This has led many firms to offer great perks in the pursuit of employee happiness. I still live in hope of working somewhere with a pool table, although when I’d have time to put it to use is another question. But is the answer much simpler and possibly cheaper?
“Be kind to your fellow employees and commit random acts of kindness to decrease stress in the workplace and increase productivity.” – Dan Schwartz1
How can kindness improve productivity?
Kindness is not a thing you can buy. Emotional Intelligence makes it easier to spot opportunities for acts of kindness and there are many studies exploring its impact on business performance2, but it’s only recently that kindness has started to be recognised as an essential ingredient for great workplace performance and to boost your productivity.
Kindness hasn’t always been seen as a necessity in the workplace, but it can make the difference between making a sale or not, getting help with a challenging project or a team working effectively together.
What do you mean by kindess in the workplace
Kindness can be defined as “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate”3. It’s the essential oil of human interaction and we notice when it’s missing. We all know how the absence of kindness can make us feel: angry, disengaged and resentful.
The most successful salespeople, or those looking to increase their productivity at work, are those who focus on building relationships, getting to know and empathise with their customers, as well as understanding their challenges, responsibilities and priorities. Because great salespeople see their prospects as actual people, they build stronger relationships4.
We often remember how people make us feel rather than the details of the service or product. If a salesperson can show a simple act of kindness, they can forge a deeper connection with their clients and increase the likelihood of closing a sale. Kindness can be good business5!
Most importantly, scientific research supports the idea that giving and receiving acts of kindness in the workplace leads to better performance and wellbeing, so business leaders have started to seriously consider kindness as a tool for productivity.
A recent study has shown that there is a measurable increase in positive feelings of wellbeing and levels of productivity when people are actively encouraged to engage in acts of kindness and then “pay it forward”. Freely chosen acts of kindness tend to create virtuous cycles that can then grow naturally6. This is good news for those who work with other people on a regular basis as we can create big wins for ourselves and increase productivity at work with relatively small effort.
“When people feel valued and respected, they perform better. The business case for being kind is robust and strong. There is a win-win outcome. 7”
So, if it’s so good for us as individuals and for business in general, the question is how can we increase acts of kindness?
The good news is that it does not take much time or effort, yet the impact can be significant for both the giver and receiver. Remembering something personal about someone’s family, bringing in treats for the team, writing a note of thanks, freely giving compliments, offering help outside of your remit – the list is endless.
How emotional intelligence assessment can help
For those looking to understand more about how and when to offer an act of kindness, an Emotional Intelligence assessment could help them think about levels of self-awareness, empathy, how to recognise emotions and how they could modify their approach to others to display greater levels of kindness.
We can all benefit from a more positive work environment; if nothing else, it simply makes the time we spend at work more pleasant, but it could also have a distinct impact on the businesses bottom line, so it seems to make sense to take steps to increase our acts of kindness in the workplace.
Kindness is catching and as we see others emulating the same behaviours, creating a culture of kindness and compassion, we all benefit. Let’s get the kindness culture going!
Additional ways to improve productivity
Emotional Intelligence covers traits such as empathy, happiness, optimism and emotion management, all of which can be excellent starting points for a discussion on the important role of kindness in our lives. Using the Thomas International TEIQue assessment and receiving insightful feedback on your results will give you specific bespoke ideas to increase self-awareness and ultimately kindness.
The impact of using TEIQue within the workplace is measurable via processes such as 360 feedback and employee engagement surveys which contribute to the performance of individuals, teams, managers and leaders. It also helps to ensure that we create a business for the rapidly changing modern world where relationships are more important than ever.
We’ll definitely be making a New Year’s resolution to make our workplace a kinder place in the new year. Will you?
References:
- https://www.td.org/insights/is-kindness-the-missing-link-to-employee-performance
- https://hbr.org/topic/emotional-intelligence
- https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/kindness
- https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/unique-characteristics-of-top-selling-salespeople
- https://hbr.org/video/3117517462001/why-kindness-is-good-business?autocomplete=true
- https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/07/04/small-acts-of-kindness-at-work-benefit-the-giver-the-receiver-and-the-whole-organisation/
- https://issuu.com/hall_and_partners/docs/kindness_in_leadership_final/8
