Why leaders should
foster compassion
within any organisation

Creating a culture of compassion isn’t just about making the workplace healthier and a great place to be – it also enhances overall wellbeing and productivity.

You have the opportunity to create a working environment where people want to work… even better, somewhere they love to work!

Recruitment is costly, so looking after the employees you have is not just the obvious from a fellow human perspective, but also an incredibly smart financial choice for businesses.

Retaining talent is a real challenge in the current labour market.

Have you considered how a compassionate approach could transform your leadership team?

Studies reveal that empathy and supportive leadership significantly boost employee engagement and satisfaction.

Recruitment is costly, so looking after the employees you have is not just the obvious from a fellow human perspective, but also an incredibly smart financial choice for businesses.

An interesting article by Forbes dispelling the myth that compassion is ‘soft’ and not good for business.

In it, Donato J. Tramuto, author of The Double Bottom Line: How Compassionate Leaders Captivate Hearts and Deliver Results, states:

“Our research points to some interesting gaps between belief and action. We saw for example that 84% of respondents believe a compassionate workplace leads to cooperation, which in turn leads to greater productivity and profitability. Yet most workers (68%) believe the workplace is more competitive than cooperative. The belief in a cooperative workplace is there, but the implementation is lagging far behind.

“In another example, we found that 77% of leaders believe compassionate leadership can be part of a double bottom line where people and profits dovetail. Conversely, 60.5% of workers believe leaders reject compassion because they see it as contradictory to productivity or profit. This could be telling us that some leaders just aren’t walking the walk, or that they’re not communicating their values clearly. In either case, there’s a trust issue.”

I also LOVE this article by Harvard Business Review called Leading with Compassion.

“So if serving others can be a “wonder drug” for your health, well-being, and career, can it also work for your organization? Sure, compassionate leadership sounds like the right thing to do, but is it also the smart thing to do? According to research, yes.

Compassion is a vital component of effective leadership.

People’s brains respond more positively to leaders who show compassion, as demonstrated by neuroimaging research. Creating a compassionate culture has been linked with lower employee emotional exhaustion (one of the elements of burnout) as well as lower employee absenteeism from work.

Author Simon Sinek describes that when leaders focus less on being “in charge” and more on taking care of those who are in their charge, that’s a sure sign of a compassionate leader.

Numerous studies show that when leaders are primarily focused on the well-being of their employees, this is a strong predictor of employee job satisfaction, perceived organisational support, loyalty and trust in the organisation, and retention. It also has been linked with improved employee job performance (by boosting employee motivation), and better team performance.

I am drawn to compassionate leadership because:

• It works.
• Being compassionate makes for a better world.
• We get all the benefits of supporting people, too – you know? The buzz, the feeling!

If we feel better after being unkind, or lacking in compassion, there is likely something going on within us, that requires attention.

Hurt people, hurt people.

Healthy humans want to help, and want to create a better workplace together.