A CIO's guide to mindfulness

In a fast-changing business world, few areas are quite so dynamic as IT. And change, without which you can't have innovation, also means stress.

With new and emerging technologies and working practices like big data, the Internet of Things, wearables and DevOps presenting a parade of new opportunities and headaches, today's CIO is continually overwhelmed by a barrage of demands on his or her attention. It's small wonder that many technology leaders find their personal lives and even their health deteriorating as a result.

And at the same time, companies appear to paying less attention to their staff's wellbeing. Fewer than half of businesses believe they have a duty of care towards employee health, according to a new study from leadership development firm Morgan Redwood. It claimed that only 46 per cent of firms see staff health as an employer's responsibility, down from 95 per cent in 2009.

This would appear to reveal a worrying trend: just as technology leadership is becoming more demanding, companies are less willing to look out for employees' health. The conclusion is that CIOs need to look after themselves.

Mindfulness is one philosophy being touted as a solution. The central idea is to help people to focus entirely on the moment, to make clear decisions based on what's in front of them, without being distracted by the information overload from which many of us suffer.

It's supposed to relax the mind, reduce stress and promote not just better decision-making, but improved health.

One firm that is a fully paid-up member of the mindfulness drive is Unilever, which recently forked out for a subscription to mindfulness and meditation app Headspace for every UK-based member of staff.

Another is Northumbrian Water, whose CIO, James Robbins, is an advocate.
"I'm really pro-mindfulness," Robbins begins. "We're still at the early stages of exploring it, but certainly with there being so many inputs in the modern world, having the ability to focus is really useful."

Stephen Potter, CIO of engineering services firm Arup, also appreciates its benefits.

"As a way of dealing with stresses of C-suite life, and giving people a sense of perspective, a number of peers and former colleagues who are CIOs swear by it. It's a way of being able to put things in context and deal with internal biases, and trying to take those out of the conversation through a level of abstraction. It's about personal management of your own headspace, and how to work through your own challenges. I play squash to prevent any frustrations, that's pretty effective," he explains.

Clifford Burroughs, CIO and procurement chief at United Biscuits (which owns the McVitie's brand, among others) goes so far as to say that mindfulness could be the difference between being good and great.

"I am struck by the recuperation benefits of mindfulness in a crazy world. Being able to bring the right energy to the right things at the right time might be the ultimate differentiator between the good and the great. I've still got a way to go on this journey but I just feel better about my day with a bit of reflective/recovery time."

Meditation is a key tool within the mindfulness arsenal, and Computing has had many off-the-record conversations with CIOs who have spoken of their need to meditate in order to switch off after a typically hectic day.

Robbins is similarly keen.

"Mindfulness should be about taking those time-outs, giving yourself that opportunity to rest the mind to get deeper insights, that's what meditation is about."

He goes further, describing the practice of colouring in as a useful tool. And it probably needs pointing out here that we're not talking about GANTT charts or product roadmaps, but plain old, simple colouring in. Phones have been banned from board meetings at Northumbrian Water, to the extent that they're not even permitted to be in the room even if switched off and stuffed into a pocket. But colouring in is apparently a more acceptable diversion.

"Sometimes I think there might be a moment in a meeting where I know what someone's going to say, so I could run the CPU in my brain down and pick up my phone and handle a few emails. I'd still be tuned in but my colleagues say that's just rude, it's not the right behaviour as it gives an impression of not focusing. However I can sit there and colour in, and that's not seen as rude."

The image of a highly-paid C-suite executive sitting and colouring in during an important meeting might seem odd, but Robbins isn't alone. The idea behind it is that simple, repetitive tasks should be therapeutic.

Melbourne-based neuropsychologist Dr Stan Rodski, author of adult-targeted colouring book Colourtation, says that his patients who were exhibiting beta brain wave frequencies (associated with stress), switched to the more restful alpha waves when colouring in.

"This brain of ours in its current shape is about 150 million years old and still operates as if it were 150 million years ago," he told the Sydney Morning Herald recently. "But in the last 20 years we have started to keep it awake and active more than we ever have in our whole history. Now that has consequences.

"By colouring, we move ourselves from these beta waves to an alpha wave. It is akin to sitting listening to music, or focusing on watching your favourite TV program; you are singular, you are not focusing on a lot of things," said Rodski.

But not everyone is convinced.

"It's bloody stupid," begins Clive Longbottom, founder of analyst firm Quocirca. "If a meeting is so boring that everyone is doing emails, joining the dots or trying to keep crayons within the lines, the meeting is getting in the way of completing your to-do list. Walk out and get to completing that list so that you have more time to yourself."

Robbins, though, says that the activity helps him to think creatively.

"I can be colouring in during a meeting and maybe I'm not completely tuned in, but it stimulates ideas or insights for later. It might not be anything to do with the presentation or meeting I'm in, but I can get a bit of magic from it.

"So I could be writing an email and not listening to a presentation, but the talk and that email about two different topics come together in my mind to solve a third topic. That's a bit of what mindfulness gives us."

Although he was disparaging about colouring in, Longbottom agrees that there is value in mindfulness, but warns CIOs against getting out the corporate credit card just yet.

"As with a lot of good ideas, there is a massive risk that mindfulness will be hijacked and used for financial profit by snake oil salespeople. Any person can study mindfulness and bring it to bear in their private and work lives without needing a full course: there is plenty about it on the internet that is easy to follow and works as well.

"By focusing on the moment, you can deal with different workloads better, be more effective and productive overall and end up with more free time - if done correctly," says Longbottom.

He adds that a mindful approach can help define which tasks should be tackled next by understanding what's going to dovetail well with your current mood.

"Write your to-do list for the hour/day/week/month, and work through it, but only where your mindfulness state meets with the requirements of the task in hand. For example, if feeling a little jaded, then paperwork is unlikely to help, whereas something more hands-on may. If needing to wind down a little after some manual work, paperwork can allow you to wind down while still being productive.

"If you finish your list within the hour/week/month/year, why do anything else? You've managed to meet the requirements set against you - the rest of the time is yours. Do the same with your employees - set them tasks, and if they have completed them, don't spend ages getting then to find something else to do - say ‘congratulations' and send them off to the gym/cinema/park. Who says that they ‘should' be working? Surely, only the clock?"

Robbins agrees on this point, explaining his desire to empower his staff to focus on the delivery of objectives, and adding that he encourages his teams not to come into the office every day.

And, eager to avoid burnout, Robbins regularly takes Wednesday afternoons off when his workload allows it, calling it "hump day". He then tweets photos of whatever he's up to on those afternoons, which could be simply shopping, or taking a walk in a park, hoping to inspire his teams to do likewise.

"Actually the biggest problem in our team has been the removal of guilt so that people actually do make space for a work/life balance," he says.

So mindfulness can help to relieve stress, promote better decision-making, and improve work/life balance. And even better, it doesn't have to involve expensive training courses or software packages. And whilst the experts Computing spoke to held wildly differing views on the merits of colouring in, the core concept seems sound.

Mindfulness can improve quality of life for staff at all levels of an organisation, and as a personal tool it should be managed by the individual. But that doesn't mean staff just do whatever task they fancy, irrespective of their business priorities.

As Longbottom concludes: "Use mindfulness for your own quality of life, but be mindful of the organisation, as it pays your salary."