Program overview
Stress and time pressure undermine our ability to listen, be patient, and be open to others’ ideas. In addition, the bias for action in most organizations forces us to rely on automatic, reactive thinking instead of deep, creative reflection from which we could learn more effectively. The result is a plethora of distracted minds, scattered attention, and anxiety. Even if we’re coping, the effort and personal cost is great. We need to get our heads above water.
Working Mind, a collaboration with the Kalapa Leadership Academy, is an evidence-based program that combines neuroscience and mindfulness to measurably improve focus, attention, and productivity. This program teaches how the brain and mind work to support or frustrate common workplace objectives, such as communication, collaboration, time management, focus and attention, teamwork, and decision-making.
How will my effectiveness improve from attending this program?
Using mindfulness practices, including meditation, this program prepares participants to experience measurable improvement in attention, awareness, engagement, and satisfaction at work. Together these new capacities and tactics enable participants to remove obstacles to being present, innovative, and optimistic – moving from distracted and disaffected to more satisfied and measurably more productive.
In this program, you will develop and learn how to:
Focus your attention and limit distraction in the workplace
Boost your emotional intelligence
Cultivate happiness in order to motivate performance
Reduce stress through mindful use of time and flow
Improve key relationships through expressing sympathy, empathy, and compassion
Communicate more effectively one-on-one
Build trust and collaboration with colleagues
Who should attend?
Working Mind is designed for senior leaders, managers, and emerging leaders in all functions who have responsibility for directing and inspiring people in their organizations.
What’s the program structure?
A series of six-to-eight 90-minute weekly workshops with an impact assessment at the start and end of the program. Each participant receives a personalized report showing program impact, and an aggregated report of program impact across each cohort is delivered to executive sponsors at the end.
Throughout the program, you will be applying course frameworks and tools to real workplace scenarios. We will support your learning and engagement through a mobile app containing content, learning activities, and encouragement from instructors.
How many people can attend?
A maximum of 24 participants.
What will be covered?
Introduction to mindfulness
How the pace, complexity, and stress of modern working life challenges our leadership by eroding focus, collaboration, and learning
What is mindfulness and what benefits it provides in the workplace
How mindfulness meditation works and how to practice
Time and flow
How time is perceived in the mind
How stress is caused by the mind being stuck in the past or future
Using mindfulness to create the right environment for experiencing flow
Attention and focus
The neurophysiology of attention
The harm and ineffectiveness of multitasking, and how our use of email trains the brain
Mindful practices for improving attention and focus
The intelligence of emotion
The role that sub-conscious mental processes play, and how emotions can help and hinder us
How emotions are embodied, and how we can tune into our emotional state through our body
Tools for mindfully regulating emotions
Happiness and engagement
The origins of happiness and the role it plays in motivating performance
What neurological states support or erode happiness
How mindfulness cultivates happiness
Compassion
How developing compassion provides benefits to cognition, stress reduction, and engagement
Techniques for developing sympathy, empathy, and compassion
Using rituals to ground behavior change
Mindful communication
How our brain is wired for social interaction
How our colleagues influence our effectiveness through mood, empathy, and emotions
How mindfulness can improve interpersonal communications
Trust and collaboration
How social cohesion drives productivity
Techniques for mindful presence and creating trust
Approaches for conducting mindful meetings and improving team performance