Mindfulness, appropriate use can lead to improved interactions and relationships in the workplace with co-workers and improve the organization overall.

In a study published in Organizaiton Science from a collaboration of multiple universities, researchers explored how mindfulness effects workplace interactions and relationships. This study was done in contrast to prior studies regarding mindfulness in the workplace where they only looked at outcomes on an individual level and collective levels.

Researchers analyzed how “mindfulness infusion,” whereby individuals put their mindfulness practices into their day-to-day workplace interactions and relationships.

Such practices can be mindful pauses or listening to someone with a high level of attention. The qualitative study, the investigators conducted 30 formal interviews with managers, professionals, and consultants who utilizes mindfulness-based practices in the workplace and then an additional 50 informal interviews with other individuals who apply mindfulness-based principles at work.

“Interestingly, interviewees noted how other individuals around them had noticed the emotional effects of their mindful behaviors on interactions and relationships,” said author, Christopher Reina. “We found initial evidence that our interviewees’ efforts toward bringing their mindfulness into the workplace were seen by their colleagues as having a positive effect.”

“An understanding of how individuals bring mindfulness with them to work, and how these practices may contribute to interaction and relationship quality, is especially relevant as work landscapes are ever-changing and interdependence is increasingly becoming the norm,” Reina also added.

CS Reina et al. Your presence is requested: mindfulness infusion in workplace interactions and relationships. Organization Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1596