Is kindness on your To Do list today?Search Inside Yourself

We work in busy environments made even busier with technology which enables us to work on the run, anytime, anywhere. We are driven by goals and targets. These are typically numbers-driven, time-determined and task-related. Keeping our eyes on tasks means we often de-prioritize people and relationships. I meet busy leaders who share their strategy of focusing squarely on tasks. It works for them as goals get achieved, and they can finally switch off work for the day or weekend.

So how do people and relationships fit into busy workplaces? Some leaders share that building relationships take time and can get messy because people share all sorts of (unexpected) stuff, which can sometimes lead to awkwardness, which is not helpful for achieving targets. Such beliefs mean we end up in workplaces that prioritize the technical over people.

Yet, we all remember times when we only gave our best at work because of strong relationships with peers and leaders. We even surprised ourselves with what we achieved as a team, mostly because we were inspired by and did not want to let the team down. Sometimes this happened because someone at work listened, was not too quick to judge, spoke with courage, empathised and offered us kindness.

In a time of 24/7 work demands, diverse workplaces and working styles, we can use kindness with colleagues to overcome apparent differences, see similarities, and build inclusive teams that leave no one on the outside. While this may not solve global crises, our ability to see similarities and act with kindness help us to build relationships that count.  Studies show the key role of kindness and compassion to strong leadership. Compassionate leaders consistently boost employee productivity, employee morale and bottom line profitability. People and relationships need time.

Do you remember when you last experienced kindness at work? How did that feel? How will you be kind today?

The Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute is launching Practice Kindness, a global movement around World Kindness Day (November 13th), with the intention of discussing, practicing and celebrating our common humanity, kindness and compassion at the workplace. Let me know if you’d like to bring kindness to your workplace.