Compassion is a huge topic at the moment, especially in terms of how compassion and effective leadership go hand in hand to not only create more engaged teams, but also better outcomes for customers or patients. The Kinds Fund, and in particular Michael West has for many years been at the forefront of research around compassionate and inclusive leadership and championed this as a way to achieve system-wide learning to deliver the NHS long-term plan.
A research paper, 'Caring to Change', published by the King's Fund in 2017, found that compassionate leadership was an enabler of innovation in health care at various levels. The report identifies four fundamental elements of a culture for innovative and high-quality care, including having an inspiring vision and strategy; positive inclusion and participation; enthusiastic team and cross-boundary working; and support and autonomy for staff to innovate. The report finds that compassionate leadership plays a key role in nurturing each of these. In organisations where compassionate leadership takes place, staff are more likely to find new and improved ways of doing things as they feel they are listened to, valued and supported and this provides a sense of psychological safety. Giving staff autonomy in their work is also important, along with developing a shared responsibility – a shared leadership is much more effective than a hierarchical one. In addition, there tends to be a more positive attitude to diversity and inclusion. Finally, the report found that innovation is often spurred by a challenge or a problem and compassionate leadership is a powerful facilitator at each stage of the problem-solving process.
So how does this relate to engagement? And particularly engaging your teams remotely?
As we know, engaged teams tend to work better together – individuals respect each other and enjoy working together, they consider themselves to have friends at work. Conflicts are less likely to be seen as threatening and are more likely to be solved with clarity and compassion. The focus is on finding a constructive solution together. Teams where individuals care about their colleagues and where they feel that they are equally cared about as a person, give them a sense of belonging. Showing compassion by putting the other person first – whether this is through leadership or peer support – means that individuals are more loyal, and have a stronger sense of commitment and engagement.
Remote working during Covid-19 has required a whole new set of behaviours and skills to make us work effectively. From trusting and enabling others, to setting your own boundaries (and respecting those of others), to not letting the lines of home and work blur too much - we have all been on a huge learning curve to make the shift to successful home working during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some things were easier than others, and in many ways it is now, when the novelty is wearing off, that we come to realise how much we still need to learn.
Even organisations that have been doing remote working for a long time and are notoriously good at it, have found new and innovative ways to re-connect with their teams and take remote working to a whole new level. One of these examples is IBM. Many of you may have already seen the Twitter feed of Arvind Krishna, their CEO. Despite having lots of experience working virtually, they too were experiencing challenges in the current climate. As a result, they encouraged and supported a bottom up approach to create a pledge for the whole organisation. From pledging to support fellow IBMers during Covid-19 to pledges around supporting flexibility for personal needs, pledging to be kind, pledging to set boundaries and prevent video fatigue, pledging to regularly checking in with others and many more - what stands out is, that this is a brilliant example of compassionate leadership in action.
Critics often assume that compassionate leadership will mean a loss of commitment to purpose and high-quality performance, or that tough performance management and conversations won’t be allowed or will be labelled as bullying. They fear that compassionate leaders take the easy, consensus way forward rather than putting patients, customers or communities first. They fear these leaders won't challenge the status quo and make the radical changes needed (see Michael West's - Five myths of compassionate leadership).
Surely, nothing could be further from the truth? Particularly those leaders that show compassion in these times of uncertainty and unprecedented challenges, allow us to voice our concerns and needs and thus work with us rather than against us, creating more loyalty, and passion and enabling us to be the best that we can be. Or, if we can't at the moment, allow us to find a solution that will work for everyone.
Compassion - done remotely through checking in regularly 1:1 with individuals, respecting and working with individual's circumstances in terms of family/ care commitments, allowing boundaries and practicing and encouraging healthy self care are all brilliant ways to put this into practice. It is about seeing the person first and genuinely listening with interest to what they have to say. It is about working with them, to find a constructive and productive way forward. It is about trust and being honest and to some extent vulnerable (i.e. human) yourself.
I would love to hear how you are getting on and whether the teams and clients you are working with lead with compassion.
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