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Mindfulness in Business
Mindfulness in business can sound like some New Age, break out the crystals, incense, and candle thing.
But today’s guest, Catherine Bell, says it’s actually one of the smartest ways to humanize the workplace, unlock high employee engagement and the full potential of your team.
It’s something that everybody really wants.
What You’ll Discover About Mindfulness in Business:
- What mindfulness in business really means
- How to mindful when everything is blowing up around you all at once
- How to be mindful when you’re consumed with anger
- Using mindfulness to restore trust in the workplace
- Applying mindfulness to improve team collaboration and productivity
- AND so much MORE
Guest: Catherine Bell
Catherine Bell is a successful entrepreneur, business leader, and best-selling business author. The Awakened Company, which she founded, focuses on helping organizations create healthy corporate cultures through awakening the self, relationships, and team dynamics.
Previously, Catherine founded BluEra in 2008, a Profit 500 executive search and team transformation company. As a Top-200 Growing Company in Canada, Top 10 in Alberta, and Best Workplace, BluEra was a shining example of the Awakened Company System in action. With the sale of BluEra to DHR, Catherine shifted focus to awakening the fire within organizations through her Strategy with Soul consulting and founded The Awakened Company. The Awakened Company aims to awaken the fire within organizations with passion, purpose, and playfulness.
The Awakened Company (2015)—Catherine’s revolutionary business book—was awarded the Nautilus Book Award in Business and Leadership and became a best seller one week after its release. It was also a best seller on Amazon, included in “8 of The Best Leadership Books of 2015,” and was recognized as a top book combining business and mindfulness.
Catherine has been published in Fortune, HBR, Profit, Conscious Company Magazine, Women of Influence, and has written for the UN. She has worked around the globe—from the UK to Cuba—with everyone from Fortune 500 companies to serial entrepreneurs. Catherine has an MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, a sociology degree from Western University, is certified in the Enneagram, and is a yoga instructor. She held a two-year term as a Jarislowsky Fellow at the Haskayne School of Business and is on the Expert Panel for the Canadian Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation. In 2022, Catherine was identified by The Inc. Magazine as one of the Top 10 Innovative CEOs Revamping the Future. In the same year, Catherine also received the Platinum Titan Business Award for Female Executive of the Year in Consultation.
As CEO of the Awakened Company, Catherine now consults all over the world on creating Awakened Companies. Catherine has taught thousands of people the Awakened Company process and worked with hundreds of teams. In 2022 alone, her work spanned twenty-three countries. She hosts in-person sessions with organizations on strategy and corporate culture, international webinars on the Enneagram, and teaches The Awakened Company team process to Queen’s University business school students.
Related Resources:
If you liked this interview, you might also enjoy our other Leadership and Management episodes.
Contact Catherine and connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Also be sure to check out The Awakened Company , a Nautilus Book Award winner in Business and Leadership, and one of the Best Leadership Books of 2015 on Amazon.
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Why Mindfulness is the Key to Unlocking Your Team’s Full Potential with Catherine Bell
Mindfulness in business can sound like some New Age, break out the crystals, incense, and candle thing. But today’s guest says it’s actually one of the smartest ways to humanize the workplace, unlock high employee engagement and the full potential of your team, something that everybody really wants. So stay tuned.
This is Business Confidential Now with Hanna Hasl-Kelchner helping you see business issues hiding in plain view that matter to your bottom line.
Welcome to Business Confidential Now, the podcast for Smart managers, executives and entrepreneurs looking to improve business performance and Their Bottom Line.
I’m your host, Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, and I have another amazing guest for you today. She’s Catherine Bell, a successful entrepreneur, business leader and bestselling author of The Awakened Company, a revolutionary business book that was awarded the Nautilus Book Award in Business and Leadership and became a bestseller in one week after its release. It’s also been included as one of the Eight Best Leadership Books of 2015 on Amazon, recognized as a top book for combining business and mindfulness.
Welcome to Business Confidential Now Catherine.
Thank you so much for having me and thank you to everybody who is listening.
Mindfulness is just a really interesting topic. What is mindfulness in business? Help us understand that.
Well, first let’s define mindfulness. And mindfulness is being in the present moment. So not with our past thoughts not being pulled ahead to the future, rather being with what is here now. Mindfulness in business. The way I like to link it is it’s about our leadership and I believe everybody is a leader.
So how do we be mindful and centered leaders? And it’s often said that leaders capture people’s hearts, heads and hands, and that relates to our three centers is how are we feeling? What are our thoughts and what are we doing? And ultimately strategy is action. So how can we act as leaders, as mindful leaders in the moment? And it is by dropping down and into the present moment.
And it just, you know, Hanna, just take a breath with me right now. Let’s just take a breath together. And it is just taking that momentary pause to recenter ourselves that we become more mindful and in being more mindful, we become more self-aware. And the research shows the more self-aware we are as leaders, the higher performing we are. So it just makes common sense and it’s basic to our humanity and our human experience.
That sounds very compelling, but business comes at us so fast, Catherine, And we prize decisiveness, you know, the decisive leader that can make a decision that doesn’t dilly dally around, you know What are some practical tips for developing more mindfulness in business? Because it’s one thing to say, Oh, let’s all take a deep breath together.
But all too often when somebody is under pressure and their head is ready to explode, they don’t have time to take that breath, even though they should. Maybe they probably should. But what can they do?
I love the realness that you’re bringing to this, because I’m a serial entrepreneur and I can’t help but build things so many ways. People say you teach what you need to learn. And I would say that exactly applies to me because the world in many ways is bombarding me with requests, things to do, etcetera.
However, when we’re more present and when we’re more mindful, we actually make better decisions, we’re more creative, we are more innovative, we’re more relaxed and we’re less stressed. And let’s make mindfulness really real. So what can we do as an individual?
First, we can barely breathe instead of just breathing from the top part of our lungs. So that’s one simple tip that our body center and then we can behave more from the present moment. So that’s a simple thing that we can do.
The other thing that I do with our teams is we begin with a mindful moment. And so we just take a few moments before a meeting and we do a body scan which is just sensing into different parts of your body and then start the meeting. And now we have boards of directors all around the world beginning their meetings like this, and it sets a different tone.
So I invite everybody listening to this to experiment with it, say, you know, I want to try this mindfulness stuff. What the research shows is it’s actually going to make us more effective as a team, more self-aware as a team, more creative as a team. Let’s try a centering practice before our meetings and then go into the agenda.
So it’s all these simple little hacks that we can bring to our life to help us be more centered and more grounded. So another thing we can do, Hanna, is when we’re stressed between meetings, like I run between meetings a lot.
So for example, after this meeting, I’m running to go do a big shoot for an app that I’ve developed called Awakening. And between the meetings, what I’m going to be focusing on is the present moment and dropping the energy into my feet so that I’m more grounded when I arrive to do those audiotapes.
So there’s simple little practices, and interestingly enough, it helps us feel like we belong more to ourselves. And we have like so the majority of people are disengaged at work, The majority of people, the worst time of the day is the time with their bosses and the majority of businesses fail. So business as usual does not work.
We need to bring humanity and mindfulness into the workplace. And by bringing our humanity into the workplace and by bringing presence into the workplace, it allows for another creative rhythm to flow through what we’re doing and how we do it. And I think everybody would agree that business as usual isn’t working.
So this is an invitation for how to do small little things which are very reasonable to help create a more mindful world, more mindful organizations. The other thing I think everybody and every organization and everybody in the world should have is a personal aim, and that is getting very deliberate with how you intend to place your attention because our brains are negatively wired.
So when we have an intention, we can then call ourselves to behaving from that place and then it allows us to say yes. I will say yes to this. I will say no to this. So there’s a whole bunch of little hacks I’ve given in terms of actually how to bring this and bring in a sense of playfulness and experiment with it. See what works for your team, what works.
What I’ve learned from doing this for decades is what works for some teams, doesn’t work for other teams, and it first begins with ourselves. So the awakened company we go through, we have a little system that we use, which is it’s the water drop hitting the ocean. We begin with awakening. And we begin with awakening our relationships. And then we work with awakening our teams and we have a whole bunch of video on demand.
And I have a whole relationships course coming up and a whole bunch of other events coming up on our website which people can check out and join us for about how to actualize this in their lives. And it is so important to begin with ourselves. So first is every leader have an aim, practice that aim by bring your attention to that aim that personal intention. Then drop into the moment. Just take a deep breath.
You don’t need to do this for hours. But the more we kind of come back to ourselves, the higher performing we will actually be. And we won’t behave from that autopilot where we’re making bad decisions because we’re so rushed.
Those are all great tips. I appreciate that, Catherine. It seems like I’m missing a step here. You know, it’s one thing to say I’m aware. Yes, I’m aware. I’m taking a deep breath and I’m very aware that I am pissed at one of my employees because they really messed up. Now, my aim is to get business back on track and to get things fixed.
But it sounds like some of what you’re talking about is yet another step higher where, you know, more aspirational. And I’m down here at Ground Zero and I have this awareness which is of something that is unpleasant and is a problem that needs to be fixed.
So how do I make that transition from I want to rip somebody a new one right now to . . . “Oh, yes, let’s” . . . you know what I’m saying? I’m being a little controversial here. I understand that. But, as you pointed out before, for so many managers that have so much on their plate every single day, it sounds like being mindful is a luxury.
So how do they go from “how do I get this anger under control” to unlocking the potential of my team?
Hanna, you are incredibly intuitive. Because I’d say anger is probably the biggest thing I’ve had to work with as a leader. So you’re incredibly intuitive to actually pick the whole topic of anger, because I’d say if there’s anything in terms of my leadership that I’ve had to work on, it’s anger. And so let’s go into this.
First of all, it’s counterintuitive. It’s like go slow to go fast. It’s so counterintuitive in our society. And I also think, you know, we become like a bit of a virus on the planet. We’re heating it up by our relentless productivity. And I think we do things more mindfully. We will do things better for everybody.
So let’s talk about this employee because I can so relate to it. Literally, my body turns red sometimes. I get so angry when I’m like, I’ve explained that to you. We need to get going. Didn’t you see it? Didn’t you get it? Why haven’t you done it? You committed to it. You didn’t achieve it. La la la. My body literally gets red.
So first off, I feel that experience of my body getting red. And I also take a pause and I have a very deliberate practice, which is from critical conversations or critical conversations, is I write down what are the things, what am I feeling, what are my thoughts? What am I noticing and what is my preference of behavior in terms of the employee?
So I get very specific and I work through that first myself. I just take a few minutes and jot it down. Whereas before what I would do is I’d just blurt out at them and the blurred out at them would often cause damage to the relationship, which is just not worth it. Because did you know the cost of somebody who’s making $100 grand right now if they leave the cost, the organization is about $1.8 million.
So the turnover is just not worth it. So I do the practice of, okay, what am I thinking? What am I feeling? What am I noticing? What’s my prevalence of behavior? And then I talk to them about it. And then I also talk about what is the commitment to the future. There’s a lot of times there’s a lack of clarity when things aren’t happening. And so that very deliberate practice.
The trick is, though, it’s like Viktor Frankl says, between stimulus and response, there’s a space. And in that space is our power to choose. And so by getting more deliberate about what is the choice I want to make and how do I want to use that anger? That anger is actually very powerful and good fuel for creativity and to find different solutions.
So I love that you picked the anger with somebody who’s working with you, because I can so relate to that. Especially since I’m a serial entrepreneur, so I just really like to build stuff. And I don’t think things just slow me down. And I realized things become slower and then I damage things if I let my anger just go.
If I’m more mindful and take this very deliberate approach, and we actually do a lot of lunch and learns, I’d say this whole kind of critical conversation and feedback is one of our key lunch and learns that we do for organizations, is I am noticing, I’m feeling I’m thinking preference of behavior and then having a commitment process to follow through.
So what a great, really practical example that you just homed in on? And I love that you chose anger because that’s my hot button.
I think it’s everybody’s hot button. You know, there’s so much anger that seems to be under the surface of so many relationships. You know, it’s like that cheap furniture that you buy. There’s this veneer of, Oh, hi, how are you? Oh, that’s lovely. And the minute somebody’s button gets pushed, it all goes to pieces. It gets chipped away really, really fast.
So I really appreciate the questions that people can ask themselves, especially about where they want the relationship to go. Because you’re right, the cost of turnover is incredibly high. And post Covid, where people are reevaluating their priorities about do I want to be in the office, do I not want to be in the office? How do I really want to live my life? Do I want to work to live or live to work? It raises all kinds of really interesting questions about the relationships they’re willing to tolerate.
So I think your mindfulness is really very timely and very topical. And the more that leaders embrace it to say, okay, what is the long view? I mean, yeah, I can blow up and where is that going to get me? And that’s not to say they abdicate accountability, but just being able to ask those questions and then find a better way to channel that energy.
Because when I was working in corporate, one thing that I would hear some of my managers complain about, oh, that person is so angry and they need to go and blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, you know, if you could only find a way to harness it. They’re angry because they care when they’re not angry is when you should worry because they don’t care so much. They care about their paycheck and that’s about it.
So I’d like to come to your book. You’ve written The Awakened Company, which got, you know, great kudos in a very short period of time. What can listeners learn from it about developing more mindfulness in business so that they can reap the benefits that we’ve talked about?
It’s really exciting, Hanna, because most business books only survive about six months, and The Awakened Company has just been rereleased after seven years because it’s so topical. What people can learn from The Awakened Company is really why it is important to awaken ourselves, why it’s important to awaken our relationships, why it’s important to awaken our teams and how we can use that.
Like most business leaders don’t know, for example, that if we focus two thirds on culture and one third on financial success, those are the highest performing organizations. The lowest performing organizations are those that just focus on finance. So it brings together business research, practical know-how and wisdom traditions. And it provides leaders with a really great understanding of how to build your organizations differently and more powerfully and more thoughtfully.
So every leader, I think, should read The Awakened Company as a way to kind of open up their lens and perspective on seeing businesses as a force for good. Businesses as a place of human experience, and to bring our humanity back into our organizations and businesses as really kind of catalysts of a different form of world. Because if we don’t organize differently, we’re up for more of the same.
And I think people really want to change. So it’s a way it offers really practical suggestions as to how to create healthier organizations in a more holistic way.
And it uses business research. And business research is consistent with mindfulness, like most business leaders, as I said, don’t know, focus two thirds on corporate culture, one third on financial success. One organization came to me, you know, can you help me go from 0 to $1 billion like you did that company? And I’m like, You’ve got the wrong mantra. You don’t focus on financial success. You focus on solving a business problem, solving a problem.
And when we are so clear, I could go on and on about this, I don’t want to go on too long when we’re so clear with our why or how or what, when and where and how much, then it helps everything to be catalyzed in a new way. So I think every business leader should read The Awakened Company.
I have more books upcoming, which I’m really excited about and have a great video on Demand series. So please people sign up to our newsletter to get. Our newsletters are also on social media. Very practical. We offer practical tips. We see it as a real social service. A lot of our clients don’t come from our social media. Rather, those are people who are interested in learning how to actualize this for themselves.
Well, we’re definitely going to have links to your social media, to your book, to your business in the show notes at BusinessConfidentialRadio.com. So listeners can definitely be able to tap into that wealth of information.
I’ve got two last questions for you, and they’re kind of related. One is we may still have some skeptical listeners about mindfulness, who say, Well, yeah, I see your point, but how are they going to believe me if I’m going to start being more mindfulness? Because they may have already squandered some trust with their employees.
There’s some fear in the organization because of the way that leaders have behaved. Individual managers may not necessarily be the entire culture, but for most employees, the relationship they have with their immediate supervisor is the organization. So what advice do you have?
Oh, you brought up something really, really important. And that’s our relationships and trust. So if we don’t have trust, it’s like implying attacks on the organization. It makes everything slower.
Most people rate the worst time of their day as their time with their bosses. So we have a whole bunch of boss-holes. Yet, you know, being a leader, the last thing I would ever want to be called is a boss-hole. And back to my philosophy, I think everybody’s a leader.
What we need to be doing in our organizations is really simple things like positively noticing each other in relationship. High performing teams say five times as many positive things to each other. So I’d invite every leader listening to this call. First thing you do, start positively noticing your team. Watch what happens. It is alchemy and it is not rocket science. So just I invite you to try and experiment and see what works for you.
Be deliberate with where you’re placing your intention, awareness and your action. So intention – I, awareness – A, action -A. So IAA is something I always use. So intention, awareness, action.
The other thing I’d like everybody to think about just ABC: attitude, behavior, commitment. What’s the attitude you’re bringing to your day? How are you behaving and how are you committed? These things are not inconsistent with any with any leadership research. The more we can bring this self-awareness to our world, the higher performing you’ll be.
I just invite you to try see what works for you. Not everything will work for you. Try what works for you and to not do it, it’s like you’re going to lose part of your own humanity because you’ll then be either dead or you’re going to be led.
If you want to go at the whims of everybody else. And if you want to go with the whims of your ego, that’s fine. Just know that you’re doing that. And I’d really invite people, though, to try to try to bring more intention, awareness and action to their world and doubt me all you want. Like, that’s totally fine. Totally fine. And try this experiment.
And recognize that it’s probably going to take some time because the first time you land a compliment, they’re going to look at you like, really? They’re going to be a little skeptical. But I really appreciate the tips that you’ve given.
You’ve given some fabulous advice, and I had to chuckle to myself when I heard you say that the time people spend with their immediate managers is the time that they, you know, dislike and makes them the most uncomfortable in the day.
I have a funny story I got to share with you. When I was still working in corporate, I was in the elevator one time and I saw the head of the IT department with his lieutenant going up to the fourth floor, which is where the CEO was, and he was going for a meeting with the CEO.
And I just looked at him and he was, you know, shuffling his papers and kind of fidgeting a little. I said, just imagine how good you’re going to feel when you take this elevator going back down. And he just started cracking up. You know, they just totally defused the tension, He’s like, yeah, you get it.
So, I mean, I think everybody understands that. And it’s really a shame that so many people feel that way because it would just be a great opportunity to collaborate, to get more direction, to say, you know, are we doing the right thing? Are we on the right path? What can we do more instead of getting hammered, which is all too often what people experience.
So, Catherine, thank you so much. I appreciate your time, your insights, and everything that you’ve shared with us today and the power and value of mindfulness, I really love that data about focus two thirds on culture and one third on finances.
That just echoes what I’ve heard from so many other people about, you know, build your people, they’ll build your company. So anyhow, thank you for that.
If you’re listening, you’d like to know more about Catherine Bell’s fabulous work, her book, The Awakened Company. That information, as well as links to her website, which apparently has all these amazing resources.
And a transcript of this interview is also going to be found in the show notes at BusinessConfidentialRadio.com because I know she rattled off a bunch of questions to ask yourself and some amazing tips. So if you’re walking or running while you’re listening to this or driving, you know, you couldn’t jot them all down, but they will be available in the transcript.
Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to tell your friends about the show and leave a positive review. We’ll be back in two weeks with another episode of Business Confidential Now. So until then, have a great day and an even better tomorrow.
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