New approaches for effective teamwork:mindful leadership

Leadership in Agile Organizations conferenceLeiden UniversityWibo Koole - 27 October 2016

What will I talk about?

›Effectiveness risks: the agile team trade-off

›Why mindfulness? The (neuro)science behind it

›Agile teams: a mindful intervention›Mindfulness: how it works›Experiencing mindfulness practices›Leading your team and yourself

Effectiveness risksThe agile team trade-off

WORKING WITH ENTHOUSIASM THE JOB MUST BE FINISHED

OWN PACE AND RYTHM COMMAND AND CONTROL

GIVES ENERGY DEPLETES ENERGY

MOTIVATION FROM INSIDE DECREED BY OTHERS

FEELING WELL WORK ONESELF TO DEATH

ENGAGED PERFORMING STURDY WORKING ON

WORKING WITH ENTHOUSIASM THE JOB MUST BE FINISHED

OWN PACE AND RYTHM COMMAND AND CONTROL

GIVES ENERGY DEPLETES ENERGY

MOTIVATION FROM INSIDE DECREED BY OTHERS

FEELING WELL WORK ONESELF TO DEATH

ENGAGED PERFORMING STURDY WORKING ON

WHAT DO YOU EXPERIENCE?

Agile teams: burnout indicators 1

›Excessive overtime; becoming the norm with long term duration;

›Rising mistakes: bugs, poor design choices, and hurried implementations;

›Rising temperatures, increasing levels of team stress and conflict;

›Lack of humor / fun, team is too focused and lost any playfulness;

›Lack of refactoring or quality investments;

Agile teams: burnout indicators 2

›Excessive negotiation (or avoidance) of your Done-Ness, rushing at the ends of Sprints;

›Excessive time-off, high levels of team stress seeping into home;

›Not taking time off / not taking or cancelling vacations;

›Increased paranoia; “they” are after us, we have no choice;

›Lack of transparency, honesty, openness, and continuous improvement.

Today’s team demands

›HIGH PERFORMANCE LEVEL

›CONTINUOUS INNOVATION

›24/7 AVAILABILITY & SMOOTH COOPERATION

The agile team trade-off

Faster, better, within budget

results

Increased process insecurity, self management,

many stakeholders

Why mindfulness?The science, the business case

It’s everywhere…

Growing research…

• Cognitive psychology• Organizational

psychology• Management studies• Neuroscience• Medicine• Contemplative

studies

Research areas include:

Results in-company mindfulness training…

MINDFULNESS PERCEIVED STRESS

Effects in organisations

Performance

JobTask

Citizenship behaviourSafety

Deviance

LevelsVariabilityBuffering

Goals and motivation

Relationships

Communication & Relationship Quality

Conflict managementEmpathy and compassion

LeadershipTeamwork

Self v. OtherClimate

Shared mental modelsMindful leadership training

Well-being

PhysicalPsychological

Behavioral

ResilienceRecoveryGrowth

Curr

ent e

vide

nce

Ope

n qu

estio

ns

Current evidence

› Performance – Middle managers: higher performance ratings by

supervisors– Strengthens social aspects of leadership (employee

satisfaction higher)› Relationships

– Better quality of communication: listening and perspective-taking

– Better understanding of emotions– Growth of compassion: teamwork!

› Well-being– Lower incidence of burn-out, stress and negative moods– Higher psychological capital– Higher work engagement

›Less absence by stress›Less medical symptoms›Greater focus› Improved job roles›Enhanced brain capacity

›Greater well-being+

=> €€€€€ - higher performance

Neural mechanisms

Tenney & Gard., The Mindfulness Edge, 2016

How does mindfulness affect pain in the brain?

Procedure

›Mindfulness

›Normal state

Results: brain activationMeditators > Controls, Mindfulness > Baseline

Gard et al., Cereb. Cortex, 2012

• Increased activation in posterior Insula in meditators during mindful pain modulation

• Greater sensory processing

z=15

L R

Results: brain activationMeditators > Controls, Mindfulness > Baseline

Gard et al., Cereb. Cortex, 2012

• Decreased activation in lateral prefrontal cortex during mindful pain processing in meditators

• Decreased cognitive modulatory processing

z=6

L R

Conclusion

›↑ sensory processing: your senses work better!

›↓ cognitive processing: you can better handle discomfort and stress

›Mindfulness helps to better regulate emotions

Agile: stand-up meetings

Mindful

• Significant effect

Music

• Small

Nothing

• No effect

• Involvement in decision-making• Overall-effectiveness• Listening skills• Level of disagremeent• Tension level• Interaction and emotional responses

Agile: stand-up meetings

Mindful

• Significant effect

Music

• Small

Nothing

• No effect

• Involvement in decision-making• Overall-effectiveness• Listening skills• Level of disagremeent• Tension level• Interaction and emotional responses

Thanks, Peter!

Mindfulness: how it worksFirst hand experience and definition

Sitting meditation

›3 minute exercise

Definition of mindfulness

›Mindfulness is paying attention in a special way: on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment

›Based on our natural human capacity of noticing, paying attention and being aware of that

Mindfulness enables…

›Switching between action and reflection

›Stopping the autopilot of routine and making space for a conscious response

SIGNALS

Something is wrong…. What now? 

StoppingCreating distance and seeing the difference between

the signal and its significance

CONSCIOUS RESPONSE

Staying with it. Accepting discomfort. Not letting your emotions drive you

AUTOPILOTPutting extra effort into it

RunningIt most be solved and go away!

Faster heartbeatAnxietyQuick changing thinking

Hurry and pressureTension in the body Sweating, short of breath, trembling

Mindfulness and the stress-system

SIGNALS

Something is wrong…. What now? 

StoppingCreating distance and seeing the difference between

the signal and its significance

CONSCIOUS RESPONSE

Staying with it. Accepting discomfort. Not letting your emotions drive you

AUTOPILOTPutting extra effort into it

RunningIt most be solved and go away!

Faster heartbeatAnxietyQuick changing thinking

Hurry and pressureTension in the body Sweating, short of breath, trembling

Mindfulness and the stress-system

MindfulAwarenes

s: your early

warning system

Mindful teamwork“Managing attention” and the role of the scrum master…

Intervention Model

STRESS CULTURE

Targets and cut-throat

culture

Passing the buck

I-communi-cation

GROENE ZONE VAN

MINDFULNESS

Aspirations and

performance ethos

Shared responsibility

We-commu-nication

SHARED PERFORMANCECOOPERATION THROUGH DIALOGUEEMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCERESILIENCE ABOVE MARK(TEAM) FOCUS

MIN

DFU

L LE

ADER

SHIP

Sturdy working on Engaged at work

Mindful Leadership

”Consciously experiencing both the internal and external world and from this, directing the attention of individuals and groups at a situation and what it asks from them and you”

Wibo Koole, Mindful Leadership for effective teams and organizations,

2013

“The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervenor.” William O’Brien,

former CEO of the Hanover Insurance Company

Focus

Success and results

Outer

InnerOther

Building team-resilience

›Switching between action and reflection

›Stopping the autopilot of routine and making space for a conscious response

Emotional intelligence/agility›Self-awareness

›Self-management

›Social awareness

›Relational management

SUSPEND JUDGEMENT

WORK A GROUP OF

SCOUTS

BALANCE ARGUMENTS AND INQUIRY

Culture of dialogueSHOW

YOUR ASPIRATIONS!

SEARCH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE

JOURNEY TOGETHER!

Compassionate performance

Building your practiceMindfully leading yourself

It all starts with…

›Taking unconditional responsibility for your own life and actions…

›Accepting discomfort and staying with it: inquiring the situation…

›Building yourself step by step…

›Practices:– Daily exercises…– Mindful breaks…– Journaling and reflecting…

Organizational practices…

›Supportive mindful leadership (the role of the scrum-master!)

›Team practices– Attentive team check-in (braking the

barrier of the daily rote action!) – Taking time for “resilience check”– Continuous training: constructive

feedback– Culture of learning

›Better organizational mindfulness in hospitals leads to less mistakes in medication!

Building the practice…

We are always practicing. In other words, the body is incapable of not practicing.

And what we practice we become.. …

MindfulnessA tool for daily use…

Breathing space

›THINK OF IT, SIT DOWN AND OBSERVE THE PHSICAL AND MENTAL EXPERIENCES IN THE CURRENT MOMENT

›BRING ATTENTION TO BREATHING PROCES

›EXPAND ATTENTION TO BODY AS A WHOLE

›FINALLY: OPEN YOUR EYES, MOVE ON WITH WORK

›Each step takes about one minute!