How can I improve my practice as a Chief Executive working with carers and their families creating my living theory of mindfulness and learning?

Background to the topic

‘Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgementally.  This kind of attention nurtures greater awareness, clarity, and acceptance of present moment reality.   It wakes us up to the fact that our lives unfold only in moments.  And if we’re not fully present for many of those moments, you may not only miss what is most valuable in our lives but also fail to realise the richness and the depth of our possibilities for growth and transformation.’  Kabat Zinn 1994 Page 4

As a chief executive it can be tempting to constantly push staff to look to the future, however learning and relationship building need workers to be fully present in the moment. I am researching how my role as a leader can create the space for this to enable my staff to learn about their own practice using’ enquiry approaches that enable new, valid understandings to develop; understandings that empower practitioners to improve their work for the beneficiaries in their care’  p169 Dadds and Hart (2001).

‘It seems, then, the innovators in science are frequently those with sufficient courage to challenge widespread assumptions, enabling them to observe phenomena that were concealed from their peers by the veils of pre-conceived ideas.  Norwood Russell Hanson comments: “the paradigm observer is not the man who sees and reports what all normal observers see and report, but the man who sees in familiar objects what no one else has seen before.”’ Wallace 1996 Pg61
 
I will look at how energy is created and helps us to learn and to improve what we are doing.  It will look at how energy effects interactions when we’re working with people and look at the way of measuring energy that motivates us and how w e pool Energy when we are together.

Foci of enquiry

I want to focus on my practice as a Chief Executive to enable my Carers Centre to:

Enable me and my staff to put carers at the centre of their practice
Enable me and my staff to be able to reflect on our personal experience and professional practice to maintain our motivation for keeping carer centred
Look at how energy effects interactions when we’re working with people and look at the way of measuring energy that motivates us and how we pool Energy when we are together.
Enquire as to how I can create a mindful workforce

Research methods

I will be using a living theory methodology. This method is based on the premise that it is through an individuals lived experience that they can research their influence and have this validated by a research group. This creates an emphasis on a strong research community that can be used to validate the finding of the work. This is provided through Conversation café and research groups at the Univeristy of Bath, this methodology has been endorsed by Habermas (1976). 

‘In using the idea of a living theory methodology I want to stress that this
includes the unique contribution of an individual’s methodological inventiveness in the creation of a living theory, rather than referring to some overarching set of principles to which each individual’s methodology has to conform, in an impositional sense of the word. There are however distinguishing qualities of a living theory methodology that include ‘I’ as a living contradiction, the use of action reflection cycles, the use of procedures of personal and social validation and the inclusion of a life-affirming energy with values as explanatory principles of educational influence.’ Whitehead 2008 Pg 9

Living Theory has unique elements that are not present in traditional methodologies.

‘This need for a unique explanation of our educational influences means that
traditional theories cannot by their nature produce valid explanations for this
influence. In a traditional theory an explanation is produced as a set of propositional relationships. These relationships are abstract and general. One of the characteristics of a traditional theory is that it is a general theory from which an explanation can be derived that applies to a particular case. Living theories are different. They are the explanations that individuals produce for their educational influences in learning. They are grounded in the relational dynamics of everyday life and explain the receptively responsive educational influences of individuals in their own lives. They are unique.’ Whitehead (2008) Pg 14

Theoretical frame

The theoretical framework will use autoethnographical elements as I look at my experiences and where I have come from to research my practice. This will be overarched by using a Living Learning Theory to enable me to research how I improve my practice.

Contribution to knowledge.

This is an original piece of research that adds to a growing epistemology of Living Learning Theory and the importance of this methodology for uncovering the expertise of the practitioner and will empower professionals whose embodied knowledge is currently under valued in favour of advice from government think tanks. This is supported by the House of Lords “Able, brilliant and skilled professionals do not thrive in an environment where much of their energies are absorbed by the need to comply with a raft of detailed requirements.’ (House of Lords, 2009, p.15)

References

Dadds, M., & Hart, S. (2001). Doing practitioner research differently. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Habermas, J. (1976) Communication and the evolution of society. London; Heinemann.

House of Lords (2009) The cumulative impact of statutory instruments on schools: Report with evidence. The Stationery Office Limited: London. Retrieved 8 May 2009 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/13/lords-report-dcsf .

Kabat Zinn, J. (1994) Wherever you go, there you are Mindfulness meditation for everyday life  London: Piatkus

Wallace, B. Alan. (1996) Choosing Reality: A Buddhist View of Physics and the Mind New York: Snow Lion Publications

Whitehead, J. (2008) How Do I Influence The Generation Of Living Educational Theories For Personal And Social Accountability in Improving Practice? Using A Living Theory Methodology In Improving Educational Practice. Department of Education, University of Bath, Bath, UK.