Mind the mindfulness

Mental clutter is the enemy of perception and performance, and self-centredness is the surest way to lose one's way. Though there is no vaccine against errors in judgement and behaviour, there is a way to achieve the best version of oneself – mindfulness.

- Suneeta Reddy is Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd.

Being aware of the self and being mindful of one's words and actions goes a long way in ensuring better personal and organisational outcomes. Mindfulness wins friends and influence and makes the work environment more conducive to high productivity and innovation.

However, when leaders encourage self-centredness to extract high performance, or allow abrasive egotism to fester, the organisation has to bear the cost of poor cohesion and collaboration. Leadership driven by demand and division tends to produce functional and emotional stress that erodes individual performance as well as teamwork.

While some individuals intentionally work on their mental model of the world and continuously upgrade their psychological operating system, most people are carried by the crowd, oblivious to the reason, meaning, and impact of their perception and behaviour. The organisation is best served when employees achieve a high level of cognitive sharpness and value recognition.

Reducing mental clutter requires allowing individuals greater control over their tasks and controlling the noise of unproductive feedback. Too many people having a say in decisions and distributed accountability for execution can affect everyone's focus and composure