Smoothing the Way for Compassion to Flow: Routines

Throughout history, visionaries have pushed the boundaries of what’s possible. From Ford to Disney to Steve Jobs, innovators know that subtle design differences have a big impact in how humans experience and interact with both the products and the worlds we create. Most of what shapes the way we interact with the world actually goes unnoticed. When things are working smoothly, we are able to move through our days without much extra thought. Yet, creators ranging from illustrators, to engineers, to architects know the power of intentional design. A well-thought-out flow of steps or cobbled path can make the difference if hundreds of people stick to the sidewalk, or instead pad down grass into a muddy mess.

Perhaps you can recall a time when you had a leaky faucet, or a squeaky front gate. The slow drip, drip, drip may seem minute in the moment, but the repetitive drops lead to large loss of water over time. The squeaky front gate may not need our attention at all hours of the day, but you sure notice the annoyance when you come in or exit your space.

There are many areas in our organizations where the metaphorical slow drips and small squeaks are causing suffering. New ways of working are leading to disconnection and disengagement, leaving people wondering, “What is my role here and can I even make the impact I want to make?” And yet, we often forget, we have the power to design the environments we want to thrive within.

While the challenges are all around us, we believe there is a way to course correct. Knowing that disengagement, stress and burnout are commonplace, we must design and build new ways of infusing compassion into our organizations. In this gap is a powerful question: What’s needed now and what can we create given the new ways of working?

In order to increase organizational impact and build compassion competence, pioneering scholars Monica Worline and Jane Dutton developed an architectural framework that includes these foundational pillars: roles, routines, networks and culture.

These four pillars become footholds for leaders who are looking for “the how” of operationalizing compassion. In their book, Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations, Worline and Dutton state “Routines are defined as recognizable, recurring ways that interdependent tasks are accomplished in organizations. They provide “grooves” that guide how work gets done.”

Routines are an easy place to start exploring and enriching the ways in which people are already working together. Seemingly small changes can create significant impact in short periods of time

Routines often get taken for granted, like unseen train tracks on which daily workflow travels. Worline and Dutton go on to explain that routines show up in patterns and places like “hiring, tracking projects, accounting for money and time, planning for the use of resources, getting together to discuss work, making decisions and resolving conflicts. Routines make action faster and easier to coordinate.”

Routines can have positive impact in a couple of related ways. By making clear how repetitive tasks unfold, routines reduce uncertainty and enhance psychological safety. When people don’t need to devote energy to worrying about the routine, it frees up creative space to focus on and flexibly respond to what needs attention.

Take notice of the routines you contribute to in the flow of your workday. If you’d like to explore the opportunities for enhancing routines through the lens of compassion, try out a few of these questions:

• Does this routine build connection or impede it?
• If I was on the other end of this experience, what would I need to feel seen and heard?
• What repetition may be harming us, our customers or our stakeholders?
• What might I be able to do more of to increase a compassionate experience?

Taking on the role of compassion architect, we can mitigate undue stress and anxiety through the creation of more thoughtful, compassionate routines. What organizational routine will you design?

Perhaps you can architect a new meeting routine that helps build connections and humanize all of those who participate. Maybe you design a better way to deliver feedback or bring more compassion into performance evaluations. Are there ways you might incorporate more rest and restoration into the organizational environment to help people refuel their tanks?

With each of these examples, you have the opportunity to alleviate tensions and improve relationships. You can design new routines and make choices that either enhance or detract from the flow of compassion.

So, as you dig in, ask yourself, ‘What do we want to have happen here?

And, we ask you, where will you start?

Additional resources:

This post is one of four on the elements of social architecture that support compassion competence in organizations. Read the other three:

Catalyzing Change for Good: Culture ?

Designing for Compassion: Roles ?

Building High-Quality Connections: Networks ?

For deeper reading on this topic:

Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations by Monica Worline and Jane E. Dutton. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2017.

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