Introduction

In the spring of 2010, the technology and consulting organization IBM released a much-publicized opinion study of CEOs. Some 1,500 chief executives from 60 countries and 33 industries suggested that more than integrity, rigor, or even vision, creativity is the single most important leadership competency (Berman and Korsten 2010). Upon reflection, this finding is not entirely counterintuitive as creativity is a key driver of long-term organizational success (Florida, 2002). Far too often, top managers fall into routine and habitual ways of doing business that prevent them from adapting to changing conditions and recognizing new opportunities (Nystrom and Starbuck 1984). Firms such as Polaroid, whose management was wholly unprepared to adapt to the rise of digital photography, richly illustrate this point (Tripsas and Gavetti 2000). As business environments grow increasingly volatile and complex, managers who can navigate ambiguity and respond adaptively to change will be in ever-higher demand.

Yet, despite being of critical importance to firm success, academics and practitioners alike are uncertain how to best facilitate workplace creativity. Existing approaches largely seek to improve creativity either by hiring individuals perceived as particularly talented or by implementing policies and procedures that increase employees' motivation to think creatively. Mindfulness training may represent a third route to creativity. While typically conceptualized as a wellness intervention, mindfulness training was developed by Buddhist monastics to produce a state of mind that “differs profoundly” from “our usual mode of consciousness” (Bodhi 1984, p. 75). This state of mind speaks rather directly to the kind of cognitive flexibility and creative insight required in the modern workplace. As such, I suggest that mindfulness may provide a distinctive intrapsychic path to enhanced workplace creativity. In this chapter, I therefore outline an integrated perspective of creative cognition in light of mindfulness that I hope will be of benefit to academics and practitioners alike.

Introduction

People frequently negotiate with others. Employees negotiate salary with their employers, vendors negotiate supply chain contracts with suppliers, and couples negotiate vacation plans. However, many negotiators are not effective in negotiating and only achieve suboptimal outcomes. Many negotiation scholars claim that negotiation ineffectiveness is caused by negotiators' cognitive limitations and biases, which are inherent flaws of humans (Bazerman et al. 2000; Malhotra and Bazerman 2008; Thompson, Neale, and Sinaceur 2004). Recently, negotiation scholars have started paying attention to mindfulness (e.g., Brach 2008; Riskin 2010), claiming that mindfulness can increase negotiators' attention and awareness and thus facilitate negotiation effectiveness. Reb and Narayanan (2014), for example, provided the first empirical evidence that mindfulness facilitated negotiators' distributive performance, that is, mindfulness allowed them to achieve a larger share of the bargaining zone.

Although some view negotiations as purely economic transactions, in fact, all negotiations are relational in nature. Negotiation scholars start adopting a relational view on negotiations (Bendersky and McGinn 2010; Gelfand et al. 2006; McGinn 2006; McGinn and Keros 2002). According to this view, negotiation ineffectiveness is not a result of cognitive limitations and biases, but rather is caused by a deteriorating relationship between negotiators (McGinn and Keros 2002). In order to achieve negotiation effectiveness, negotiators need to co-create the meaning of their exchange and build/maintain their relationship (McGinn 2006; McGinn and Keros 2002). However, evidence on the effect of mindfulness on relational negotiation outcomes (e.g., relational satisfaction; Curhan et al. 2008) is extremely sparse and there is a lack of strong theoretical models that can guide empirical investigation. Adopting a humanistic psychological perspective, Kopelman, Avi-Yonah, and Varghese (2012) provided the first such model, suggesting that mindfulness enables negotiators to approach negotiations holistically by co-creating narratives.

Today we are so inter-dependent, so closely interconnected with each other, that without a sense of universal responsibility, a feeling of universal brotherhood and sisterhood, and an understanding and belief that we are really part of one big human family, we cannot hope to overcome the dangers of our very existence – let alone bring about peace and happiness.

The Dalai Lama (2006, p. 18)

Introduction

Coaching is a global phenomenon. In 2009, there were an estimated 43,000 business coaches worldwide (Bresser 2009), up from an estimated 30,000 business coaches in 2006 (International Coach Federation 2014). Executive coaching is informed by a broad range of theoretical frameworks (Passmore 2005) and, as coaching has become more established, the diversity of coaching forms has grown. In recent years, mindfulness has increasingly been used within coaching.

One reason for the rise in interest is the adaptation and introduction of mindfulness into varied secular settings, including politics, education, psychotherapy, and the workplace. The UK Government's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's 2009 recommendation of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for the treatment of recurrent depression has given mindfulness a stamp of approval that has influenced mindfulness-based coaching.

The expanding research highlighting an array of benefits to be gained from practicing mindfulness is naturally contributing to this growth in interest. Coaches seek to optimize clients’ functioning and to help clients reach their full potential, so it follows that they will be interested in approaches and techniques that will support the achievement of these aims.

Meanwhile, mindfulness is being heralded by many as a welcome antidote to widespread mindlessness in these challenging and complex times (e.g. Cavanagh and Spence 2013). Many crises continue to play out; poor ethical behaviour is widespread (Chartered Management Institute 2013); stress levels are higher than ever (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2013), and our mindless excessive consumption is threatening our very existence.

Introduction

In this chapter we explore the effects of mindfulness training upon individual identity. We aim to show that mindfulness training extends beyond improving emotional self-regulation. Our work shows that over time it changes how we respond to the questions ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Am I really separate from you?’ In turn, these changes have profound implications for wellbeing, effectiveness and relationships at work. Our identity shapes both our individual and relational responding. In this sense, identity underpins many other aspects of organisational behaviour. Indeed, it has been argued that identity has become central to organisational studies and the social sciences more broadly (Alvesson, Ashcraft, and Thomas 2008). In recent years, identity has been linked to issues as diverse as change management (Beech et al. 2011), leadership development (Carroll and Levy 2010; DeRue and Ashford 2010; Hannah, Woolfolk, and Lord 2009), motivation (Osborne and Jones 2011), career development (Petriglieri and Petriglieri 2010), and emotions at work (Atkins and Parker 2012).

In this chapter we explore theoretically and empirically how mindfulness training affects identity and thereby affects work-related outcomes and wellbeing. We adopt the view that mindfulness involves the four processes of: knowing oneself as the observer of experience; flexibly attending to the present moment; willingly accepting experience as it is without trying to change its frequency or intensity, and defusion from the literality of verbal cognitions (Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson 2011). This approach is based on a contextual-behavioural account of language and human cognition where identity is understood to be the ongoing behaviour of constructing descriptions of one's own behaviours and characteristics (Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, and Roche 2001). When mindful, such personal descriptions are not held as literal truths but rather are held flexibly as passing verbal constructs. We are particularly interested in the shift from treating self-referential statements as literal truths to flexibly engaging with them as constructs that serve varying degrees of usefulness.

Introduction

Mindfulness offers the potential to transform internal and external environments in a way that nurtures growth, emotional intelligence, creativity, innovation and the capacity to respond to life with an open mind and a wise heart. In business, mindfulness may confer powerful advantages. Research suggests that fear-based, top-down hierarchies inhibit creativity and innovation, whereas attuned, empathic, and spacious environments catalyze human capacity. The thoughtful incorporation of mindfulness into a professional culture can evolve a work environment toward a richer and more creative state, where one's “work” arises from a state of being rather than reactive doing. This chapter offers a brief overview of mindfulness and its applications in workplace settings. We review the literature and explore mechanisms of action for its beneficial effects. We propose specific pathways of integrating mindfulness, as a self-care practice as well as a way to cultivate professional effectiveness. Finally, we explore future directions of integrating mindfulness in organizational settings, offering our aspirations for the modern promise of this ancient tradition.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is above all about presence. It is about inhabiting our lives fully, and bringing all of our awareness into the present moment. Mindfulness fundamentally is a way of being, a way of relating to experience, moment by moment. A simple, yet nuanced definition of mindfulness is “the awareness that arises through intentionally attending in an open, caring, and discerning way” (Shapiro and Carlson 2009). Mindfulness practice provides the framework through which we can sharpen and develop this state of consciousness. When we practice we cultivate mindfulness, and yet mindfulness is always already here within us (Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, and Freedman, 2006).

The definition of mindfulness can be unpacked into three core elements: intention, attention, and attitude (IAA). Intention, attention, and attitude are not separate processes or stages, but rather interwoven aspects of a single cyclic process, the three elements informing and feeding back into each other.