Do Leaders Need to Be Mindful in Implementing Change?

The context in which today’s organizations are operating is one of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) leading to unprecedented levels of change. However, change has proven to be difficult to implement... [ view full abstract ]

The context in which today’s organizations are operating is one of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) leading to unprecedented levels of change. However, change has proven to be difficult to implement successfully. Recent research has indicated that leadership behaviours can play a significant role in contributing to successful change implementation. In this context, some studies have indicated that successful change leadership behaviours are impacted by the inner capabilities of leaders (e.g. self-awareness, emotional resilience etc.).
Over the last few years, there has been a significant interest in the role of Mindfulness in terms of its impact on organisational outcomes. However, to date, there has been little empirical evidence that supports the assertions put forward. In particular, there has been a range of practitioner literature that suggests that Mindfulness plays a significant role in effective leadership and is particularly appropriate in a context of transformational change.
Mindfulness research is dominated by the use of questionnaire studies that explore the construct as a state and employs largely experimental designs. However, there is a call for greater use of cross sectional studies that see mindfulness as a multi-faceted trait. In particular, recent work has suggested that, in an organisational context, the construct should be expanded to include elements of sense making.
This paper reports a survey based study that employs an adapted version of an established Mindfulness questionnaire (The Mindfulness Five Factor Questionnaire). Base on a study of 120 leaders the study found that a four factor solution captured leader Mindfulness as a multi-faceted trait that included elements of sensemaking. Furthermore, the analyses showed that Mindful leadership had a positive impact on self- perceived success in change implementation.
The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings and their contribution, together with the study limitations.

Mindfulness, Change Leadership, Mindful Leadership, Change Context [ view full abstract ]

Mindfulness, Change Leadership, Mindful Leadership, Change Context