What outcomes have mindfulness and meditation interventions for managers and leaders achieved? A systematic review

Abstract

No systematic review had previously been conducted examining the benefits mindfulness or meditation interventions for leaders and managers. However, the literature suggested that such interventions would have a positive impact on leaders' own wellbeing, their leadership capability, their 'post-conventional' leadership capacity, and their direct reports. The purpose of this study was therefore to systematically review research on mindfulness or meditation interventions for managers and leaders. Our review identified 19 studies that met the inclusion criteria. Findings indicate some encouraging signs that mindfulness and meditation interventions may improve aspects of leaders'/managers' wellbeing and resilience, and leadership capability, possibly including their 'post-conventional' leadership, but research results are very variable in quality and strength, and there was no evidence on benefits for participants' direct reports. The studies reviewed explored a diversity of interventions, but provided little insight into which mindfulness and meditation interventions for managers and leaders are most effective, in what context they are best applied, or for whom they are most suitable. While the sub-set of studies that measured mindfulness found that the interventions used did increase participants' mindfulness, there was no exploration of whether improved mindfulness was the mechanism by which other positive outcomes were achieved.

Mindfulness-Based Programs in the Workplace: a Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…Considering that the earliest study included in our review had been published in 1997, the proposed influence of early research might not apply to research on MBPs in the occupational setting. The insignificant results for type of control group and methods for the handling of missing data align with previous reviews (e.g., Donaldson-Feilder et al 2019;Khoury et al 2017;Schumer et al 2018) but deserve further attention. In our analyses, only 11 primary studies (21%) compared the MBPs to active control groups and less than half (k = 21, 40%) applied statistical methods to control for systematic biases in missing data.…”

“…The strong interest in MBPs in workplace settings is reflected by a growing number of systematic reviews. Qualitative reviews have provided an overview of empirical studies across occupational groups (Eby et al 2019;Jamieson and Tuckey 2017;Janssen et al 2018;Lomas et al 2017a) and in specific settings, such as teaching/education (Hwang et al 2017;Lomas et al 2017b), health care (Boellinghaus et al 2014;Escuriex and Labbé 2011;Irving et al 2009;Lomas et al 2018;Luken and Sammons 2016;Morgan et al 2015;Rudaz et al 2017;Smith 2014), social workers (Trowbridge and Mische Lawson 2016), and managers (Donaldson-Feilder et al 2019). Although most authors draw encouraging conclusion, the inclusion of uncontrolled studies with a varying methodological quality impede the evaluation to which extent effects can be achieved.…”

Be(com)ing Real: a Multi-source and an Intervention Study on Mindfulness and Authentic Leadership

“…Despite growing interest in the role of mindfulness for leadership, high-quality research on the effectiveness of mindfulness trainings in the context of leadership is still scarce (Donaldson-Feilder et al, 2018;Good et al, 2016). While both general leadership interventions (Avolio, Reichard, Hannah, Walumbwa, & Chan, 2009;Burke & Day, 1986) and mindfulness interventions (Donaldson-Feilder et al, 2018) have been shown to improve aspects of leadership behavior and leader well-being, only a few studies (Baron, 2012(Baron, , 2016Wasylkiw, Holton, Azar, & Cook, 2015) have particularly addressed the benefits of mindfulness for authentic leadership. However, these studies differ from the present study in significant ways.…”

“…Furthermore, we tested (c) whether that change also extends to followers' job attitudes, such as job satisfaction and interpersonal justice perceptions (study 2). A recent review on the outcomes of mindfulness and meditation interventions for managers and leaders (Donaldson-Feilder, Lewis, & Yarker, 2018) offers initial evidence that mindfulness interventions may improve aspects of leaders' well-being and leadership capability. However, the review also highlighted a number of shortcomings among extant intervention studies, including poor research designs that lack internal validity (e.g., no control groups or quasi-experimental studies) and the omission of follower outcomes.…”

A study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial on mindfulness-based stress reduction: Studying effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an additional organisational health intervention on mental health and work-related perceptions of teachers in Dutch secondary vocational schools

“…Three systematic reviews also found significant improvements in asset-based outcomes, such as mindfulness, personal accomplishment (a dimension of burnout), (occupational) self-compassion, quality of sleep, relaxation, and job performance [19,26,27]. The systematic review by Donaldson-Feilder et al [28] reported positive effects on the well-being, resilience and leadership capability of leaders/managers. Slutsky et al [29] conducted a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and…”