Train attention with a daily practice such as meditation

Pick one short daily attention practice, such as meditation, and carry the attention it trains into meetings and one-on-one conversations.

Pourquoi ça marche

The authors group meditative practices, and exercises such as the Reverse Role Play, which Josephs describes as a coaching technique in which the executive plays the other person as fully as possible, talking and sitting like them and using their cadence and figures of speech, under “attentional practices,” which they say clients use with reflective action to develop awareness and intent. They describe people moving into the Catalyst level as getting “momentary flashes of direct attention that help them reflect better on the spot.” They say that at the Co-Creator and Synergist levels more people meditate or do similar things that build “a strong experiential awareness which they bring into their daily life.”

Comment faire

1. Choose one short, regular practice, such as a few minutes of meditation at the same time each day.
2. Keep it for several weeks before you judge whether it helps.
3. In a meeting or one-on-one, notice when your attention has left the speaker, and bring it back.
4. Each day, note one moment when you were present and one when you were not.

Données probantes

In the June 2006 interview, the authors report that Co-Creators and Synergists meditate more often than earlier levels: about 40 percent of Co-Creators had a regular practice and about 10 percent a semi-regular one, and 50 percent of Synergists had a regular practice and 35 percent a semi-regular one. The interview does not describe how those figures were collected. Attentional practice is a described practice in the sources read, not a tested intervention. (anecdotal)

The meditation figures are the authors’ own. The interview presents them as association, and nothing in it shows that meditating moves anyone to a later level.

Sources

• Joiner, B., & Josephs, S. (2006, June). Leadership Agility with Bill Joiner and Steve Josephs [interview]. Integral Leadership Review, Fresh Perspective.

Erreur fréquente

Treating the practice as relaxation rather than as training attention. The authors tie it to awareness and intent that people bring into daily life, so the question is whether your attention in a conversation changes, not only whether the sitting felt calm.