Transformational Teambuilding, Team Conflict Resolution and Diversity Training Specialists
It is all about the Art of Connecting on a deeper emotional level to touch the lives of every person you interact with regardless of who they are, where they come from and what their status is. A compassionate leader is able to embrace anyone, anywhere, anytime without prejudice, unconscious biases or programming that generally makes people judge based on religion, age, culture, religion, language or gender grouping.
Simply put, the Compassionate Leader is able to see the human being!
A Compassionate leader comprehends, connects, understands and accepts people for who they are and where they are at in their journey, then entices them to grow to the next levels of excellence in their personal and business lives, by adding Value in every way to guide, support and share expertise and experiences to help that person in a meaningful way.
A refreshing way to think I must say. The most epic part about the above statement, is that it takes absolute vulnerability and strength combined to achieve this balance. It means that the Compassionate Leader is a life learner who understands that their own growth adds value to others, so they constantly seek inner peace, guidance and adjust their own styles of behaviour constantly according to the ever-changing environments.
In other words, they are continuously Evolving!
Many still read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich etc, yet books and thoughts are evolving constantly with other great additions like Outliers, Multipliers, Find your Why, Intentional Living etc… This just shows, how Leadership books alone are changing.
The diverse groups of personalities, sexual orientation, genders, generational gaps, personal expectations, cultures, traditions and language groups dominating the work place is seeing a shift in the need for Diversity and Inclusion, Conflict Resolution, communication skills and Team building to be an imperative part of building cohesive teams.
That alone leads us to question, at what point are Leaders of organisations being upskilled to handle all off these Human Behaviours ensconced within these qualities of diversities inherent in the Workplace make up?
See, being a Compassionate leader is a way of being. You can develop it, nurture it, understand the qualities of it, yet, once you embody it in your everyday behaviour as part of your Second Nature interactions, then the power and flow of the impact it has, can be seen in a viable, positive, tangible way in the way that the entire organisation and its people respond.
It is a choice really.And don’t get me wrong. I am not about to dissect the age old idiocy of the statement – Are Leaders Born or made? A statement that many waste valuable time contemplating and discussing. I am not interested in those old thoughts.
I would much rather explore the crazy, awesome view of how we can share our knowledge, wisdom and experiences by partnering with each other as people to add value and create a culture built on Respect, thoughtfulness, proactive, solution focussed thinking.
The greatest mistake, I believe that people make, is that they feel responsible to tell others how to do their jobs, push them and evaluate their performances against goals and deadlines set according to organisational standards.
I feel that if we led people to find within themselves the key to growing themselves, we are half way to conquering the need for motivational speeches and team buildings.
If a person sought self-development as an everyday, common practice, you will be guaranteed to find a workplace that is welcoming, caring, respectful and hopeful. A positive work environment where everyone is focussed on guiding and supporting each other regardless of level, age, status, title or department.
HR then concentrates on implementing policies and procedures vital to a company’s growth, rather than handling human behavioural issues.
The greatest tragedy that has befallen many organisations is that internally, many have not bought into the values that were thrown from the top down to the rest of the people like a dictatorship.
Compassionate Leaders have the vital missing ingredient that entices Values to become a Doing within the organisation. How? Simple really….it is Inclusive Leadership!
They make decisions by including their people. Not the general way it is done by Executive teams going away to a 5 Star resort, having an Epic time, thumb sucking generic values and then coming back and wasting their HR teams time to roll out the values that no one had a say in.
Then the part that fascinates me the most is how they cannot understand why people are disconnected, there is underlying conflict, lack of trust, communication, anger, frustration, poor performance, lack of morale, diversity issues and a silo mentality pervading the entire organisation. It is simple really…no one was asked if they understood or even resonated with any of the values chosen. No one was give choice or the chance to add their own opinion or input into something they have to live by.
In my experience, I have noticed a major difference between the companies that included their people in the decision making of what values they resonated with along with a clear understanding of how to implement it in a practical way in the work environment, compared to companies that chose up to 5 Values, printed them and expected their people to adhere to them like rules.
When you look at the simplicity of the exercise, it is not a major challenge to implement a roll out that engages people and makes them feel like they have a voice. One that is Valued and Valuable. I have also noticed that the buy in to LIVE these values on a daily basis, is stronger and more sustainable.
So being Intentional in how you connect with your people, being compassionate in your approach through understanding human behaviour at a deeper level and being inclusive with decision making is the key to becoming a Compassionate Leader.
The next step to understanding the depth and role that a Compassionate Leader plays in any organisation lies in the way they interact with their people. It is seen in their actions. Not their eloquent speeches or public appearances. Now don’t get me wrong. Those are all important. Yet the authenticity of the Compassionate Leader is apparent in how they respect their people from the moment they arrive in the parking lot of their company to the way they handle their social and public image. All is on show for people to see. They are transparent.
There is very little distinction between their public and personal image or persona. Transparency in the way they share thoughtfully, guide others and live a life of integrity even when they are not in the public eye or at work.
The Façade inherent in many leaders is simply non-existent to say the least when it comes to those who understand the powerful impact of embracing compassion in the way they treat their people, family, friends, children, partners and just people in general.
If we take a closer look at some of the qualities that add value to people on a daily basis, we would actually realise that thoughtfulness and respect play the biggest role and can so easily be learned and implemented automatically as we develop them as habits.
Can you imagine for just one second, a workplace where every person feels honoured, respected and valued for who they are, and you never have to ever deal with anger, prejudice, gender inequality, generational gap issues, entitlement mentality or even gossiping and backbiting.
Sounds like it is too good to be true right? And maybe it is…but you will never come vaguely close to that type of interaction if you do not drastically change the way you as a Leader adjusts to inspire others to feel good enough to embrace that kind of environment.
Connect with me, to discover how, you, can embrace the traits of becoming a Compassionate Leader of Influence 🙂