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Mindful Embodied Leadership:
Mindfulness-in-Action as a Catalyst for Leadership Performance
Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
at the University of Leicester
by
Rodney King M.A.
University of Leicester
School of Business
2018
Abstract
Rodney King. Mindful Embodied Leadership: Mindfulness-in-Action as a
Catalyst for Leadership Performance
The aim of this research is to explore mindfulness-in-action in moments of
leadership performance and the degree to which it may enhance leadership
excellence. To this end, this research answers two interrelated research
questions.
Firstly, what are the embodied experiences described by leaders that arise in the
present moment of leadership and which they feel may hinder their ability to lead
successfully? This question is explored through the analysis of a series of
interviews with research participants.
As an extension to my first research question, a group of leaders from various
organisations were then taught mindfulness in an action-oriented way by means
of a bespoke workshop that focused on utilising martial arts-based movements
to teach the concept of mindfulness.
My second research question explores to what extent mindfulness taught in an
experiential, action-oriented way aids leaders in managing their leadership
difficulties. Here the focus shifts to the leadership difficulties my research
participants had previously described (i.e. in Research Question 1), as well as
how, as leaders, they defined leadership before and after mindfulness-in-action
training. The outcome of the research, via the analysis of interviews, was
bolstered further by exploring participants’ trait or dispositional mindfulness
through applying the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale both before and at two
additional time points after the training.
Overall, the analysis and findings of this research show that it is indeed possible
to design and implement a training approach to mindfulness that is both
experientially and action oriented, and which in turn has positive effects on
moments of leadership performance. This research thus adds valuable insight in
understanding leadership, learning and mindfulness, explored through moments
of leadership performance.
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Acknowledgements
As I write this, I am moving into my seventh year of the PhD process. It has been
extremely challenging at times. The experience has been compounded by trying
to juggle ‘school work’ with simultaneously heading two global brands and an
intense international seminar schedule, as well as meeting my family
commitments as a father and husband. On reflection, I would do it all over again.
It has possibly been the most rewarding experience of my life.
I would like to thank both my supervisors, Professor Jo Brewis and Dr Richard
Godfrey, for their tireless mentorship throughout this process. I would never have
made it this far without their consistent support and priceless feedback. I want to
further thank Professor Brewis for initially encouraging me to write a research
proposal and to submit it to the University of Leicester. Without her
encouragement, none of this might have happened.
I would like to especially thank my family, my wife Louise, and my two boys Egan
and Tobynn, who gave me constant support throughout this journey. They
believed I could achieve the goal of completing my thesis, even when I was
struggling to believe it myself.
Finally, I would like to offer a personal reflection on the importance of my PhD
journey. I was a child who grew up poor in government housing on the south side
of Johannesburg, South Africa (similar to ‘the projects’ in the United States). I
endured physical abuse from the bullies in my neighbourhood and at the hands
of my alcoholic mother. At the age of 17, my mother kicked me out of the house.
At this tender age, I found myself sleeping on a park bench and unable to finish
high school. I vowed on that very day to work hard, to turn my life around and not
to become another statistic. In the years that followed, I went back to school,
paying for all my studies out of my own pocket and never taking a single bank
loan, including for my doctoral adventure. To be here now, nearing the end of my
PhD journey, means more to me than words can express. I am eternally grateful,
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not to mention blessed, considering that so many of those I grew up with having
fallen by the wayside, or finding themselves in prison. I managed in the end not
to become yet another failed statistic of bad parenting and impoverished
neighbourhoods.
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Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................. 1
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... 2
Contents ............................................................................................................ 4
Table of figures ................................................................................................. 7
List of abbreviations ......................................................................................... 7
1 Introduction to the Thesis ......................................................................... 8
1.1 Establishing the Terrain: Ladkin as Inspiration .......................................... 8
1.2 The Embodiment of Leadership Performance ......................................... 10
1.3 The Emergence of Mindfulness as a Pop(ular) Management Topic ...... 12
1.4 Research Questions ................................................................................... 13
1.5 The Underpinning of this Research .......................................................... 15
1.6 Contribution to Research ........................................................................... 16
1.7 Thesis Overview .......................................................................................... 17
2 The theory of Leadership ........................................................................ 22
2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 22
2.2 Leadership Theory in the 20th Century ...................................................... 24
2.3 Leadership Theory in the 21st Century ...................................................... 30
2.4 Aesthetic, Emotional, Dramaturgical and Embodied Leadership
Research ................................................................................................................. 32
2.5 The Embodiment of Leadership ................................................................ 38
2.6 Summary of Leadership Theories ............................................................. 42
3 Exploring the Relationship between Learning and Leadership .......... 43
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 43
3.2 Experiential Approach to Learning and Leadership ................................ 44
3.3 Psychodynamic Approaches to Learning and Leadership ..................... 47
3.3.1 Leader Development through Self-Leadership ..................................................... 50
3.4 Emotions, Leadership and Learning ......................................................... 55
3.4.1 The Difficulty in Understanding Emotions ............................................................ 56
3.4.2 Emotional Intelligence ........................................................................................... 60
3.4.3 Emotional Labour in Leadership ........................................................................... 63
3.4.4 The Role of Emotions in Leading .......................................................................... 66
3.5 Somatic Approach to Learning and Leadership ...................................... 68
3.6 Summary of Approaches to Learning and Leadership ........................... 72
4 Mindfulness, Organisations and Leadership ........................................ 74
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 74
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4.2 Defining Mindfulness .................................................................................. 74
4.3 Reflections on the Embodied Nature of Mindfulness .............................. 78
4.4 Mindfulness in Current Practice ................................................................ 80
4.5 Mindfulness in Organisations .................................................................... 84
4.6 Leading Mindfully ........................................................................................ 88
4.6.1 Mindful Self-Awareness ........................................................................................ 91
4.6.2 Mindful Self-Regulation ........................................................................................ 92
4.6.3 Mindful Presence .................................................................................................. 94
4.6.4 Mindful Communication ........................................................................................ 95
4.7 The Emergence of an Embodied Mindful Leader .................................... 98
4.8 Summary of Mindfulness, Organisations and Leadership .................... 100
4.9 Leadership, Learning and Mindfulness in Context ................................ 100
4.10 Literature Review Summary .................................................................... 104
5 Methodology .......................................................................................... 106
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 106
5.2 Research Philosophy ................................................................................ 106
5.2.1 Positivism ............................................................................................................ 107
5.2.2 Interpretivism ...................................................................................................... 108
5.2.3 My Research Philosophy .................................................................................... 109
5.3 Research Design ....................................................................................... 111
5.4 Access and Sampling ............................................................................... 112
5.5 Research Methods .................................................................................... 113
5.5.1 Mindful Attention Awareness Scale .................................................................... 114
5.5.2 Interviews ............................................................................................................ 117
5.5.3 Stages of Research ............................................................................................. 120
5.5.4 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................... 121
5.6 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................. 126
5.6.1 Situating This Study ............................................................................................ 126
5.6.2 Minimising Physical Harm ................................................................................... 127
5.6.3 Minimising Psychological Harm .......................................................................... 128
5.6.4 My Role as Researcher ....................................................................................... 129
5.6.5 Final Ethical Considerations ............................................................................... 130
5.7 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................... 131
6 Learning Mindfulness through Action ................................................. 133
6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 133
6.2 Mindfulness-in-Action Training ............................................................... 134
6.3 Martial Arts: A Viable Approach to Teaching Mindfulness-in-Action .. 136
6.4 Somatic Self-Awareness .......................................................................... 139
6.5 The Mindfulness-in-Action Workshop .................................................... 140
6.5.1 Concept 1: Imperfection ..................................................................................... 140
6.5.2 Concept 2: Grounded Thinking .......................................................................... 141
6.5.3 Concept 3: Attitude Embodied ........................................................................... 143
6.5.4 Concept 4: Mindfulness-in-Action ...................................................................... 144
6.5.5 Concept 5: Exhale ............................................................................................... 145
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6.5.6 Concept 6: Resilience ......................................................................................... 145
6.6 Personal Reflections on the Workshop .................................................. 146
6.7 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................... 147
7 Findings and Analysis ............................................................................ 148
7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 148
7.2 Analysis and Finding of the MAAS Results ............................................ 149
7.3 Pre-Workshop Interviews ........................................................................ 154
7.3.1 Theme 1: Defining Excellent Leadership ............................................................ 155
7.3.2 Theme 2: Leadership Struggles .......................................................................... 159
7.3.3 Theme 3: What is Mindfulness? .......................................................................... 163
7.3.4 Pre-Workshop Interview Reflections .................................................................. 166
7.4 Post-Workshop Interviews ...................................................................... 166
7.4.1 Theme 4: Mindful Self-Awareness ...................................................................... 167
7.4.2 Theme 5: Mindful Breathing ................................................................................ 171
7.4.3 Theme 6: Mindful Presence ................................................................................ 174
7.4.4 Theme 7: Mindful Communication ...................................................................... 176
7.4.5 Participants’ Reflections on the Workshop ........................................................ 179
7.4.6 Post-Workshop Interview Reflections ................................................................ 181
7.5 Final Interviews ......................................................................................... 181
7.5.1 Theme 8: Struggles with Mindfulness ................................................................. 182
7.5.2 Theme 9: Positive Strategies with Mindfulness .................................................. 186
7.5.3 Theme 10: Work Success with Mindfulness ....................................................... 188
7.5.4 Theme 11: What Makes a Mindful Leader? ........................................................ 191
7.5.5 Reflections on Final Interviews ........................................................................... 194
7.6 Overall Findings ........................................................................................ 194
8 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 199
8.1 Recapitulation of Research Aims ............................................................ 199
8.2 The Findings of This Study in Relation to the Research Questions ..... 200
8.3 Key Contributions to the Field ................................................................. 205
8.3.1 Contribution to Leadership Studies Literature .................................................... 206
8.3.2 Contribution to Leadership and Organisational Learning and Development
Literature .......................................................................................................................... 209
8.4 Taking the Research Forward ................................................................. 213
8.5 Autobiographical Reflection and Concluding Thoughts ....................... 216
Appendix 1: Consent Form ........................................................................... 221
Appendix 2: The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) .................. 225
Appendix 3: Pre-Workshop Interview Questions ....................................... 228
Appendix 4: Post-Workshop Interview Questions ..................................... 229
Appendix 5: Final Interview Questions ....................................................... 230
Appendix 6: MAAS Results ........................................................................... 231
References ..................................................................................................... 247
Table of figures
Figure 1: The broad range of affective feelings ................................................ 58
Figure 2: Kabat-Zinn’s and Langer’s conceptualisations of mindfulness .......... 76
Figure 3: Participant details ............................................................................ 113
Figure 4: Initial Coding .................................................................................... 124
Figure 5: Excerpt of a mind map from the pre-workshop interviews .............. 151
Figure 6: Trait mindfulness of all participants over the eight-week period ...... 151
Figure 7: Questions with higher mindful attention after the workshop ............ 152
Figure 8: Overall mean scores for pre, post and final MAAS .......................... 153
Figure 9: Overall MAAS scores for pre, post, and final MAAS ........................ 153
Figure 10: Mindful attention experience, question 13 ..................................... 164
Figure 11: Mindful attention experience, question 3 ....................................... 168
Figure 12: Mindful attention experience, question 11 ..................................... 176
Figure 13: Overall results for question 9 ......................................................... 191
List of abbreviations
ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
EA – Embodied Anchor
EI – Emotional Intelligence
ELT – Experiential Learning Theory
IGAMER – Impermanence, Grounded Thinking, Attitude Embodied,
Mindfulness-in-Action, Exhale, Resilience
MAAS – Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale
MBCT – Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
MBSR – Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
MIA – Mindfulness in Action
PNS – Parasympathetic Nervous System
RFT – Refocus Thoughts
SNS – Sympathetic Nervous System
WBL – Work Based Learning
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1 Introduction to the Thesis
In the introduction I establish the terrain for my research. This section
acknowledges my initial inspiration for undertaking my research and highlights
the broad conceptual framework that enabled the successful implementation and
completion of my research. This chapter concludes with brief summaries of all
the chapters in this thesis and in doing so sets the stage for Chapters 2, 3 and 4,
which present the literature review.
1.1 Establishing the Terrain: Ladkin as Inspiration
Much of the leadership canon attends to behavioural aspects of
leading…Rather less appears about how leaders actually enact these
behaviours – the embodied way in which they attempt to motivate, direct, or
transform (Ladkin, 2008, p. 31).
My inspiration for this research came from reading a paper by Donna Ladkin,
entitled ‘Leading Beautifully: How Mastery, Congruence, and Purpose Create the
Aesthetic of Embodied Leadership Practice’. In that paper, Ladkin (2008) argues
that much of the literature that has been written about the practice of leadership
has focused on the behaviour of leaders, but not on how those behaviours are
enacted (i.e., how they come into being). In that same paper, Ladkin goes on to
highlight that leading beautifully, as she defines it, is largely predicated on what
leaders do on the inside in moments of leading itself. Here, I infer from her paper
that behaviour means the measurable and quantifiable outward contributions of
a leader’s actions, whereas enaction refers to the embodied knowledge involved
in bringing a leader’s observable, quantifiable actions to light.
What caught my attention in Ladkin’s paper was one of several questions she
posed as potential directions for future research. Most notably, she suggested
that:
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If a leader aspires to leading beautifully, what must he or she pay attention
to? Is leading beautifully something that can be developed or does every
leader need to find and express his or her own aesthetic in order to be
authentically perceived? (2008, p. 40).
Unknowingly, while exploring the personal experiences she presents throughout
her paper, she may already have hinted at one possible answer to this question.
Ladkin’s (2008) paper was centred on a case study describing her experience
attending a performance by the American jazz vocalist and conductor Bobby
McFerrin in 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. While there, Ladkin observed
that McFerrin’s embodiment of leading, as she described it, “contrasts sharply
with so much of the leadership literature which emphasises the leader's ability to
envision the ‘future.’” Instead, she continues, McFerrin brought her “full attention
to the possibilities and potentialities of the present moment” (p. 33). Further, and
in the same paragraph, she highlights that “throughout the concert McFerrin
seemed very present to the moment at hand” (p. 33).
My own personal experience in leading a global organisation, along with my role
in coaching leaders from various organisations, has shown that being fully
present may be important in leadership success. Clearly, to Ladkin (2008), the
embodiment of the present moment was key to both the success of McFerrin’s
leadership performance, and how she in turn experienced it. Taking Ladkin’s
argument seriously, that an excellent leadership performance is indeed how a
leader embodies his or her presence in any given situation in the present
moment, and positing that this may be a potential crucial ingredient in his or her
success, how might one research this? As I reflected on this question, it became
clear to me that to adequately research this phenomenon, one would need to
understand a leader’s performance as not “purged of corporeality, so only his or
her mind remains” (Sinclair, 2012, p. 3), but rather, as Ladkin suggests in her
paper, as embodied.
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As such, in the next section, I reflect on my initial understanding of the
embodiment of leadership performance and how this, in turn, later influenced and
informed the method design for my research.
1.2 The Embodiment of Leadership Performance
Applying the above observations in respect to leadership, it has been argued that
not everyone who appears to have the qualities to lead does or even chooses to
do so (Heifetz, 1994). While it is important to acknowledge a leader’s knowledge
or expertise in his or her particular organisational domain, according to Ladkin
(2008) (as well as Sinclair, 2005), how a leader embodies his or her presence in
any given situation may be the crucial ingredient to his or her success. Here, I
infer presence to suggest not only as experienced in the present moment, but, in
addition, the subsequent leadership performance arising out of personal
awareness in action, or what can be thought of collectively as an embodied
performance. Therefore, what can be viewed as the embodied performance of a
leader implies “the moment to moment process by which human beings allow
awareness to enhance the flow of thoughts, feelings, sensations, and energies
through [their] bodily selves” (Aposhyan, 2004, p. 52). Aposhyan (2004) further
notes that “embodiment, then, is a grounding and flowing relationship between
ourselves and the rest of the world” (p. 53).
As such, for a leader, understanding and experiencing what is required from an
embodied perspective in moments of leading may offer the opportunity for leading
beautifully to take place, as Ladkin (2008) has suggested. From this perspective,
what may be important to understand in respect to a beautiful (or what may be
described more generally as an excellent) leadership performance is what a
person is being on the inside in those moments. In other words, how a leader is
able to enhance and/or manage their emotional content, feelings, sensations and
thought processes during leading may well be the distinguishing mark of the
beautiful leadership performance to which both Ladkin (2008) and Sinclair (2005)
allude.
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Therefore, from this perspective, a leadership performance involves both interior
qualities and exterior behaviours – with the interior aspect (i.e., the state of
embodied intelligence of the leader) being primary and decisive. This ‘interior
aspect’ can therefore be thought of as an intelligence that arises from a person’s
cognitive, motor, and perceptual systems. This further includes bodily interactions
with the environment (often referred to as situatedness), including the leader’s
assumptions about the world, all being built into the structure of the organism
(i.e., the human body). In other words, the entire human body is responsible for
the intelligence of a person (Varela et al., 1991; Lakoff and Johnson, 1999).
Therefore, the observable exterior aspect of performance, or how the leader’s
interior world is outwardly expressed, becomes secondary but is nonetheless
important (de Quincey, 2005). This is especially true in regards to how that
performance is, in turn, perceived by those to whom it is directed, for example, in
the case of Ladkin’s (2008) personal description of McFerrin’s leadership
performance. As such, the underlying premise of this thesis is that a potentially
deeper understanding of the embodied nature of leadership may be required to
better understand Ladkin’s beautiful leadership performance. As Ladkin herself
notes: “The concept of ‘leading beautifully’ brings our attention to that often un-
articulated, but nonetheless powerful aspect of how leaders embody their role”
(p. 40).
This embodying of role, according to Overton et al. (2012), implies that a leader’s
behaviour arises from an embodied person actively engaged in the world. As
such, Overton et al. (2012) suggest that embodiment is the integration of
perception, thinking, feelings and desires expressed through a leader’s active
engagement and agency (also see Taylor, 2005). This implies that the behaviours
of leaders, and the way they lead, may be directly related to the level of their
embodied awareness and subsequently their ability to manage what is happening
within their mind-body in the moment that the act of leadership is performed. In
this regard, one promising line of enquiry is that of mindfulness. Emerging
research suggests that mindfulness may be one way of improving a person’s
embodied awareness of self (Vago and Silbersweig, 2012; Cebolla et al., 2016).
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If this is true, mindfulness may be a catalyst for an excellent leadership
performance to take shape more frequently.
In the next section, I outline how mindfulness may aid both leaders (and myself
as researcher) in understanding more clearly the present embodied moment of
leadership performance described by Ladkin (2008).
1.3 The Emergence of Mindfulness as a Pop(ular) Management
Topic
Mindfulness is said to be an embodied practice that is able to enhance a state of
being attentive to, and aware of, what is taking place in the present moment
(Brown and Ryan, 2003). As a leader, martial artist and long-time practitioner of
mindfulness myself, I recognise within Ladkin’s narrative what could be
understood as a description of mindful experience, although she personally does
not describe it as such. Ladkin’s experience of McFerrin’s ability “to work with the
present in such a way that [she] experienced now as rich ground, pregnant with
potential for something new and creative to happen” (p. 33) is suggestive of what
is often noted as some of the benefits of being fully present, or mindful, in
experiences (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). As such, this has not gone unnoticed in
management and organisation studies.
There is rising recognition within management and organisation studies of the
importance of being mindful of the present moment in achieving organisational
success (Reb and Atkins, 2015). However, to date, less research has focused on
the role of leadership and mindfulness specifically (see, for example, Bryant and
Wildi, 2008; Reb et al., 2014; Sinclair, 2016). With that noted, much of the
experience surrounding mindfulness has tended to draw on practices that could
be considered as living outside organisational life and leadership as action. For
example, the most common form of mindfulness practice is seated meditation,
which is mostly drawn from Eastern contemplative traditions. Meditation is
typically practised in a quiet, candle-lit room, an environment which is arguably a
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far cry from the relentless chaos and unpredictability of organisational life.
In this respect, my personal experience with mindfulness practices such as
meditation echoes the sentiments of Tony Schwartz (2014) and Deepak Sethi
(2009), both active CEOs and leaders of organisations and long-time meditators.
Both have argued that what is of utmost importance is not what a leader can do
with their eyes closed (i.e., during the seated meditation traditionally used to
teach and practise mindfulness) but, rather, the extent to which the activation of
mindfulness impacts the moment-to-moment performance of a leader at work.
Specifically, Schwartz (2014) applies the term mindfulness-in-action (MIA) to
highlight this distinction.
Echoing these sentiments, Ladkin (2008) acknowledges that her experience of
McFerrin’s leadership performance happened in the very moment of execution
and, in doing so, invoked the aesthetic of that unfolding experience equally within
her in that very moment. In other words, both the act of leading on McFerrin’s
part and Ladkin’s reception of that experience were encapsulated in the present
moment, not in the past and not in the future. This further acknowledges Ladkin’s
(2008) observation of McFerrin’s overall embodiment of leading as contrasting
sharply with the leadership literature, which often tends to emphasise a leader’s
ability to envision the future. Instead, and as she has suggested, Ladkin’s
experience brought her “full attention to the possibilities and potentialities of the
present moment” (p. 33).
If the present moment is indeed important to leadership success, how would one
research this? In the next section I outline my research questions, which allowed
for the present moment of leadership success to be explored.
1.4 Research Questions
Acknowledging what I have outlined thus far, I am reminded of the sculptor and
artist Auguste Rodin, known for one of the world’s most famous artistic creations,
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“The Thinker”. Rodin notes:
What makes my Thinker think, is that he thinks not only with his brain, with
his knitted brow, his distended nostrils, and compressed lips, but with every
muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes
(Cited in Caso et al., 1977, p. 133).
Rodin recognised that a beautiful sculpture had to be made from the inside out
and, in the same light, a beautiful (or excellent) leadership performance needs,
perhaps, to be understood by a leader from an inside-out perspective. In doing
so, a leader may be able to bring his or her entire self to lead beautifully in the
very moment it is needed.
As such, reading Ladkin (2008) and Sinclair (2005) allowed me to envision a way
to bring leadership, mindfulness and action together (i.e., MIA). At the heart of
this research, then, is the exploration of embodied experiences of a leader’s
present performance and how, in turn, the purposeful application of mindfulness
in those moments may impact that performance. Here, ‘the present moment’
refers to those moments in which the leader is required to make decisions whilst
simultaneously having to deal with their own and other people’s emotions and
cognitive states (Ashford and DeRue, 2012). To this end, this research is guided
by two interrelated research questions:
Research Question 1: What are the embodied experiences described by
leaders that arise in the present moment of leadership and which they feel may
hinder their ability to lead successfully?
Research Question 2: Following on from Research Question 1, to what extent
can mindfulness, as taught in an experiential, action-oriented way, aid leaders in
managing the leadership difficulties they described in moments of leading?
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In the next section I outline the conceptual framework that informed the workshop
I designed to achieve my research goals (i.e., allowing for the answering of my
research questions). This is specifically relevant in exploring my second research
question.
1.5 The Underpinning of this Research
There are of course countless ways in which leadership research can be
undertaken. As noted above, one way that shows promise in aiding a leader’s
performance in the present moment is the practice of mindfulness. Key to the
success of my research, however, and with due consideration to the comments
of Schwartz (2014) and Sethi (2009), was finding an appropriate way to teach
mindfulness in action (MIA) rather than through the more passive forms of
practice, such as seated meditation, as described above.
To this end, I decided to immerse my participants in an action-oriented embodied
experience while teaching them mindfulness. This would allow me to simulate
real-world decision-making processes and would, in turn, enable individuals to
access and embody a way of being (Carroll and Smolović Jones, 2017) that
would orient them towards the potential benefits of being mindful in those
moments.
As scholars such as Brendel and Bennett (2016) have argued, due to the
“unpredictable nature of organisational life, leadership development programs
that rely primarily on cognitive processing and critical reflection are no longer
sufficient” (p. 409). As such, I hoped that teaching MIA would orient my
participants to align their presence with purpose. In other words, it was hoped
that applying an embodied action-oriented approach to experiencing mindfulness
would allow my participant-leaders the ability to later expand their embodied
understanding of mindfulness as first experienced in the workshop to their work
environment within their roles as leaders. To this end, I developed an experiential
16
workshop in which the participants in my study were taught mindfulness, but
specifically in action.
This workshop combined what I believed to be those components which are most
widely acknowledged to be successful in mindfulness practice but which were
built upon, and delivered from, an experiential martial arts movement base. This
gave the experience of mindfulness an action-oriented, aesthetic feel and
approach that I felt was needed in order for my research to be successful. As far
as I am aware, this is the first time this approach has been applied to teaching
mindfulness to leaders.
In the next section I outline my contribution to current research in the field of
leadership and, more generally, learning and organisation studies.
1.6 Contribution to Research
In this thesis I provide a deeper understanding of leadership, learning and
mindfulness, explored through lens of leadership performance. As few studies
have focused on the role of mindfulness to leadership performance specifically,
a mindful leadership model is introduced in this thesis that may aid leaders to be
more mindfully present in their professional roles.
This mindful leadership model, driven by the literature review and my own
personal experience in teaching mindfulness, employed four interrelated
conceptions of embodied mindful action. This model explores, mindful self-
awareness, mindful self-regulation, mindful presence, and mindful
communication. These concepts were equally integrated into the MIA workshop
itself.
The successful implementation of this model was achieved through a
purposefully designed workshop, entitled the Mindfulness-In-Action (MIA)
17
workshop. To date, I am unaware of a similar workshop being presented to teach
leaders how to be mindful in action. In this workshop, research participants were
taught and exposed to MIA. This is in contrast to the more prevalent and passive
forms in which mindfulness is often taught through seated meditation.
Crucially, a further contribution of my research is understanding the experience
of mindfulness as fully embodied. In other words, while mindfulness shows
promise in helping people approach the way they think with more clarity, it also
offers the opportunity to experience all of oneself (i.e., thoughts, feelings,
emotions, sensations). This attunement to one’s embodied experience in the
present moment, without judgement, offers greater insight into a leader as a
whole. As such, the ideal of an embodied mindful leader is addressed.
As such, the primary contribution to current research is an embodied
understanding of mindfulness as experienced by leaders in the crucible of their
professional lives. Therefore, this thesis, and my subsequent research,
addresses how mindfulness may be applied in the action of leadership. In doing
so, it shows how overall leadership performance can be enhanced through an
embodied experience of mindfulness. Further, this research illuminates how this
approach may be successful in aiding leaders to lead more in line with their own
expectations, those of the team they lead, and those of the organisation they work
for. As such, the outcome of this thesis adds to an increasing body of knowledge
on the topic of mindfulness in organisations, but specifically how it may inform
leadership performance in the moment of leading.
1.7 Thesis Overview
In order to arrive at answers to the research questions outlined earlier, the thesis
is split into several different chapters, overviews of which are presented below.
In Chapter 2, 3, and 4, the relevant literature is reviewed. In Chapter 2, I begin by
tracing the evolving trajectory of leadership theory. I show that leadership theory
18
was driven by an understanding of people’s innate traits, or qualities, in the early
20th century. This changed to a more relational understanding of leadership in the
later part of that century. In the 21st century, studies began to shift to the
dramaturgical (Goffman and Berger, 1986), aesthetic (Hansen et al., 2007;
Ladkin, 2008), emotional (Bono and Ilies, 2006; Goleman, 2006; Naidoo et al.,
2010) and embodied (Sinclair, 2005; Ladkin, 2008) aspects of leadership.
These developments in leadership theory encouraged consideration of what may
be termed the embodiment of leadership; the notion of embodied leadership is
therefore introduced and discussed. Here, while acknowledging that leadership
models are useful, it is noted that a leader's embodiment is not so much the
antecedent to their behaviour but, rather, that a leader is always in their body as
they navigate the world.
If, as the literature indicates, a leader’s moment-to-moment embodiment shapes
their leadership practice and thus impacts their performance, what is available to
aid leaders in learning to manage those moments more skilfully? In Chapter 3
these questions are discussed, with the focus shifting to certain key areas of
learning that may inform how a person leads now, as well as how those learning
models could enhance their leadership practice in the future.
In Chapter 4, I turn my attention to mindfulness. In this section, I look at how
mindfulness has been defined, summarising current research in the field, and I
outline how both the practice and experience of mindfulness may be revealed in
a leadership setting. In the final section of the literature review I offer a synthesis
of the three main strands of my literature (i.e., leadership, learning and
mindfulness) and how they may inform each other.
In Chapter 5, I shift focus to the methodological process applied in my research.
I discuss my research position, laying out my ontological and epistemological
positions, and highlight why I chose an interpretivist lens for my research. Next, I
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discuss my research design, illustrating that my project was predominantly a case
study, which is understood as a design that combines different research methods
to understand a phenomenon in depth (Yin, 2017). This is followed by a
description of my approach to data analysis. In this section, I outline my reasons
for following a descriptive and inferential analysis to determine the outcome of
the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), followed by why I employed
a thematic analysis approach for the interviews. In addition, I outline the ethical
considerations of my research. In this section, I discuss concerns around injury
and psychological harm, as well as my role as both a researcher and a trainer-
consultant in my research project.
In Chapter 6, I shift focus to the workshop I designed as part of my research
study. At the heart of this research is MIA. As established in the literature review,
mindfulness is an embodied skill that requires both training and practice. After
surveying countless studies and approaches to teaching mindfulness, I was
unsuccessful in finding an approach to teaching MIA that would meet the
aforementioned requirements. Therefore, drawing on my experience as a martial
artist and coach over the past three decades, along with my personal mindfulness
practice for the past several years, and including my personal study of Buddhist
psychology, I developed a workshop specifically for this research project.
In Chapter 7, I address the analysis and findings emerging as a result of this
study. Section 7.2 focuses on the analysis and findings of the MAAS. This begins
by looking at the findings in respect to the overall improvement in mindfulness of
leaders over the eight weeks of the study. This is followed by an analysis of the
improvement in mindfulness on an individual basis. Then, I analyse the findings
from MAAS for each of the 15 questions and as they relate to the research
participants in this study.
In Section 7.3. I then shift focus to the findings from the interviews. This begins
with an analysis of the pre-workshop findings drawn from the interviews. These
interviews were conducted before participants participated in the MIA workshop.
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This is followed by the findings from the post-workshop interviews that took place
no less than five days after the MIA workshop was presented (Section 7.4).
Finally, in Section 7.5, the findings from interviews conducted eight weeks after
the workshop had taken place are addressed. Two main findings stand out, first,
the importance of mindful communication to leadership success. Secondly, the
need to apply daily positive strategies in order to include mindfulness into their
roles as leaders to achieve long term success.
In Chapter 8, I reflect on the thesis as a whole. In my conclusion, I reflect on
comments by Ladkin (2008) and other researchers who have considered the
embodied aspect to leadership performance (e.g., Sinclair, 2005; 2016). This is
especially relevant in light of addressing the answers to my research questions.
As mindfulness was presented in the literature review as an approach that would
arguably allow a leader to attend to the present moment in a leadership
performance, this is further discussed. Chapter 8 also includes reflections on the
MIA workshop, where, taking Sethi’s (2009) and Schwartz’s (2014) arguments
seriously, mindfulness was taught in an action-oriented, experiential way. This
allows for further reflection on the research process itself, with questions such as
“What went well, what would I do differently, and what surprised me?” being
discussed.
I then consider the contributions of this thesis to leadership, learning and
organisation studies. This research was unique in that it attempted to simulate
the real-world experiences leaders may face in their work environment through
an accessible, action-oriented, experiential workshop that, in turn, sought to
teach the concept of mindfulness through action. This is important as it was this
approach that allowed the research questions to be comprehensively answered.
Finally, I consider the potential future for research in this area and how I envision
others building on this project. It is in this section that I highlight aspects of my
study that may need further research, but which, due to the nature of my research
questions, time constraints and the specificity of my thesis overall, I was unable
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to explore further. For example, it was very clear from the interviews that learning
mindfulness had an unintended consequence for many of the leaders in my
study. Not only did mindfulness help them in their roles at work, but it equally
improved their relationship with their children and spouses/partners.
Understanding the role of mindfulness in work/life balance and its subsequent
impact on leadership performance would be an interesting line of enquiry for
future research. The thesis concludes with a biographical reflection in which I look
back on the research as a whole and my experience of it.
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2 The theory of Leadership
2.1 Introduction
A coherent definition of leadership has eluded western researchers for decades
(Stogdill, 1974; Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2003; Pardey, 2016). In the 1970s,
Stogdill wrote: “There are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are
persons who have attempted to define the concept” (1974, p. 259). More recently,
in ‘Leadership for the 21st Century’, Joseph (1993) analysed writings on
leadership between 1900 and 1990, finding more than 200 different definitions of
the term. Therefore, talking about leadership or what it takes to be a leader can
cause confusion as no single definition of the concept exists. However, it has
been suggested that leading seeks to establish direction and align people while
motivating and inspiring them towards an end goal (Jacobs and Jaques, 1990;
Zaccaro, 2001; Northouse, 2018).
While there may be many perspectives on leadership and subsequent theory that
have developed in the past decades, it may be more practical to think of
leadership as an ongoing interaction of leader, team members, and the situation
they find themselves in (Spillane, 2005). Here, leadership can be viewed as
practice, rather than leadership roles or responsibilities (Harris, 2014). As such,
to view the outcome of leadership as the sole domain of the leader is inadequate.
The practice of leadership often involves more than one leader, some in formal,
whilst others in informal leadership roles. Further, leadership is not something
that is done to team members, but rather team members themselves are an
integral component of leadership practice itself (Spillane, 2005).
Extending this further, as Spillane notes, “it is not the actions of individuals, but
the interactions among them, that are critical in leadership practice” (p. 145).
Taking this into account a single specific definition of leadership is not offered.
Rather, the following literature invokes a range of themes in regards to leadership
theory, all of which could be considered an evolving understanding of leadership
interaction over time, team members, and the situation they find themselves in
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(Spillane, 2005). More generally then, leadership can be understood as a
process, contingent on time (i.e. the moment it is taking place), the environment
in which it is invoked and within the framework of the change required in order for
that leadership action to be successful (Rowe, 2006).
Taking the above view of leadership into account the following literature on
leadership itself need not offer a comprehensive history of consideration of the
concept. Rather, the literature review on leadership highlights the ways in which
space has actively opened over the concept of leadership development for more
explicit consideration of notions such as embodiment, aesthetics and mindfulness
(explored later in the literature review). As will be seen, the formative literature
on leadership took the position that leadership was a top down process. However,
subsequent challenges and advances to leadership theory over the past few
decades have continued to move leadership theory in a direction where leaders
become accountable for their own leadership actions through a deeper
understanding of their embodiment (Sinclair, 2005; Ladkin, 2008), aesthetics
(Hansen et al., 2007; Ladkin, 2008), and mindfulness (Kabat-Zinn, 2006; Langer,
2016). This takes place whilst simultaneously acknowledging both the
environment and team members roles as an integral part of a leaders’ success
(Hargreaves, Harris & Boyle, 2014).
This chapter therefore begins by tracing the evolution of the study of leadership
approaches in management and organisation studies during the 20th century.
While there may be no universally accepted definition of leadership, this section
discusses important developments, key concepts and dominant perspectives as
they relate to the development of the field. The chapter continues with an
exploration of how the study of leadership has shifted focus, especially in the 21st
century, when it turned to what can be referred to as the embodied nature of
leadership. This exploration highlights how the understanding of the nature of
leadership has changed within the literature over time.
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2.2 Leadership Theory in the 20th Century
Between the early and mid-20th century, four major approaches to leadership
dominated the Western literature: trait, behavioural, contingency and relational.
In the 1930s and 1940s, leadership theories focused on the innate traits, or
qualities, of a person. This focus on traits represents an extension of the ‘Great
Man Theory’ originally posited by Scottish writer and historian Thomas Carlyle in
the mid-1800s (Carlyle and Sorensen, 2013). The trait approach to leadership
asserts that leaders achieve success through the control and influence they
exercise over team members through their innate or inherited attributes. This
approach thus regards leaders as being born, rather than made (Galton, 1892).
However, as Stogdill (1948) argues, leadership arises in social settings, meaning
that it is also situationally contingent. Given this, while an individual may be
successful in a leadership role in one situation, they may not be in another.
Stogdill’s (1948) critique directly throws the validity of trait leadership theory into
question. Specifically, trait leadership theory supposes that a leader’s personal
characteristics are applicable to all environments where leadership is required.
Stogdill’s (1948) position, along with that of other researchers, for example Yukl
and Van Fleet (1992) and Hughes et al. (2012), seems to imply the end of the
trait approach to leadership. However, Zaccaro (2007) suggests that even though
Stogdill (1948) presents evidence against taking the trait approach to leadership
exclusively, conclusions within that evidence still suggest that individual
differences do, to some extent, remain predictors of successful leadership. For
example, in the 1980s, charismatic and transformational leadership models rose
to prominence, suggesting that the extraordinary qualities of some individuals
may determine their excellence as leaders (House, 1971; 1988). These claims
were, nonetheless, subsequently critiqued and rebutted by post-heroic, post-
transformational perspectives. (See, for example: Bourgeois and Eisenhardt,
1988; Brown et al., 2002; Kouzes and Posner, 2002; Pearce and Manz, 2005;
Crevani et al., 2007; Pearce, 2008).
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The behavioural school of leadership, which emerged in the 1940s-1950s, moved
away from asking what leaders are (defining their traits) to how they behave. The
behavioural approach evaluates the behaviours of successful leaders and, in so
doing, seeks to identify a set of behaviours that can be codified into a taxonomy
which would articulate broad leadership styles (Spillane et al., 2004). Crucial to
the behavioural approach are the actions of leaders towards team members in
various contexts, a focus which addresses one of the key failings of the trait
approach, as identified above.
The behavioural approach argues that a leader’s actions towards team members
occur on both a task and a relationship level and that, in some situations, one
focus is required more than the other (Northouse, 2018). For example, some
team members may require more direction (task focus), whilst others require
more support (relationship focus). In order to simplify the scope of behavioural
research, researchers have put forward a basic taxonomy of leadership styles.
Usually, four broad styles can be identified (Manning and Curtis, 2014):
1. Autocratic: A leader takes the role of sole decision maker.
2. Democratic: A leader coaches, nurtures and offers feedback to team
members, while valuing their input and involving them in the decision-
making process.
3. Laissez-faire: The leader prefers to take a step back, allowing team
members to make decisions for themselves, only helping when asked.
4. Paternalistic: A leader is the authority figure and knows what is best for
the organisation. Although employees are listened to, the leader always
makes the final decision.
Arguably, one of the main strengths of the behavioural approach is its emphasis
on leaders assessing their own behaviours. In this respect, the approach both
enable leaders to assess how they come across to team members and to adjust
these behaviours in order to be more effective in specific situations (Morgeson et
al., 2010). However, as Yukl (1994) notes, the behavioural approach to
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leadership has not adequately illustrated the extent to which a leader’s behaviour
is associated with performance outcomes. In addition, whilst a universal
behaviour taxonomy has been sought, researchers have been unable to
conclusively identify common behaviours that are applicable to leadership in
general (Northouse, 2018).
Building on the behavioural school of leadership, in the 1960s, the contingency
approach advanced the idea that successful leadership is based on both personal
and situational factors (Gibb, 1958). The contingency approach acknowledges a
leader's ability to recognise the situation and adopt appropriate behaviours to
moderate the relationship between their leadership style or traits and the
organisation’s performance criteria (Fiedler, 1967; Mintzberg, 1997). As such,
with respect to leadership, it is suggested that any one situation in which a leader
finds themselves may require a particular approach to achieve success (Hersey,
2004). At the heart of the contingency approach is the claim that there is no single
best practice of leadership. Contingency theories, however, have failed to explain
why certain leadership styles are effective in some situations, but not in others.
Additionally, these theories do not adequately explain what should be done where
there is a mismatch between the leader’s preferred style and a particular situation
(Northouse, 2018).
Late 20th century literature on leadership began to shift from a purely leader-
centric approach to one focused on the follower-leader dynamic (i.e., a relational
approach). This was largely due to James MacGregor Burns’ seminal book,
originally published in 1978, entitled ‘Leadership’ (Burns, 2012). As Komives et
al. (2011) note, while MacGregor Burns’ work was still leader-centric in many
ways, it opened the door for an alternative,