How to foster kindness in the workplace

Showing kindness in the workplace is important. And even more so when colleagues and peers are facing challenges. The charity sector is experiencing funding difficulties and there’s been an increase in organisational restructures, redundancies, and closures.

 

Sarah Browning, a communications consultant and the founder of an initiative called Time For Kindness – which was set up to encourage people to notice kindness around them – says that because things are tough in the charity sector at the moment, it’s easy for people to feel negative about the world.

 

She explains: “Some people are dealing with incredibly difficult things in their jobs. Looking out for acts of kindness can help you to maintain hope and positivity. Being able to balance out the negative things is good for people’s mental health and resilience. It’s not going to make things less tough, but it can help people to continue operating in a challenging environment.”

 

 

Why kindness is important

 

Entrepreneur, author, speaker, and podcaster, Graham Allcott has written a book about kindness in the workplace and how leaders and organisations can practise it and encourage it.

 

The book says that kindness builds empathy, trust, and psychological safety in the workplace. This in turn leads to:

• More creativity in the workplace
• Better quality of decision-making
• Higher levels of staff loyalty, flexibility and retention
• Increased engagement

Statistics from the Harvard Business Review’s Price of Incivility study shows that unkind behaviour in the workplace – including verbal abuse, passing blame, and talking down to others – leads to a decline in people’s commitment to the organisation they work for. Almost eight in ten (78%) said their commitment to their employer declined when they experienced unkind behaviour. 

 

Below we explore the ways to foster kindness in the workplace.

 

 

Be clear about what kindness is

 

Define what kindness is. Sarah does talks and holds workshops for charities about kindness in the workplace and she finds that staff can have different views about what counts as kindness. She explains that although staff don’t always recognise that something they’ve done is kind, it can often be described as kindness by the recipient.

 

Sarah recommends starting a meeting with everyone sharing an example of kindness that they’ve noticed. This will help people to begin to recognise kindness in the workplace and benefit from the positive energy it brings.

 

Simple acts of kindness can include: recognising when someone has done good work, helping an overwhelmed colleague with a deadline, and inviting a new team member for a coffee.

 

 

Use the language and act on it

 

Sarah says that senior leaders need to explicitly talk about kindness in the workplace as this will encourage other staff to feel confident talking about it: “I think kindness has a bit of a reputation problem in the workplace and it is often dismissed as being a bit weak and fluffy. But kindness is incredibly powerful and connects us as humans.” 

 

Sarah adds that it’s important for an organisation’s actions to match up with the language managers are using. For example, making sure if a CEO says to staff that all ideas are welcome that no one’s ideas are dismissed during meetings.

 

 

Listen to people

 

It’s important to listen. Sarah says that one of the kindest things you can do is genuinely listen to people. “Show them you’re listening or use words that reflect this.”

 

Read the Charity Digital article on active listening and how to practise it. This includes: maintaining eye contact with the person you’re listening to as it shows you’re interested in what they are saying and using non-verbal communication skills, such as nodding your head and using open body language.

 

When listening to someone, you can reflect back what the person is saying to you. For example, paraphrasing what they’ve said, so saying something like: “It sounds like you’re feeling angry…” Or summarising what the speaker has said at the end of the conversation. 

 

 

Show self-compassion

 

Sarah says that being kind to yourself is especially important for your own mental health. “When you’re committed to a cause and you’re helping people, it’s hard to remember to put yourself in that mix. Also, it makes it easier to notice kindness around you and be kind to others if you’re experiencing it yourself.”

 

An article in Forbes says that being self-compassionate can reduce your stress levels and stop you from burning out. So, try to put some healthy boundaries in place at work to meet your own needs.

 

The Harvard Business Review adds that “a starting point for practising self-care at work is understanding and managing your workload”. This can help you to set boundaries, such as not replying to emails that aren’t urgent outside of working hours.

 

 

Show kindness during organisational change

 

A blog on the Time for Kindness website, written by Dee Russell who works in the charity sector, talks about the important of showing kindness when communicating about organisational change.

 

In the blog, Dee says it’s important to recognise that people will be experiencing a range of emotions. They explain: “When I think about leading through change, compassion features heavily. I’m starting from a position of empathy and recognition that change is complex.”

 

 

Resources about kindness

 

If you’re looking for advice about how to encourage kindness in the workplace, here are some helpful resources:

 

Time for Kindness: timeforkindness.co.uk/

 

KIND: The quiet power of kindness at work by Graham Allcott.