when relying on mindfulness [72]. In the same year, a pilot study conducted on primary school teachers who underwent mindfulness training showed a positive and very significant evolution of their ability to accept situations without judgment [73].

The changes operated by the managers involve both their posture and their behavior. The approaches based on mindfulness belong to the field of acceptance and commitment therapies (ACT). The ACT aim to help individuals strengthen their psychological flexibility by working on two complementary processes: acceptance and mindfulness processes by allowing not only a change of posture, but also the processes of commitment and change behaviors that allow behavioral change [74].

The first contribution of mindfulness is the awareness that the observed reality is distinct and sometimes profoundly different from the mind that observes it. Throughout the practice, the participant clearly integrates what he perceives as the reality is actually what he decides to see, to build and interpret [75]. This awareness allows a kind of hindsight: the person in a state of mindfulness ceases to identify himself with a situation and is able to observe distance from judgments which enables him to develop greater clarity and objectivity. By adopting the posture of a witness instead of a subject, the participant becomes part of a more global and relative system. He is able to talk in relative terms and opens himself to others [76]. Through the process of mindfulness, the individual is able to disidentify from the contents of consciousness (i.e., one’s thoughts) and view his or her moment-by-moment experience with greater clarity and objectivity. This process is called reperceiving as it involves a fundamental shift in perspective. Rather than being immersed in the drama of our personal narrative or life story, we are able to stand back and simply witness it. As Goleman suggests, “The first realization in “meditation” is that the phenomena contemplated are distinct from the mind contemplating them” [77]. This skill is necessary as it enables the manager to be a translator and have a clear vision of the environment without necessarily identifying himself with it.

At the same time, mindfulness promotes an attitude of curiosity, acceptance of the present situation [76]. Such attitude reduces negative reactions of resistance or avoidance. A person who acts in a state of mindfulness does not seek for self-affirmation but he advocates for fair actions.

By relegating the ego to the background mindfulness allows the clarification of values and the ability to distinguish the reality from what is dictated by our misrepresentations [78]. In complex situations, managers can therefore question their own vision and renew it by adopting an attitude of non-judgment and acceptance. Finally, mindfulness develops cognitive, emotional and behavioral flexibility, which is the ability to identify and challenge automatic modes of operation to increase its action [78]. This attentional capacity would allow the manager to better manage the numerous solicitations that he undergoes and the injunctions of the immediacy.

Whereas the rationalist approach of contemporary management rejects emotions, the practice of mindfulness suggests managers to welcome their thoughts, their emotions and sensations as well as those of others [76]. This special attention helps to integrate emotions into interpersonal relationships and to support their leadership on this dimension.

The practice of mindfulness helps better manage stress and limit the states of strong reactivity by avoiding the following two pitfalls: negation of the emotional dimension (discharge pressure) and “the explosion” when the negative emotions overflow. Between these two modes of dysfunctional management of emotions, mindfulness proposes to learn to recognize emotions and accept them as a reality.

A clear and objective access to the internal experience would help the manager to have access to the intellectual, emotional, physical and intuitive dimensions [21] and thus contribute to have better perception of situations.

Hence, this paper claims that mindfulness helps those who practice it to get a well-balanced relationship between professional life and personal life [79]. It states that mindfulness practice would help managers get the right balance between their professional life and private life. Also it supports commitment and helps avoid the negative effects of over-engagement.

5 An exploratory study on the impacts of mindfulness training on managers

5.1 Method

An experimentation of the implementation of mindfulness training was conducted with the purpose to analyze its effects on a group of senior executives. From an interpretivist epistemological approach –the purpose is to develop an understanding of a social reality as experienced by individuals [80]. The following example is proposed: study of the effects of mindfulness training on 13 managers from the Malian Company for the Development of Textile (CMDT).This company is willing to know the outcomes of the program it developed on the basis of MBSR training. Data were collected during individual semi-directive qualitative interviews before and after the training of the concerned managers.

In order to analyze the impacts of mindfulness training on managers the following approach is proposed: first, to understand the perception that managers have on their own role, and then to examine the main difficulties they identify to perform this role and finally to evaluate the effects of the development of mindfulness on these difficulties.

5.1.1 Data collection

In partnership with the HR department of the company and on a voluntary basis 13 managers were recruited in September 2018. Then the first series of individual were realized, semi-directive qualitative interviews with the managers in order to understand their experiences and their perceptions. During the interviews with the managers, their level of mindfulness was measured by using the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale “MAAS” (21) (October - November 2018). After a mindfulness training of managers was conducted by using the MBSR (64) (January –February 2019). The next step was to realize the second series of directive interviews with the same managers in order to assess their evolutions in terms of experience and perception of the development of mindfulness. The level of mindfulness of the manager is evaluated again by using “MAAS” scale. This permits to establish possible links between the perceived changes and the variation of the level of mindfulness.

In addition, a set of data were collected in order to clarify the following phenomena: individual information (career, age, education, seniority ...), minutes of meetings (Top management, HR, feedback after the last individual interviews ...), organization charts and cultural elements of the services, assiduity to the MBSR training. All interviews are recorded and transcribed and recorded in real time.

5.1.2 Data analysis

The analysis of the integration of mindfulness as an innovation in managerial training in the company will be based on some of the content of the interviews, on the observations made on the ground and from the feedback received at the end of meetings.

5.2 Presentation of the malian company for the development of textile (CMDT)

The Malian Company for the Development of Textiles (CMDT) is a public limited company of mixed economy. The company is in charge of managing the cotton production chain of Mali. Its missions are: advice on agricultural technique to cotton producers; collection, marketing, ginning of seed cotton; the sale of cotton fiber for export and to Malian textile industries; the sale of cotton seed.

The company employs 1471 permanent staff (1, 361 men and 110 women) and 3,055 seasonal workers during the ginning and marketing campaign.

Some characteristics of the profession of the managers of the company: necessary relational skills to deal with the customers, the capacity of conflict management or difficult situations, the customers calling generally in case of problem, multitasking (phone, mail, chat).

It is worth mentioning that CMDT is very much concerned about the well-being of its employees and that the HR departments as well as several employees were aware of the concept of mindfulness.

Also, CMDT wants to be part of the trend fashion initiated “in the forefront” of Silicon Valley where a mindfulness programs at Google called “Search Inside Yourself” was introduced0 [81]. This is a concept of well-being that is reflected in particular in their working environment as well as their interpersonal relationships.

The objective of the training was to develop within the company a new approach that improves the managerial skills of executives and teach them how to be resilient to workplace pressure.

Unlike many Malian companies, at CMDT the concept of mindfulness is known and has attracted the attention of the top management and the Human Resources Department for several years. The training was therefore supported by the hierarchy and human resources. It should also be noted that CMDT promotes a much more horizontal management with fragmented decision-making centers and the promotion of initiatives. In addition, the company encourages direct and user-friendly methods of communication. Managers of different professions within the company took part to the training. They were identified by the department of managerial development which is part of the HR. Their profiles are very varied: sales manager, head of studies and marketing, head of project management, head of agricultural development, head of general services. They have significant management experience (3 years for one of them, more than 7 years for others). They have been at CMDT for more than 10 years and they generally supervise teams of 6 high-level qualified employees.

5.3 Results: The impacts of a mindfulness training on managers

5.3.1 The perception of the role of managers and the main difficulties they face

According to their perceptions, the role of managers is made up of three tasks mentioned in descending order of importance:

supervision;

project management;

problem solving and piloting the performance;

This order of importance is based on the following three criteria: the number of managers who mention the concept, the number of mentions relating to this concept and the number of words related to this concept (Table 1).

Table 1
Perceptions of the role of a manager

Topics mentioned by the managers Number of managers The number of mentions relating to the topic

Role of managers 13 88

The content of the job 5 6

Supervision- coaching- development and communication 13 45

Supervision- motivation 10 29

Project management, problem solving 8 11

Performance and piloting 7 9

Topics mentioned by the managers	Number of managers	The number of mentions relating to the topic
Role of managers	13	88
The content of the job	5	6
Supervision- coaching- development and communication	13	45
Supervision- motivation	10	29
Project management, problem solving	8	11
Performance and piloting	7	9

The two topics which are related to supervision cover 70% of their speech in numbers of words. These are the topics they develop the most, and the topics on which they give much detail. They mentioned supervision first, before all other missions and they indicate that it is their most important mission.

“Thus, I have a role of supervision, thus the role normally... supervision is the most important.... “(head of agricultural development),” so in fact my primary mission is to coach managers “(head of general services)”.

The other missions are mentioned less strongly. Then managers evoke a role of project management, problem solving or related tasks as well as performance management.

The managers interviewed are very factual and descriptive in their speech, with less emotional commitment. The project management and problem solving dimension often represents a significant part of their priority:

“I host meetings, I participate in a lot of working groups, on quality improvement, quality approach, I also have a lot of meetings with the transversal services with which I work” (head of transverse project management).

The difficulties that managers face are of two types (Table 2): relational or managerial difficulties and personal difficulties.

Table 2

Difficulties in exercising the role of manager

Difficulties mentioned by managers	Number of managers	Number of mention of the topic
Relational or managerial difficulties
Conflict management	4	13
Political Relations Management	5	6
Identification and management of other people’s emotions	8	16
Relationship with employees	8	24
Communication	4	8
Personal difficulties
Self-awareness	3	3
Personal organization, prioritization of activities	8	19

Here the focus is made on the analysis of the results on the relationship with employees and the management of other people’s emotions and personal organization.

Two topics are mentioned:

The feeling of not being available enough for the collaborators. Five managers mentioned the fact that they are not available enough for their staff because of the workload and the frequency of their solicitations. This may generate stress and even a feeling of guilt about their presumed role or vis-à-vis their employees.

“It’s stressful situation because I really wish I could bring elements of responses to him right now, and I feel guilty because I think it’s part of my job and yes it’s frustrating that now I am not able...” the telephone platform manager.

Questions on the type of managerial interaction with employees, particularly about whether to grant employees autonomy or adopt a directive method of management (8 managers).

Seven managers mentioned difficulties in identifying the emotional states of people in their environment (from verbal or non-verbal cues) or managing them. Another difficulty is the management of employees’ emotions, especially in situations of tension or conflict (four managers.

The second main topic raised by managers is the difficulty they may have in getting organized, managing their time and prioritizing their activities.

Given their role, the frequency of their solicitations and multitasking (mails, phones, chat), this difficulty generates significant negative impacts:

The person experiences high stress and he often feels pain;

The person may become less effective;

The person has the feeling to suffer from his environment and he is to no longer control his activity.

5.3.2 The impact of mindfulness training on managers

The most important effect identified by managers is a better personal organization and a better prioritization of tasks (seven out of eleven managers who completed the training). It was found that this was one of the main difficulties related to the role of the manager and that may cause a lot of stress and suffering at work. The positive effect on the organization of work is almost always the first effect mentioned by the managers. Three phenomena seem to explain this progress and they are mentioned in the discussions with managers:

The capacity to let go and the acceptance of not being able to do everything at the same time. The manager sort out the solicitations that seem essential to him and those that are not to which he may decide not to respond immediately;

taking a time for reflection to prioritize activities before starting;

confidence or assurance to be able to communicate to his professional entourage or hierarchy (nine managers) (Table 3):

Table 3
The impacts of mindfulness

Mindfulness impacts mentioned by managers Number of managers The number of mentions

identification Improvement, management of emotions of other people 5 13

Empathy enhancement 2 5

Listening and availability vs. employees 5 8

Performance improvement, efficiency 10 32

Organizational improvement, prioritization 7 14

Better efficiency 5 11

Quality improvement relations, communication 7 29

Improvement of relations at work 3 4

Less confrontational communication at work 5 6

Mindfulness impacts mentioned by managers	Number of managers	The number of mentions
identification Improvement, management of emotions of other people	5	13
Empathy enhancement	2	5
Listening and availability vs. employees	5	8
Performance improvement, efficiency	10	32
Organizational improvement, prioritization	7	14
Better efficiency	5	11
Quality improvement relations, communication	7	29
Improvement of relations at work	3	4
Less confrontational communication at work	5	6

The effects on the well-being of managers are obvious: they say they are less stressed, less edgy, more relaxed. They specify that it is not a question of no longer doing their job or not being conscientious anymore, but the ability to step back and identify what is possible to do in a given timeframe with respect to a level of solicitations to which they will not be able to answer.

Also, they identify greater efficiency at work: better concentration, better distribution of effort on important topics. This generates better results on their projects.

Finally, the prioritization of activities, by relieving them of secondary tasks, allows the manager to devote their free time to themselves, to their teams, which represents the heart of their activity and gives meaning to their work.

The second topic mentioned by managers is about the effect of the training on their interpersonal skills. We have seen above, that the supervision of the collaborators was source of a large number of difficulties: identification and management of the emotions, managerial positioning, and availability to support and develop their employees.

Five managers talked about a better identification and management of their employees’ emotions:

By a better availability and listening. The first item depends directly on their self-organization. The manager organizes his time to create moments when he is available and really present for his team. In addition, the attitude of the managers during the exchange has changed, they develops their capacity of listening. This time of listening before speaking allows them not only to better understand the messages of collaborators but also it gives them time to receive the messages and emotions and to think about how to answer it. This quality is particularly useful in a situation of conflict resolution to find appropriate solutions and avoid verbal overbidding:

Better empathy: Two managers clearly highlight a better ability to identify and analyze the emotional states of people around them. This allows them to reduce the risk of errors in behavior or judgment and improves their exchanges with their professional entourage.

These two factors allow managers to improve their communication and therefore have a less confrontational communication with their professional environment (5 managers). Thus, in a conflict situation, managers communicate in a more peaceful way, avoiding verbal overbidding.

Overall, it appears that the mindfulness training has two major effects on the role of the manager - a better prioritization of the activities and an improvement of the relations with colleagues and team.

6 Discussion

6.1 Evidences that promote the effects of mindfulness on the experience and behaviors of managers

The results of the research have shown that mindfulness training results in the development of managers’ skills of organization and prioritization but also of emotional intelligence, whether it concerns their own emotions or the emotions of others. These effects lead to a state of well-being and a stress reduction in the workplace as well as a transformation of managers’ relationship with the employees. They have developed listening skills, conflict management and a more peaceful and controlled communication. Here there is a large part of the assumptions made by Theresa Glomb and her colleagues about the link between mindfulness mechanisms and the performance and well-being of employees at work [20].

In the case of this study, the phenomenon that seems to underlie transformations is the creation of a space of freedom for the managers in a professional context. This space of freedom concerns their own emotions first: by identifying less with their emotions and taking time before reacting, managers undergo less his usual emotions or automatisms. Therefore, they choose how to react to them. Finally, the managers have developed self-confidence and they affirm their choices more firmly in relation to their professional environment.

6.2 The innovative character of mindfulness

This part identifies the innovativeness of mindfulness and analyze mindfulness from the contextual perspective and then from the conceptual perspective.

As stated before, at CMDT managers value the conviviality of the exchanges and the attention to the individual who is supported by a horizontal managerial model with a promotion of initiatives. The mindfulness training is carried out by the Human Resources Department with the active participation of the General Management. However, some of the means to achieve positive results (training in the control of attention by meditative techniques) are in sharp contrast with the culture of the company. Some managers confessed that they felt much destabilized at the beginning of the training. This is explained by the big gap that exists between the concepts of mindfulness and their own culture, their values and their work. Some of them started questioning the meaning of the training to the extent that they were tempted to stop it. It should also be noted that six managers indicated that they often felt a negative or mocking glance from their professional entourage during the training. They claimed they were feeling very alone in this process within the company. So, mindfulness represents a real break in this company as it is clearly a managerial innovation in this environment.

6.3 Implications for practice

The main aim of this study was to address the almost total lack of research evidence on what it means to mobilize mindfulness as a tool to develop managerial skills inside organizations. Although a number of studies have investigated the general benefits of mindfulness for individual health, well-being, and emotional balance (see above), fewer have explored the specific performance results that mindfulness produces in managers in their working settings. This paper does so by directly observing and reporting the performance of thirteen managers, with special attention to the practices whereby these managers were impacted by mindfulness training.

Accordingly, the major practical contribution of the present research is that it provides much needed empirical data on the actual jobs of managers, their real preoccupations, what they may benefit from practicing mindfulness. This research responds to today’s managerial challenges of companies wishing to initiate management development programs and support their managers towards sustainable performance.

6.4 Recommendations for future research

From a conceptual perspective, mindfulness remains a very recent concept in the literature of management (2010). If the literature of psychology has studied the concept thoroughly and validated its effects and, if organizations (consulting firms, companies ...) have developed practices based on mindfulness, literature of management is currently in the process of finding ways to validate or invalidate the effects and contributions of mindfulness in organizations, or even identify negative effects and show how mindfulness interacts with the management concepts. Finally, it would be relevant to compare the development of mindfulness with other processes and tools for managerial development in management.

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