Kindness and Leadership in the Workplace

I’ll be the first to say it, I don’t really think of myself as leadership material. I often struggle with hard decisions, mostly because I hate to do anything that may be perceived as cruel or unkind. Making the hard decisions is often necessary in leadership. I thought that also meant that a leader should forget about kindness while making those decisions.

But then I did some research. It turns out that good leaders historically make kind decisions. Not saying that everyone liked all of the laws or platforms all of the time, but that the leader kept in mind the culture and feelings of their constituents when making the laws. The people see the respect they are given when thought is put into what decisions are made.

If you’re like me and struggle with making the wrong decision all of the time, know that when you make a decision with kindness, at least you are demonstrating that you care about the outcome and consequences. Dianne wrote about some tips for being more decisive on Monday.

Paradoxical What?

Kent Keith was a student at Harvard who was struggling to find a better way to run his student government in 1968. At 19, he took matters into his own hands and wrote what is known as the Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership. They were part of a booklet published on campus called The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council. Below are the “commandments”:

• People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
• If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
• If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
• The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
• Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
• The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
• People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
• What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
• People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
• Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

This is a lot of information to digest all at once, so we’ll do a little more examination of what these all mean.

The Breakdown

While you can’t always please all the people all of the time with your decisions, it’s best to do it with integrity and kindness whenever you can. You’re going to sometimes make the wrong decisions. Accept it and move on, and don’t let your former bad choices prevent you from making future good choices.

Kent Keith knew that always acting in the best interests of the people was a full time job. When you are leading correctly, you will always have your detractors. But when you lead with kindness in the forefront of your mind, your intentions will always show through in the end.

What Are The Benefits of a Kinder Workplace?

When we use the Paradoxical Commandments in our decisions, it makes our choices a little easier to make. You do the right thing for the people all of the time, even if they hate it. Because it’s the right thing to do. But what are the benefits of having a kinder workplace? What does it matter if your team loves you or hates you?

Studies have shown that workplaces with a backbone of kindness foster more positivity, cohesiveness, and that the feeling is contagious! People are more productive and more likely to care about their jobs. Workplaces that are ruled by kindness retain more and better employees, because they feel heard and respected. When we act in integrity, we are showing our employees that is the way we want them to act. It’s called leading by example.

Over to you

I challenge you to follow the Paradoxical Commandments when leading. Practice acting in integrity and honesty at all times. Keep kindness in mind when making the hard decisions. And act decisively when the situation calls for it.

I’m still what I would call a “baby” leader at this point. But knowing that there’s rules for how to be a successful leader gives me a little bit more confidence in myself.

What about you? What examples of kindness in the workplace have you experienced? Do you feel that kindness is an important part of leadership? Please share your story below. Until next time!