Creating a culture of Kindness in the Workplace

At the height of the pandemic there was a huge focus on the importance of Kindness and positive impact it can have. As we begin to learn to live with Covid here’s a few ways in which you can really embed kindness within your workplace.

1. Ask for Feedback

Asking your team for feedback about how they experience kindness in their workplace is a really great starting point. Just a few simple questions can provide valuable insight into ways of integrating more kindness into your workplace and what you may already be doing well. Asking for feedback also serves the purpose of demonstrating your ongoing commitment to Mental Well-being in the Workplace and shows that you value their opinion and input.

2. Clarity is Kind

If there are difficult conversations to have or challenging messages to communicate it can be tempting to think that being fuzzy with what we’re saying is in someway softening the blow and being kinder. Being clear is kindness in action. Being unclear supports uncertainty and ambiguity and gives rise to misinterpretation and uncertainty. This can lead to increased stress and anxiety.

3. Reward Kindness

How do you reward kindness? There is a saying that ‘Kindness is its own reward’ but often in organisations, although we may appreciate kindness we fail to reward it. If kindness is something you’d like to promote within your workplace you need to consider how it is rewarded. It is important to recognise and reward the behaviours you would like to support and encourage.

4. Meaningful Action

If you receive feedback in relation to kindness, take meaningful action based upon it. Communicate what you are going to do and why you are going to do it. This demonstrates your ongoing commitment to improving mental well-being in your workplace and also shows you have really listened to the feedback and that it has made an impact. When you can demonstrate to employees that their feedback effects change within your organisation they feel valued and are more likely to be engaged with Mental Well-being initiatives in the future. This in itself is kind.

5. Start With You

Whatever your position within your organisation continuing to be kind towards yourself and others will have a positive impact on mental well-being. Kindness can reduce stress and anxiety as well as improving self-esteem and helping to build healthy relationships. By starting with you, the kindness will ripple out to others and be returned.

‘ No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted’ – Aesop