Written by Jo Royle, Meditation teacher, Creatrix of ceremonies and specialist in coaching for wellbeing.
What you might not know about me is that for a decade I worked in the world of Organisational Development (OD)… with SMEs, third sector orgs and large public sector organisations. After completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Coaching for Organisational Performance in 2009, I started delivering on LEAD; a leadership programme for SMEs. The programme took leaders on a journey to explore leadership and how they were showing up as a leader. As a coach and action learning facilitator on the programme I held space to help leaders work through their challenges, make better strategic decisions, support their people and become more self-aware.
Following that programme, I supporting managers of third sector organisations to manage and lead volunteers, a notoriously difficult challenge. When you can’t use money to motivate, or tell people what to do, traditional leadership styles just don’t work!
I later facilitated a 7 day OD programme exploring coaching, facilitation, consultancy and evaluation skills with leaders and managers in public sector organisations so they could use the skills to create empowering environments for their people, enabling their teams.
Why am I telling you all this? It become very clear to me that there were common challenges all managers and leaders faced;
Jo Royle
1. Change is constant and leaders have to apply what they know in new and innovative ways. There’s no one, or obvious, answer and you can’t possibly already have all the answers.
2. Many of the problems faced by leaders are people related. Understanding people and being self-aware of how your own behaviours impact others is invaluable.
3. A good leader stays calms in stressful situations. You need to be able to respond not react to what’s happening in your environment, the situations and the people.
4. Making decisions in an increasingly uncertain world requires resilience. Overwhelm creates inertia.
5. In a faster and faster world, good leaders are able to prioritise and take action on what’s important. You can’t lose sight of the big picture, get lost in what’s not important.
6. Burn out is real. You need to find the joy in what you do… or do something else.
7. Leaders need to stay physically well. You can’t lead effectively if you’re ill.
So, which of these do you think is aided by meditation?
What if I told you that ALL of them are?
You knew it might help you relax, be calmer, release stress, but did you know it could help you to be;
More creative? More courageous? More focused? Help you concentrate? Help improve your physical health?
A regular meditation practice helps to strengthen insight, intuition, creativity and innovation.
It also helps you start to see yourself and your own behaviours more clearly.
You become more aware of your stuff (stored in your sub-conscious), which causes you to be triggered by events and people. This means less triggering and a calmer you.
Meditation is also proven to lower stress levels so they don’t build up to overwhelming levels.
It’s also useful to help you slow things down, given you greater clarity on your thoughts and staying connected to the big picture and what really matters.
And of course there is much research on how meditation aids sleep, rest, reset and renewal which in turn boost your immunity and bring the body back into balance.
That’s why we believe that meditation skills should be a core part of every leader’s toolkit.
And that’s the reason I’ve teamed up with Jennifer at Frankly to create Mindful Leadership. A one day course to teach a simple, accessible meditation practice which you can make a regular (ideally daily) practice to bring far reaching benefits for you, your team and your organisation.
But don’t just take my word for it, here’s what others say… or just come and find out for yourself! Places can be secured here
“I am staggered at how much this seems to have improved my life. A few observations: I have clarity of mind; I have felt confident pushing myself out of my comfort zone; I am calmer and happier; I am eating and sleeping better and no longer get muscle spasms in my shoulders. One word to describe it all? AWESOME!” ~MG
“The practice I learned was life-changing, and the decisions I have made since incorporating the meditation practice into my routine have had an enormously beneficial impact on my day-to-day life. I felt an enormous sense of clarity almost immediately, and since learning the practice I have become so much kinder to myself. ~LC
“Learning Meditation was a revelation! I definitely feel more focused, more open to opportunity, I have more inner strength, am willing to take risks and am positive about life. I don’t feel anxious about things. I think Meditation is a lifetime commitment now!” ~SO
“Meditation has helped me to be different. I’m now making decisions based on what I want and feel rather than taking decisions based on what others think I must, should or can’t do, not trapped by others opinions or fears. I’m taking risks, trying things. I have reclaimed my power and effortlessly I’m discarding baggage I have carried for years. I feel courageous and strong.” ~VL
“Before meeting Jo I had tried to meditate for years unsuccessfully… I just couldn’t ‘get’ it… until Jo debunked all my mind talk and perfectionism about it… If you meditate, you’ll know what a gift it is. Especially for us lot who spend a lot our time working with what goes on in our heads! It’s liberating” ~KH
“To say meditation has helped me is an understatement, I genuinely think it has got me through certain situations recently and has been more powerful than counselling in helping deal with anxiety.” ~CS
“I’m finding my world is calmer. I don’t get stressed if I meditate each day.” ~AC
