
HR in the driving seat Â
No one expects CHROs to become technical experts, but with a firm grasp of the fundamentals they can help shape an intelligent approach to AI adoption ...
by Nancy Lane, Anand Narasimhan, Heather Cairns-Lee Published 18 December 2024 in Wellness ⢠6 min read
Originating inâŻancient Buddhist and Eastern philosophy, mindfulness is rooted in the Buddhist concept of sati, which means âmoment-to-moment awareness of the present.â It is a technique that involves being fully aware of the present moment, without judgment. By helping to focus in this way, it can help you manage your thoughts and feelings and improve your mental health. Many practitioners use the âThree Csâ of mindfulness ââŻcuriosity, compassion, and calm center â (and many other acronyms!) to achieve this. Essentially, mindfulness involves developing self-awareness, managing oneâs internal states, impulses, and resources, and practicing beneficial mental habits such as cultivating ârealistic optimism.â
The practice began to permeate the West in the latter half of the 20th century when Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The secular, evidence-based program he developed was a significant step towards introducing mindfulness to global organizations such as Monsanto, General Mills, Target, Verizon, and SAP.
Mindfulness has been proven to offer various positive benefits for individuals.
The âSearch Inside Yourself (SIY)â program had been used so successfully at Google that the tech giant set up the non-profit Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) to disseminate it more widely.
Peter decided the most effective way to gain visibility and support would be to use an existing, externally created course that had a good reputation, choosing the âSearch Inside Yourself (SIY)â program created by a Google engineer, a neuroscientist, and a noted mindfulness teacher. The program had been used so successfully at Google that the tech giant set up the non-profit Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI) to disseminate it more widely.
In late 2012, Peter met with SAPâs chief medical officer and global head of health and well-being management, Natalie Lotzmann. Natalie agreed that SIY would benefit employees and that Peter, with his deep background in business and mindfulness, was the right person to bring it to SAP. She also challenged him to define a strategy to scale the program globally, offering him a temporary role in her department while he set things up.
In parallel, Peter decided to test his theory. At that time, California was the epicenter of organizational mindfulness in the Western world, with other global companies, including Cisco and Genentech, providing courses for employees.
In May 2013, Peter organized an event with leading figures in mindfulness in the US at SAPâs Palo Alto office. It was packed, with 500 employees attending. Peter asked attendees if they would be interested in finding sponsorship from their managers to attend the two pilots he was organizing for the second half of 2013 and was able to recruit 25 managers and 25 employees for the pilots.
In 2014, Peter was appointed director of SAPâs Global Mindfulness Practice (GMP). His objective was to organize mindfulness-based programs and foster the community of mindfulness practitioners globally at SAP to transform the fledgling movement into a global initiative.
After successful pilots, Peter found his first sponsor, the director of human resources for Germany, who was convinced SIY would be positive for employees in his organization and added SIY as part of the Learning and Development (L&D) portfolio in Germany. This was a key step in scaling it throughout the organization.
News about the impact of SIY spread quickly, with long waiting lists for the program. Now, to scale the initiative again, Peter needed to create a multiplier effect and deliver SIY in a cost-effective way. He subsequently recruited a pool of in-house trainers to educate new cohorts and soon had 10 internal teachers.
SIY at SAP went from strength to strength, with the waiting list peaking at 9,000 employees in 2016. As a result, the GMP began integrating elements of SIY into its internal Learning and Development programs and developed a portfolio of modules for organizational mindfulness. The GMP mandate was then expanded to include delivering organizational mindfulness training to the companyâs clients.
The GMP surveyed 650 participants at four weeks and six months post-program and found improved well-being, happiness, concentration, creativity, and less stress in the work context.
In the space of a decade, Peter grew a grassroots mindfulness movement into a global initiative. From the beginning, he gathered data to build a business case for organizational mindfulness. The GMP surveyed 650 participants at four weeks and six months post-program and found improved well-being, happiness, concentration, creativity, and less stress in the work context.
The program also contributed to an increase in the Employee Engagement Index and a reduction in sick leave. These values significantly impacted the companyâs business results. SAPâs annual Employee and Business Health Culture Index surveys showed that every percentage point increase in the Employee Engagement Index added âŹ50-âŹ60m to the companyâs operating profit. A percentage point increase in its Business Health Index raised profits by âŹ85-âŹ95m. Taking these results together, Peter calculated a return on investment of 200%.
This article is based on an IMD case series written by the authors, reference IMD-7-2489 and IMD-7-2521.
Read more here.
Nancy Lane is a Research Associate and Executive Coach at IMD. She specializes in leadership, strategic leadership, organizational culture and group dynamics. Before joining IMD, she had a career in economic analysis in the insurance industry. Nancy has a master degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and is certified by the Tavistock Institute in facilitating groups and decoding group dynamics. She is also licensed to administer and interpret the NEO psychometric and the MSCEIT emotional intelligence instruments.
Anand Narasimhan serves as Shell Professor of Global Leadership at IMD. He is also Director of the Team Dynamics Training for Boards program. He is an expert in leadership development for senior executive teams and boards, and his research focuses on institutional change, organization design, social networks, and emotions in the workplace.
Affiliate Professor of Leadership and Communication
Heather Cairns-Lee is Affiliate Professor of Leadership and Communication at IMD. She is a member of IMDâs Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Council and an experienced executive coach. She works to develop reflective and responsible leaders and caring inclusive cultures in organizations and society.
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