TO BE FULLY PRESENT
6 minute read
THE MINDFUL COMMUNICATOR
When you are at your best; what are you like to deal with? How does it feel: physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually to be you? And what about when you are at your worst? What is your experience at these more difficult times? What do others experience?
It sometimes appears as if we are two different people - or even more!
BE LIKE A TREE
One of the most powerful metaphors I use in our (Engage Award) Speaker Coaching programme is the image of a tree: a presenter feeling grounded in good soil, standing tall and focused on a clear message (the trunk), creative while being highly structured (branches and leaves), recycling water and nutrients (information and human interaction) in a positive way with other trees and the eco-system and bearing good fruit: creating real take away value in each communication, speech or keynote.
This is also a good metaphor to apply to people who can survive and thrive in the modern workplace.
BEST SELF-WORST SELF
I’m sure you can think of some people – at work or home – who you find easier to engage with and listen to more than others. They may seem more in command of their lives, and more richly connected with themselves and able to connect with us. It’s easy to choose to support people who are like this in their dealings with us – whether they be colleagues, customers, employees or friends and family.
Others we can find more distracted, unfocused, even irritable, incapable of tuning in to us. We soon feel a need to move away, look at our phone, talk to someone else.
Which group do you think you belong to? It will vary from person to person, as well as moment to moment. We may also have a natural rapport with some people and less so with others. We are drawn to people we have things in common with. This is one of the challenges we all face in becoming truly inclusive, removing unconscious bias and valuing diversity.
WHEN YOU LABEL ME YOU NEGATE ME
Søren Kierkegaard
Our minds can turn to simplistic, generalised labels to categorise people as a 'type' rather than taking the time to recognise and adapt to this unique individual. It a natural shortcut the brain uses to try to predict behaviour - based on our experience of a person’s mood, physical capability, race, sex, age, religion, socio-economic status, personality type etc..
Being a mindful communicator means being profoundly curious and non-judgemental, open to tune into each individual in their own right and to really hear them… especially in the more challenging times…
BUSINESS SOUL RESEARCH
Through 2020-2022 we interviewed and held forums with over one hundred key figures in modern business, art and sport to examine the personal challenges of living and working in the modern digital age; to identify the practices that support the creation of a thriving, highly engaged, positive culture, where people want to stay and do their best work.
Here are three key themes that came through as areas that affect everyone in the workplace:
- Implementing habits and practices to reduce toxic stress and get the most out of life
- Cultivating mutually supportive relationships with diverse people internally/externally
- Maximising our professional presence when we communicate: online and in-person
SEVEN KEY PRINCIPLES
Here are the key principles that were highlighted by the research as being vital for modern digital work-living at the most personal level:
1. Be fully present
2. Know who you are
3. Create the conditions
4. Be intentional
5. Organise your thoughts & communications
6. Cultivate mindful interactions
7. Create value for people
Here are some thoughts from Sarah Hood, Global Head of Engagement for BUPA about the themes we’ve picked out as the key areas of focus for personal and team effectiveness in the modern digital organisation. We recently published a book: The Mindful Communicator, which Sarah kindly reviewed for us:
In an increasingly complicated world rampant with negativity, it’s so easy to get sucked under, addicted to the things that help us escape or numb, like scrolling on phones, bingeing on box sets, shopping, food, drink...the list goes on and on.
This book is a wake-up call about what’s important in life. It’s about being more present and more joyful in our day to day, with loads of exercises and tools to help us along the way. Really practical advice as well as thought provoking guidance and stories. It has inspired me to be more intentional about how I go about things.
A WORLD BEYOND THE BOTTOM LINE
Achieving great results in the bottom-line world, in a way that supports all the eco-systems we interact with, needs some great life skills in the world beyond the bottom line.
We started this blog talking about trees. As the old saying goes: A good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree bears bad fruit.
FIND OUT MORE
Some of the ideas and tools used in this programme are covered in the new book from Soul Corporations® - The Mindful Communicator by Nicholas Brice (Amazon, Nov 2022). Order a copy for you and your team now - here.
You can contact Nick directly at nick@soulcorporations.com or +44(0)7778-356954.
