What happens when you take a team of people from a range of backgrounds and skillsets and ask them to perform a challenging task on a tight deadline? Often, conflicts arise.
What Mindfulness Can Do for a Team
What happens when you take a team of people from a range of backgrounds and skill sets and ask them to perform a challenging task on a tight deadline? Often, conflicts arise. One way to reduce them may be team mindfulness: the collective awareness of what a team is experiencing at a given moment. New research shows that the higher the level of team mindfulness, the lower the level of conflict on teams. What’s more, in the more mindful teams, productive conflict around tasks didn’t shift as readily into conflict between team members themselves. Because of this, destructive undermining between colleagues was reduced. And while there is currently no formal prescription for how to achieve team mindfulness, companies might consider incorporating mindfulness programs for individuals to start, particularly among leaders: When a leader models a more mindful approach, employees are more likely to follow suit.