What is compassionate leadership?
Compassionate leadership is a form of leadership that emphasizes humanity when evaluating efficiency in group dynamics. Unlike empathy, which is the capacity to feel what someone else is, compassion is turning that feeling into action and asking how you can help. With compassion you do not let your empathy and your feelings hijack your work which in turn gives you the ability to make effective decisions. Instead, you consider the experience of your teammates while also thinking about the objective and everyone involved, with accomplishing that. With compassionate leadership we can take care of our people and get things done for our company effectively and efficiently.
Have I been a compassionate leader?
These past few months, I have been working as a Graf Intern at the Illinois Leadership Center. I worked on creating the facilitator's guide for one of our workshops entitled: Leading with Empathy and Compassion, which is where I realized that that there were a few elements in my leadership style that were missing the mark. Things that I thought were a part of giving good, empathetic responses were ultimately harmful. One of those things that I recognized was silver lining people’s experiences. I thought telling people to “look on the bright side” would help to shift the focus off the negative and onto the positive. However, putting a silver lining on a bad situation doesn’t change or fix anything about the situation. Usually, it only serves to make the person feel worse about the experience. Another harmful thing that I learned about was letting empathy be a barrier to action. In my lessons, I emphasized that by putting a pause on things I gave people the chance to come to terms with their feelings and their situation instead of hindering a goal that was pertinent for the good of the people that I was working with.
Main components of compassionate leadership
One of the main components of compassionate leadership is understanding the person's experience and a willingness to act upon it. Empathy gives us a clear picture of what someone may be going through at that moment, however it can also be a barrier to action if we let our feelings cloud our judgment. This is one of the main differences between empathy and compassion. Empathy is a feeling; compassion is an action. Another key component of compassionate leadership is active listening. This involves listening and responding to another person that improves our mutual understanding. This is more than hearing what a person is saying, it is actively interpreting the message, and following what the person is saying while maintaining eye contact and giving appropriate feedback through both verbal and non-verbal cues. Lastly, compassionate leadership is knowing how to overcome empathy hijacks. This is when the part of the brain associated with emotional processing takes over standard reasoning. Too much empathy can be a problem and here are some steps you can take some of the following steps to avoid it:
1. Take an emotional and mental step away.
2. Ask what the person needs.
3. Remember the power of non-action.
4. 4. Coach people so they can find their own solutions
5. 5. Practice self-care.
How you can practice compassionate leadership
So now that we have covered the basics, here are some strategies on how you can practice becoming a better compassionate leader.
- Be curious and listen deeply - You can do this by asking your team members more questions to get to know them.
- Invest in building relationships- Get to know your teammates and spend time with them.
- Give and receive feedback - Constructive criticism helps you and your teammates.
- Learn and admit your biases- Identify how you act and react to different demographics and ensure your work environment is welcoming to all.
- Walk in the shoes of others - Learn about the experiences of others.
- Step outside your comfort zone - Be willing to learn more about different cultures and communities and how they are different from yours
- Join a shared cause - Join a cause where all of the team members are working to achieve a common goal.
I hope through reading this, you a better idea on what it means to lead with compassion, and how you take these lessons and apply them to your own leadership style.
