How does kindness support individuals' wellbeing at work

Abstract

In today’s stressful work life, wellbeing is more important than ever. In this article I investigate the relationship between wellbeing and kindness furthermore how kindness support individuals' wellbeing at work. The research was conducted by existing studies and articles that have been written about kindness and the affect it can have on wellbeing. I also include own practical learnings. My analysis shows a strong correlation between kindness and wellbeing. In this article I have concluded that kindness can have a positive impact on individuals' wellbeing at work.

Keywords:?#kindness, #wellbeing, #thriving, #results, #culture, #helpful, #openminded, #eyecontact, #trust.

How does kindness support individuals' wellbeing at work

During my time as elite swimmer, professional head coach, consultant as well as leader I have learned the importance of wellbeing. I have seen people trained towards the big championships but not being able to deliver in the end. It often happened because they had too much focus on hard training and too little fun, time to relax, and coffee with people that give them something else outside the pool. I would even dare to say that the swimmers focus on wellbeing was put on ice.

When I became a professional head coach in swimming, I wanted to create room for differences, less swim practice and more fun. This also resulted in many good successes. We made several living rules for being part of our team such as, that you always act with kindness towards your teammates, greets with the hand to the coach when you arrive to your practise and are cheering on your team when possible. We wanted to change the way of doing things.

I was curios to find out how kindness support individuals' wellbeing at work.

The article consists of an introduction to Kindness, High Performance Culture, a personal experience related to the subject as well as discussion on how kindness can support individuals wellbeing.?

What is kindness

Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. It is a virtue that involves showing care and concern for others and treating them with compassion and understanding. A positive experience like when people greats you, tells you that you are doing good, giving a present to someone and much more. By APA (APA Dictionary of Psychology, 2022) Kindness is defined as benevolent and helpful action intentionally directed toward another person. Kindness is often considered to be motivated by the desire to help another, not to gain explicit reward or to avoid explicit punishment. Another definition of kindness is "the quality of being warmhearted, considerate, and concerned for others"?(Merriam-Webster, 2022).

Kindness is often associated with actions such as offering help or support to others, showing understanding and empathy, and being forgiving and patient. It is an important trait that can have a positive impact on both the person receiving the kindness and the person showing it. In addition to being a virtue, kindness is also a key component of many major religions and philosophical traditions, including Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. In these traditions, kindness is often seen as a central principle or value that should guide one's actions and relationships with others. Personally, and set on a knifes egg, I see kindness as something you do towards someone where either you or the receiver or both are getting a positive reaction in your body. By that I mean releasing hormones like Dopamine, Endorphins, Oxytocin and Serotonin.

A better culture by using kindness and wellbeing as a strong fundament

Companies with a strong culture focusing on wellbeing and kindness seems to me that they are good at greeting each other like saying good morning and goodbye. My experience is that they also are good at for example: clapping of each other when someone has done a presentation, gives each other feedback in a constructive way, talking to each other, they are trying to understand others, often smiling, gives high fives and other visible celebrations, play each other stronger, and then the leaders act and are proactive when it comes to people's wellbeing (stressful situation, sadness etc.). Personally, I believe that culture drives people to want to work at a company and keeps existing employees engaged.

Stronger culture, happier employees, better performance.

A personal experience and success by focusing on having people to thrive

15 years ago, as I was working with developing sales psychology training, I created a pun for people to remember how to impact customers in the opening phase. This pun can be related how to impact people via kindness. The pun was HESTO: Helpful, Eye contact, Smile, Talk and be Openminded. It was all about recognising the customers and act with kindness. In 2011 I was leading a team of sixty people with two middle managers; at that time, the department was the world's poorest productive department and had a sickness absence of more than 14%. In short, we changed the focus on feedback to being something positive and developmental, we made job-frames with focus on trust and respect for each other, and that it should be fun to go to work. Besides that, HESTO became the single most important act we wanted towards each other and the customers. After no less than 7 months, we were top ten in the world measured on productivity, furthermore the sickness absence was reduced to below 5%.

CIPD state that “Good health and wellbeing can be a core enabler of employee engagement and organizational performance”?(Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2022). Why I am mentioning this story is, that for me it stands noticeably clear, if we can change the way we work together by being more kind to each other, then it can be easier to be honest and establish more vulnerable trust (Lencioni, 2002). By doing that we should be able to reduce the sickness absence, as people will feel better as an outcome of a person's way of life (Huta, 2016) both in body and mind where there is seen a strong correlation (Fallon R. Goodman, 2017).

WHO created their description of wellbeing as: A state of wellbeing in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community (WHO, 2022).

Tendencies that indicate kindness can have a positive impact

There is a growing tendency in research indicating that kindness can have a positive impact on individuals' wellbeing at work. One study found that acts of kindness at work were associated with increased job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) (Liu, 2018). OCB refers to behavior that goes beyond the formal requirements of an individual's job, such as helping coworkers or participating in organizational activities. These behaviors can contribute to the overall functioning and success of the organization. Leaders that take time to talk with their employees, says good morning, hello and goodbye as well as creating a culture, where you are accepted as who you are, and making a positive impact on individuals wellbeing.

Another study found that individuals who experienced kindness at work reported increased feelings of social support, which is associated with better mental health and wellbeing (Heslin, Jacobs, & Leiter, 2012). Social support refers to the perceived or actual assistance and encouragement received from others. It can be in several ways or take many forms, including emotional support, instrumental support (e.g., help with a task), and informational support (e.g., advice or guidance). In addition, research has shown that experiencing kindness at work can lead to increased feelings of gratitude, which also can have several positive effects on wellbeing, including increased happiness and life satisfaction (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

Subjective wellbeing, kindness, and the correlation to being happy

Research has shown that people who are kind and compassionate tend to experience higher levels of happiness and wellbeing. A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people who engaged in acts of kindness reported higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction, as well as lower levels of depression and stress (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). When looking into how kindness support the benefits for individuals’ wellbeing at work, I also went back to Diener as well as the formula for Subjective Wellbeing:

Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) = satisfaction with life (SWL) + positive affect - negative affect. Diener has defined that “People with high levels of SWB will likely be satisfied with their lives…” (Diener, 2000), which is also one of the reasons why I have been focusing on the positive affect in this writing. A study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies found that people who reported being more prosocial (For example kind and helpful) also reported higher levels of life satisfaction and positive affect (Proyer, Ruch, & Buschor, 2015).

Being happy is a subjective experience that can be difficult to define as can kindness. However, it generally refers to a positive emotional state that is characterized by feelings of contentment, joy, and satisfaction. There are many varied factors that can contribute to feelings of happiness (McMahan & Estes, 2011), and what makes one person happy may not be the same for another. Some common factors that can contribute to happiness include strong social connections, meaningful work, good physical health, and a kind act (affect) by For example helping another person which is one of the most basic ways to establish and reinforce social connection (Lambert, et al., 2013).

There is also growing research suggesting that happiness can have several positive effects on both physical and mental health. For example, studies have shown that happy people tend to have lower rates of stress and anxiety (Brown & Brown, 2015), as well as lower rates of heart disease, stroke, and other health problems (Burr, Han, & Tavares, 2016). If we are happy or getting happy by a kind act from someone, then we will also likely be more satisfied with life (SWL: work, health, and relationships).

Being happy can have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Our Wellbeing at work can become better of a positive affect like a kind act. Being kind to someone can affect their happiness. Fostering employee wellbeing is good for the individuals, teams, and the organization. Promoting wellbeing can help prevent stress and create positive working environments where individuals and organizations can thrive. Start by being helpful, make eye contact to those you meet, smile at them, talk to them even when its someone you do not know, and then be open-minded.

Conclusion

Overall, the evidence suggests that kindness can have a positive impact on individuals' wellbeing at work by increasing job satisfaction, promoting feelings of social support, and fostering gratitude. Kindness = positive affect = happy = wellbeing = better performance.

Critique of kindness is that it can be misunderstood or misapplied, leading to situations where it is not helpful or even harmful. Kindness can even be used as a tool for manipulation, as people may feel obligated to return a kindness or feel guilty if they do not (DeSteno & Valdesolo , 2010). In my view kindness 99 % of the time is making positive impacts and used as it should not as something harmful or the like. Therefor there is no doubt that kindness have influence on individuals’ wellbeing and by that also can help supporting the results of a company.

Thank you so much for reading the article, I wish you the best of life. Go be kind to the people around you. We need it in the world.

Take good care of the people around you.