HR 101 – The Power of Kindness!
One very important initiative I started in each hotel I worked at, was conducting Exit Interviews. This was a practice specifically designed to gain further insight into why a member of our “family” had decided to leave our organization. Even though I despised having to do these, the practice provided me with an honest and unbiased perspective of what we did well and what we needed to improve on. In essence, since the employee was leaving, there was technically nothing holding them back in providing a realistic outlook of the organization.
My favourite question to ask in an “exit interview” was always “what are you going to miss the most?” And 100% of the time I asked this question, I received the same response “the people.”
The current landscape and challenge:
I have no doubt you have read the importance of creating a specific culture in your organization to drive specific results. Often the cultures that are created are focused on driving productivity to ensure bottom line goals are met if not exceeded and given the current times of the COVID19 pandemic, this has never been more important. However, in a recent article by CAMH the following was noted:
COVID-19 is having a negative impact on Canadians’ mental health, with many seeing their stress levels double since the onset of the pandemic. People are struggling with fear and uncertainty about their own health and their loved ones’ health, concerns about employment and finances, and the social isolation that comes from public health measures such as quarantining and physical distancing. A recent poll found that 50% of Canadians reported worsening mental health since the pandemic began with many feeling worried (44%) and anxious (41%). One in 10 Canadians polled said that their mental health had worsened ‘a lot’ as a result of COVID-19. Similar results were found in a survey of Canadian workers, where 81% reported that the pandemic is negatively impacting their mental health, indicating a significant drop in overall worker mental health since the beginning of COVID-19.
Not only are businesses faced with financial pressures, but they are dealing with the mental health impacts of the very people that would be helping them deal with these organizational challenges. Is there a solution?
Going back to our “exit interviews” the most important piece of information I had gathered was that the culture we had created made it very difficult for people to leave and pursue other opportunities. The feeling often described was they “were leaving their families.” But in analyzing these conversations, it wasn’t the “people” that made it a difficult decision, but the social connections that were created with the people, that made it very painful for them to leave.
The question now is : What was so powerful about these social connections that made their bond so powerful? The answer was a culture of kindness and compassion.
The foundation of Kindness and Compassion:
A study in the journal PLOS ONE found that kids under the age of 2 were happier when they gave treats to another person than when they received treats themselves. In another study by researcher Elizabeth Dunn of UBC, she provided half of the research participants with $20 to spend on themselves, and the other half were given $20 to spend on someone else. Her findings showed that spending money on ourselves is good and does make us happy but spending money on others makes us even happier. This amazing finding also showed that this is a universal human principle, no matter where the same study took place in the world! In fact, others studies have shown that those who even witnessed acts of kindness also showed boosts in their happiness levels. In essence, all these studies have shown that we are in fact, wired to be kind and compassionate to others.
Conclusion:
The above studies show that in times of stress and anxiety, kindness and compassion are great ways to combat these challenges and increase our own levels happiness. When our happiness goes up, our productivity goes up (by as much as 31% according to researcher Shawn Anchor) and thus, employee engagement will also go up. Furthermore, various studies have shown that the organizations with the highest scores on employee engagements also show that they perform the best from a financial perspective. The science therefore supports the rationale that creating a culture built on the foundation of kindness and compassion will fuel financial success.
Whether you are wanting to instill kindness and compassion into your business or directly into your family life, try the following ideas and let me know which ones work the best for you!
- Catch a coworker doing something amazing and acknowledge it by sharing why you felt it was so impactful.
- Don’t wait until someone’s birthday to wish them well, pick up the phone and call them now to let them know how much they mean to you.
- Put your phone away in the lunchroom and actually have a meaningful conversation with someone you don’t know very well.
- Set a daily intention – you don’t have to give away your wordly possessions or donate an organ, but do something as simple as giving up your chair on the bus for someone or shovelling your neighbors driveway when it snows.
- Use the 10-5 guideline: if you are within 10 ft of someone, make eye contact and smile. Within 5 ft – make sure you say hello (even if you have to social distance).
- FORGIVE – don’t let small things get to you, show kindness and compassion even when others have wronged you.
- Have a local charity you partner with and volunteer your time to help and assist. As a hotel, we donated our old linen and sheets to a shelter, however, we often asked for volunteers to help drop this off instead of having the items picked up by the charity. To experience this and see who these items were going to, made it more meaningful and impactful.
Until next time,
Be well,
Coach Mumdoo
604-861-4288
Recent Comments