The Great Asset Of An Organization—COMPASSION
Be the sun of your people. Nourish the seed into a tree.
What is COMPASSION?
It is known as a process that involves the ability to understand, feel or perceive the feelings of another human being and take action to alleviate their struggles. In term of communication, it is one of the key elements in interpersonal relationships.
Why is COMPASSION matter?
According to this paper [1], organizations that work with compassion possess employees with greater job satisfaction and less tension. Knuckling down in workplace compassion promotes healthy interpersonal relationships. It allows people to sincerely recognize and appreciate others, and also to work for the betterment of the organization instead of just oneself. It ensures that everyone who is coming from different background feels at ease at the workplace. The other advantages of compassion in the workplace are shown in the figure below.
Compassion is good for organizations, nevertheless, there are still challenges for organizations to showcase it. One of the possible reasons is some organizations possess non-open culture where their employees are feeling not comfortable sharing their current issues and problems. They tend to keep their hard feelings, the creativity of ideas and valuable opinions. As days go by, an invisible barrier will grow eventually within one another. The level of transparency will be lower as different levels of management are not compassionate.
In addition, there are cases where the leaders are not really interested to know more about their people or pay attention to the process of how the results are accomplished. As saying goes, leaders should always bear in mind that their people are the greatest asset of an organization. No one shall be left behind in pace. Unity is the strength, and compassion is the kindness as it keeps people together.
How does COMPASSION influence an organization’s culture?
There was a case. Employee X asked his manager for time off out of the blue. His manager approved it immediately without any further questioning. He was astonished and shocked. After that, he managed to get a chance and got the clarification. He asked his manager, “ Why did you approve it without further asking the reason? Weren’t you curious? ”. His manager smiled, and calmly replied, “I don’t need to know the reason. I hired you and I trust you.” He further added on, “We are all human beings, we are all equal. I don’t need to know you will be late because of a dentist appointment or leaving early due to a personal matter. All I know is that I trust you, therefore, I trust in you.”
Employee X’s manager definitely won his heart, and also other Employee X’s colleagues who work under his manager. It is rather upset that people have misunderstood the concept of “ work ” so much, that employees feel the need to apologize for having a personal life. Moreover, the statistic, which is shown in the figure below, shows that 65% of the employees will plan to stay for at least 3 years in an organization that is full of caring and compassion. 91% of employees would recommend their organization to friend leading to positive growth of the organization.
A manager should not be a daily tracker. Dear leaders, please believe in your people that they are capable enough to accomplish their job. Please believe in your people that they are able to manage their time. Believe in your people, and in return, they believe in you.
Organizations that exhibit compassion among all levels of employees tend to have warmth in communication and will cultivate employees to see things from another perspective. Thus, this will generate a wider range of knowledge and promotes creativity in terms of ideas during brainstorming. Once employees are given the right to speak their mind, they will eventually develop courage and trust, which will result in a sense of belonging towards the organization. This will result in the retention of the employees. The level of stress will be lower simultaneously as well. This study shows that better mental health will lead to a more balanced work-life relationship and have a better lifestyle after work [2].
Based on Theory Z by William Ouchi, it focuses on a Japanese consensus style of leading which emphasizes employees’ mental health and loyalty [3]. However, how can you cultivate loyalty? How can you make people feel your sincerity, how can you make your team strive as ONE?
The only answer is COMPASSION.
Do you have any questions regarding the meeting held earlier?
Are you happy with your current tasks given?
How can I help you?
By putting yourself in someone’s shoes, it sums up to love and compassion. As days go by, these small gestures perform a sense of belonging in a team.
Be the sun of your people, make the seed of compassion grow into a tree.
The employees in the organization are the seeds alike, the organization itself will be the tree and the leaders will be the sun.
I would like to end this discussion with the following two questions.
** As a leader of an organization, are you seeking to understand other people’s perspectives? **
We are always fast to cast judgement on someone else’s opinion with impure motives, and we have a proclivity for “action bias” by making impulsive decisions without listening to different perspectives. Therefore, start thinking from the perspectives of others, be comprehend what and why they are doing so. As a leader, when your empathy grows, you’ll be able to solve problems that are preventing you and your people from performing at their peak.
** Are you open to receiving feedback, even the kind you don’t want to hear? **
Many leaders see feedback as a challenge to power, self-worth, and status. This explains a lot about our inability to hear feedback; as a result, we sometimes recoil in fear and respond defensively to feedback. Develop the habit of valuing reality, integrity, and diverse viewpoints in order to improve yourself. Even if the feedback is unfavourable, it triggers a period of inquisitive exploration to determine what went wrong and how it can be avoided in the future.
If your answer is “ Yes” to both questions, congratulations, you are compassionate!
However, if it’s “No”, I would strongly suggest you begin with planting the seed of compassion in your personal and organizational life. With the existence of compassion in your family and workplace, I believe you will see improvements and enhancements in no time.
All in all, as we communicate daily in the workplace, we tend to miss out on the simplest way of showing concern. Be compassionate and believe in your team! It’s never too late to start today!
References
[1] Frost, P. J., Dutton, J. E., Maitlis, S., Lilius, J. M., Kanov, J. M., & Worline, M. C. (n.d.). Seeing Organizations Differently: Three Lenses on Compassion. The SAGE Handbook of Organization Studies, 843–866. doi:10.4135/9781848608030.n31
[2] Heaphy, E. D., & Dutton, J. E. (2008). Positive Social Interactions and the Human Body at Work: Linking Organizations and Physiology. Academy of Management Review, 33(1), 137–162. doi:10.5465/amr.2008.27749365
[3] Ouchi, W. (1981). Theory Z: How American business can meet the Japanese challenge. Business Horizons, 24(6), 82–83. doi:10.1016/0007–6813(81)90031–8
