What Is Compassionate Leadership?
Compassionate Leadership is the practice of using your head and heart to inspire and influence people so they can, in turn, inspire and influence others. Compassionate Leaders use their influence to positively impact themselves, others, and the planet.
Everyone has the potential to be a compassionate leader and develop their ability to practice compassionate leadership. Compassion fuels positive change. Becoming a more compassionate leader gives you and your organization an advantage. And love fuels compassion, so leading with love and leading with compassion are intertwined.
Compassionate Leaders can practice sympathy, empathy and compassion as needed at work. They understand the definitions and distinctions related to each.
Definitions:
Distinctions:
Compassionate Leaders create safe environments where their teams are encouraged to practice self-compassion, vulnerability, and compassion for others. This approach has improved productivity, employee morale, and retention.
And here are some highlights of recent research related to compassion:
● Compassion positively impacts productivity, employee and customer retention, profitability, and financial performance *
● Compassion supports strategic advantage in innovation, service quality, collaboration, retaining talented people, employee and customer engagement, and adaptability to change *
● 91% of leaders surveyed say compassion is very important for leadership, and 80% say they want to enhance their compassion but don’t know how **
● While empathy can lead to fatigue, compassion can increase our resilience and improve our approach to stressful situations***
* Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People and Organizations by Monica C. Worline and Jane E. Dutton, 2017
** Harvard Business Review: Power Can Corrupt Leaders, Compassion Can Save Them, February 2018
***Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley, 2019
To begin developing your compassionate leadership skills, you can start by reviewing the following seven core attributes of compassionate leaders:
The 7 C’s of Compassionate Leadership
- Contemplative. Take time to pause and deeply reflect, emerging wiser and more self-compassionate.
- Curious. Learn and listen proactively.
- Confident. Believe in their visions and themselves.
- Compassionate. Use influence to prevent and alleviate the suffering of others.
- Collaborative. Empower all stakeholders to use their strengths and be leaders.
- Civil. Demonstrate respect when confronted with differing points of view and other challenges.
- Courageous. Advocate strongly for themselves, their values and their stakeholders.
First, identify your natural strength from the list and commit to one action you can take this week related to it. Next, determine the most challenging attribute for you and think about one step you can take this week to develop compassion for yourself or others.
