Leadership is dual in nature. On the one hand, leadership is seen as an ability because not everyone can lead others and on the other hand, leadership is a duty. Leadership is a task that should not be taken lightly simply because many are involved and the processes that will lead to management are responsibilities that must be performed.
Leadership can seem burdensome to others. Well, every decision made by leaders directly affects organizational structures and processes and the people involved. Whether or not the choices lead to favorable outcomes, we tend to go back to those choices and justify how they arrived at such conclusions.
Focusing on decision-making, we must recognize that even those famous world leaders most people know can also make unlikely choices. Choices that often reflect their first instincts without even stopping to think about it. Other leaders also depend on the environment around them. Depending on the vibe they receive from their surroundings, this directly influences the decisions they make. Sometimes they also rely on their mood and other unlikely sources.
But, leadership doesn't have to be that way all the time. What has changed is that leaders can also transform such circumstances with the help of servant leadership or empathetic leadership.
You might be wondering what servant leadership is? What does it mean to be empathetic? Servant leadership works with empathy. Empathy means having the ability to feel the emotions of others. Compassionate leaders truly understand what others are going through even without directly living their lives. It is an understanding without judgments or other intentions that will only benefit themselves or the organization.
Empathetic leaders are authentic and place a high value on the essence of the human being since they see them as essential actors in maintaining the progress of the organization. They do their best to motivate employees, while developing smart decisions that also take into account the well-being of the team. However, these are not only run during working hours, but all the time.
It seems like empathetic leadership can be learned quickly, doesn't it? This is where you are mistaken. This type of leadership cannot be mastered by relying solely on oneself. It should be influenced by various experiences, interactions and lessons learned from each encounter with people from all walks of life. It simply cannot be acquired in a day, week or month and would greatly need information from different perspectives. However, there are ways that can help us develop empathy and embed it in leadership. These are meditation and mindfulness.
Let's say you are currently attending a meeting and you have sensed negativity in the atmosphere of the room. Naturally, you will be affected to the point of irritation. When you think the energy is getting extreme, you may believe that the negative energy is infecting you and will begin to affect how you interact with people for the rest of your day.
However, another thing stands out. Instead of being consumed by the energy, you choose to stop for a moment to assess the situation you find yourself in. You have found an answer that you think makes sense and do something to transform the mood of the room. Although what you did before cheering up the people in the room took a short time, it certainly did something for them.
This simple scenario can immediately put a new mark on your leadership. By practicing mindfulness, you are equipped to observe and distinguish the moments that occur between stimulus and response. This is the part where you stop to think for a while, but it doesn't take too long, and then you just decide on the right thing to do in a heartbeat.
You will be truly amazed once you see the bonds forged within your team grow stronger by changing their mindset and motivating them to do well. Even researchers have proven that meditation and mindfulness support relationships between people and are believed to reduce stress levels, improve empathy and encourage self-reflection.
It is important to note that mindfulness does not manifest changes immediately after the session. That's not how it works. You have to maintain the sessions and with each session you come across you learn new things, similar to leadership.
As you undergo the practice, we become aware of our thoughts and use your breath as a guide to realize that you are facing your thoughts directly and then returning to the current environment or the present.
To continue the practice, find a comfortable space, then begin to close your eyes and focus on your breathing as you breathe. Bring awareness to your thoughts and if you feel your direction slowly weakening, bring your attention to your breath. Learn this at your preferred time.
In most cases, leaders have a lot to do, so they are seen as always busy people. It's hard to squeeze tasks into their schedule and control leaders, mindful leadership retreats are there to help maintain regular meditation sessions.
By now you probably know what pensions are. But for those unaware, these are activities carried out to focus on learning and enhance mindfulness practices. Moreover, it also helps to relax the minds of the participants, especially since they have spent most of their time accomplishing the goals of the organization.
Likewise, retreats provide lessons that help leaders pause for a while and avoid being reckless in decision-making. Retreat participants generally gain beneficial experiences by learning the sources of mindfulness and applying them in the real world. Given time and discipline, participants will be able to use these helpful life tips and know when to incorporate them.
No matter how your path shaped by mindfulness and meditation looks like, life will be able to lay fantastic, beneficial and awe-inspiring things before you in ways you never expected it to. that is. There are many meditation related apps online or just visit https://mdmindfulness.com/ to access most of the resources.
