‘Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity’

Simone Weil
French philosopher and political activist

How to lead attentively

As we enter this new summer term anticipating all it will bring, how and where might we place our focus in order to safeguard our energy, and enhance our effectiveness?

Our ability to be attentive is an extraordinary capacity we have as humans, and as Simone Weil notes, a rare form of generosity and love. Therefore shouldn't we be more intentional about how we use this amazing capacity for ‘paying attention’?

Sharon Harvey in her book ‘My year of living mindfully’, really struck a chord with me when she reflected on the importance of her attention: ‘ Before now I never really valued my attention. But I am realizing that my attention is the everything, through which I experience the world.  I now wonder what I have been mindlessly missing, or perhaps more importantly what or who has been missing me’.

When I share this quote with school leaders and ask them how it strikes them, their response is almost always is along the lines of ‘sad’, or ‘guilty’, or ‘that’s me’. Becoming more attentive wakes us up to ‘what’s missing’.

Every moment of every day is a branch point. Moments when we choose what we pay attention to and what we don't. Do we choose to follow what distracts us or not? Do we choose to see through the eyes of generosity and kindness or not? Do we choose to see that which ‘ gladdens our heart’, or not? Do we choose to pause and savour the moment – or not?

Our leadership attentiveness rests on the degree to which we know we have a choice, and exercise it.

Lets look at how we might intentionally cultivate our attentiveness over the next few weeks of this new term.

How Mindfulness can help

Every moment of every day we are cultivating something. What is it we want to cultivate this term?

Leaders I have asked that question of have responded very similarly saying: ‘I want to cultivate joy, an optimism that we are better together, a welcome, a sense of safety and security, of kindness and compassion’. 

This ‘want’, is our intention, a very deliberate agreement with ourselves to cultivate, for example, a joy of learning, curiosity, optimism, kindness, and a sense of belonging. Once we have made this promise to ourselves we are more likely to continue to cultivate these intentions even in the midst of all that will come across our path - the distractions, the intrusive thoughts, the ruminative worries and doubts.

Our intention sets an orientation for our attention, and our attitude sets the ‘lens’ through which our attention is brought into focus. This then opens the gateway to greater clarity of experience, moment by moment, day by day.

I offer this as a reflection, if helpful, for you and your team

What’s our intention?
What is it we want to cultivate as we enter into this new term and why?

So where will we place our attention?
View your attention as a torch beam. As you walk around the school, where and on what will you be orienting your attention? What are the conversations you want to be fully present for?  When you meet as a team or a staff, where will you be placing your focus? In other words, what are the moments that really matter in these next few weeks and how will you make a promise to yourself to be fully there for them?

What’s our attitude as we place our attention?
Think of your torch beam of attention as having a variety of ‘lens’. What lens will you choose to ‘illuminate’ your attention?  Here are some that you might explore to help ‘open up’ your field of awareness, and perhaps align your attention with your intention a little more closely.

Are you tuning into the lens of:

Curiosity; a focus on the asking of questions to which we genuinely do not know the answer;
Kindness for self and others; perhaps asking ‘ what do they and I most need right now’ and be aware of inner thoughts of self judgment or judgment of others, and letting them go;
Perspective: asking ‘are there any other ways I could be perceiving this right now?’, what assumptions am I making that might be getting in the way of my commitment to model ‘unbiased attention’;
Courage: it’s hard to stay with the present moment and be fully open to it, it can be uncomfortable for us. Can we stay with that which is unsettling for longer than might feel comfortable, giving ourselves the opportunity to be with it long enough to understand it fully. 
Heartfulness; can we make joyous contact with life on its’ terms not as I would like it to be. Even in the midst of tough times, can I bring, as Tim Brighouse would say, ‘unwarranted optimism’.

What lens might you and your team add to these that would help align your attention with your intention more fully?