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The upheaval happening here in the United States, which is reverberating around the world, is unrelenting and far-reaching. The pace of change is exhausting and disorienting. It feels as though we are in permanent white water.

How do leaders navigate the realities of whitewater? How do they keep themselves and others in the raft as the rapids churn up continuous change and chaos?

Peter B. Vaill, management consultant, author, and organizational change theorist, coined the term permanent whitewater in his book Learning as a Way of Being. Though he worked and taught mostly in the 1980s and 1990s, his keen observations regarding leadership and change still resonate today.

“It has been my experience that you never get out of the rapids — the feeling is one of continuous upset and chaos.”                                                                                                          Peter B. Vaill

Facing Reality

My favorite dictionary definitions of reality come from the Advanced Oxford Learners Dictionary:  

1. 1. the true situation and the problems that actually exist in life, in contrast to how you would like life to be
   2. a thing that is actually experienced or seen, in contrast to what people might imagine

Mindful Leaders navigate whitewater by facing the reality the rocks and swirling water of our current world are real (true situations). They keep calm and maintain their balance in the boat. They do not soften or sugarcoat the things they are seeing and experiencing by imagining things are different than they are. Instead, they acknowledge and communicate to others the dangers, risks, and opportunities of being in permanent whitewater.

Our present circumstances have left more than half the United States population (poll averages) feeling frustrated, angry, fearful, and powerless. The reality is also just under half of us approve of current government policies and direction. This disconnect in our families, communities, and companies is the whitewater we are all experiencing. The changes have motivated and excited some and shocked and angered others, depending on our values and worldview.

Fear and hope are co-existing right now; every human emotion is bubbling up in the permanent whitewater. As Mindful Leaders, we need to understand the reactivity of our inner reality is not necessarily the reactivity and inner reality of others. To best lead others in our present times, we must see and appreciate the different rafts people are riding in, all being carried by the currents of the same river. We need to create psychological safety for everyone and create a collective and appreciative space for differing perspectives and values even if they differ from our own.

Reflective Practice: (This practice can help unearth unconscious biases and create connection with others.)

• Be aware of your values.
  • Where and how would I take a stand to defend them?
• Be aware of how your values may differ from others.
  • How can I openly listen to others without judging them (I am right, they are wrong) or tuning them out?
• Stay rooted in your values.
  • How will I create the necessary boundaries with others to stay true to my values and show up authentically in all contexts?

We often hear “perception is reality,” which can be useful in keeping alert and aware of the rocks in the river which represent people’s personal reality, which becomes their truth. This can be the case with individuals, groups, and even countries. These perceptions are not real in and of themselves; however, we imagine and wish them to be real.

Mindful Leaders ask direct questions and test how others are facing into reality because they know it is not the reality of the current situation (tariffs and federal layoffs, for example) that will cause the raft to overturn in the rapids, but how people react to these changes.

Leading others through change means first facing the changes, our common reality. From this starting place, leaders can support others in navigating their feelings and thoughts (what is inside) about the policy shifts we are all experiencing (what is outside). Staying curious and open so we can move beyond right and wrong and good and bad broadens perspective and helps us take in the realities of each moment.

Mindful Leaders take on the responsibility of challenging teams and organizations to see things as they are and not as they would like them to be. Helping others face reality is a leader’s core responsibility, such as when a team member or the entire team states views that are overly positive or negative about the team’s and/or company’s performance. To keep the team grounded in reality the leader can open a dialogue to surface how the team’s view of reality (perceptions) formed and then level set reality with data and professional experience.

Here is what I am confident enough to write about regarding how to face reality from my experience with it, and without it:

Reality is… Life is stressful. If you haven’t noticed, and not just now in early 2025, the stress and suffering we create and perpetuate for ourselves and others is rooted in wanting and expecting people and things to be different than they are. In other words, we too often deny and avoid reality.

Reflective Practice – When you become aware of being stressed, take note of your thoughts and feelings and ask yourself, “What do I expect to be different about this person or situation?” And, what would it be like if I accepted things right now as they are and not as I expect them to be? Remember, accepting means the reality of the external situation and your internal reactivity.

Reality is… Only in the present. I am stating the obvious here; however, we often live in some version of the near-past or near or far-future and call it reality based.

Reflective Practice – Watch how your mind slips backward and forward in time and set the intention to face reality as it is in each moment.

Reality is… Constant Change. Everything we experience in our lives in always in flux. The transient nature of reality is reality itself. Everything is temporary, including our lives. Even permanent white water is not permanent; it is a set of changing water conditions.

Reflective Practice – Notice the changes happening over the course of years, weeks, and day-to-day in people, nature, and most of all in yourself.

Reality is… Interdependence. The myth of making it in the world as an independent person has caused immense suffering over the course of human existence up to our present time. Science has long established how interconnected humans are with each other, and recent research shows how interconnected we are with nature. Our future hope as a species depends on how we care for each other and work together to solve our most challenging common problems.

Reflective Practice – 1. Set an intention to connect more frequently with the ones you care about and want to be closer to. 2. Set an intention to make eye contact and connect with everyone you interact with every day, no matter how briefly, for a week or month. Notice what happens within yourself and in your relationships with others as a result of connecting.                      

It can be said, with certainty, that reality is more, and less, than it seems. Mindful Leaders face the reality of permanent white water as it is and not as they or anyone wish it to be. They navigate the changing and chaotic current with calm confidence and support others to open, curious, and accepting of our shared, current reality.

Since our whitewater is a permanent state, we will explore how mindful leaders navigate our current environment in future posts.

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Without reflection coaches miss turning their experiences with clients into learning and growth. They also miss the opportunity, and, in my view, responsibility, for modeling for the leaders they coach what reflection looks and feels like. Leaders in our current environment are dealing with levels of complexity never before seen in the modern era as AI strategies quicken what was already a breakneck speed of change.

What these leaders are hungry for is a pause in the action to collect their thoughts and reflect on what just happened and is happening now before being swept back up by the urgency of the day. Coaches can slow things down with questions that help leaders step back into an observer mode versus simply staying in action mode.

Coaches are also in need of reflection, and an increasing number are consistently using reflective practice by working 1:1 or in groups with qualified coach supervisors to fortify their coaching work.

Investing in a reflective practice is not “nice to have,” it is the ground from which effective leadership grows. As the organizational consultant Margaret Wheatly notes, “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way creating more unintended consequences and failing to achieve anything useful.”

What is reflective practice?

Here is an adapted definition from Donald Schon’s book The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action.

Reflective practice is a critical and deliberate inquiry into professional practice in order to gain a deeper understanding of oneself, others, systems, and the meaning shared among individuals. This inquiry can happen during practice/work (mindful in action) and after the fact (on action) and can be done alone or with others.

We reflect to learn from experience; we learn to adapt and change for the betterment of ourselves, others, and organizations.

As executives need to reflect more and react less to meet the challenges of these times, so do the coaches who support them. As coaches (I use the term broadly to include internal coaches, HRBPs, and external coaches), we need to polish our own mirror to be “fit for practice” in our work with leaders and their organizations.

Supervision has become the key vehicle for reflective practice for coaching professionals. Coaches engaging in all the various coaching modalities—one-on-one, team, and group—have benefited from reflecting on all aspects of their coaching practices through the lenses of their relationships with themselves, their clients, and the systems in which they do their coaching.

Group and team coaches more especially, from my experience, find safe havens in reflective practice with other coaches (aka group supervision). Reflective practice groups create an environment where coaches can share challenges from their work freely and learn from each other’s experiences with clients. I often hear from the groups I lead that coaches also feel more settled and confident after reflecting together with their coach colleagues. They know and feel they are not alone.

Here are the three reasons to invest in a reflective practice (one-on-one or in groups), which are also historically called the “functions” of supervision:

1. 1. Well-Being – coach well-being and resilience building
   2. Learning and Growth– coach competence and capacity building
   3. Flourishing (Qualitative) – coach quality control, including contracting and ethics

Well-Being

In general, and especially in our current challenging environment, it is emotional support a coach needs most from reflective practice. In a group supervision session I led during the pandemic one coach presented a challenging client case. As the group and I listened, the coach expressed doubts about their approach; the coach questioned if they were “good enough” for this client. In addition, the coach was also fatigued from their home-schooling role as a parent.

Feelings of being depleted and overwhelmed due to Covid stressors were overshadowing the coaching work. The supervision dialogue and reflection shifted to support the coach’s present experience with the group providing empathy, understanding, and emotional support. The group acknowledged and normalized the coach’s experience as we were all feeling exhausted to some extent with all that life had thrown our way.

To better engage with their clients, the coach needed to devote more attention to their well-being so they could tap into and reinforce a resilient mindset and behaviors. The coach became aware they needed to practice self-compassion to mitigate their self-judgment. They ended with “I am a good enough and also tired coach.”

A coach’s well-being and resilience is the ground from which all good work happens, because well-being leads to well-doing.

Learning and Growth

Generally, coaches know their learning is not done when they graduate from a coach training program. We know developing our coaching competence, confidence, and capacity requires practice and continuous learning. As we reflect on coaching cases in supervision, we follow the advice of the poet Walt Whitman, to “be curious and not judgmental.”

One area I am always curious about in my coaching practice and the practices of my supervisees is the influence of our self-stories. These stories (or scripts) originate in our childhood, and we all carry them forward in our coaching work in different ways. For example, one coach realized they were enacting parental behaviors with a client by being overly protective–unconsciously treating the client like a child. A supervision conversation helped the coach stay aware of keeping the coaching conversations adult-to-adult and to begin to unlearn their parent/child relational pattern with clients. Reflection helps us become more conscious in the moment so we can steer clear of our conditioned patterns from our past.

A coach’s commitment to their continuous learning keeps them on a developmental edge, always deepening and widening their competence and capacity and unlocking potential.

Flourishing (Qualitative)

Flourishing for coaches means being mindful of their presence while leveraging all aspects of their practice to foster continuous growth for clients and themselves. The integrity of a coach’s work depends on delivering the highest quality coaching to their clients and organizations. Quality control is essential and encompasses how we contract with clients and organizations and how we establish professional boundaries as well as ethical standards.

In one of my supervision cases, an internal coach/HR Business Partner was struggling to navigate the escalating tensions between their senior vice president business partner and vice president from another division. The vice president was supported by a different HR Business Partner, a colleague of my supervisee. The trouble here was the Business Partners also had a difficult relationship, which compounded, rather than alleviated, the escalating tensions.

Complications can arise for internal coaches (as with the two above) because they work within the corporate system they are coaching in, which means swimming in the same waters where the coach and coaching client know the same people and experience the same company politics.

In our supervision conversation, we explored the initial coaching contract and reflected together on when to know how to push back and challenge the executives they supported and when to let go. We also looked at how the tensions between the senior executives might be paralleled, or played out, between the HRB’s and its impact on their coaching work.

Supervision research suggests supervisors find half of the issues brought to them by coaches are related to original contracting, and this case supported the findings. In the end, the insight from reflective practice was to revisit the original contracting with the executives and HBP colleague and re-contract and restructure the coaching work accordingly.

As the coaching field grows, so does the need for mindful reflective practice, aka supervision. Leaders are not reflecting enough, especially during these trying times. They are not learning at the pace they need to so they can keep up with the changes in the business environment. It is our job as coaches to model a reflective approach. The emerging research shows coaches who attend to their well-being, continuously develop their competence and capacity, and focus on quality control are the coaches most fit for purpose.

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Group coaching is having its moment. It’s no surprise more and more organizations are implementing group coaching for their leaders and realizing the benefits such as:

• Cost effectiveness (vs. one-on-one)
• Peer Learning from diverse perspectives
• Scalability
• Networking across the organization
• Durable behavior changes
• Coaching skills development
• Well-being and resilience
• Feedback and accountability.

To be an effective group coach it’s critical to know the format you are working with before starting. In my years running a global coaching business, I’ve found when I ask coaches if they’ve done group coaching most say “yes.” When I ask them to describe the details of how they do group coaching, their process and approach, training, and core capabilities I get a mixed bag of answers.

One of the predominant areas for coach confusion is the difference between group and team coaching. Team coaching requires applying your coaching skills with a group of leaders who share common organizational and business goals and supporting them in leveraging their diversity, collective skills and wisdom, and interdependent relationships to learn and deliver results together.

Below is a definition of group coaching from Erek Ostrowski, author of the upcoming book, Group Coaching Foundations: Leveraging Group Reflection and Learning in Coaching. Erek is a scholar/author, coach, colleague, and friend who partners with Mindful Leadership to deliver group coaching to organizations and trains internal and external coaches to be more effective group coaches.

“Group coaching is the application of coaching principles (such as active listening, meaningful questioning, designing actions, and managing accountability) to a small group of peer colleagues…

• across multiple sessions,
• facilitated by a skilled professional (coach), and
• in service of individual, collective, personal, and/or organizational learning and goals.”
  

Many coaches think they can simply apply and get by with their one-on-one coach skills and approach in their work with groups. Though the same competencies can be applied to some extent, there is much more to be considered when working with a group versus one person. The number of relationships in the room expands exponentially when we consider we are in relationship with ourselves, each other in the room, and we carry in all our professional and personal relationships in conscious and unconscious ways.

In addition, as Erek points out, “Group coaching reaches ‘beyond the dyad’ to enable levers of learning and change not available in 1:1 coaching. These levers include vicarious learning, connectedness and belonging, and role flexibility—among other factors.”

So, there is a lot to be aware of and actively manage as a coach leading a group. This is why it is critically important to have adequate training in the skills to run a group and a more than surface understanding of group dynamics. In this way, coaches can be better prepared to generate a collaborative learning environment among the group’s participants.

Effective group coaches have specialized knowledge and skills and know when and how to harness the group’s energy and attention on individual and organizational development goals, and they can compassionately challenge the group and individual members by creating a safe, feedback-rich environment.

As with all coaching, receiving training and certifications is only the beginning of the developmental journey for group coaches. From my experience, reflective practice, better known as coaching supervision (also having its moment), is essential for the ongoing development of coaches as they work with groups. Reflective practice not only helps harvest learning but is also the space where coaches can support each other’s well-being and share and process their experiences including their ethical dilemmas.

All signs point to group coaching as a compelling option for organizations looking to build their leadership benches.

To serve our client organizations and coaching clients, coaches can grow their effectiveness by

• upgrading our knowledge and skills through specific group coach training
• setting up groups to practice in real-time situations in organizational contexts
• accessing reflective practice (coaching supervision) 1:1 or in groups.

Please download our Peer Group Coaching whitepaper and contact us at info@mindful-leaders.com.

Mindful Leadership’s premier group coaching method is the missing link between the pressing issues leaders face in their day-to-day work and the meaningful connection and learning that sustains leadership effectiveness over time. It’s a lower-cost and scalable complement to 1:1 coaching that develops leadership capacity and increases business results.

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Why focus on leading with compassion now? Because the degree of suffering in the world is reaching a crescendo. At the individual level we have crises of addiction, mental health, and loneliness. Employee engagement is at an 11-year low.

Communities and countries are breaking apart because of toxic divisions, and the global refugee population, almost half children, has doubled in the past 10 years. Entire towns are washed away, and neighborhoods are burned to ash from natural disasters, with many lives lost (May Los Angeles find relief and recover soon). And, the planet continues to lose forests and glaciers while creatures of all kinds are disappearing into extinction.

At the center of this seemingly bleak landscape is the promise of compassionate leadership, a way of leading that emphasizes connection, ease, and kindness. My aim with this brief post and others to follow is to share how compassion shows up in my coaching work through the three lenses of mindful reflection—Self, Others, and Systems. Mindful Leadership is about looking inward, so our starting place is self-compassion.

Compassion is defined as the feelings of individuals and groups that arise when faced with the suffering of others coupled with the desire to help and relieve that suffering. Compassion is distinguished from empathy (which is the recognition and feeling of another’s pain) by the desire to be involved in somehow addressing and trying to resolve the suffering.

Compassion comes from the Latin – to suffer together. “The concept of compassion and its link to suffering has deep philosophical and religious roots.” To be compassionate means being interconnected with others in times of suffering; the pain of others resonates with our own experiences of pain.

Compassion is not a wish for things to get better; it is deliberate effort to ease suffering by supporting those who are overwhelmed, hurting, and disconnected.

Research on compassion has explored evolutionary links such as the need for humans to cooperate and protect the weak. There are also a growing number of studies from neuroscientists looking at our innate capacity for compassion and how we become more compassionate through deliberate training and practice. Practicing self-compassion, studies have shown, builds inner strength, by “offering stronger protection against social comparison, public self-consciousness, and self-rumination.”

Leading with Compassion through Connection, Ease, and Kindness

Often, the suffering that needs compassion is within us. I recently coached a senior executive who was new to an organization. He had replaced an unpopular department head who was disconnected from their people. In our first meeting, the coaching client talked about feeling overwhelmed and lost within the organization’s matrixed environment.

I noticed how visibly stressed he was, and what struck me most was the executive’s insistence he needed to “double down” and work harder to fit in and learn the new company’s business and culture. He admitted to “feeling off his game” and to “beating himself up” for not assimilating fast enough into his new company. (At that point he had worked for the organization for fewer than 60 days.)

My client and I discussed and strategized in the early sessions how to focus the coaching time on supporting him in feeling less overwhelmed and more balanced and confident. He was aware enough to know his self-confidence was shaky, and we agreed building his inner strength was the first step on his path to success in his new job.

I shared resources from a researcher and author in the field of self-compassion, Kristin Neff. She has studied three elements of self-compassion: 1. Self-Kindness vs. Self-Judgement; 2. Common Humanity vs. Isolation; and 3. Mindfulness vs. Over-Identification. These three self-compassion practices became the touchstones for many of our coaching conversations during the next few months.

Our coaching work with Self-Kindness vs. Self-Judgment was a game-changer for the executive. I was not surprised about the extent of the change as it can be extremely difficult for leaders with high expectations of their own performance to be kind and at ease with themselves. Our work here was shifting from “beating myself up” to “being easier on myself” when he experienced a setback or felt overwhelmed in his new role.

I asked my client who in his life was the most non-judgmental, caring, and kind to him. He told me about his grandfather, who had died recently, and how he experienced complete acceptance from him and what felt like unconditional love. We agreed he would make it a practice during times when he was struggling with self-judgment to treat himself as his grandfather had treated him: with acceptance, warmth, and kindness.

Another aspect of my client’s suffering was feeling alone in his difficulties adjusting to the new company culture. He would castigate himself “for missing the mark” and “not getting it.” I pointed out everyone has foibles and failures, even his CEO and his coach. It’s how we learn from these misses and setbacks that matters most.

I also reassured him most executives have had similar experiences in their careers, and it is normal to feel isolated at times. When he began to acknowledge the common humanity innate in these issues, he felt more at ease and connected to his new colleagues. The key practice for my client was to remember he is not alone when feeling overwhelmed and to reach out for connection and support.

Mindfulness became the foundational practice for my client in developing his self-compassion and building his inner strength and confidence. Instead of over-identifying with his negative thoughts, he worked on being more aware of the voice of his inner critic. He noticed when his inner chatter and self-judgment spiked and learned to see it for what it is—mostly lies and misinformation about himself generated by his own mind.

Mindfulness practice gave him the skill and capacity to be less attached to his negative thinking by creating some distance between his observer self and his inner critic. He did this by practicing being in his whole body and not just his head. By being aware of his breath and body he stayed more mindful and present in the moment versus being caught up in his head.

During the course of our six-month coaching engagement my coaching client became a more compassionate leader and more comfortable with himself. His inner focus on self-compassion, it turned out, positively shifted his thinking and feeling about himself. It also positively shifted how he experienced his identity as a new leader in a new company. In short, his self-kindness and ease with himself transferred to being more connected with others.

Compassion is not a wish for things to get better; it is deliberate effort to ease suffering by supporting those who are overwhelmed, hurting, and disconnected. Being compassion with ourselves builds inner strength and prepares us to be compassionate with others and the world.

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“Equanimity arises when we accept the way things are.”

Jack Kornfield

We need leaders more than ever in our current tense, chaotic environment. Leaders who practice equanimity are calm and steady in the face of the divisions and distractions, sometimes toxic, showing up in our organizations and communities. As equanimous leaders, our work is to practice mindful reflection so we can pause and step back from the reactivity in us and around us to see more clearly and accept ourselves, others, and the world around us just as is, without judgement or fear. This presence of mind and body is what people are looking for from their leaders to steady and calm themselves as they cope with the anxiety and uncertainty of the moment.

Equanimity is defined as “mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.” Wisdom traditions, primarily Buddhism, highlight mental balance as well as a compassionate impartiality that fosters nondiscrimination and inclusion. Equanimity is a shift away from Mine/Yours and Us/Them. It moves us to a WE mindset versus the THEY thinking and Othering that has become so pervasive and corrosive in our organizations and society.

Equanimity is not cold detachment, indifference, and aloofness as it is sometimes perceived. It’s full acceptance of what is present, and it brings active engagement with a curiosity and openness that invites others into a shared space of calm presence. This space is created when we are not overly drawn to or opposed to anything or anyone. Think of it as a middle way between what we are really attracted to and what we want to run from.

This awareness of when we are moving toward or moving away from people, places, or things can be especially helpful in our relationships. For example, there are bound to be team members we find ourselves more in sync with, which results in our spending more time with them to the detriment of other team members. This behavior can breed resentment and/or disengagement when observed by the team. Not surprisingly, mindfulness facilitates equanimity by helping us to become acutely aware of this strong desire to be with certain people or when we have an aversion toward others. We can then pause and open a space to return to a more centered disposition which allows us to appreciate people in a more balanced way.

In my work as an executive coach, I’ve observed equanimous behaviors from leaders such as holding a composed center when bombarded with complex situations, difficult decisions, and bad news, is highly valued by employees. This centered, focused, and calm demeanor has been especially vital over the past years. When leaders show up in a balanced and purposeful way those around them are allowed to express their full talents and creativity because they feel psychologically safe and valued.

Here’s a comment from a 360 interview about an executive leading from a place of equanimity, “She doesn’t get overly excited or down when things are going very well or when we hit a wall. It’s like she acknowledges and absorbs what happened and then shifts her focus to the next important topic. The impact for the team is less disruption and less drama. We’re all calmer because she’s calm.” Not a bad way to lead a team, especially during these uncertain times.

How does this leader remain so steeped in equanimity that her team would “follow her anywhere,” they are so engaged? She has worked at it with patience and perseverance against the backdrop of whatever craziness she’s presented with at home or at work every day. As the mother of two young children, she carves out the time, with the help of her partner, for morning meditation and yoga before “even thinking about work.” On weekends, and sometimes during the week, she walks or runs at the local park to “clear my head in nature.”

Neuroscience suggests the capacity for emotional centeredness is available to all of us. According to Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of How Emotions are Made, a way to be equanimous is to develop heightened “emotional granularity.” This means building an expanded range of emotional self-awareness and insight and the language to go with it. For example, instead of recognizing if we are happy or sad, we get in touch with how happy or how sad we are, name it as elation or grief and make note of the experience in our bodies. In this way, we gain more mastery of our emotional reactivity.

We can even be proactive in constructing positive emotional states, like starting a meeting with a humorous story before diving into a serious topic. The main takeaway from brain science is higher emotional granularity results in better emotional regulation and better relationships. Developing this emotional awareness in support of a balanced internal state takes focused attention and practice.

Another practice of mindful reflection that expands self-awareness and creates equanimity was developed by Michelle McDonald, a senior mindfulness teacher. Her mindfulness technique is presented using the acronym RAIN, presented below with my adapted explanations, it is meant to be practiced in order:

Recognize

whatever internal experience is happening—feelings, thoughts, bodily sensations

Allow and Accept

the experience to be there without pushing it away or pulling it close

Investigate

without judgment feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations, and ask – “what is happening in my body and my mind right now?”

Notice with Non-identification

moment to moment without adding “I, me, mine.” Simply note it.

Equanimity builds resilience and cultivates inclusion and engagement. Whatever our leadership role, we can practice equanimity and make mindful choices to respond with steadiness, caring, and openness amid anything that comes our way.

“Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind.”

Nyanaponika Thera

~~~

Mindful Leaders… is a new series of posts intended to illustrate what Mindful Leaders think, do, say, and practice to be, well, mindful. The practice of leading mindfully means building a continuity of awareness to strengthen our relationship with ourselves, with others, and with the enterprises (systems) in which we work and live. (See our signature Tri-Lens Mindful Reflection Model.)

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Evidence is mounting about the value of supervision. For coaches to be at their best for their clients and client organizations, they need more than coaching, mentoring, and credentials. They need a safe space where they can reflect on their coaching work together with like-minded coaching practitioners. Coaching supervision, particularly in groups, is a safe haven where coaches can come together to discuss their client experiences from the leader who may not be open to coaching to the overwhelmed client draining a coach’s energy to the ethical dilemmas that surprise us and need managing.

Coaching supervision supports coaches as they build their resilience and learning agility. In the end, there really are no master coaches, only coaches who exhibit a mastery in their work. And, coaching supervision is a path to mastery.

To learn more about Mindful Leadership Coaching Supervision for Internal and External Coaches, and/or to join one of Ken’s Groups, please send us a note. We have one opening left for our group starting in January (ask about dates), and another group forming starting in March 2025.

Here are some of Ken’s other posts about the importance of coaching supervision:

• Supervision Explained – Breaking Through Myths and Misunderstandings
• Why Coaching Supervision is Important
• What Internal Coaches Need

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Thanksgiving, like all national holidays, has a complicated history. Be aware not all are giving thanks this time of year, and honor all Indigenous Peoples.

The holidays are a time when we become hyper-aware of the “spirit of giving.” We are constantly reminded to be grateful and to give to others. Our giving spirit can be confused with the rush to buy stuff, and practicing gratitude is more than buying gift cards for employees, though gift cards are always appreciated.

Leaders who practice gratitude cultivate psychological safety and facilitate accountability. These are the mindful leaders who look for opportunities to show appreciation for effort and risk-taking. They don’t wait for the results of high performance before showing gratitude. They recognize well planned work and give feedback for collaborative approaches to projects, which increases engagement.

Mindful leaders set a high bar and yet give latitude for missteps. And, they help others to focus their attention on what matters most and praise them even when their work falls short of its goals. This approach inspires greater ownership and increased responsibility, the core ingredients of accountability.

Mindful Leaders know practicing gratitude is always in season, and the science backs this up, because the benefits and impact are both immediately evident and continue to ripple long after the grateful gesture.

Leaders who practice gratitude build resilient teams and cultures. Studies have shown being grateful brings many benefits to our health and well-being, personally and across groups of people. The positive energy generated from thankfulness creates resonance and a solid foundation for teams and organizations as they face into challenging times.

Though it can be difficult, practicing gratitude when things don’t go as planned or when tragedy hits is essential for maintaining a broader perspective and stabilizing our emotions and mind. We engage in this practice not by being grateful for things falling apart, but for being grateful for our inner resourcefulness in addressing problems. We are grateful for all those who come to our side to help us through our most troubling times. Gratitude builds resilience and creates stronger relationships, which cultivates well-being

Please keep in mind the thankful atmosphere of holidays can have the opposite effect on those with mental health issues, addiction, and/or family estrangement. We can never know the pain others carry. The mindful leader is welcoming and kind to all, even the Scrooges among us.

I will close by sharing three gratitude practices (feel free to make up your own) and by expressing my gratitude for all in my life who keep me mindful and connected. Thanks a lot.

Three Gratitude Practices:

• In team meetings or any gathering, before getting to business, ask each person to finish succinctly the sentence – “I am grateful for …” without the why they are grateful or any explanation. You can also finish the sentence – “I appreciate ….” I recommend also experimenting with dropping the “I” and simply saying to yourself and with others “Grateful for …” or “Appreciative for…”
• When you wake up as your brain engages and your mind starts to focus, say to yourself – “I am grateful for …” Do the same as you settle for sleep.
• Practice gratitude by thanking the trees, grass, birds, and all of nature. They’ll appreciate the attention and return the gesture.

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Mindful Leaders… is a new series of posts intended to illustrate what Mindful Leaders think, do, say, and practice to be, well, mindful. The practice of leading mindfully means building a continuity of awareness to strengthen our relationship with ourselves, with others, and with the enterprises (systems) in which we work and live. (See our signature Tri-Lens Mindful Reflection Model.)

The post Mindful Leaders… Practice Gratitude appeared first on Mindful Leadership.

Change is always here. Change can carry us along or sweep us away when we are unaware, or, if we notice, if we pay attention enough, we’ll experience change as neither good nor bad but simply the nature of things.

Leaders make change happen, in large and small ways, and change happens to them.

Whatever happens next, be it the arrival or departure of a star team player, the need to ease out an under-performer, or the election of the “wrong” candidate, the Mindful Leader acknowledges the reality of change, allows it to be, accepts it for what it is, and acts as needed (not acting is also an action).

Change brings shifts in how we see ourselves, others, and the world. Sometimes these shifts in perspective are subtle and sometimes transformative. We might hear from the Board our communication needs to be more succinct, or the Board might tell us our tenure as CEO is over. Change is always present; how we mindfully deal with it is what matters most.

The seasons are a constant reminder of change. Autumn is the season of letting be and letting go, witnessed by the changing leaves. The reds, yellows, oranges, and browns are mostly on the ground now, and we notice more as we look through the trees to see what’s next.

The Mindful Leader practices Noticing. They Acknowledge change, Allow it to be, Accept it, and Act.

The Only Constant in Life Is Change – Heraclitus

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Mindful Leaders… is a new series of posts intended to illustrate what Mindful Leaders think, do, say, and practice to be, well, mindful. The practice of leading mindfully means building a continuity of awareness to strengthen our relationship with ourselves, with others, and with the enterprises (systems) in which we work and live. (See our signature Tri-Lens Mindful Reflection Model.)

The post Mindful Leaders… Notice Change – the 4A Approach to Change appeared first on Mindful Leadership.