At VIM Executive Coaching, we frequently remind clients of a simple, gentle rule: come as you are. There is no need to be perfect and no need to impress us with how well you are “holding everything together.”
There is a fine line, of course. Executive leadership coaching is different than psychotherapy. We can’t help resolve the anger that for Christmas 1978 a client was given a fuzzy, Avocado green sweater rather than a pony. We are delighted to work with clients as to why they avoid getting involved in important workplace issues such as a conflict between subordinates.
Does this suit make me look heavy?
So, it should not surprise anyone who follows the VIM Executive Coaching blog that we have had initial meetings with executive leader clients who were stressed over their expanding waistlines, bothered by the lack of “follows” on their social media websites and self-loathing over their lack of exercise.
We don’t find such stressors “amusing,” rather we understand they are a smallish, albeit private part of their self-image as executive leaders.
Unfortunately, as we are in a continued back-and-forth state of in-person to virtual – and back again, many of our clients are working from home and rarely entering offices. The work and life balance, once sharper has become distorted.
For example, we often “take our computers to lunch” or on frequent snacks. We get stuck on YouTube videos rather than going for walks. And, we know far too many executive leaders who seem to almost compete for social media followers and a presence on social media, to the distraction of resolving important workplace issues.
What about Mindfulness?
The Work and Life balance is currently screaming for resolution in most workplaces. The problem is not one of caloric intake or a fear of treadmills or re-tweeting a re-tweeted Tweet. The problem is remarkably ancient: a lack of mindfulness and an avoidance of authenticity are causing ever greater stress.
Mindfulness comes out of ancient meditation practice where practitioners once, intentionally cut themselves off from the daily clutter to simply “be” present in the moment. Such meditation was not a burden, but a sweet luxury. For those who meditate are not anti-social and in fact, quite the opposite. They are in-the moment, and connected.
To mindfully “be,” to observe what is around us, to appreciate the stillness that comes from not having all the answers or trying to be a “people-pleaser” but to understand what we are observing is a wonderful possession. And, it is free.
I might add that we think of the ancients who meditated as being only monks in the forest, but over time it was widely practiced by the populace. Today, as then, mindfulness is incorporated into daily life, not separate from it. In addition, mindfulness meditation (did not) does not need hours to practice under an icy waterfall, but ten minutes in a backyard, on a bus or sitting in a parked car.
In our work lives we can easily choose to stress over everything, rather than to respond to what is, and what we ultimately need to do to act on it. Should you be on a diet or exercise more? Should you worry over a lack of Facebook friends? We have no answer at VIM Executive Coaching, but you do.
As an executive leader, should you intercede in an employee disagreement, or address a suspected case of fraud or ethical misconduct? Should you respond rather than react to other important executive leadership issues?
VIM Executive Coaching can guide you to reach your authentic self so that you can mindfully resolve those problems rather than stress about them. We can give you the tools and, in that process, a harmony and work/life balance can be better restored.