The Mindful Leader in You:
Improving Patterns of Thought.

Dear Mindful Leaders,

I spent some time this morning sitting with my thoughts.

To be honest, I wasn’t so excited about some of what I was seeing. The thought patterns I noticed were familiar in the way that an old crick in the neck or chronic joint pain is familiar. We learn to live with it, but it would be nice to heal and redirect our energy to something more productive.

I noticed that I was rehashing some things I said the day before on a leadership team and then rehearsing "better" things I would say later to people who were there. To be clear, only a small part of this rehashing and rehearsing could be considered constructive reflection (more on that in a future letter). Instead, it feels more akin to perseverating, marinating in the muck of long-time insecurities. The truth is that I was thinking about how to say something that might slightly mask the raw truth of who I am to give people a more sugar-coated perception.

In my work with coaching Leaders, I see these patterns of thought in my clients a lot. Rehashing and rehearsing are, much of the time, the antithesis of mindful presence. Being present is essential to mindful leadership. It’s rare, though, that we spend much time considering what gets in the way of being present.

I remember many years ago, when I was teaching Service Leadership to college students, I went through a training with an organization called Mindfulschools. One of the trainers was demonstrating how he talks to teens about this concept of rehearsing and rehashing. He pretended to be in a car and put the shifter into drive, and then pretended to put it into reverse and then drive, and then reverse again, making this jerking motion with his body to represent what often happens in our minds - very “unmindful” looking. Then he put the car in neutral, and a sense of peace came over him… and all of us watching.

The metaphor helps us feel the peace and clarity that exist in the present moment. Mindful Leadership depends on this peace and clarity.

Peter Senge, author, organizational development guru, and founder and director of the Society for Organizational Learning, says this:

How can we put our minds in neutral to see what wants to or needs to come?

1) Pause to Notice:

This is not a passive process, but rather something that requires clear intention and effort. Each one of us can take some time to pause, to notice our patterns of thought, and to see what’s not serving us and others around us.

​Take 6 minutes to do this free guided mindful practice that I created to help shed some light on the patterns of thought that aren't serving you and how to let them go.

2) Ask two simple questions

Part of the beauty of being human is that we can choose to cut off a thought sequence that isn’t serving us and connect to a more positive and productive sequence of thoughts. For me, I often redirect my thoughts using two questions:

1. What can I learn here?
2. What's needed here?

These questions can help bring us present. For example, if I'm frustrated about the way someone I'm working with continues to perform in a way that is substandard, I'm subject to falling into a pattern of thought of frustration and rehearsing all the things I want to point out to them. However, if I pause, take a breath (and connect to my mindful leadership intentions), I can remember to ask: What can I learn about why they continue to underperform? What's needed to help them move to the next level?

The next mindful decision becomes simple. If I can give them what they need, then I should do that. If I can't, then I should find someone else to do the job.

3) Get yourself out of the way

So many leaders act from fear, status, and ego. I would say most. I have to check myself constantly on this. I ask myself, are my thoughts and consequent decisions based on pride, or insecurity or wanting to look good? Or are they based on what will help me and others thrive in the long run? Oftentimes it's hard to tell. This is where stillness and presence help once again. Often, it's best to wait, get your ego out of the way, and let clarity on the best way forward bubble up in the space that remains.

As leaders, we have to work to find agency in our patterns of thought.

Finding stillness is an essential part of this work. Stillness becomes a key practice in decision making, building relationships, choosing the right words and the right timing to say them, repairing wrongs, and moving us and others onto the right path forward.

On we go together...
Zach
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Zach is a mindful leadership coach, trainer, and certified systems thinking advanced facilitator. He is also the lead consultant at The Center for Transforming Education in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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