Shauna Shapiro published in Harvard Business Review
Shauna Shapiro - Counseling Psychology
Engineering work demands creativity and innovation in order to solve complex, interdisciplinary problems. But creativity and innovation skills are not emphasized in many traditional engineering courses. So engineers enter the workforce with important analysis skills, but may struggle to “think outside the box” when it comes to creative problem-solving. Our research shows that mindfulness can help engineers strengthen their ability to generate new ideas, leading to new ways of thinking and better solutions.
Decades of research demonstrate that mindfulness can be improved through practice. As a result, many pioneering Fortune 100 companies such as Google, Cisco, P&G, Facebook, are integrating mindfulness training in the workplace to promote creativity and innovation, as well as emotional intelligence and well-being in their employees. In adapting these efforts to their engineering organizations, such companies would be well served to consider how mindfulness may heighten the divergent thinking that is so essential in technical design, and how a mindful attitude of openness, not just attention, may be a major catalyst for innovative mindsets.