It's always possible to be kind

This morning His Holiness the Dalai Lama sent out a tweet (or at least someone from his office did) that read:

"If you are motivated by a wish to help on the basis of kindness, compassion and respect, then you can do any kind of work, in any field, and function more effectively with less fear or worry, not being afraid of what others think or whether you will ultimately reach your goal."

This speaks to us all at home, in our communities and especially in our workplaces where we spend a lot of life - in terms of our time, energy and emotion.

I reckon the service a customer receives when dealing in any capacity with a business is a direct reflection of how people behave with, treat and are treated by each other inside that organisation.

My work sees me help both public and private sector organisations wrangle their internal culture to ultimately ensure a world-class experience for customers - whoever they are and however far removed from the Board and Executive offices those customers may be. There is both a direct and indirect link between the behaviours of senior leaders to those of customer-facing staff regardless of the number of layers between them, so it's worth paying attention to.

The secret to both world-class employee experiences and world-class customer service is the same. In fact, it isn't a secret at all. It's very simple, but it's more-often-than-not overlooked in the frenetic, ever-changing and often overwhelming set of circumstances that is today's world of work. That secret is Kindness.

I love to debate with clients the need to recognise where they are currently kind and unkind; what kindness and unkind behaviours look like in their workplaces and workforces. They always know the answers after a bit of digging and the lists of both are often a lot longer than they first perceive. I also get told that kindness isn't commercial, productive or performance-related; that sometimes you need to be unkind. No you don't.

Trust is the cornerstone of healthy, productive and engaging workplace relationship and most models of high-performing teams place Trust as a foundation, yet they often fail to identify what builds trust in teams. I believe the answer is kindness. When we are genuinely kind we demonstrate we can be trusted. When others are kind to us; trust grows. When people are unkind, trust is eroded. Simple.

Kind doesn't mean going easy, being nice or not raising what matters. Being kind when outlining performance expectations that haven't yet been met, or even when terminating a person's employment is far more productive, pleasant and quite frankly easier than being a dick in those situations.

So, let's break down what the DL said in his tweet:

1. "If you are motivated by a wish to help" – this takes a service mindset to see others thrive at life, whatever that is and looks like for them (not you). You want to help other and this is your driver.
2. "on the basis of kindness, compassion and respect" – this is humanity at both it’s peak and its baseline. We simply need to bring the humanity back into our workplaces, especially if you want to thrive today and tomorrow. We've designed this out with a well-intended yet over-emphasised focus on structure, policy, process and strategy. All good things, but not at the expense of the people charged with delivering on them.
3. "then you can do any kind of work, in any field" – you are not your past, nor are you even your current role. These are iterations of what your life is and is to come. You’re not there yet because there is no ‘there’ to get to. Instead, get on with living a kind life.
4. "and function more effectively with less fear or worry" – this is effective functioning at or near your peak (again, whatever that is to you) in an environment that sees everyone thrive; not one that sees everyone compete for finite resources, attention, recognition or status. Kindness is infinite and it doesn’t run out. It also compounds.
5. "not being afraid of what others think or whether you will ultimately reach your goal". – many people live and work in fear of judgement or not meeting a certain standard (whether real, perceived, self-imposed or external) and this determines how people show up at work. You can help others in how they show-up, as they can you.

A little extra kindness can be the switch – for yourself and your colleagues; for your staff and your leaders. Look around you – who could do with some kindness right now?

Go on, it might just be the unlocking of something between you both.

Take care

Callum