Leaders with a Mindfulness Practice: Supporting Employees through a Time of Crisis

• Main Authors: Zara, Emmanuel, Ilac, Emerald Jay D
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2025
• Subjects: mindfulness; COVID-19; leadership; interpretative phenomenological analysis; Business; Business Administration, Management, and Operations; Leadership; Leadership Studies; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/leadership-and-strategy-faculty-pubs/50
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was a crisis that disrupted business activities everywhere, and leaders had to quickly find ways to deal with the pandemic to avoid its long-term impacts. Mindfulness has emerged as one of the more effective leader development tools based on recent studies. As it has been linked to effective leadership, how did leaders with a mindfulness practice relate to employees amidst challenges in the workplace during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic? This study used a qualitative approach known as interpretative phenomenological analysis to thematically analyze the actual lived experiences of four Filipino female leaders with a mindfulness practice. The study reveals that leaders with a mindfulness practice related to their employees during a crisis by focusing on doing better work as a team, building personal relationships with them, and regularly examining themselves as a leader. Leader vulnerability is an emerging theme. This study reveals that the mindfulness practice of a leader promotes more focused attention to doing better work and enhances awareness of others and the self, which aid towards productivity, trust- building, and improved leadership at the time of a crisis such as COVID-19.