When we are in a position of power, we often forget what we needed when we are on the journey towards it- kindness. A kind environment. A kind boss. A kind partner. A kind client. Even the smallest act of kindness has a huge impact.
“Followers want to be taken care of. Leaders want to take care of others. Be the leader you wish you had.” – Simon Sinek.
We often talk about kindness at length in our daily lives. But somehow, we overlook this aspect in our workplace. Nobody thinks of the corporate or business world when we think of ‘kindness’. In fact, kindness is considered a weakness in the world of business. Hustle, cutting off, being a clever fox, and so on are the qualities needed to build our business empire, aren’t they?
BUT, research suggests that ‘kindness’ is associated to increased employee wellbeing. In the hustle-bustle of business, unhealthy competition and alienation of colleagues is on the rise. When we as employers focus on short-term profits and goals, we lose sight of its drawbacks in the long run.
Creating an office environment that reinforces simple acts of kindness can be beneficial to the overall workplace productivity as well. Studies show that people who’re treated kindly at work or work in a kinder environment are likely to be more generous towards others, have higher energy levels, more creative in their work and a better overall well-being. Now if all of these are desired qualities of an employee, why wouldn’t we want it in our workplace? Why do we say we can’t run a business on kindness?
You can pretty much win the race with kindness!
One of the most successful businessmen in India, Mr. Ratan Tata, drove himself to success with ‘kindness’ as his moto.
Simple things such as- saying thank you to your subordinates, celebrating each persons achievements, having a workplace gathering regularly, spontaneously helping out with something as little as printing a document for someone, or even replacing ‘asap’ with ‘promptly’ in your emails have a HUGE impact on employees’ mood and in turn their productivity at work.
We cannot forget that our employees are humans. They provide us with the most crucial factor of production, i.e labour. Sure, being kind may have some drawbacks in a fast-paced society like today, but in the long-run, it is what helps you build the business of your dreams. All CEOs are elated when they see their annual turnovers, but are panic-stricken when the employee and workplace wellbeing survey is released. So, here’s our two cents- choose kindness.
Recommendation: Follow Simon Sinek on LinkedIn for more insights on an optimistic workplace.
Author: Alancia Menezes
Insights: Dr. Wilona Annunciation & Ms. Saraswathi Char.
