This paper introduces and unpacks relationally mindful teaching (RMT), a framework that supports management educators’ efforts to teach interpersonal competencies through the development and implementation of relational pedagogies. RMT is a bridging framework that guides the everyday enactment of otherwise abstract notions of ‘teaching relationally’ while also helping to systematize the use of discrete relationally oriented teaching tools and techniques. At its core, RMT involves maintaining conscious awareness of the countless direct and indirect interactions that occur between and among the instructor and the students within a course, and approaching these interactions in ways that are thoughtful and intentional about the impact they ultimately have on the whole student. To further unpack RMT, we identify its four complementary elements—connection quality, power, justice, and academic rigor. RMT calls for awareness and intentionality with every course-related interaction such that these four elements are kept in focus and continually balanced with one another. In addition to describing each element and the work involved in balancing them, we also present examples of RMT in action and discuss implications, challenges, and opportunities.
