When the leader is compassionate, the employees are empowered

Compassion is a step forward than empathy, and compassionate leadership goes farther than that. As a leader of a start-up, you must perform your job well and be accountable for the performance of your employees and your company as an entity. The decisions you take in a meeting with the clients inside the board room affect the professional and personal lives of your employees outside. Similarly, your external behaviours in the workplace influence the internal feelings of the employees.

The team leader’s achievements fill the members with a sense of pride in being associated with them and the company. But the setbacks of the start-up also hurt their sentiments. Your awards may or may not influence your corporate growth but the glimmer in the eyes of the employees who believe in your leadership will impact your growth as a leader.

The making of a Compassionate Leader

Compassionate leadership in a start-up that is yet to establish itself in the business, in no way insinuates that the leader has to put their innovative goals at the back seat. You can still work towards your dreams like you always planned to, the difference is now you take your employees along on a journey with you while you all are on your respective paths. A kind leader believes in growing together with their employees, instead of chasing the milestones alone.

Is it as easy and efficient as it seems? Kindness resides in all of us, consider the changes as upskilling of your learned traits. Read below to know more:

More than incentives:

Leader who thinks for them to be kind, they would need to raise their salaries, give incentives and occasional bonuses, need to trust their employees more. Your employees understand that a start-up is usually short on funds, especially in the initial stages. As a leader, you just need to be flexible to include a few changes in their execution. A simple “thank you” will be remembered by your employee for a longer period than the percentage value of the raise they got in the salary. Practicing gratitude in the workplace is a way of appreciating employees for their hard work and toil.

Personalized conversations:

Conversations in the workplace between a leader and their employees are so formal that they become automated after a certain period. Every employee in a huge organization has had the same experience with the leader, pleasant but nothing more than that. A handshake, probably a smile or shared laughter that lasts a few minutes, and then it goes back to business. Start-ups have a great scope of changing the atmosphere for the number of employees is comparatively lesser than a huge organization. A kind leader is interested in what a particular employee does at work and beyond work. They remember to greet their employees with their names which cannot happen by reading an excel sheet. One-on-one conversations are also easily possible in a start-up which might be a difficult task for a giant organization.

Be all ears:

A kind leader is sensitive when selecting words to speak and patient when someone else starts speaking, especially with their subordinates. The lack of a rigid hierarchy in a start-up enables the possibility of an open dialogue. Your employees may have internalized a code of conduct that they follow even while raising concerns. Your willingness to listen, signals that they are acknowledged and you would not let their voices go unheard.

Inclusive:

Kindness to some is not compassionate leadership, it’s biased leadership. Just like the idea of a start-up, an unconventional leader does not narrow their road to growth by deliberately or unintentionally excluding a section out. Every workplace has its guidelines and policies written in its rulebook but a kind leader leads by example and believes in recognizing every voice.

Scientifically backed:

The atmosphere under a leader who is sensitive towards the emotions of their employees seems effortlessly pleasant. The interpersonal relationships among the colleagues are also friendly and stable. Reports show that the employees in such workplaces are happier and their dopamine levels are also higher.?Workplaces are second homes for most employees. Especially in a start-up, employees need their doses of creativity, otherwise, the initial enthusiasm can abruptly convert into detachment. If they feel ignored or unwelcome in the workplace, their satisfaction levels drop which then affects the happiness hormone.

Improves productivity:

Happier employees are more productive. The work pressure in a start-up can be higher due to a low number of staff members. When the employees are stressed, they are unable to devote themselves completely to work. Compassionate leadership ensures overall better work performance by making the well-being of their employees a priority. When the employees feel secure, they can work for longer without compromising the quality.

Kindness in a leader of a start-up needs more effort because even if you practice utmost honesty in your work and feel responsible for the well-being of your employees — how would they know about it? You have to express kindness, but in a genuine way that matches your true intentions. ?

Compassionate leader not only practices kindness themselves but also rewards the acts of kindness of their employees. You lead by kindness and your employees will gradually catch on. If the interpersonal relationships in a start-up are not free of conflicts, it would be hard for the employees to coordinate with each other and harder for the leader to prevent them from leaving.

Self-esteem levels in the employees can keep dwindling like the highs and lows of the turnover rates of the start-up. But the leader’s kind words are sometimes enough to ignite a sense of self-worth in the employees. Therefore, compassionate leadership not only focuses on the profits but also on the individual progress of the employees. The growth of a collective stands on the shoulders of the efforts of every employee and when they succeed, the leader prospers and so does the start-up.