In the wake of the brutal murder of George Floyd, with not one person stepping in to save his life, I’ve been thinking a lot about how empathy and compassion, or lack thereof, might relate to both national tragedies and the more subtle forms of discrimination and racial inequality.
Where do we go from here? What can we do to fix persistent systemic inequality and structural racism? How do we change policies serving select groups to those supporting all members of society and the greater good? I am not a political person. I believe in fundamental human rights and freedoms of all people. To me, democracy means that all people must be afforded dignity and protection under the law, and that everyone should have equal access to education, healthcare, and justice. When it comes to political systems, the one thing I can do is vote. However, when it comes to the modern workplace, I feel we can all do so much more.
Since the last presidential elections, we have become susceptible to the politics and language of fear, separation, and hatred of “the other.” To fight racism and inequality, we have to resurrect the language of unity. We can break the cycle of fear by embracing compassion as a core value. Only when we strive to understand and care about the needs of others, we will be able to right wrongs and build bridges. It is the simple truth of business excellence and success – compassion is the foundation of collaboration. When we recognize the inherent value of other people’s perspective and needs, we can work toward common goals and create positive outcomes for all parties involved.
For most of my career in Human Resources, I couldn’t find much on the topic of compassion in the workplace. Most of the writings to be found were about compassion as a spiritual practice. Yet, as a business partner who worked directly with senior leadership to direct the People practices to best support organizational goals, I have come to recognize the irrefutable truth that compassion is an effective business strategy. It breeds engaged, productive, and loyal employees. Kindness doesn’t go unnoticed in the workplace. In my experience, the more compassionate people tend to be better contributors at work. They also score higher on leadership ratings. The more compassionate leaders have a greater positive impact on the business.
In the context of work, compassion allows people to show that they care about the needs of others and are willing to work collaboratively as a part of a team to achieve goals that may seem impossible to achieve on one’s own but are made possible when working together. It requires the willingness to share and appreciate individual strengths, knowledge, skills, and abilities. A team is more than the sum of its parts. It is only as great as the team’s diverse pool of talent and its use of an open, creative, and constructive exchange.
To be an effective employability tool, compassion must be used as an action rather than seen as an emotion. It is a commitment to better relate to, communicate with, and drive toward solutions that take into account the needs of others and the greater good. True professional growth and self-actualization do not happen in a vacuum. We are only as good as the people we work with. Compassion is not just a soft employability skill. It is an essential aspect of high-performance work environments. We need the context of the collaborative efforts to sustain professional motivation, growth, and job satisfaction. It is impossible to be free of all bias, but as we learn to extend compassion to those we work with, we become better at making no assumptions and being open to a multitude of perspectives and solutions.
And as we recognize the inherent value of compassion and work to develop and master a compassionate perspective in the way we work and as a tactic for corporate strategy, we can strive to apply this positive approach to society as a whole.
What if instead of making heartfelt statements of compassion, corporations will take action to have equal representation of all people on their executive teams and boards?
What if corporations use the learnings from diversity and inclusion policies and the active use of compassion in the workplace to fight polarization and division to empower macro-level societal change?
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