Media Release

20 January 2016 - for immediate release

Stay mindful to beat workplace stress in 2016
 
 

Suffering from the winter blues?  Help is at hand from leadership and management guru, Kim Harvey who believes that mindfulness techniques can help staff stay focused and gain greater job satisfaction.

With government figures* revealing 9.9 million days' work was lost to anxiety and depression in 2014/5, research is proving that mindfulness can help reduce workplace-related stress.
 
Kim has run Neuroleaders for the past 13 years, a training company that uses cutting-edge neuroscience to help create inspiring leaders and increase business productivity. 

"Mindfulness training is becoming increasingly popular and can be very helpful in preventing stress," says Kim. "As well as improving productivity in employees as their concentration levels improve, it can help to minimise daily distractions, help them to get more done and gain a greater sense of achievement."

Having worked with companies such as Ernst and Young, Alcatel-Lucent, Marriott, GE, NFU Mutal, Legal and General and Vodafone, Kim is an advocate of using mindfulness in business to enable employees to stay focused, more in control and less stressed.  

So what is mindfulness?  According to Kim, its the art of being in the present and being able to concentrate fully without distraction.  

Kim explains: “The brain is wired to minimise threat and maximise reward.  This means your brain is always scanning the environment for threats so if it hears a noise or a distraction it wants us to check it out.  This is also the same for reward, so if we hear our mobile ping with a new message, our brain will want us to look at it to see if it is either a threat or reward.  All of this causes us distraction, therefore mindfulness teaches us to slow down and learn when our brain is popping off to a distraction. 

“By understanding what is distracting us or where our thoughts are going to, allows us to then do something about it.  Effectively you are damping down the noise of your thoughts when you practise mindfulness.  The brain starts to relax and slow down when we practise mindfulness meditation.  It reduces the cortisol in the body and puts us in a relaxed calm state where we can really enjoy and be in the moment.”

So far so good, but what are the benefits of taking a mindful approach to work? 

"The benefits are enormous!" says Kim. "You will be much more productive because your concentration will be focussed on one thing resulting in you doing tasks more quickly and thoroughly. It also allows you to be less stressed so less likely to react emotionally to distractions or tensions with team members."

Kim uses a variety of techniques in her mindfulness workshops including a body scan meditation which enables participants to identify the different sensations in their body.

"Another technique is to eat mindfully," says Kim. "I give participants a raisin or sweet and get them to experience the texture, smell and appearance of it before they eat it. These techniques help you be in the moment and give focus to what you are doing."

There's also good news for ‘butterfly brains' who find it difficult to stay focused on one task and can easily be distracted by their inbox or colleagues' conversations.

"Firstly by being aware of your distractions. Much of the time we are on automatic pilot so we are not aware that we are being distracted! Once you are aware of your distractions you can minimise them by turning your phone to mute and only looking at it at certain times of the day," suggests Kim.

"Write down your tasks on a ‘to do' list and tick each task off as you do it. This is very satisfying to your brain as you will have a sense of accomplishment.

"Our brains do not like multi-tasking, it only likes to do one or two things at any one time especially if they are new tasks or complex ones. You can spend a huge amount of brain power just thinking about what you need to do rather than just getting on and doing it. Our pre-frontal cortex known as the executive brain tires very easily. So thinking about what you need to do without writing lists, uses a lot of brain power and at this point all you are doing is thinking, not doing." 

Kim's top tips for staying mindful at work 

1. Clear the space mentally - say out loud what is going on for you and by doing this you dampen down the cortisol response in your brain, and you're now ready to get on with your work

2. Create a To Do list

3. Only look at technology such as mobile phones and email at certain times of the day and do not allow yourself to be distracted.

Kim offers a range of programmes for business including Building High Performing Teams, Hiring the Right Talent, Running Effective Meetings and Critical Conversations. For regular updates about leadership and professional skills development and training opportunities, emailinfo@neuroleaders.co.ukor visitwww.neuroleaders.co.uk

 * Figures from the HSE 2015 report http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress/stress.pdf

ENDS

Notes for editors 
 
About Neuroleaders

Neuroleaders' mission is to create inspirational leaders, using the underpinning knowledge of cutting-edge neuroscience in webinars, workshops and one-to-one coaching.

Kim Harvey is director of Neuroleaders and is passionate about the neuroscience behind learning and leadership. She believes that many of the problems that exist in organisations are down to a mismatch of leadership requirements between managers and employees. By understanding what our brains require to ‘turn on reward circuitry' can help managers engage employees and customers more fully which in turn increases productivity and bottom line results.

Kim has over 25 years' experience as a leadership development facilitator and coach in blue chip companies across Europe. She is a preferred supplier for the delivery of Leadership Programmes to GE Corporate across Europe and holds a MA in Management, Foundation Certificate in Neuroleadership and is a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

Kim is also a trained facilitator inTetraMappingand is passionate about how the framework can help businesses transform itself using one model. Her dynamic and engaging delivery style ensures that participants enjoy their learning experience and the tools and techniques gained can be transferred back to the workplace.

For more information about courses and training offered by Kim, please visitwww.neuroleaders.co.uk

 Media contact:Rachel Jones atCheltenham Communications

Email:rachel@cheltenhamcommunications.co.ukTelephone: 07825 568244