Leading with compassion
Businesses and organizations are a human construct — made by humans, for humans. It takes time and energy to keep them going and can cause us to feel worn out and tired. We know that leading with kindness and empathy is good for our teams, which requires so much of us. So why bother talking about another concept, such as leading with compassion?
First, let’s understand what we mean by compassion. Again, it does not mean bleeding-heart syndrome, but, instead, compassion asks us to consider those around us. It is a reminder that we are working with people who deserve our respect and care. Compassion also means that we look out for our teammates so that they can focus on doing their best.
Recharging
Richard Boyatzis, Melvin Smith, and Nancy Blaize looked at how our bodies respond to the stress caused by leadership. Leadership, they point out, requires so much of us — continually using our power to accomplish goals and motivate others. Richard, Melvin, and Nancy point out that our natural use of power is toxic to those who yield it, and that we need ways to manage it.
They found that coaching with compassion acts as an anti-stressor and helps make leadership sustainable. It provides us an opportunity to both take care of others and ourselves.
Taking action
Hershey Friendman and Miriam Gerstein quote existing research about the five elements that make up compassion:
- Recognizing suffering in others;
- understanding the common humanity of this suffering;
- feeling emotionally connected with the person who is suffering;
- tolerating difficult feelings that may arise; and
- acting or being motivated to help the person.
They further highlight research that says, “[compassion] is much more than just concern or empathy. Empathy involves the ability to feel the emotions that another person must be experiencing, but compassion is fueled by wanting to actually take action to help the other individual.”
Where leading with kindness and empathy allows us to reason about how somebody else wants to be treated or how they are feeling, compassion is what drives engagement.
Bringing it to our work
Leading our teams with compassion means that we look at the challenges that they face, and that we are motivated to help them. The wonderful thing about compassion is that it pays dividends and helps us do more.
Here’s to recharging through compassion — and helping our teams learn to recharge with us.
References
Boyatzis, R. E., Smith, M. L., & Blaize, N. (2006). Developing sustainable leaders through coaching and compassion. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5(1), 8.
Friedman, H. H., & Gerstein, M. (2017). Leading with compassion: The key to changing the organizational culture and achieving success. Psychosociological Issues in Human Resource Management, 5(1), 160–175. https://doi.org/10.22381/pihrm5120175
