Most bosses focus on productivity which is not necessarily a bad thing. They tend to design and organize the workplace with output in mind. This is what sets good bosses from great compassionate leaders.
Compassionate leaders focus on the psychological and emotional safety of the employees as much as they focus on productivity. They understand that these factors affect the business in the long term and are better motivational rewards than simple extrinsic benefits. This is why they design the workplace to be more welcoming and inclusive.
Redesigning your workplace to allow more compassion across all your employees is essential in creating a winning environment. I’m not just talking about the organizational structure but also how everyone, including you as a leader, feels and communicate relate to each other
FAQs
- How do you show compassion in the workplace?
- Be self-aware and have self-compassion
- Encourage constructive criticism
- Know your colleagues and be aware of their well-being
- Give credit where credit is due
- Be open to communicating with everyone regardless of level
- What is true compassion?
- True compassion is being empathic and acting upon it. It’s not enough to know what the people in your workplace feel. Leaders must take action to make the environment better for everyone.
- How do you show empathy in the workplace?
- Regularly check on your employees and ask how they are and what you can do to help them. This must be done genuinely and proactively to have clear feedback and prevent any problems from arising.
Signs of Compassion in the Workplace
Motivated Employees
There are different factors that affect an employee’s motivation. Most of the time, managers put in extrinsic rewards to motivate employees. Although this is effective, It’s been observed that the effects of these rewards last only for a short period of time.
Employees value respect, recognition, and appreciation in the work they do. This intrinsic change in the workplace leads to a self-motivated workforce with consistent quality output. A motivating environment also creates an easy atmosphere for new members of the workforce.
Open Communication
Here’s some questions to ask yourself to discern if your workplace practices open communication. Can your employees freely give the management clear feedback about their experiences and needs at work? Do your employees understand given tasks? Can your team give suggestions that are valuable to the goals of the business?
If the answer to those questions is “yes”, congratulations! You have a compassionate work environment. When employees feel that they can confidently and clearly express their Ideas and professionally share their feelings towards work to the right person, they are empowered.
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)
One of the best practices a lot of successful companies are practicing right now is the application of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. If your company follows this model, it is a clear sign that your company is progressive.
Having this model of diversity is not enough to say that a workplace is compassionate. A workplace must also practice justice and fairness in implementing the ideas of DEI. This will result in a professionally collaborative team which is a sign of a great workplace.
Low Turnover Rate
Employee loyalty is the result of job satisfaction and work valuation, both of which are signs of a great workplace. It answers the question “How do I make my employees stay?” a common question of managers in a traditional work environment
Compassionate leaders understand that employees are humans with personal goals within and outside work. When leaders manage to connect these goals, it results in loyal employees thus lower turnover rate.
Strong Connection Between Employees
Aside from the management-employee relationship. Peer relationship among co-workers is also a sign of a compassionate workplace. When employees have a good relationship with each other with minimal to no division, toxicity drops and workforce synergy increases.
Managers shouldn’t be afraid of this type of relationship between employees. Rather, it should be enhanced to meet the company’s goals more efficiently.
