Welcome to The Journey, mini-issue No. 3
This is a mini-blog published every other week based on new and interesting things I see in our world. This was sent September 19 to my email subscription list. I hope you find it useful. This mini-issue is about compassion in the workplace.
Compassion, and our role as leaders and humans
Can productivity and compassion co-exist in organizations?
Compassion is a lovely term. But how can we be good leaders and good corporate citizens.
Can they co-exist? Yes.
According to the Behaviorist podcast (Season 5, Episode 9: Living in the Value of Compassion), we can actually see more productivity and progress in our employees when we practice compassion before compliance.
The idea here, is that compassion (defined in Latin as “to suffer together”) as leaders and team members, is an understanding of where the employee may be in order to identify optimal performance and process. Compliance and accountability are still required, but compliance and compassion work together to create a psychologically safe environment to help our employees be seen, valued and belonging.
At this time of quiet quitting and the Great Resignation, many employees are looking to be valued. It could be the leg up you have on your competition!
Are Compassion and Empathy Different?
Yes.
Over the last 2 years, leaders, managers and team members have been overwhelmed with their own and their employees’ anxieties associated with the pandemic, health care access, war and inflation, just to mention a few. In the HBR article, “Connect with Empathy, but Lead with Compassion“, we learn a few tips to help us avoid burnout and help maintain productivity and wellbeing.
Hougaard, Carter and Afton remind us of the difference between pity, sympathy, empathy and compassion. While all involve emotional support and understanding of the person’s experience, compassion is much more active oriented toward helping the person in need. As a leader and human, showing empathy is important, but too much can be overwhelming and lead to burnout.
In the last 2 years, much of this weight has landed on the role of the direct manager. Most of these managers are not only managing and developing employees, but most of the time, they have other important tasks for the organization.
How do we enable our managers to stay effective and recover from burnout?
Compassion involves an increase act of support on “how can I help you?” The key difference here is not getting lost in the emotion of the situation – but, stepping back. In this case, we can ask the question – How can I help to support my (friend, employee, co-worker)? During Covid – empathy was fairly automatic for most of us. We were mostly in the same situation. Lock down, loss of social connection, home-schooling children, concern for getting ill, etc. But as we move toward vaccinations and mostly returning to normal, the differences in our situations may occur.
Moving Past the “Empathy Trap”
In order to help others (and us from being emotionally drained), we can look toward compassion as a way to move past the “empathy trap“. The reason it can be a trap, as it is so filled with our emotion, it can be draining.
But don’t worry, you don’t lose your empathic self. You just use this superpower mindfully, to keep yourself from being overwhelmed. In these crazy and hectic times, keeping yourself away from burnout is critical. It’s self-care, not selfish.
By empowering and supporting your team members, employees, family, friends, etc. – you also help them find ways to cope and solve issues for themselves. A win-win!
Lastly – if you start to see a trend or theme among your employees with issues at work – there may be a process change required. As we have shifted the ways we work – this is a very great opportunity to add value to the employee and the business!