A reflection on kindness

LinkedIn Friends,

I had a nudge from someone this week to ‘write more’ about my professional experiences … in reality, it was a nudge to write something / anything vs. more because I had written nothing to date.?At first, I dismissed it, because it did not really seem like ‘my thing’ and plus what did I have to say that would be worth consuming … a Hemingway I am not.?Then, I reflected a little more and realized that the advice giver is super smart, knows what they are talking about, and I should at least give it a try (even if the try produces a so-so product).

So … here goes.?

My recent Human Resources / People Operations reflection is just how impactful a little bit of #kindness can be towards our fellow co-workers.?I know, not a brand new or earth-shattering idea … but something that I find myself ‘too busy’ to do, neglect to do or don’t do nearly enough each day. I was reminded of this concept this morning when I had the opportunity to volunteer at my daughters’ school during the outside Field-Day (a side note … if you have kiddos, they have events at school that need parents help, and you are in a position where your role allows you to volunteer … do it!?Your e-mails will still be there 2 hours later and the smile you will get from you child(ren) warms the heart).

At Field-Day I was positioned at a game called ‘Steal the Sponge’ … a version of the came called “Steal the Bacon’ … neither of which I had heard of (games have advanced drastically from tag in the past 30 years!).?The cliff notes are that the class is split in two groups, each side of kids are given a number, they line up on opposite sides of a soccer field that has a bucket full of water that contains a drenched sponge that is located in the middle of the field.?The ‘referee’ yells out a number, the child on each side with that specific number sprints to grab the sponge and race back to their side before the other kid ‘tags’ them.?

Summary … lots of running, laughing, and saturated kids at the end of the game.

To my point on #kindness …?During one of the games, which get ultra-competitive right around the 4th graders, the referee called out multiple numbers at once (plot twist ??) and numerous kids took of sprinting for the prize.?In the chaos one child ‘tagged’ another child a little to forcefully, the sponge got dropped, along with the child to the ground.?The tagger had an open field in front of them, could have picked up the sponge and ran to ‘glory’ … yet they didn’t, they stopped, got down on their knees and checked on their ‘opponent’ to make sure they were ok and then helped them up with a smile.?They did not score the point, they did not get cheers from their team, they passed on glory to put their opponent, their classmate, their friend first.

As I watched this simple act from an elementary school child, I started to reflect on all the times in the past week that I zipped past my co-workers rushing from meeting to meeting, or walked around with my head in my phone instead of engaging with those in the hallway or thought about sending a ‘how are you doing text’ to a friend and didn’t because I was ‘busy’.?

I would like to think that if someone fell in the hall in front of me (like the child did on the field) I would have stopped to check on them … but rarely do our co-workers physically fall in front of us.?Instead, they stumble on a sales call, mess up an executive presentation, screw up an R&D trial or … struggle to leave in time to pick up kiddos from school, feel the pressure of a balance with care for an aging parent vs. work priorities, try to figure out if now is the time to go back to school, get that certification, change jobs, etc … and, I would be remiss if I did not address all of our co-workers, friends and family dealing with #mentalhealth issues day-in and day-out ... reminder this is #mentalhealthawarenessmonth .?All these things, and 1,000 others that people deal with that are not as visible as ‘falling in the grass’ but absolutely still need us to offer a hand, kind word or moment of our time to listen.

To wrap, my professional experience reflection (all credit to the kind 4th graders out there) is to stop, pause and observe those around me and then take a moment check-in on them, with that little bit of #kindness that can go a long, long way.

Final thought … if any of you have a topic you want me to think about (and maybe write about) feel free to send it my way.?

Eric Woolf