My work of organizational development is about focussing mindfulness on the deeper patterns, structures, values and beliefs which guide and shape the group. Even when an organization pays attention to its "culture", it is highly unlikely that its members are aware of the underlying structure and values, much less communicate about their commonality! Such knowledge remains tacit. Change is assisted by being mindful of these structures; be mindful of what you are trying to change.

For example, Henry Mintzberg values stories as a way to communicate organizational values. Informal oral culture is a way for the deeper belief system to be passed on to new members. Which stories are part of the "common culture" of the organization? What do they say? Which values are being promoted? One of Mintzberg's examples is the story of the head of General Electric who had grown weary of hearing from divisional managers that new equipment was "almost ready". He went to the plant, crawled under the equipment himself, and determined the problem. Every new employee hears the story, and managers think twice before ever saying, "It's almost ready." Which stories are passed on in your organization? What does it mean?

I work with clients in collaborative and creative ways to probe at the manner in which the organization is defined. This may be investigation, evaluation, or research. This includes the contexts of the organization, which may be:

• lifespan of the group. Is it in an active growth phase? mature? newly-formed?
• social and political context. An example is the issue of the nursing shortage. It exists partly because existing nurses no longer wish to do mandatory overtime. This is a demographic function; as nurses (=baby-boomers!) age, they are less interested in overtime and more interested in leisure time.
• boundaries. How "permeable" is the group? Is it a contained group of people who think similarly about similar issues with little outside influence? (E.g. Five orthodontists who share an office) Or is a group of inter-functioning diverse groups with many outside influences? (E.g. a public school)
• history. How did it get to be like this? What were the milestones? Why are they milestones; what do they mean?

Business-mindfulness means paying attention to how things really are, not just how we think they are. This includes creative attention to problems, goal-setting and planning, and respecting one's integrity in the workplace. "Integrity" means entireness or completeness. How you are as a human being is how you are as an entrepreneur; it's also how you are as a boss or a business partner. Who are you? What are your values and beliefs? Are your actions in accord with them? If not, you may be trying to push a rope. If your actions are congruent with your deeper values, there exists the potential for ease.

My work involves looking at the deeper structures and values that are guiding the business. Frequently what we see on the surface becomes too familiar, and is really part of a much larger understanding. For example, the owner of a small coffee shop hasn't spent sufficient time promoting his business. "I'm too busy running the restaurant!" he complains. What else is going on? Not enough staff? "Once burnt, twice shy" with staff? Frugality means that he's cleaning the deep-fryer instead of pushing the business? Or he's unaware of his fear to leave the daily operations of his new business in the hands of junior staff for even a few hours! Or perhaps the restaurant feels very comfortable, and he's not aware that he hates the PR end of the work. Each scenario wants a very different solution; it is imperative to know which problem you're trying to solve!

What is the real problem? It varies a great deal from one business to the next. However, some common areas of concern are:

• personnel
• being a boss
• "white holes"

I encourage all employers to have clear policies or practice guidelines for staff/employees. I emphasize the importance of training for new employees--your workers are your business where customers are concerned! The values and beliefs of the employer shape the business; attitude is important for everybody!

Other areas of more limited concern are ongoing training; pay grids; benefits, bonuses and perks; and creative shift-scheduling.

Being a boss. How does a person learn to be somebody's boss? Usually by the examples set by their former bosses, good and bad. Most people receive neither instruction nor guidance about the work of "bossing." It's simply assumed that they have the skills to do so. However, being a good worker doesn't make you a good boss. Nor does acquiring a business mean you'll be a good boss for somebody!

I was fortunate to have researched "what makes a boss" and interviewed foresters who had been bosses for the best part of twenty years. Working from their stories, I identified relational qualities, treating employees with dignity and honesty, the importance of kindness and compassion, and the ability to change one's mind as part of the learning. Good bosses know that their subordinates are individuals, not a commodity of workers. They acknowledge that peoples' lives are important.

My work helps new and changing bosses to learn to take on the numerous roles that are imperative to good bossing. This means learning to embrace polarities, often in new ways. For example, a boss often needs to be "soft-hearted" and "hard-nosed" at the same time!

"White holes". Metaphorically speaking, "black holes" are like their astronomical counterparts - collapsed stars. They are dense, and no light escapes. When a person has a "black hole", he or she is aware of it. There is no knowledge. We don't know, and we know that we don't know. For one person, tax law is a black hole, for another, football. For me, NASA's space program is a black hole.

A "white hole" is the opposite. There is a lot of knowledge and very little awareness. "White holes" are things we know so well that we don't even know they are there. We know, but we don't know that we know! Our knowledge is tacit. If asked to provide detail, we may speak of "intuition" or "habit" or "just because". Skilled practitioners frequently have "white holes". They have years of experience, yet cannot describe how or why they do things so well.

Many problems of businesses may be defined as "white holes". Owners and managers are unaware that they already have the information they need! They think they don't know! Applying mindfulness and reflecting on one's actions can help to bring tacit knowledge into awareness; from there it can be applied.

For example, Henry Mintzberg relates an anecdote about the craftsman who had been responsible for repairing Campbell's giant soup kettles for decades. He was about to retire, and the company was anxious that they not lose his wealth of knowledge and experience. Attempts to have him train replacement workers were unsuccessful because he was unable to tell them how he diagnosed problems. The company eventually sent in a team of experts. They watched the repairman's actions, and discussed them in detail with him. They were able to bring his decades of tacit knowledge into awareness, and eventually wrote a computer program to diagnose soup-vat dysfunction! His vast knowledge was a "white hole"; mindfulness and reflection brought tacit knowledge into awareness, solving the problem.

Coaching. Business coaching pays attention to the human aspect of your business enterprise--the entrepreneur. It's like counselling for businesses. Coaching asks you to reflect on your actions, probing at deeper structures to evoke clarity and creativity for new or existing businesses.

Coaching addresses motivation, consistency, and how to recognize when you need assistance. What's going well and how can it be supported? Where are the blind spots? What happens when you find yourself procrastinating? What if your interest wanes? How can you maintain a personal life? And when you notice that you'd rather clean your closets or paint your eaves troughs than attend to business? What happens when you start to have Niggling Doubts? Or when familiar doubts grow into Serious Misgivings?

To summarize: my approach to business coaching looks at interest, attention, and acceptance--these are aspects of mindfulness. Coaching balances support and challenge to help business owners enrich their work-lives.
 

Staff training covers a very broad range, from labour standards for new employees to reflective skills for senior staff and managers. Topics include communication skills, complex systems, thriving in a changing environment, customer service, mindfulness and cultivating a healthy workplace. I emphasize the rights and responsibilities of employees and employers to encourage a balanced view of the workplace; "both/and" is a function of complex systems.

With respect to training in the area of personnel issues, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is the responsibility of the employer to be clear about his or her expectations. Clarifying these expectations with employees is respectful and treats them all equitably. It saves the employer time, energy and aggravation in the long run.
 

My approach to career coaching is about looking at changes in your thinking, not on your resumé. It's not about what you are doing in your work life, but how and why. I draw heavily on the work of Donald Schön, which encourages professionals to reflect on their practice. Skilled practitioners have the ability to reflect-in-action; it can be learned.

My background is counselling; most counsellors engage in the practice of clinical supervision which, ideally, stimulates reflective processes. Years ago I had one supervisor who spoke about her own work with clients: "I need to know why I'm saying every word that comes out of my mouth." Her words ring as a challenge to me to reflect-in-action in every moment. Other professionals ought to have opportunities to attend and reflect, as in clinical supervision. Schön made similar assertions in his book, The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action.

Career development/coaching is for people who are emotionally healthy, love their work, and are good at it. They have been practicing long enough to have seen--and reflected on--changes in their work. These may be changes in theory, belief, philosophy or action. Their work now is not the same as it used to be; these practitioners are curious about "what's next?" They are concerned with the structure of their work, and interested in cultivating a higher order of thinking about their work.

I believe that work is how we engage with the world, whether it's writing policy, healing animals or teaching school children; whether paid or voluntary. Work is a pathway in the world, and holds potential for supporting and encouraging human growth. The exploration of work can be the way to expand one's life and one's thinking; it can be a way to help people engage more fully with the world.

Who will benefit? Career development/coaching is for practitioners who are interested in quality of life, rather than quality of job. A practitioner should actively maintain stewardship of his or her own career development; it's all too easy to let it become the responsibility of their employer or professional organization. Cultivating a higher order of knowledge doesn't show up on your resume. It shows up in your life!

Classical Buddhism. Some people enjoy the challenge inherent in the non-Western approach of classical Buddhism applied to their work-lives, and choose to integrate it with career development. For example, I know a mainstream newspaper department which begins each day with sitting meditation, and uses silence as part of their meetings. Mindfulness and classical Buddhism invite practitioners to examine the Western thinking that guides our lives, yet exists for the most part outside of awareness. For example, a colleague reminded me 'that the person who is the most difficult to be around is often our greatest teacher'. Eastern thinking asks us to be mindful of our own thoughts and actions, rather than blaming, avoiding or simply disliking--habitual in the West. In the West, a hindrance in our path is to be removed, circumnavigated, or otherwise avoided. In the East, the hindrance is the path.

Students and recent students. Find a mentor! Hire a mentor! Models of technical rationality neither mandate nor encourage mentoring. Let yourself have permission for five years to not know anything! Extend it for longer if you can! In Zen, it's called Beginner's Mind--openness to fresh thinking before we know for certain. If you find the most, most, most skilled mentor, they will model that they too have Beginner's Mind--that's why they're so skilled.

The absence of mentors is both surprising and disappointing. For example, though nursing education supports the idea of mentors, practically there are few. A colleague of mine states that she knows of no mentor-relationships within the mid-sized hospital where she works. A former fellow-student who had nursed for almost ten years in a large city before completing her degree did not know a single nurse with a mentor other than herself. And her mentor-relationship was ridiculed by nursing colleagues.

Technical Rationality makes very little room to say, "I don't know" or appreciate confusion as the precursor to transformation. About working with students, Margaret Wheatley said, "They wanted to get organized at the start; I wanted them to move into confusion." Follow her advice--give yourself permission to be very confused, and find someone with whom it's safe to talk about it!
 

Mindfulness is important for managers because their work is with people and largely intangible. If you're making widgets, it's easy to know if they are good widgets. It's more difficult to know if you are a good manager of widget-makers!

A responsible manager requires a functional self-monitoring system; mindfulness and reflection are the foundations of such a system. This section addresses several issues relevant to most managers: contingency, thinking, and leadership.

Contingency. Mindfulness helps us to know at a deep level that anything could happen in the next moment. (And it probably has happened in your workplace!) This phrase also describes much of the work of management--dealing with uncertainty. Mindfulness training cultivates habits of mind which are desirable when working with contingencies.

Thinking. In this domain, mindfulness focusses on the mind itself, especially thoughts and thinking. Good management wants a higher order of thinking, yet culturally we have little ability to address the topic, much less design and institute plans for meta-cognitive development! A manager's knowledge is tacit. And, for the most part, the strategies of managers are learned from other managers. Metaphorically, this is like buying new software. It may be new but someone else wrote it; it is the product of someone else's thinking, of someone else's mind. In the same metaphor, mindfulness--also known as mind training--focusses on the hardware.

Managers work almost solely with their minds, yet very few have been taught or are encouraged to actively consider the mind to be their most important asset. Consequently, most managers are not persuaded to give care and attention to how their minds function, nor to the quality of the mind. Rather, we function as if there were a Biological Thought-Machine anchored upon one's neck. We grow up fascinated by the Thoughts that it generates, but are never taught to maintain the Machine. It's hard to imagine a woodcarver who doesn't even know that tools must be sharpened. Or a truck-driver who isn't aware that the crank-case oil must be checked or changed. Yet managers are expected to function in circumstances of enormous stress and responsibility without adequate support and maintenance for their means of livelihood.

The transformation of consciousness inherent in a higher order of thinking is not taught in business school. It occurs in the company of reflection and mindfulness. And with the evolution of awareness comes the insight that understanding is more than just cognition. Merely knowing is not enough.

Leadership. Every manager works with people. Leadership is about working with people. Yet most managers feel that they did not get the training that is required to function well in work relationships. This is summarized by the words of the renowned management consultant, Margaret Wheatley:

These relationships are confusing and hard to manage, so much that after a few years away from their MBA programs, most managers report that they wish they had focussed more on people management skills while in school (1994, p. 144).

In addition to having solid communication skills, I believe that it is a benefit for every manager to be self-reflective and self-aware. Relationships are about seeing others and communicating it back to them; when this is part of our job, we have a responsibility to keep "cleaning" the lens through which we see. In this way, perceptions of employees are not overly affected by factors that remain out of awareness. Mindfulness and reflection are ways to increase awareness and therefore be clearer in our relationships. This, in turn, cultivates respect and ease in "people-work".

My work. I consider my work with managers to be mindfulness applied to a workplace  setting. In addition to practicing the skills of mindfulness and reflection, I include other widely varying elements; a few are presented here. We explore deeper personal values and structural considerations within the organization. I encourage managers to understand the power that families of origin have in the workplace. (E.g. What happens when employees look to you as The Dad or Mom? What will it mean to you if they liked/disliked their own parents? If you liked/disliked your parents? What can you do about it?)

I teach "Transference and Countertransference for the Office"; multi-layered relationships happen in many places outside of traditional therapy. Cultivating creativity is part of the work. We explore complex systems. (E.g. "A chain is only as strong as the weakest link". Where is the "weak link" in your office, and how did it get to be like that? How does it stay like that? What's your contribution?) Managers look at their roles. We practice communication skills. We do role-plays. We investigate how people learn, know and experience differently. (What does it mean? How does one work with it or around it?)

To summarize, I'm interested in helping managers to explore how they can function in the office with expanded awareness and congruent with their own inner values. Managers have a great deal of responsibility; it is in the best interests of self, employer and employees to have those responsibilities discharged with integrity, or wholeness.

Henry Mintzberg. My thinking about management has been highly influenced by the work of Henry Mintzberg, Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies (Strategy and Organization) at McGill University, and Professor of Management at INSEAD in France. A CBC journalist called Mintzberg "one of the leading thinkers in the world today about organizations and their managers. He looks at the mainstream as if he's from Mars and tells you exactly what he sees."

Mintzberg looks beneath what is "known" to clearly see how things are. This is demonstrated in his first book, The Nature of Managerial Work (1973), where he re-defines what it means to "manage" after clear observation of managers at work. I find his work remarkably consistent with the practice of mindfulness, complex systems, and Kegan's ideas about the evolution of how we understand. (For more on these theories, see Theory.)

For an introduction see "Henry Mintzberg in Conversation" (1999), a two-part audiotape of an interview featured on CBC's Ideas program. To order, visit http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/ideas.
 

Spiritual practice. What each person means by "spiritual practice" is idiosyncratic. It is different for everyone. Yet it has the commonality of being an intensely personal experience. Whatever the form of spiritual practice, its intention is to remind us that our life/world/existence is richer and more expansive than the space in which we live on a daily basis.

I like to think of spiritual practice as exploration of the Mystery realm. Some call it God, transpersonal, Unknown or Collective Unconscious. I use "Mystery" because it implies some known attributes as well as those which remain unknown. The word suggests possibilities and discovery, and points to experiences of holiness that are beyond language and thought. I am fond of Joseph Campbell's description of spirit and mystery:

The ultimate mystery of being is beyond all categories of thought. As Kant said, the thing in itself is no thing. I transcends thingness, it goes past anything that could be thought. The best things can't be told because they transcend thought. The second best are misunderstood, because those are the thoughts that are supposed to refer to that which can't be thought about. The third best are what we talk about (1988; p. 49)

There is little validation given in the working world to the exploration of Mystery realms and there is no room for Mystery within the models of Technical Rationality. Mystery is part of the interior of human experience, and as such needs to be investigated and understood in relationship--often with oneself. Investigation of Mystery generates expansiveness, even at the office. Mindfulness is one way to begin to explore the Mystery of life.

Take your whole self to work. Our workplaces ask that we fragment ourselves in order to be more flexible and work faster. In many offices, the workers feel as if they have to leave their "soul" at the door and retrieve it on their way home. Spiritual practice challenges us to dispute these assumptions and find ways to be congruent with our whole self in the workplace. If we can strive to have congruency for our whole self, then we can begin to work from a place of integrity. "Integrity" comes from the Latin root, integer, meaning "entire or whole". If you can be in the middle of managing your crisis-of-the-week and still hold a view of the Mystery, you are functioning from a place of integrity, or wholeness. Such integrity is the challenge for all of us.

What would it be like? What would your life be like if every human contact was genuine and meaningful? If every time you spoke, it was with respect and considered opinion? If every move was made thoughtfully and intentionally? What would it be like if you could be mindful, kind and focussed every minute of your work day, especially the frantically busy moments?

What would your job look like if the Dalai Lama was doing it? Mother Teresa? Gandhi? Black Elk? St. Francis? What does it feel like when you imagine an enlightened being doing your job? What is different? What is possible? Your actions may not seem different to your co-workers, but what might you be doing to integrate your spiritual values on the job?

If mystery is manifest through all things the universe becomes, as it were, a holy picture. You are always addressing the transcendent mystery through the conditions of your actual world (Campbell, 1988; p. 31).

You have a spiritual practice. Perhaps you have not yet considered taking your practice to work. I would like to remind you that taking your whole self to work is about how you are, not what you do. Spiritual practice can be about how you approach each moment of your working day/afternoon/night.

"Integrity" does not necessarily mean that you should do your spiritual practice or rituals at work. Quite the opposite; I would caution you to tread carefully. In even the most liberal workplaces, it is frequently not acceptable. Some folks may simply look askance, others may be offended. You may find yourself in unpleasant conversations about dominant culture, diversity, and "cultural strip-mining". Belief systems occasionally clash.

If you have a workplace where there is room for practice, cherish it! Cultivate it and encourage it. Above all, remember that integrity is about how you are in the world, not what practice or rituals you perform.

You don't have a spiritual practice yet. You could start now. Start with mindfulness, and include the frustration, boredom and disappointment that arise when your mind wanders. Add thoughts of kindness and well-wishing to everyone you work with; start with yourself. Then you could consider compassion, generosity, sympathetic joy and equanimity. And add patience, ethical conduct, energy, truthfulness and determination. Occasionally you might offer your colleagues, coworkers and self the gift of silence.

My work. Part of my work is with individuals who are struggling to integrate their personal and work lives. It may include incorporating or expanding spiritual concerns as one way to heal the fragmentation that is frequently a demand of today's work world.

I also act as agent-provocateur to encourage organizations/individuals to embrace the realm of Mystery in their work. This may be as simple as pointing to the deep, heart-felt relationships that occur between members in a volunteer organization, and naming it "Mystery". Or encouraging the inclusion of meditation retreats as professional development.

Summary. Don't fragment yourself to bits for your job. Don't shut off parts of yourself until you get home. Your goal is to have congruence across different aspects of your life. The importance rests in how you are as a human being, not your actions or appearance. Be mindful.

For more on this topic, see Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job by Lewis Richmond. Broadway Books, 1999.

Campbell, Joseph (1988). The power of myth (with Bill Moyers). B.S. Flowers (Ed.) New York: Doubleday. Wheatley, Margaret. (1994). Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization from an orderly universe. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
 

My work with non-owned or not-for-profit organizations emphasizes mindfulness of the deeper themes or structures of work, governance, and the organization. This includes the underlying values the organization has grown up with. I believe that it is important to see clearly, rather than falling into habitual modes generated from overwork; I assume that both workers and governance bodies have too much work to do. "How can you do less?" is always an appropriate question.

It is important to distinguish between work and governance, and keep communication clear between board and staff.  Contexts are important, especially social and political ones. For example, is your concern the same one felt by other organizations doing similar work? Are you embodying the same structural difficulty, such as too little funding for too much work? Have you been doing it for so long that it seems normal?

My work also includes board training. While staff training is always seen as important, frequently an organization assumes that energy, enthusiasm and experience are sufficient for board members and does not allocate resources for board training. In many cases, board work is habitual and learned from previous board members. As such, it does not emphasize reflection. The work of governance is vital to the well-being of the organization; I believe that well-functioning boards must reflect on their work!
 

Mindfulness is invaluable for those engaged in the work of social change. It provides a context that supports the work itself. By definition, social change work is an uphill battle against dominant culture. Mindfulness can "level the hill" and introduce an element of ease to the forward motion.

Mindfulness and classical Buddhism can help to shift the emphasis from outcomes--which cannot be predicted--to moment-to-moment awareness of the work. Attachment to outcome is just another cause of suffering! Attachment to being right is yet another cause of suffering. Letting go of "right" lets the lines blur between "good" guys and "bad" guys. In turn, this generates balance, as it helps to let go of the ideas of "win" and "lose". And social change work is infinitely easier when approached from a place of balance.

For those workers actively involved in social change movements, cultivating equanimity through mindfulness provides a buffer when skirmishes are lost. The work is hard enough, whether it's policy or protest, whales or wheatfields. You don't need to add frustration to your life! Mindfulness helps you to be with how things really are.