Mindfulness in Organisations
Mindfulness is a competence within people. Therefore, there cannot be mindful organisations. This is comparable with the body having digestion, but not the psyche. From this comparison, though, you can also recognise that if and how the body digests definitely does have influence on the psyche. Psyche and body are firmly coupled as are personnel and organisation. Therefore, whether the personnel in an organisation are mindful, plays a prominent role, and, conversely, also, whether the communication patterns in the organisation encourage mindfulness or hinder it.
The more complex the organisational environment and the more unstable the relationships, the more uncertain the decisions are, and in particular, the more unclear the decision-making imperatives become (“Is this important or not?”).
Therefore, it is increasingly a core competence of organisations to develop alternative ways of directing, beyond the planning processes. At the same time, the above-mentioned importance attaches to the mindfulness of personnel to weak signals, to exceptions, to pattern changes, to richness of variation, to fostering alternatives, to conflict imperatives, to dialogue processes and to flexibility demands. Only what is perceived, can be discussed and can flow into the decision-making processes. Thus, the organising of collective mindfulness (Gebauer) becomes a task which is essential for the survival of organisations.