Investigating the Influence of Mindfulness Intervention on Knowledge Sharing in High-Responsibility Teams

Abstract In this experimental study, we investigated the impact of a mindfulness intervention on knowledge sharing and knowledge collecting (de Vries et al. 2016) during a 2-day command post exercise of German senior police officers. The setting of the experiment took place under the terms of a command post exercise (Stabs-Rahmenübung), held once a year at the Federal Academy for Civil Defense and Civil Protection (Bundesakademie für Bevölkerungs- und Zivilschutz—BABZ). The BABZ provides premises and technical facilities for advanced training, and the police officers spend a week focusing exclusively on learning and training for police staff work (polizeiliche Stabsarbeit). Mayring (2010) identified three aspects (cognition, emotion, action) influencing communication’s semiotic aspect. These three aspects were addressed during the mindfulness intervention used in the field study, with participants being asked to provide a short statement about their current state of cognition, emotion, and physical experience. The intervention was conducted before and after each of the two daily command post exercises for the experimental group ( N = 46), while no intervention occurred for the control group ( N = 58). Knowledge sharing and knowledge collecting were assessed with the Knowledge Donating and Knowledge Collecting Items (de Vries et al. 2016). While planned contrast analyses revealed no effect on knowledge donating, our data suggest a tendency for a positive influence of the mindfulness intervention on knowledge collecting. These differences between knowledge sharing and collecting might occur because knowledge collecting is more implicit and part of the process of building a shared mental model (Cannon-Bowers et al. 1993). The impact of knowledge collecting will be discussed in light of the self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci 2000) and the impact of individual and collective mindfulness in high-reliability organizations (Weick and Sutcliffe 2001), respectively high-responsibility teams (Hagemann et al. 2012).