Long-time organizational change consultant Pravir Malik has recently begun working on mindfulness in the workplace as a tool for individual, team, organizational, and ultimately, societal change. Through his research organization, Aurosoorya, Pravir introduced a fractal-based system of mindfulness into the Stanford University Medical Center’s Leadership Academy training four months ago. His hypothesis suggested that by addressing dysfunction at the micro level (i.e., personal discontent, frustration, anger), that larger patterns at higher levels would be affected in a positive manner. He envisions these growing scales of collective consciousness as fractal in nature, all part of a larger, inseparable system. Pravir equipped medical team members with a software tool to track their feelings throughout the day, with a focus on emotions felt right before, during, and after team meetings. By consciously identifying emotions, both positive and negative, team members became increasingly conscious of the “levers” that caused their happiness or unhappiness. Coupled with the support to deal with personal and team challenges, the exercise enabled team members to resolve particular states of dysfunction. The seven teams went through a Subarctic Survival Exercise. Team members first prioritized a list of 15 items required for survival, following a simulated plane crash in the subarctic region: Pravir found there was a fairly tight correlation between those teams that performed best and their use of the web-based team dynamics tool, and those teams that performed worst and their lack of use of the tool. The exercise suggests that by purposefully recognizing and recording relational dynamics, teams were able to create positive dynamics, enabling them to perform better as teams in stressful circumstances. So what does this all tell us about corporate social responsibility? By creating greater consciousness at the individual level, Pravir believes that humans will become more mindful of how their actions impact others, and ultimately, the world around them: Changing thought at the individual level uncovers new possibilities. By integrating more holistic environmental, social, and governance considerations into the strategy and operations of business, new opportunities emerge, to reduce externalities that cost society and business. With better organizational design and increased emphasis on personal and team mindfulness, businesses can become more dynamic and adaptable. Pravir envisions these dynamics providing insight into the future of CSR. It’s time to think about how corporate attention can shift from current compliance-based practices to a fundamental corporate repurposing based on truly addressing human, social and environmental needs. Pravir explains, This article originally appeared on Forbes.com Nicole Skibola is a lawyer and a social innovation strategist with Apricot Consulting, a small international boutique management consulting firm. You can read more of her writing on her blog Strange Attractors.
