🌌 The Empathic Leader's Way: The Critical Role of Focused Attention in Leadership
Boost productivity, decision-making, and relationships through mindful presence
Your attention could be your most precious resource, and learning to manage it effectively can significantly enhance the quality of your life as well as your ability to lead.
Good leadership is less about “doing, doing, doing” and more about being. Being there, present, attentive, alert while calm. This has you performing at your best, and from this internal state you can improve your performance— and your relationships.
In this newsletter:
🌟 Why Attention is Essential to Achieve your Potential
⚠️ The Impact of Lack of Focus
🌟 Some Surprising Facts about Sustained Attention Research
🧘 To be your Best Version, you Need to be Present
🛠️ Practical Tips for Training your Attention
🌟 Why Attention is Essential to Achieve your Potential
Yesterday I paused my walk to talk to a baby. She watched me, eyes wide open. I told her how beautiful I found her hair, her eyes. She held my gaze, she smiled, she perceived every detail of my voice and my facial expressions-- for a long time for being a few-month-old! Talk about being fully there, fully present, fully enjoying every detail of the here and now. Without expectations, without stories, pure presence and connection.
I gather that it might be much easier for a baby to be present, with the level of brain maturation they have, than for adults who have a more mature prefrontal cortex and cannot stop the thinking, hypothesising, story-making, assessing, ruminating, etc.!
Yet, we are all wired to hold our attention on those things that matter to us and are important to help us reach our goals. We cannot achieve anything worthwhile without sustaining focus in the present moment and extending the period of time one’s undivided attention is on something.
My experience and my research have led me to a conviction that has been shaping my perspective on both life and leadership:
Much, if not all, of what is good in life requires harnessing the skill of directing and holding one’s attention.
Deepening a relationship, listening, knowing how to respond, running a race, creating a new habit, sports performance, creativity, planning or solving a hard problem, learning something new, mastering a skill, knowing yourself, ...
The more focused you can be, the easier, more efficient – and more delightful-- your endeavours become.
Attention is one the few most crucial skills to perfect for leaders, as the things you want to be able to do can likely not be achieved without mastering your ability to stay present, pay close attention, observe and be able sustain your focus, both externally and internally.
⚠️ Impact of Lack of Focus
Think of days when you struggle to direct your attention:
You feel distracted, disconnected, and mentally foggy.
Important details slip your mind, diminishing productivity.
You miss cues that could have prompted timely action.
You make mistakes, like dropping your coffee
Lack of focus can significantly affect leadership and interpersonal dynamics:
Decision-Making suffers: When attention wavers, critical information is overlooked, leading to poorer decisions. You may be unaware of subtle intuitive cues as well, which may result in avoidable mistakes and crises.
Relationships suffer: Inattention causes you to miss non-verbal cues like facial expressions and body language, which are crucial for understanding others. This oversight can lead to misunderstandings, to less empathy, and it can strain relationships. Being available to interact and connect requires that you be attentive on the other person, not distracted.
Emotion Regulation is less accessible: Difficulty maintaining focus internally also hampers effective emotion regulation. Awareness of emotions helps regulate them—you cannot do this without learning to observe with your inner eye, so to speak. Unless you can sustain that inner focus, it becomes challenging to manage reactions and stay composed in various situations.
🌟 Some Surprising Facts about Sustained Attention Research
My first insight into the power of sustaining attention came when I learnt about Dr. Maria Montessori’s pedagogy. In the early 1900s she wrote about her observations of quite young children concentrating deeply while engaging in purposeful work.
The result? A “new child,” a “new human being” emerged from periods of deep concentration and focused attention. She observed that their character transformed, they became calmer, content, balanced, disciplined, generous, loving. This got me really curious. Especially as she described an unprecedented phenomenon: people with mental illness would come to her schools to sit and watch these children’s concentrated activity. They found it healing. This puzzled me!
"The child who concentrates is immensely happy." — Maria Montessori (Absorbent Mind)
Decades later, acclaimed psychologist Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi provided similar descriptions in adults and introduced the concept of Flow in the 1970s-1990s, a state of deep concentration where individuals are fully immersed in their tasks. His ample body of research concluded that Flow leads to greater productivity, creativity, satisfaction, better relationships and happiness.
"The best way to increase the quality of life is to create more moments of flow, and the best way to create more moments of flow is to achieve control over the contents of our consciousness." — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Both Montessori’s and Csikszentmihalyi’s work highlight that the deep concentration (sustained attention for long periods) found in purposeful activity is crucial for achieving both excellence and satisfaction, contentment.
Reaching deep states of focused attention are key not only to learning and to perform better, they are key to improving mental health and wellbeing.
🧘 To be your Best Version, you Need to be Present
Listening, connecting and creating rapport with people requires being present first, so that you can give them your full attention.
The same goes for effectiveness, you need to be able to selectively focus on the project you are working on, not letting yourself be derailed by distractions or other tasks.
When you are fully present, you bring your best self to the table. First, you will be emotionally centred, and calmer. You will be more in control of yourself, your actions, your words, your responses. You will also think more clearly.
The more presence and mindfulness you bring to your interactions, the richer and more bonding the experience becomes. You listen more intently, you understand more deeply, you respond more thoughtfully, you are less rushed.
Your ability to be fully present with someone is a profound gift, both to them and to yourself.
🛠️ Practical Tips for Training your Attention
Mindfulness practices are incredible to train yourself to control your attention at will. It doesn’t need to be hitting the meditation cushion for hours on end, though the benefits of regular meditation are well established and it can change people’s lives.
Some practices involve being still, some involve movement. The key is to practice wilfully directing and sustaining your attention.
Daily practical activities that involve repetition are great to induce a state of inner flow or concentration. You can engage in a meditate state when you do dishes, when you wash your hands, when you walk or when you do yoga or run.
It is all about bringing awareness and presence to what you are doing and being fully there and then.
Here, now. Really here and really in the now. With your whole body, with more awareness.
As spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle explains:
“There was never any other moment that the present one. Your entire life is always experienced as Now.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn, renowned American professor who popularised Mindfulness in the West says it this way:
"Wherever you go, there you are."
How to Start a Mindfulness Practice:
Find a Quiet Space: Choose a calm environment where you won't be disturbed.
Set a Time Limit: Start with 5-10 minutes and gradually increase as you become more comfortable.
Focus on Your Breath: Pay attention to your breathing, noticing the sensations in your body of each inhale and exhale.
Be Present: Gently bring your focus back to your breath whenever your mind wanders. A little nudge suffices- no need to add a judgment of yourself, you are not in control of your thoughts!
Tips for Making Mindfulness Practice Regular:
Set a Routine: Practice at the same time each day to build a habit. I like a few minutes on waking and before sleep. It is doable, and grounding.
Start Small: Begin with short sessions to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Try to be consistent. 30 seconds is better than not doing 5 minutes or 50 minutes.
Use Reminders: Set reminders on your phone or place visual cues in your environment. A friend of mine had a bell ring on her phone every hour and she took a moment to notice her surroundings, her feelings internally.
Join a Group: Find a mindfulness group or class to stay motivated if this works for you.
Add it to something you do daily: Try brushing your teeth with more awareness, or stopping by the tree you walk by on your way to work daily.
Tips for Improving Your Practice:
Be Patient: Mindfulness takes time and consistency to develop. They say years, but my sense is that knowing that you are just nudging your attention to the object that you are focusing on can help master it in less time.
Try Different Techniques: Experiment with guided meditations, mindful walking, body scans, observing a tree or the clouds.
Reflect on Your Practice: Keep a journal to note any changes in your thoughts and feelings.
Stay Curious: Approach each session with curiosity rather than judgment. Each moment is fresh and new, each meditation is a new moment. You are new in each moment too .
Bringing this level of mindfulness and presence into our daily interactions and work can make all the difference in your leadership and in the lives of those you touch.
Mindfulness, the practice of being fully present in the moment with full awareness, is a critical skill for effective leadership. If you practice mindfulness and learn to direct and sustain your attention at will you are golden and will much more easily achieve what you want. You will be a calmer, happier and kinder you.
I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences on this topic. Let’s continue to learn and grow together.
⭐️ Ways to work with me ⭐️
TASTER on 25th July 15:00 BST (London). Register here.
Mindfulness, NVC and positive psychology.
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An intensive training and mentoring experience dedicated to honing your emotional intelligence, empathy, and compassionate communication skills through Nonviolent Communication, mindfulness, executive coaching and neuroscience.
Be the leader you have longed to be and inspire others to be their best. More information in my website, natibeltran.com/empathic-leader-course.
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About me
If you are new to this newsletter, welcome. I am a neuroscientist and certified Nonviolent Communication trainer and executive coach by the ICF (amongst other things).
I run Bright Communication; a leadership development company committed to building a more sustainable and compassionate world. Our mission is to help leaders, managers and organisations develop the empathic leadership skills necessary to fulfil the promise of the Global Goals.
My book blending Montessori and neuroscience for parents has just been published in Spanish. Watch this space for the English counterpart in the future. To purchase and to be updated on events, go here.