In a world of vast corporate giants, industry leaders, high street chains, start up’s & even entrepreneurs; how we communicate with those we work with, is what underpins & adds value to business.
Compassionate Management. How can business leaders create a more communicative & compassionate employee experience? Virtually Smart Ltd investigates.
In a world of vast corporate giants, industry leaders, high street chains, start up’s & even entrepreneurs; how we communicate with those we work with, is what underpins & adds value to business. Jeff Weiner CEO of LinkedIn has been extolling the virtues of Compassionate Management in recent years & how he has introduced this ethos throughout LinkedIn. Weiner tweeted last year: “Big misconception about managing compassionately is that it’s a “soft” skill. Most compassionate people I know are typically the strongest.” Jeff Weiner (@jeffweiner) October 6, 2017 Katy Jane of Virtually Smart Ltd has been investigating the benefits of Compassionate Management.
“I read a lot. A huge proportion of what I read is on the internet, in groups I am linked to, articles in leading newspapers, magazines, blogs. A lot of my current reading is connected to business & business trends. However, what I have noticed, is an upsurge in negative & derogatory commentaries posted by people who have employed others as an employee/self-employed associate. I struggle when I read these negative write up’s, or in some cases derogatory assaults on another person’s capabilities as the one writing these assaults, does so with the protection of a screen & a keyboard! How could we change this? How could those who make these derogatory comments, have changed the situation? As an employer, surely they are the ones responsible for the outcome of a employee/employer collaboration & relationship?
Compassionate management is a way of creating better working relationships, with open communication & seeing an employee as a whole person, rather than a commodity.
A lot of us rely on email, messenger, text, etc to communicate our ideas to those we work with. Is this fair? Are we able to truly communicate our needs & requirements in virtual space? The inflection in a human voice, even over an audible communication device, can tell us a vast amount about how the individual is responding/feeling about any given situation. However, a physical, one to one experience adds an even more important layer to our ability to communicate effectively.
When you consider that only 7% of human communication is verbal & a massive 93% percent of all human communication is non-verbal, in other words, body language; how on earth can human communication be truly understood if the only platform of choice is in the written verbal world? Therein lies the rub.
Traditional management skills have been driven by a ‘behind closed doors’ approach with management teams keeping themselves separate from the work force. Modern business models are now seeing the value of transparency in the work place & a need for greater, compassionate management skills throughout all sectors of a business & greater need for one to one, personal management.
Conventional management strategies have traditionally been driven by an ‘us & them’ core value. The Management team remaining separated from the rest of the workforce. Traditional ‘management’ also has a history of unhappy employees feeling undervalued & more of a ‘cog’ rather than a driving force supporting business. However, research is now proving that gratitude & compassion are great motivators throughout a workforce & can improve productivity & create a determination & true grit in a workforce.
David DeSteno, one of the contributors for the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science found that “People made to feel pride and compassion are willing to persevere more than 30 percent longer on challenging tasks compared to those feeling other positive emotions, such as happiness, precisely because pride and compassion induce them to place greater value on future rewards.”
Compassionate Management is not a “new age” concept, nor is it a soft approach to managing a team. In fact, as Jeff Weiner , CEO LinkedIn says, “some of the strongest people are some of the best compassionate managers.” But what is compassionate management & why has it suddenly become a buzz phrase amongst business networks?
Compassionate Management is a way in which Managers, CEO’s, Founders, Directors can be more connected to their work force & in turn, see greater productivity as a result. All too often the frustrations of management are disseminated down to the work force. This rolling negativity can have a detrimental effect on the ladder of employees. An acidic joke about an employee’s ability or how ineffective they might be, dependant on what is happening in that employee’s day, or private life; can have a damaging affect. Therefore, how can this be avoided?
How often, just in life in general, do we make assumptions about someone or a given situation which we find ourselves irritated by? We might make a joke or show our irritation & vent our own emotions at the person or the situation. However, how often do we stop & think about how the individual we are venting our frustrations at feels? What is going on in their life? Or how the fact that a given situation could be result of our own misinterpretation or misconception of the given situation? Ever been there? I am sure if you were honest with yourself, you could pin down more than one occasion where you have been guilty of this.
The same applies in the world of work. Have you ever been the brunt end of a managerial ‘telling off’? How has this made you feel, especially when as the employee, this has not been your fault? Pretty rotten I am sure.
An example of how compassionate management can function, is through a series of re-adjustments by the managerial teams. The following ideas are merely considerations I have discovered through my reading on this topic.
1/ Compassionate management is not conditional. Managerial teams need to put themselves squarely in the shoes of their employees & experience what their employment expectations look like, from the employee’s perspective. Once a management team can accept the difficulties felt at employee level, then & only then, can they start to address the needs of their workforce.
2/ Coaching. Some employment models, which may be a little outmoded, still consider that management teams answer to one person; the Boss. However, productive & innovative management teams are now seeing the true benefit of collaborative thinking, communication, delegation & in turn reaping the benefits of ‘team coaching’.
Allowing team managers to coach each other & employees who perhaps are struggling in their role, adds value to the work force. Gone are the days when reprimands & structural disharmony are acceptable. Our culture seems to be shifting towards a more communicative model of management; with the needs of the employees, finally being recognised. The need for coaching at managerial levels, also creates layers of trust amongst leaders. With these layers constantly building, traditional ‘board room’ decisions are being achieved in far less time; enabling businesses to perform better & remain current, constant & competitive.
3/ Compassion is not empathy. Being empathetic & compassionate are very different things. Empathy, allows you to feel what another person is feeling. If you have never experienced what they are going through, you cannot ever imagine how it ‘feels’. Therefore, showing compassion for an employee, is an objective support network, built on truly understanding the needs of those in your employ.
So where does this leave us? How could we apply this in a self-employed situation for example, particularly when dealing with a VA? Too many people feel that collaborating with a VA is 100% virtual space working relationship. By the very nature of the title we give ourselves ‘Virtual Assistant’ you would think that communication should be kept limited to the written ‘virtual’ word.
Helena Parrott VA/Director of Virtually Smart Ltd is a great believer in ensuring verbal & physical interaction is very much a part of the relationship between herself & clients. It is with this mindset that Helena Parrott is able to build on & develop long standing working relationships; directly assessing the needs of her clients in a compassionate & understanding way. Helena spends a lot of time with clients, getting to know their needs, their business sector, researching their websites & their social media presence. Helena Parrott holds real time conversations with potential clients & regularly with existing clients, to ensure their needs are met. This ability to compassionately manage the needs of her clients, gives Helena Parrott a greater understanding of a client’s requirements, which in turn helps her formulate more effective business strategies going forward.”
