Blog – Page 2

Mindful Leadership Summit and Tools for Success

November 9, 2016 by Wilma Jones

Last weekend I attended the Mindful Leadership Summit. This is a two-day gathering of leaders and aspiring leaders in the field allowing folks to share, learn and connect. The opening keynote, “The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success,” focused on strategies for handling stress and our over-scheduled lives.

The annual 2014 Gallup survey confirmed yet again that job related stress is the number one contributor to American adults lives. Pointing out that this work related stress costs employers $300 billion, Emma Seppala, Ph.D, Science Director of the Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Educationmade it clear that using mindfulness as a way to improve your work place should be important to company leadership as well as individuals.

Reviewing the impact of disengaged and actively disengaged workers, who together comprise well over 50 percent of the workforce is massive. The cost is estimated at $500 billion dollars in lost productivity. This drain on our economy can be reduced through implementation of mindfulness techniques. Seppala discussed her viewpoint that Americans love to be over scheduled. I am not sure if I totally agree with that. I think many of us have a hard time saying no. But for whatever reason, I agree that we often have way too much on our plates.

The advantage mindfulness provides is that it helps you “be present.” And the strategy that was discussed in this keynote, and really emphasized throughout the summit was my favorite, deep breathing. I knew deep breathing was good for me, and I know it’s improved my health. Maybe I heard it before, but it was good to know that lengthening your exhale will immediately lower your heart rate. And then we practiced it.

It’s little changes like taking regular deep breathing breaks that can make a difference in your workday and your health. Imagine how your blood pressure and heart health can be impacted by lowering your heart rate. It’s amazing how small changes can make big impacts to our lives. The summit started off with an awesome session reminding me and all the attendees of one of the bedrock components of living a mindful life.

Take Advantage Of Mindfulness Techniques for the Office – 3 Great Tips

November 1, 2016 by Wilma Jones

Running a small business is hard. One of the most challenging aspects is managing employees. And actually that’s true whether it’s a large or small business. At a workshop last week for a national association comprised of small business owners in the government relations area, we drilled down on the problem of keeping employees engaged and productive on the job.

Gallup estimates that disengaged workers cost the economy over $450 billion in lost productivity in the US annually. Another study equates the loss for each disengaged worker at over $2,200 per year. That is your money going down the drain because members of your staff are no longer committed to getting their job done with a sense of meaning and purpose.

One solution that companies like Google, General Mills and Aetna are finding great success with is adding mindfulness strategies to give employees options for reducing workplace stress and increasing focus. Results prove mindfulness makes good business sense because it improves worker performance by increasing focus and creativity. It reduces sick days because of the reduced on the job stress affecting workers. And it also reduces employee turnover because people feel better about their jobs and themselves and are far less likely to leave for another company.

Interested in how to get started to incorporate mindfulness into your workday? Whether you’re the owner, a manager or an individual contributor, the following 3 mindfulness tips can help impact the bottom line where ever you work.

Tip 1. Deep Listening

When having a conversation with a colleague we often listen in order to determine how we want to respond. (I am so guilty of this sometimes…) Deep listening is all about listening to build trust between coworkers. It doesn’t mean acceptance, agreement or approval of what they’re saying or asking. It simply requires acknowledgement to be effective.

Tip 2. Walking Meetings

When you are planning a meeting between 2-4 people that has a goal of finding a solution to a challenge or problem, think about having a walking meeting. Research has proven that the creative output increases up to 60 percent, people get to the point quicker and it increases engagement among employees because it breaks down the organization hierarchies between management levels and staff, too.

Tip 3. Unitasking

Instead of doing multiple things at once, try doing just one thing at a time. I know in many organizations that seems impossible but when you are working projects or deliverables that require accuracy, unitasking increases focus and allows you to do better work in less time.

Check out the infographic from the workshop:

Get your copy of the infographic HERE —>>> 3-mindfulness-techniques

Check out what the executive director of the National Institute of Lobbying and Ethics had to say about the Lunch and Learn session:

Send an email to Wilma (at) WilmaJ.com or call (703) 653-0241 for more information on Workplace Wellness Workshops for your organization.

Does Your Small Business Need to Implement Mindfulness?

October 13, 2016 by Wilma Jones

If you’re a small business owner maybe you think mindfulness doesn’t have a place in your business. Maybe you think it’s only for big corporations like Google, Toyota Motors or General Mills who have the dollars to invest in their workers. I think you should think again. Science and experience prove that implementing mindfulness principles can make a big difference in your business.

So let me start with a few questions. Are all your employees engaged and focused about their job? How about you? Small business owners often feel burned out. As entrepreneurs you’re so busy checking off the tasks to get things done, your ability to think about solutions from a ‘big-picture’ perspective lessens.

Building a strong, healthy work culture and giving people the skills to work with their minds, emotions and other people is one of the big benefits gained by organizations that incorporate mindfulness in their workplaces. Mindfulness is a opportunity for you as a business owner to help increase everyone’s level of happiness and well-being at the job. And that what will help increase the business’ bottom line.

If you’re wondering how making people feel better about their jobs will help make you more money, just think for a moment about the demands of most jobs today. We expect people to multitask, because well, everyone has to multitask and do more than one thing at a time on the job. Emails will keep coming, along with calls with customers, marketing for more prospects, meetings, reports, accounts payable, accounts receiveable and taxes and on and on. A few simple mindfulness techniques can help people feel less stress at the job and they’ll learn to increase their focus and accuracy on the volume of work they have to do.

When people feel overwhelmed in the job they often feel the opposite of mindfulness, they feel mindlessness. When your job feels like you’re putting out fires all day, going from one work mini-crisis to the next – that’s mindlessness at the job. Learning mindfulness won’t change the activities we have to accomplish during the workday. But it will change how we let those tasks influence us. It is those changes that create the impact on the bottom line.

The ability to complete tasks in less time with greater accuracy means you and your staff are more productive. Feeling less stress at the job equates to fewer sick days, aka ‘mental health’ days when your staff can’t face another day at the office. Trust and believe, mindfulness measures up to increased revenue, improved employee retention and better work environments and even helps develop better business leaders!

Have you thought about how mindfulness can help boost your business?

Will You Join the Thunderclap?

October 9, 2016 by Wilma Jones

I’m starting an online campaign as a part of the launch of the Wilma J mobile app. The app is available for Droid and Apple products. It gives you easy access to all the Living Happier at Work content, the Huffington Post blog posts, my calendar of events and more!

It couldn’t be any easier to help me get the word out. I am using a platform called Thunderclap to flood Facebook and Twitter with this one message.

What is Thunderclap?

Thunderclap is a tool that lets a message be heard when I get as many friends and followers as possible to say it together. Think of it as an “online flash mob.” Join a Thunderclap, and you awill join me and others sharing the same message at the same time, spreading an idea through Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr that cannot be ignored.

Ready to help? It takes 5 seconds, just click this link —>>> http://bit.ly/2dftOUJ

Happy at the Job with This App

I just supported Happy at the Job with This App on @ThunderclapIt // @ImWilmaJ

Thank you so much! (Do you want more info about Thunderclap first? See the FAQs below)

Also, if you want to support even more, forward tjhis email to friends who might be interested in supporting.

All the best-

Wilma

FAQs

1) What exactly am I agreeing to when I authorize my Facebook or Twitter account?

You’re allowing Thunderclap to share a single message on your behalf. This is only the case when you click the button on the campaign page to support with Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. After the campaign is complete, we won’t post any additional messages.

2) Will you only post to my account, or to my friends’ accounts as well?

Just your feed. We won’t spam your friends; that wouldn’t be nice.

3) Wait, but why does the authorization message say you need access to my friends list?

In order to calculate social reach for Facebook, we’ll need the “Friend list” permission. We’ll never interact with your friends’ accounts, store their information, or post on their behalf. We use that permission for the sole purpose of calculating social reach.

4) How is social reach determined?

There’s no fancy math involved, its just the sum total of the friends and followers of a campaign’s supporters. Many factors influence the reach of a social media campaign including the time of day a message is posted, the filtering algorithm of the platform (Facebook filters, Twitter and Tumblr currently do not), and how engaging the content may be. If a post is heavily liked or retweeted for example, it’s reach could extend well beyond the initial audience.

6) What if I decide that I no longer want to support a campaign?

You can always opt out of a specific campaign by returning to the campaign page and following the prompts.

1 Way for Your Boss to Stress the Dignity of Your Work

October 4, 2016 by Wilma Jones

This weekend I purchased a fashion magazine. I am not a big fashionista, so this purchase was a bit unusual for me. I bought it because I know I need to go shopping before this fall season hits for real. My wardrobe could definitely use some up-leveling. I know the mag will help me determine the key pieces to I can add to what I’ve already got, to give a touch of trendy to my look as I do business in this final quarter of 2016.

After looking over the limited selections for fashion mags appropriate for someone without a 2 as the first digit of their age, I decided to pick Harper’s Bazaar. It’s funny, because as I sat down on my front porch and started to flip the pages I realized what joy I could find in this little activity. The task of planning to do the task of upgrading my fall wardrobe was enjoyable in itself. And I hadn’t even hit the stores yet!

As I got into it a little more I turned to an interview with Bruno Cucinelli in a monthly column called, “My List.” It’s basically a day in the person’s life listed, “by the numbers.” It’s a really short little feature, but I found a nice chunk of wisdom in his words.

Mr. Cucinelli is a designer, and I guess if I read Harper’s Bazaar more often, I might know more about who he is. Whatever. As I read the article and began to flow through his day, I learned he’s also a entrepreneur. And it appears he’s also a pretty good boss. I say that because he speaks about the process of going to his employees when he had a question or needs to speak with them about something on a project. Yes, he goes to them!

In most companies very often the organization chart hierarchy prevails. It determines who travels to whose office when there is a need for a discussion. I very clearly remember the execs in my division at MCI back in the mid-90’s who made it a point to travel to their team member’s offices rather than have their admins summon us to their office. Now of course, we could go to speak with them if we had a need. But the fact that my VP had no problem traveling a couple of flights down on the elevator to speak with me said volumes about respect.

It seems Mr. Cucinelli feels the same way. He states, “If I need someone, I tend to go to them…It is somehow a way to reward the work of my employees. The fact that I go to them myself is a way of stressing the dignity of their work.” I have to imagine he’s a pretty cool guy to work for because he doesn’t seem overly impressed with himself.

Creating an environment of respect both up and down the org chart is important to a happy workplace. When employees feel respected and their work is valued, that’s a key indicator that they will work hard and stay with the company longer.

I would have to say that’s the exception and not the rule at most companies based on the over 50 percent of workers who say they are unhappy at the job. Do you agree that staff feeling respected by the company leadership is important to work happiness?