Zen Meeting Rooms: Mindful Strategies for HR Collaboration and Focus

Stress: a term more ubiquitous than the air we breathe. Most of the organizations are doing their bit to keep it away from their office atmosphere. Aligning with these principles, Zen meeting rooms have become a popular concept.

Zen philosophy originates in ancient Japanese and Chinese traditions. It is often associated with Buddhism and, more specifically, Mahayana Buddhism. This ancient philosophy has now made its way into the office environment. It guides the workplace to have a more harmonious and tranquil work environment contrary to the present modern-day scenario of ‘hustling hard’. This approach has three important pillars, focusing on simplicity, tranquility, and harmony.

Considering that we spend most of our time in offices, working on our laptops, pressure at the workplace is often unavoidable, leading to more stress. According to recent reports covered in Indian media, there have been several instances where more and more young people are facing heart-related problems. The culprit? Underlying stress along with a sedentary lifestyle and other unhealthy consumption habits. It is more prevalent in the age group of 30-40 years, indicating that it's a serious concern among the working population.

Steps to Creating the Right Zen Meeting Room

Zen meeting rooms are a great concept and easy to replicate in office settings to create a more tranquil environment. Here are some tips on creating a ‘Zen-Z’ office:

• Go Natural: Though we live in concrete jungles, we can always find alternatives to be closer to nature while working. Like, ensure there is a ton of natural light at or around your desk. If not, then surround yourself with green plants. A study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology stated that natural plants in your home or office may make you more comfortable and soothed.

• Go Comfy: The trick to working for longer hours is to have the right kind of seating arrangement. As much as we hate being tied to our seats, we need to sit. The ideal Zen meeting room is a space with ergonomic seating.

• Go Silent: When surrounded by background noise, it isn't easy to concentrate on our internal monologue. The Zen meeting room highlights the need to create ‘Calm Zones’ around rooms for deep reflection and serenity.

• Go Techural: Exposure to widespread tech all day long, including employee portals, worksheets, centralized communication platforms, daily HR software, etc., can be overwhelming. One way to declutter is to allow the use of whiteboards, notebooks, and traditional ways to interact with each other. This will allow less distraction and more interaction. Often, we are so busy looking at the screen and trying to memorize presentations that we zone out, tune out the entire conversation, or miss a point. With less distraction during brainstorming sessions, we allow ideas to flow more naturally.

• Go Light: Harsh lighting affects the vision, and anyway, our eyes are glued to screens most of the time. We need to ensure that other surrounding lights do not hamper our productivity. Soft lighting is one way to ensure the working environment is comfortable. Think of it this way: when we go to a restaurant, we often opt for the one that has muted lights and soft music. This is because it gives a sense of calm.

• Go for Breaks: To finish work early or meet a deadline, we put ourselves under high pressure that ultimately affects our productivity. Taking short breaks, performing breathing exercises, or just sitting silent and concentrating on your thoughts can help refocus and reorganize your thoughts. Some organizations recommend guided sessions on an app or designate a room (Zen meeting rooms help here) to allow quiet breaks without interruptions. This should be practised as an important exercise that is followed from top to bottom of the hierarchy to unshackle from the practice of always appearing busy.

• Go Stretch: Working desks, gyms, recreation rooms, yoga places, and activity corners are a great way for those who like to sweat it out or find comfort in physical activity. These activities help in dopamine (happy hormone) release, which helps in increasing the heartbeat and blood flow.

This is not an exhaustive list, but a few tips for making work life a little better. Change is never easy and often uncomfortable. However, we need to ensure that the workplace is also a safe place for the mind and the body.

Zen meeting rooms can help boost productivity without the danger of workplace burnout. All the stress factors can be avoided if only we allow the passage of better communication. This can only be achieved when the chain of command is ready to make the necessary changes.

Moreover, practice and consistency are key to making any initiative stick. We need to keep doing such activities for them to become a part of the work lifestyle. It is also important to highlight the benefit of taking feedback from employees and leaders regarding Zen rooms and related initiatives.

In conclusion, we need to overcome the mindset of pushing ourselves too hard to do better work. Better working conditions can be achieved with a calm mindset, which allows new ideas to flow. Next time, when you feel overwhelmed, take a quick walk and reconnect to recuperate. We hope this list helps you create a Zen environment in your workplace to achieve maximum productivity through collaboration and interaction.