The language of business, the language of life

If accounting is the language of business, then kindness is the language of life.

You conduct business with people. People bring the whole person to everything they do, even if they code-switch or hold back. They are still feeling what they are feeling,?thinking what they are thinking, bringing all their lived experiences, past trauma, successes, and experiences with them when they come into work-related spaces, as they try to build their careers, etc. Oftentimes, companies, managers, and leaders try to find the perfect strategy to succeed. While strategies may be proven to work, we still work with human beings. You can go and find the best books, studies, research, etc. on how to build, lead, and coach efficient teams, but if you have first-line managers who do not know how to communicate with people, that are not sponsoring, mentor, or leading their teams and peers, then the strategies don't work as designed.

There has to be space for self-reflection and grace for other people. In the past, I didn't always articulate what I needed. My upbringing, culture, differences, and past experiences with bias and betrayal in work-related spaces- I used this and more as an excuse to avoid confrontation and voice my concerns and needs. In the past, there were times when things I shared were used against me, and people who claimed to be competitive were combative and threw me under the bus. I have singled myself out for speaking my mind, advocating for others, and doing my job. I hated confrontation so much and did not want to be bothered by people being so aggressive and competitive for no reason. I wanted to drive results and I wanted to go home, take my money, invest and save it and carry on.

When we go into a work-related space, we must take ownership of our work and the role we play. Are you familiar with the Pareto Principle, the 80-20 rule which says that 20% of your efforts yield 80% of your results? I have found that I have gotten the best results by listening well to others, and advocating for what they need to better perform and better communicate, Yet, Being respectful of others has cost me sponsorship or respect of others because some people are just checklist people who want things done as fast as possible to meet certain metric to get them a raise, bonus, promotion, etc. They do not take into account that if things are done right and time is taken to build rapport with others, things will work themselves out and the work will get done on its own.

I am the person who prefers to do things right the first time and not go back and redo them. I like to pay attention to detail as much as possible. I like to understand what is ahead of me. To some people It looks like I am wasting time, that I am just sitting there chatting with others, letting them talk about irrelevant things. Sure, sometimes I let people derail from the agenda and go down the rabbit hole. Yet, because I build rapport with people, and make them feel seen, heard, and supported, it saves me time in the long run. People come to me to discuss things beforehand because they know I will support and advise them. Showing kindness and actively listening pays off.

If you are looking to build a team of diverse people- and I don’t just mean people who look different than you; I’m also talking about people who think differently- you are going to have to make space, give them, and listen to them and consider their point of view and understand that the mainstream advice that is out there or the proven strategy that you have studied may not be part of their knowledge base or exposure. They may have learned from different places and people than you have. They may not be citing other people’s frameworks and may be creating and articulating their own.

Companies lose great leaders for many reasons, including:

1. Measuring success by hours worked and speed as things to accuracy and impact
2. Groupthink, and not being open to even consider ideas that are different from mainstream or the ordinary
3. Not charging clients enough to be able to all low employees to explore experiments. You have to give people a few hours a week or mo, which can play and figure out new areas the new things that they can throw into an idea bucket or list that they can think about later on. If staff is always putting out fires, discussing problems, and rushing to implement changes, companies contribute to staff burnout and lose out on staff creativity and innovative ideas, etc.
4. Not giving employees the same level of respect as clients and other stakeholders. For example, deadlines are stretched or more resources are bought in when clients are delayed in completing tasks whereas, employees are reprimanded and expected to put in extra time and effort when they are delayed.

In academia, educators talk about being caring without being a caretaker. How can we show people we interact with in business settings that we care about them, without being overpowering, condescending, or enabling? How do we show people respect while communicating directly and with transparency? How can we give constructive feedback but also ensure we are giving people the resources they need to get the job done?

Taking the time to be kind can pay off. Being honest with yourself and using self-reflection to be proactive in communicating your needs matters.

What are some ways you can practice kindness without taking up much of your time or losing yourself?

Only you can answer that question.

Take some time to reflect on how you can incorporate kindness into your daily interactions with others in work-related spaces, and how you can be kind to yourself so that you can step into your greatness and show up in your best light.

May you be well as you excel and are kind as you go through your success journey.

Be intentional in curating your best life.

If this resonated with you in any way, let me know in the comments or DM me.

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