Mentors Magazine: Issue 3

MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 3 | 43

tions. Allow team members to put their
phones on Airplane Mode and also log out
of email for a few hours during the day. If
employees see their managers setting the
tone at the top, they
will be more likely to
adopt these mindful
practices for them-
selves. Make it clear
to your team that you
want them to be able
to focus and really dig
deep into their work.
Help them to protect
their work time and to
prevent it from
getting chopped up
into useless pieces by
distractions and inter-
ruptions.

Have Fewer, Shorter
Meetings

Do you ever feel like your entire workday is
a series of never-ending back-to-back
meetings? What if you could reduce or elim-
inate some of this meeting time? Managers
should start to implement 45-minute (or
shorter) meetings, so that people have extra
time built into their day and do not end up
running from meeting to meeting all day
long.
Better yet, re-evaluate which meetings are
really necessary and which ones could be
canceled. We’ve all experienced those
dreaded situations where we’re required to
sit through a meeting that could have been
an email. Why not be more proactive in
weeding out the non-essential meetings?
Free up more of your team’s time; this will
increase their productivity.

Get Up from the Desk and Out of the Office

Mindfulness is often associated with yoga,

and it’s true that yoga

practice can be a

great way to align the

mind and body but it’s

not the only way. Em-

ployees can also ben-

efit significantly

from mindful stretch-

ing exercises—just a

few minutes of

stretching can help

reduce job stress and

on-the-job injuries. Or

try hosting your next

team meeting out-

doors at a nearby park

or hiking trail. Studies

have shown

that spending even a

few minutes in na-

ture each day can boost productivity, reduce

stress, and result in other positive health

benefits.

In addition to health benefits, mindful

stretching and daily nature walks can help

people be more innovative. Just like the

joke, “all my best ideas happen in the show-

er”—sometimes our best creative break-

throughs happen during moments of mental

rest and reflection, when we actually have a

moment to let our minds wander. Stan-

ford research has found that creative think-

ing is significantly improved simply by going

for a short walk, whether it’s indoors or out-

doors. The more mindful your organization

is, the more innovative many of your em-

ployees will be.