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Slow Down to the Speed of Caring

Written by: Sue Lindgren Hawkes

Article Overview: Mindful Leadership is at the core of an engaged workforce

Slow Down to the Speed of Caring

As business owners and leaders, we are moving so fast that we forget to take the time to listen – to really listen. Have you ever sent an e-mail instead of having a face-to-face conversation with someone who works just a few feet away? Have you ever greeted someone by asking, “How are you?” without waiting for the reply or even worse, not hearing how they said their rote “fine” (because how it’s said is often the only opening you have with that person)? Being disengaged, that is non-present, is just one bad habit that is robbing us, and everyone we interact with, of our ability to be fully engaged.

Stop for a minute and humor me. Remember a time when a leader, mentor or boss was 100 percent focused on you. What was that experience like? How did it make you feel? Heard and understood? More important, you probably felt rejuvenated, challenged and inspired by that person’s confidence in who you are as well as your abilities. Those moments when you engage with another person and it’s as if there is nowhere else to be, nothing else to do, and only the two of you and your conversation matter: this is slowing down to the speed of caring.

That is the magic of Mindful Leadership. Mindful Leadership is about you making an impact with your employees each time you have an exchange. It is asking yourself, “How can I be completely present for this person right here, right now?” It sounds easy right? Not really, not without practice. And when you practice Mindful Leadership, the rewards are expanding: you will inspire a deeper level of engagement from your people. Imagine a workforce of highly engaged, committed people. What would stop them? Not much!

Mindful Leadership is also about re-defining joy and fulfillment. Many people say they crave balance, but if you are a business leader, you are probably not one of them. You thrive on change and challenge, and the undercurrent of that energy drives your passion. But consider how much more fulfilled you would be if you could learn how to be 100 percent present where you are. At work, you are completely focused on work, no thoughts from home creeping into your mind because when you’re at home, you’re completely focused on home and your family, no thoughts of work necessary. Imagine what that would be like! Mindful Leadership offers you the flexibility and freedom to be fully engaged from the deepest part of who you are wherever you are. It is simple, it is not easy. It is an experience of completion without sacrifice. A key to joy.

How to get started with Mindful Leadership at work:
• Hold meetings only if they are highly productive. 31 percent of employees believe meetings are held out of habit, and have no real purpose. In the U.S., almost 60 percent of employee time is spent in meetings, and counter to their intent most of those cause distrust and misalignment. When your employees believe their time is being wasted and communication is poor, their trust in the organization and your leadership dwindles. That, in turn, leads to low productivity, absenteeism and attrition over time.
• Focus on clear, consistent communication. Show concern for your employees’ time. Reward their loyalty and give them clear information to do their jobs well. Mindful Leadership means helping them envision themselves as important players who directly contribute to your company’s future. You may be clear, are they? Take the time in the beginning to ensure they understand – not that they heard the words – it needs to make sense to them given how they see their world. Understanding takes more time than agreement, and it yields abundant rewards in accountability, productivity, teamwork and morale. Communicate the information they need. Answer and share the following:
o What are your expectations of them individually and as a group?
o What is the competitive environment?
o What are the financial challenges and results?
o What are their career and development opportunities?
o What are your business challenges and strategies?
• Be aware of your communication and its impact on others. 70 percent of the reasons companies lose clients, employees and customers are due to poor communication. And of all the reasons people were terminated, 75 percent were because of low emotional intelligence competencies.
• It is critical for leaders and managers to learn how to sense, understand and react appropriately to others’ emotions. According to the Center for Creative Leadership, the top three reasons careers are derailed are:
1. The inability to handle interpersonal problems.
2. Poor team leadership in the face of challenge or conflict.
3. The lack of capability to adapt, change or elicit trust.
4. Practice communicating regarding employees career needs and what matters most to them. 50 percent of employees surveyed said companies fall short in providing employee development initiatives and offer poor or inadequate communications regarding their career and what matters most to them.

When you slow down to the speed of caring, your focus is on listening and being present for the people in your world. Using clear, thoughtful communication, you will improve your power to inspire and fully engage those around you. As a result, everyone within your sphere of influence will gain greater satisfaction in their accomplishments while your bottom line improves.

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Article Tags: bad habit, boss, business leader, business owners, confidence, conversation with someone, e mail, fulfillment, humor, leadership, magic, mentor, passion, reply, rewards, undercurrent, workforce



Related Forum Posts
Re: In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore - Thanks for sharing GT - very interesting! According to Amazon Kindle, the two most highlighted passages from the book are: [quote:1tn0ii6a]Slow philosophy can be summed up in a single word: balance. Be fast when it makes sense to be fast, and be slow when slowness is called for. Seek to live at what musicians call the tempo giusto—the right speed.[/quote:1tn0ii6a] [quote:1tn0ii6a]Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-quantity.[/quote:1tn0ii6a]
Legacy - Thinking about leaving a legacy, most people think it got to do with money. It is much more than that. In my opinion it is a reflection of someones live well lived. eg Someone can leave a 'Spirit of Caring for others' or a 'Spirit of Excellence' . There is absolutely no end of ways to encourage people to achieve their goals and dreams. We have so many people , who make us think, how we should live. The example of Trump is there. Any other viewpoints? Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!!"
Re: SES Toronto Next Week - In that case, how about the following? Track: Get Me Up to Speed * State of Search Marketing in Canada Track: Practical & Actionable * Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions Track: Advanced * User Search Behavior * Social Media Success * Web 2.0 & Search Engines * Giving Credit Where It’s Due: Which Campaign Sold What?
Re: Meet the NEW Twitter.com - Hey GT, I wasn't aware of this at all. Looks like a good change is coming. The new interface looks much better than the current one, and I like the new features that will be included. Speed is definitely an issue for many sites, and Twitter especially. The current site is somewhat slow at times or doesn't load for me at all which requires having to hit the "refresh" button (sometimes multiple times). Sometimes ReTweeting doesn't work, etc. There's issues that will have to be addressed, and hopefully with the new site rolling out they can find a way to speed things up and make it efficient.
Re: Do bigger monitors save time? - Hi Kevin, Thanks for the welcome! I would agree that two 17's would work well but really, any size would work. I'd be careful in going after the larger monitors that are traditional heights but are really wide, unless you have the desk space for it. Choose your monitors carefully as well to ensure that you try to find ones that have a small frame outside of the actual monitor screen. That way, when you put them together, the screens look a little more uniform. Last tip for either multiple monitors or one large one... Speed your mouse motion up. If you don't, you'll spend forever scrolling from one screen to another or across a larger screen. It'll take a bit to get used to at first but after a few days, using a mouse with regular motion will seem painstakingly slow!


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