How well an organization functions depends to a great extent on well the people within that organization function – individually and collectively. On an individual level, people who are physically and emotionally healthier, perform better. It has been shown that a person’s EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) is far more important for success than a person’s IQ. People with higher EQs also have more highly developed interpersonal skills – they communicate, resolve conflicts, solve problems, are more co-operative and creative. MINDFULNESS helps in all these areas. Following is tantalizing evidence that MINDFULNESS may be one of the most powerful programs available to help the individuals in your organization do better individually and with each other.
Working people, who had taken an eight week Mindfulness program, from one to four years in the past, were asked to complete a survey reporting the extent they felt that MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION (MBSR) program they had taken in the past, was currently still having an impact on their lives. Here is a summary of those reporting moderate to high impact:
Imagine how your organization could benefits from similar results!
But will they enjoy taking the program? A concern might be whether staff will think the program is too weird. This concern is unfounded. Here is a summary of evaluations by participants of an 8 week program conducted in their workplace.
Healthy Workplace Program Class Evaluation Summary (abr)
So, the program appears to have long term benefits. The participants seem to find the program very interesting and worthwhile. However, even though the program evaluations and perceived long term benefits couldn’t be better, these are still somewhat subjective measures. Is there more hard, objective data? Yes there is. First of all, you can familiarize yourself with the scientific studies to be found in books and on the internet. I’ve included some of that information on this site. We also attempt to measure the actual change in stress levels as a result of doing the program. I invite participants to complete a questionnaire at the beginning of a program, and again at the end. The questionnaire provides a snapshot of the amount of stress in the participant’s life at the time of completion. Comparison of the before and after questionnaires provides a measure of changes that have occurred over the eight week period of the program. Some participants experience reduction in their stress levels of over 90%! On average, the gain made is over a 50% reduction! By any measure, what people achieve is nothing short of HUGE!