Mindfulness as a Path to Effective Meetings and Leadership Management for Sustainable Transitions within Organizations : An experimental study of  leaders’ and subordinates’ perceptions of mindfulness meetings

Abstract: Organizations carry an important role in transforming sustainable systems, not least their leaders as they can influence the well-being of employees. Implementing Mindfulness Practices (MPs) within organizations could therefore have a positive influence on several levels throughout the organization for making sustainable change.  As meetings are the playing field for decision-making in organizations, mindfulness is a way to engage people in meetings, to help participants rise to the opportunity of making sustainable decisions. Building on the existing research on organizations and mindfulness, this study aims to provide a descriptive account of the perceptions and experiences of individuals within a team when a short MP is incorporated at the beginning of meetings, resulting in a Mindfulness Meeting (MM). The research took a multi-method qualitative approach by conducting semi-structured interviews and participant observations on two teams from different organizations. Two interviews were conducted, on both leaders and followers, one focusing on general meeting perceptions, and a second focusing on the perceptions of the MMs. The findings of the research indicate that a MP, when conducted in the right format, helps cultivate and strengthen the cognitive processes critical for work environments. In particular the factors perceived as positive for achieving meeting goals were a sense of being present, aware, having clarity of thought, and regulating interactions with others. However, this study is just a starting place for the future of MM within organizations and the work they must do to transition towards sustainable systems.