Are You a Compassionate Leader?

Managers and compassionate are not a consistent partnership.

And that's a problem.

Leaders who lack compassion for their people are called bosses.

No one loves a boss.

But if I asked you to describe your favorite manager, "feeling cared for" would probably be included.

Why is that?

Because "people don't care how much you know until they know much you care."

Even the most task-oriented, emotionless, robot-like humans would agree with that statement.

Managers and compassion don't have to be mutually exclusive and here's how it can happen.

Start by caring for your people as humans before workers.

That doesn't mean excusing them for poor results, but it means giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Your job as manager is to serve your team, not control them.

When people feel valued, appreciated and respected it's based on the way you treat them (also an extension of the relationship in most cases).

You can still hold your team accountable and deliver tough feedback without damaging the relationship.

Be objective with the facts while subjective (tactful) with the delivery.

A compassionate approach is rooted in how well you know your teammates' personalities.

Currently we're in a tough economy.

Some managers even have to layoff team members.

It doesn't get any harder than that.

Believe it or not, you can still do that with compassion.

Showing compassion goes beyond empathy (putting yourself in the other person's shoes).

It's being sympathetic during a time of suffering.

As a manager, adversity will hit each team member at some point.

How you handle it reveals your compassion level.

The reason why compassion isn't higher on the list of desired skills for managers is because it's a soft skill.

If hard skills get you the job, soft skills get you promoted.

I'll go even further and say a lack of soft skills lowers your ceiling for growth potential (or can even get you demoted or fired).

But when you show compassion as a manager, more grace is given to you by your people.

Mistakes are mistakes (even when well intentioned), but how you handle them as a manager will be mirror by your people.

Consider what's going on in our world today and it's hard to imagine an effective leader that doesn't display compassion.

Managers are more relatable when they show kindness in hardship.

In fact, compassion may be the impression left once both parties part ways (new job).

Great leaders care about their people.

And that care is shown through compassion.

So if you're doing that as a manager, keep it up.

But if it sounds too hard, maybe managing is not for you.

Compassionate managers will help companies weather the storm.