Kindness Business Case
Have you noticed when you achieve something that your perspective changes? This is because you are viewing from a new level of success. The interesting thing is that “Success Breeds Success” and it accumulates like interest in the bank. This point is very relevant to kindness and each and every one of us can create change in some way and, efforts aggregate. After the upheaval, grief and challenges of 2020 it’s clear we need it more than ever. Make a difference by doing something kind today and then, notice a difference through your leadership!
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
The 12 Rules of Kindness
My blog shows that you can be strong as a Leader and always be kind. You can be courageous as a Leader and show fear. Leadership isn’t a role or title, it is a choice, attitude and action. Enjoy my 12 Rules of Kindness and practice every day:
- Always Put Yourself In The Other Person’s Shoes
- Act Selflessly, Not Selfishly
- Do At Least One Kind Thing For Yourself Or Someone Else Each Day
- Treat Others The Way You Want To Be Treated
- Manners Cost Nothing But Mean Everything
- Encourage Others To Succeed
- Celebrate Wins, Even If They Aren’t Your Own
- Remember That Even The Smallest Act Can Make A Big Difference
- Have The Courage To Be Kind To Yourself
- Look After Yourself First, So That You Can Do More For Others
- Always Be Respectful
- Reach Out To Those Who Are Struggling
Kindness is a “Verb”
Zara Bryson outlined in Linkedin “The Business Case for Kindness.” In setting 2021 budgets… Team objectives… Mountains of trend reports… Business growth plans… Health kicks? Meditation challenges? Side-hustle expansions, it’s a lot. However, there is a powerful element you may not have actively considered in your planning: Kindness. Hall & Partners and Oxford University Research shows that kind leadership is likely to improve your business performance, the quality of your work, your motivation and reduce churn in your organisation. So why hasn’t this made its way onto every industry leader’s to-do list? It is often overlooked as just a ‘soft skill’ but it’s time to change that. Recently I saw Michelle Obama speak at a Publicis event, and she shared her advice to the advertising industry “we need to market democracy, justice and empathy” and I believe the same approach should be extended to kindness as well. It is important to raise the profile and importance of kindness in leadership. Kindness is finally being recognised as a leadership strength and how after the upheaval, grief and challenges of 2020 it’s clear we need it more than ever.
A number of years ago I read Stephen Covey’s ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and although I confess I don’t remember all of the habits, one line of the book jumped out at me and has stuck with me ever since. “Love is a verb.” You might wonder why a business book is talking about love at all (especially as this particular lesson comes from Stephen giving his friend advice regarding his failing marriage) but it’s an important point. The experience needs to be cultivated by action. I believe this logic can be re-jigged and applied to kindness. Kindness is often undervalued. It’s seen as a personality trait rather than an active and powerful practice. But it’s not something that you just are or are not. It’s something that you do. We all have the capacity to be kind. But are we actively converting this capacity into positive behaviours in the workplace? Maybe occasionally? When it’s not busy? Or for the people you really like? But how can we make kindness something that we actively and consistently DO in our industry? This is by no means an exhaustive list (and I believe everybody can be a leader in their organisation) but here are some simple actions to embed kindness in your relationships, teams and company cultures:
- Listen
- Be accommodating
- Be authentic
- Be inclusive
- Gratitude and feedback
- Lift others up
With burnout and mental health struggles rife in our industry at the moment and women’s careers being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, we need more human leaders and role models. I didn’t think I’d ever quote a Harry Styles song to close out an article but here goes. If we consistently get in the practice of actively encouraging these actions…
‘Maybe we can
Find a place to feel good
And we can treat people with kindness’
SPARK a KINDNESS MOVEMENT
Bill Taylor in HBR outlined the importance of “Making Kindness a Core Tenet of Your Company.” A recent column in the Washington Post reminded me of a truth that is even easier to overlook: Just as bad behaviour tends to spread, so too does good behaviour. Kindness, it turns out, is contagious. The column highlighted the work of Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki, who documents what he calls “positive conformity.” In his research, “participants who believed others were more generous became more generous themselves.” This suggests that “kindness is contagious, and that it can cascade across people, taking on new forms along the way.”
Almost every leader I know wants his or her colleagues to go above and beyond normal standards of service, to impress customers with their kindness. Many of these leaders also believe that achieving this goal is largely a matter of policies and procedures — kindness as a directive. Actually, the way to unleash kindness in your organization is to treat it like a contagion, and to create the conditions under which everybody catches it. “There is no scientific process, no algorithm, to inspire a salesperson or a service person to do something extraordinary,” Cannon told me. “The only way you get there is to educate people, excite them, incite them. Give them permission to rise to the occasion when the occasion to do something arises. This is not about following instructions. It’s about taking a leap of faith.” For leaders in all sorts of field: You can’t order people to be kind, but you can spark a kindness contagion.
BE KIND through NEW LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Now that you understand how kindness can make a difference, I am here to support you for your next level of success through three opportunities:
1. Join my Course to your Inner Courage – and it’s only $47! I am beyond excited and privileged to have you working with me on my First Comes Courage Read-Along Course. Book your spot, grab the book and make this year a year of Courage!
Join alone or as a team! You can enrol and start anytime…
2. Coaching helps leaders go from good to exceptional. Coaching conversations:
- build self-awareness
- uncover hidden strengths and limiting beliefs
- offer new perspectives
- evoke insight
- support goal-setting, accountability and achievement
- improve communication, and
- enhance performance
Book a FREE discovery session
3. Nominate today a kind, courageous and inclusive leader and/or team at the Outstanding Leadership Awards 2022
4. LeadershipHQ’s Online Self-Paced Program ONLY $997 (RRP $1495)
Only $997 with a 14 Day Money Back Guarantee! Join 1000’s of people across the Globe who have transformed their confidence and leadership.
And, remember, Leadership starts from within, so grab my latest book FIRST COMES COURAGE!
Get in touch today to learn more about building leadership skills and set yourself up for success!
Stay Kind. Stay Courageous.
Sonia x
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