Humanizing Workplaces- Maximizing People Performance

Working professionals spend majority of their time at work, and for many of us, our relationship with work plays a significant role in the quality of our life. My limited understanding of current workplace scenarios says that in a race for business, profit, efficiency, productivity, career development etc., our very own humanity gets lost. It seems like we bring our body and brain to work but forget our heart and soul. Do you think it is important to carry our whole-self- our most vulnerable, emotional, imperfect and authentic self to the workplace-where we spend majority of our time? Should organizations facilitate psychological safety at the workplace to aid people to bring their authentic self to work?

The study of labour (aka talent) market suggests that there are two broad categories which interact with each other to generate economic value. And these two broad categories are:

(I) Services Providers/Suppliers (Employees)

(II) Services Receivers/Demanders (Employers)

Services are the cornerstone of labour market and these services offer an intangible value in the most expert manner, beyond tangible products. Some of the examples are - Education, Healthcare, Hospitality, Culture, Information Technology, Consulting, Financial Services, Entertainment, Events, Media, Transportation, Fire & Safety, Logistics, Infrastructure, Professional Services, clubs, Wellness, Convenience Services etc. To be successful in these services which operate under a competitive business environment, in addition to technical skill sets people are required to champion relationships (relationship centricity), collaborative, communicative, engaged, energetic, flexible, innovative, intrapreneurial, optimistic, passionate, resilient, and the list goes on. If we observe closely, all these traits require discretionary efforts (volunteer efforts) by employees providing a particular service. Employers/ Service Receivers need not take their discretionary efforts for granted, because, Martin and Schmidt (2010) presented in their research that one in three employees who were identified as high potential admit not putting all their efforts into their job. Now, who is going to ensure that employees put their all efforts and how?

For the product or services to be successful it is important for a service providers to understand the end user; similarly it is important for a service receiver to understand the service provider to receive the best services. Hence, service receiver needs to empathise with service provider and vice versa.

Two legendary CEOs of our time, have spoken widely on compassion and empathy recently. 

(1) Satya Nadela, CEO, Microsoft and his wife Anu; in one of the interviews, shared their journey and experience of raising a kid with special needs. Satya said this had made him empathetic; empathy sparks innovation. Because his nature of business requires them to meet the unmet and unarticulated needs of customers and the only way to be able to succeed is to have a deep sense of empathy and for that matter any other business. 

Thus, the first step towards the designing any solution (design thinking) is to develop a sense of empathy towards the people you are designing for, to gain insights into their world, what they need and want, how they behave, feel and think in a real-world setting.

Does this make a business sense to create empathetic, humanistic workplaces?

(2) Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn, used ‘Compassion’ 23 times in his speech to Wharton Undergrads in 2018 (Economic Times, May 2018). In his speech, he explained Empathy and Compassion which he has attributed to the book 'The Art of Happiness' - the teachings of his holiness the Dalai Lama. He said,

Empathy is feeling what another living thing feels.

Compassion (translates as Karuna in the spiritual paths of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism) is putting yourself in the shoes of another person, seeing the world through their lens and act to alleviate their suffering. 

To simply put, Compassion = Empathy + Action

Jeff also said, "I’ve now been practicing this approach for well over a decade. And I can tell you with absolute conviction that managing compassionately is not just a better way to build a team, it’s a better way to build a company" (LinkedIn, May, 2018).

Compassion is an authentic action to alleviate the sufferings of others and to heal them.

Satya Nadela Admits that empathy is not innate, there is no switch button- to turn it ON and OFF, and it doesn’t come easily. It must be consciously cultivated and practiced with authenticity. And the way Daniel Goleman explains, there are three dimensions to empathy and each one is important for leadership effectiveness:

Cognitive Empathy—the ability to understand another person’s perspective;

Emotional Empathy—the ability to feel what someone else feels;

Empathic Concern—the ability to sense what another person needs from you. 

Contemplation and reflection on above paradigms might help us to develop authentic empathy in smaller steps.

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, the holy manuscript of Hindus, also talks about practicing compassionate leadership which is more effective than masculine, forced and aggressive leadership style. Leaders who are compassionate and others-centered leave a lasting leadership legacy.

Professor Jonathan Haidt, Moral Psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership, along with his colleagues found in their research that employees working with compassionate leaders were more likely to act in a helpful and friendly manner towards others, even though they had nothing to gain. Another research study showed that when leaders are fair, members of their team display more collegial behaviour and are more productive both individually and team as a whole. Thus we can say that compassionate behaviour can create a more collaborative workplace.

Researchers Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler have shown that if you are kind to one person, they will be kind to four other people, these four people will be kind to four more people and this circling goes on and eventually it comes back around you. In short, compassion is contagious: it spreads, it multiplies its effect. What goes around comes around- so true!

Conversely, embarrassing or blaming an employee too harshly erodes the loyalty of that employee, says, Professor Adam Grant from Wharton Business School. He says, when a leader/ manager responds in a frustrated and furious manner, the employee at the receiving end becomes less likely to take risks and new initiatives in the future because he or she worries about the negative consequences of making mistakes. In other words, such acts of leader/manager kill the culture of experimentation that is critical to learning and innovation.” Professor Fiona Lee, University of Michigan, shows in her research that promoting a culture of psychological safety- rather than fear of negative consequences – helps encourage the spirit of experimentation that is so critical for creativity. 

Does it make sense to create compassionate leadership and culture of compassion around you?

Some of the traits of compassionate leadership are narrated in the following verses of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 [Bhakti Yoga]: 13, 14 which are resonating with some of the study and its findings on compassion.

????????? ??????????? ?????: ???? ?? ? ? adveshta sarvabhootanam maitraha karuna eva cha |

??????? ????????: ????:????: ????? ??13?? nirmamo nirahankaraha samaduhkhasukha-ha kshamee || 13 ||

Translation:

He who hates no one, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free of egoism, balanced in pain and pleasure and forgiving.

???????: ???? ???? ??????? ??????????: ? santushtaha satatam yogee yataatmaa dridhanishchayaha |

?????????????????????? ???????: ? ?? ?????: ??14?? mayyarpitamanobuddhiryo madbhaktaha sa me priyaha || 14 ||

Translation:

He who is ever content, ever steady in meditation, self-controlled and firmly committed with mind and intellect fixed on me, that devotee is dear to me. 

These two great leaders, Satya Nadela and Jeff Weiner, rightly identified and articulated the need of creating empathetic and compassionate culture/workplaces/organizations. General Foods Corporation Chairman, Clarence Francis, said, “You can buy a man's time, you can buy a man's physical presence at a certain place, you can even buy a measured number of skilled muscular motions per hour or day. But you cannot buy enthusiasm, you cannot buy initiative, you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. You have to earn these things”. Thus, there is a greater need of humanizing workplace and richer employee experience through people centred leadership. Certainly, it calls for reviewing people practices and policies, group dynamics among management and people/manager and team members etc., to create human-centric workplaces; wherein people bring their "whole-self" and achieve their optimum potential. As per my understanding, this kind of leadership thought process would appreciate, connect, empower and engage their people in meaningful association and purpose; thereby making their journey meaningful and livable.

Now, the next question arises, is there a way to design humanistic workplaces? Is there a formula or recipe? I believe design thinking has got some solution. David Kelley, Founder IDEO, said everything we see around for our comfort and luxury has been designed by men except nature; with the hope to make human experience better. He also said design thinking is a mindset shift and follows three basic principles.

(1)  It’s based on the principle of optimism that things can be better. 

(2)  It's human-centered- it's not designed for you but it's designed with you so it's important to understand the person involved.

(3)  It's collaborative; it has to happen as an ecosystem.

Do you think that using above three principles organizations can humanize their workplaces?

Since, majority of time is spent at the workplace; hence that also has an impact on the family. The quest of any parents would be to make their children empathetic and responsible citizens of the world; children should have character and content, passion and compassion, doing good and doing well. It would be interesting to study those children whose parents are working at humanistic workplaces. Will these people try to inculcate this thought-process among their children? Will these people carry forward this ripple at home and share with their children, family, and friends? 

My humble submission is, in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-we humans have the potential to survive bots and thrive if we continue investing in making us humane- with our vulnerability, empathy, compassion, and emotions by creating the new narrative of workplaces which let us carry our authentic self, which strengthen the psychological safety and facilitate to reach the pinnacle of our potential.

My request to all readers is to share your thoughts on the following questions in the comment section please:

1.     Do you think that such investments towards creating humanistic workplaces are worth taking for organizations and its returns can be seen beyond materialistic gain?

2.     In the organization set up, who can be the great humanizer?

3.     Does the compassionate style of leadership go away with the departure of that leader? How to make it sustainable in organizations?

About the Author:

Author is a Talent Management Specialist and lifelong student of human behaviour, leadership and spirituality; aims to bring out the best potential of himself and people around him. Author has earned a Master of Arts degree in Human Resource Management and Labour Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.