Good Leadership Is an Act of Kindness

 

The epidemic and the consequent lockdown has been challenging to everyone, employees and managers alike. Parents struggle to balance home requirements with office assignments. Employees who stay away from family due to work convenience, have to strain to stay focused while being isolated from family and normal social surroundings. Practically everyone is stressed out, and nowhere near our peak abilities.

The business press, blogs, magazines, podcasts, webinars are full of advice about ways to maintain employee morale and productivity while working from home. However, there has hardly been any discussion on a fundamental leadership strategy namely to be kind.

In a survey by Gallup, it was revealed that less than 45% of the employees felt that their employers cared about them. Practising active kindness can transform the workplace and it should start immediately. Compassionate listening, coupled with small reassurances will go a long way in easing the stress. 

Employees as well as managers face innumerable obstacles on a day to day basis. Six months into the epidemic and social distancing, people's anxiety, confusion and despair have been taken as a given with obvious decline of their mental health. Kindness and compassion, even small gestures will help reassure the employees that they belong. these small things often get lost as managers are trying to cope up with the crisis at work, managing layoffs, remote work technology and many more disruptions. 

While confronting work-related challenges requires time and skillsets, kindness does not.

Kindness can be taught. Practising compassion and kindness is like weight training. People can buildup their compassion muscle and respond to others with care and offer help. To be kind and show genuine interest in employee well being is not a sign of weakness. It is sharing the concerns mutually in difficult times and lightening the mental load. One can be compassionate and strong at the same time. 

Stress can alter behaviour. Teams fail to meet deadlines and petty conflicts, short tempers, increased sensitivity are indicators of confusion and breakdown.

Kindness is calming as well as contagious and healing. Acts of kindness can activate the parts of the brain that makes us feel pleasure and releases hormones that helps control social behaviour and emotions. 

What can the managers do to infuse kindness? A few effective ways are given below.

"I hear you" :  Listen, be fully present and do not judge. Encourage questions and concerns. Make space to hear how the team members are doing and be compassionate. They may not share much detail but knowing that they can is all that matters.

"What can we do to help?" It can b as simple as acknowledging an employee's concerns. take an active role to offer mental health resources or sounding board. 

"Are you okay?  Show a willingness to monitor for signs of distress, and know when they should be referred to professionals.

"How are you managing these days?"  A person staying alone and away from family faces a different set of tensions as a person living with the family. Leaders must be sensitive to issues of exhaustion and difficulty of working from home. Allowing working unorthodox hours could be a real stress buster.

"I am here for you"  Let your employees know that you are available any time they need you or any time they need a sympathetic ear. Make yourself available outside office hours, if possible.

"I know uou are doing the best you can"  reassuring the employee on his work is necessary. People are working harder than they were pre-epidemic and balancing multiple responsibilities both office and home. 

Along with empathy, kindness is one of the most essential skills for good leadership. Kindness is an investment that never fails 

Good Leadership Is an Act of Kindness

by Boris Groysberg and Susan Seligson
HBSWK 2020/11