Discussions around compassion in the workplace have grown significantly as more organisations and people talk about this topic. It has become increasingly relevant as we face more and more shifts, with kindness and empathy increasingly in demand too.
So, how can you practice greater compassion when you’re facing transition or transformation, and what could the benefits be for you, your teams and your organisation?
What is compassion?
Put simply, compassion involves “a sensitivity to suffering in self and others with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it.” (1) It’s about moving to action to help ease suffering or to make it more bearable. But it’s not only about compassion towards others – it’s about being more compassionate to ourselves too so we can focus on what really matters.
Compassion involves a level of courage.
Compassion in the workplace
Evidence from research carried out by the Roffey Park Institute (UK) (2) indicates that employees in compassionate workplaces are more engaged, productive and happier. The Roffey Park Compassion at Work Index includes five attributes needed for compassion in the workplace:
Being alive to the suffering of others
Being non-judgmental
Tolerating personal distress
Being empathic
Taking appropriate action
For leaders, it becomes about encouraging care and compassion across the organisation and role-modelling this too. It must also be reflected in the values, cultures and beliefs.
Compassion in big change
With all this in mind, how can we consider change through a compassionate lens? First and foremost, it’s about authentically and honestly putting people ahead of systems and process when you are in the planning stages. Yes, you hear this from me all the time, I know, but it does make a big difference. Here’s a few reasons why.
Having difficult conversations and delivering bad news to people you may know well, are just two examples of the things leaders have to do.
But if you take a compassionate approach to these actions, I guarantee you will be more honest, authentic and aligned to your own and your organisation’s values in how you deliver change. Most importantly, you’ll be role-modelling a great example of compassion to your teams. You’re also very likely to get feelings of gratitude and compassion in return.
Finally, don’t forget self-compassion – it’ll be very hard to show love and kindness to others if you don’t show it to yourself. There are a range of regular activities you can adopt to support this – for example, focusing on your strengths and mindfulness practice – that can help.
Given the turbulence and upheaval we’re all experiencing, more compassion in the workplace and especially during change, can only be a positive for organisations and the employees in them.
Compassion is a big and fascinating area to explore, so this is just a glimpse into some of the resources and ideas out there. I’ve added further reading but I’d love to hear your thoughts on compassion and organisations you see practicing this and especially when they’re introducing changes, whatever those may be.
References:
Professor Paul Gilbert, the Compassionate Mind Foundation
Compassionate Leadership: what is it and why do organisations need more of it? Meysam Poorkavoos
Resources
The Compassionate Mind Workbook, Chris Irons and Elaine Beaumont
Compassionate Leadership, Manley Hopkinson