What Charge Number Do I Use for Kindness?

Not too long-ago people didn’t understand the value of collaboration and sharing knowledge. Workers were pressured to add this “new” activity to their daily routine. This caused many workers who charged by the hour to asked, “what charge number do I use for collaboration?”

This type of inquiry is deeply rooted in work that states you only perform work that is outlined in your Statement of Work (SOW). It has taken two decades to get to the point that collaboration and knowledge sharing are now part of how work gets done, that they are not stand-alone activities that require a charge number. It’s like asking, what charge number do I use for breathing!?

I believe the business world is at another cross-roads in change, one that is requiring we look at how people are treating each other at work. Research is telling us that to be more productive you need to be more positive. In his book, The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor tell us that happiness fuels success and that we are 31% more productive when we are happy rather than at negative or neutral. But how do you remain positive in an environment that may be judgmental, belittling or often directly offensive? The answer - make kindness part of your business strategy!

Just like twenty years ago when we, the knowledge strategists of the world, tried to convince leaders that sharing knowledge would increase their profits – we are similarly trying to convince leaders that making kindness part of their business strategy is a win-win proposition. The good news this time around is that we already have a decade of science around being kind to back up a business case. A Harvard study recently reported that businesses that are kind increase their stock prices 10% over their competitors that are not kind.

Here are a few first steps to help you start thinking about building a business case around being kind at work:

Research your employee survey. Most organizations ask their employees questions, usually every few years. This helps the leadership learn what trends are affecting their workplace. You can learn a lot based on the questions that you ask, such as; Do you feel empowered to voice your ideas? Do you feel your work is adding value to the overall mission? How likely would you recommend to someone they should work here? I guarantee you will find answers that reveal problem areas that can be helped through increased kindness.

Identify the problem you want to solve. Picking the problem to focus on may not be that simple, because the mere fact it’s a problem, doesn’t mean leadership will want to spend time on it, or that employees will even want to get onboard with the idea. The best way to identify the right problem to solve is through a focus group of employees. Ensure you bring together a very diverse set of employees from across the business areas and from different levels of the organization from the very junior to the more senior. A great way to facilitate this focus group would be through a As-Is vs. To-Be discussion. A well facilitated focus group will give you a good understanding of which are the most valuable problems to be solved, the ones that will make the biggest impact on the overall kindness climate of your organization. A bonus would be to align solving the problem with employees’ performance appraisals. This will ensure employees pay attention to your kindness initiative because they are being held accountable.

Enlisted executive support and sponsorship. Your change effort is going to get pushback from most people, as just another thing that must fit into the day. Getting a leader’s voice behind the kindness effort is critical to your success, employee motivation and project funding. When looking for a senior sponsor look to leaders who are in profit and loss areas of your organization. These leaders are more directly aligned with your overall business strategy and come with a more powerful sponsorship than leaders who are aligned with overhead functions. Also look for leaders who are on the rise in their career. The best thing for a leader looking to get noticed is a great change initiative that will make a difference. 

Build a three phased plan. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and for it to stick, any real change needs to become part of how work gets down. The three phases of a change plan: build awareness, engage in pilots, and make it part of performance. A well designed change plan to make kindness part of your business strategy can fuel productivity, profit and recruitment – people want to love where they work and making it kinder means making it a better place all around.

PJ Jackson is the founder of Positive Knowledge, LLC a consulting firm for positive transformational change. PJ is a unique applied scientist who believes that love, kindness and respecting others is the success formula for making change a positive experience. Learn more about PJ at www.PJJackson.com