Abstract
In times of tremendous organizational changes in the light of “Industry & Work 4.0” it is crucial to support leaders in regard to stress management and leadership effectiveness. Based on previous findings of mindfulness-based stress reduction and trait mindfulness affecting leadership quality, we developed a specific mindfulness-based leader intervention, which has been evaluated in regard to leaders’ stress and mindfulness as well as their leadership behaviors (Transformational & Destructive Leadership). We, specifically, looked at the subordinates’ perception of leaders’ destructive behaviors in the sense of Abusive Supervision. Moreover, we tested, if followers’ stress was affected, too. We used a pretest-posttest control group design. In total, the sample consists of 57 teams from different German organizations. 19 leaders participated voluntarily in the intervention called Mindful Leadership (one-day training, 2 follow-up sessions including one-on-one coaching and digital-based mindfulness/relaxation instructional videos), building the experimental group, 21 leaders only used the digital-based instructional videos and 18 leaders did not get any treatment. We collected data one month before the intervention and two to three months afterwards. Leadership has been rated by subordinates; all other variables are based on self-evaluations. Leaders, who participated the mindfulness-based intervention significantly reduced their level of stress and increased their mindfulness skills compared to both control groups. Furthermore, their leadership quality in terms of high transformational leadership behavior and low abusive supervision sustained and differed significantly compared to the controls. Effect sizes of the whole intervention were much larger in comparison to those of using the instructional videos only. Our findings contribute to the literature by expanding the effects of mindfulness-based interventions and integrate those to the organizational context. The new insight about leadership trainability should pave the way for more research. Practitioners should be incentivized to invest in mindfulness-based programs in order to develop employees holistically. In this article of the journal Group. Interaction. Organization, we clarify that such programs have the potential to reduce stress, enhance mindfulness and sustain leadership quality.
Zusammenfassung
In Zeiten enormer organisationaler Veränderungen im Sinne von „Arbeit 4.0“, ist es entscheidend Führungskräfte hinsichtlich ihres Stressmanagements und ihrer Führungseffektivität zu unterstützen. Aus vorherigen Studien ist bereits bekannt, dass achtsamkeitsbasierte Interventionen Stress reduzieren und die Achtsamkeit einer Führungskraft ihr eigenes Führungsverhalten signifikant beeinflusst. Daher entwickelten wir eine achtsamkeitsbasierte Intervention für Führungskräfte, dessen Wirksamkeit wir in Bezug auf die Stressreduktion und die Entwicklung von Achtsamkeit und Führungsqualität, im Sinne einer erhöhten Ausprägung transformationaler Führung sowie einer Reduktion destruktiver Führung (hier: Abusive Supervision) evaluierten. Zudem testeten wir, ob die angewandte Intervention zusätzlich den Stress der Mitarbeitenden beeinflussen konnte. Die Studie wurde im Rahmen eines Pretest-Posttest Kontrollgruppen-Designs durchgeführt. Die Stichprobe bestand aus insgesamt 57 Teams verschiedener deutscher Organisationen, von denen 19 Führungskräfte freiwillig an der Intervention Mindful Leadership (eintägiges Training, 2 Follow-up-Sessions inklusive Einzelcoaching und digital-basierte Achtsamkeits‑/Entspannungs-Übungen) teilnahmen und 21 Führungskräfte nur eine entsprechende digitalisierte Form von Instruktionsvideos nutzten. Die restlichen 18 Führungskräfte wurden nicht behandelt und dienen somit als passive Kontrollgruppe. Die Daten wurden einen Monat vor und zwei bis drei Monate nach der Intervention erhoben. Das Führungsverhalten wurde von den Mitarbeitenden bewertet; alle anderen Variablen basieren auf Selbsteinschätzungen. Führungskräfte, die an der Achtsamkeitsintervention teilnahmen, reduzierten signifikant ihr Stressniveau und erhöhten ihre Achtsamkeitsfähigkeiten im Vergleich zu beiden Kontrollgruppen. Darüber hinaus blieb ihre Führungsqualität in Bezug auf ein hohes transformationales und wenig destruktives Führungsverhalten erhalten und unterschied sich deutlich von denen der Kontrollgruppen. Die Effektstärken der gesamten Intervention waren deutlich größer als die der reinen digital-basierten Übungsgruppe. Unsere Ergebnisse tragen zur Literatur bei, indem sie die Auswirkungen achtsamkeits-basierter Interventionen erweitern und diese in den organisatorischen Kontext integrieren. Die neuen Erkenntnisse über die Trainierbarkeit von Führungskräften könnten den Weg neuer und innovativer Forschung ebnen. HR-Praktiker sollten angereizt werden, Achtsamkeitsprogramme zu integrieren, um Angestellte ganzheitlich zu fördern. In diesem Beitrag der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation wird verdeutlicht, dass gezielte achtsamkeitsbasierte Trainings Stress reduzieren, Achtsamkeit fördern und Führungsqualität bewahren können.
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Lange, S., Rowold, J. Mindful leadership: Evaluation of a mindfulness-based leader intervention. Gr Interakt Org 50, 319–335 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11612-019-00482-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11612-019-00482-0