Hi Karen.
So,
Where is compassion useful?
Now there's a question for you.
Where is compassion useful?
It is,
And that was a question I proposed in a workshop that I was running last night.
So the workshop participants had the privilege of deeply exploring that subject.
One of the challenges for me in terms of answering that question is,
I will often call it the WD-40 for the soul,
And meaning that you can use compassion with any challenge,
With any problem,
With any conundrum,
With ones that are small,
With ones that are medium,
With ones that are big.
So,
But just to be specific,
One area that comes to mind that is a big one and very,
Very prolific in the business world right now,
Is in the area of supporting employees with their mental health.
And compassion,
I believe,
May have originally come out of the therapy world.
And certainly there are compassion focused therapy out there.
And that is working with different aspects of mental health suffering.
So that would be a first port of call,
Whether it's depression,
Anxiety,
Stress,
Grief,
Bringing self-compassion.
And I'm very keen on self-compassion over and above,
In some ways,
Compassion from another.
And I always talk about when I'm working with people.
That you,
As the sufferer,
Know what you need to receive in the way of compassion.
And you,
As the sufferer,
Are the very best person to bring you what you need.
Because nobody else can know exactly in the way that you do.
And somebody who's there,
If you'd like to support you,
Can,
With the best will in the world,
Be off track.
And their attempts at compassion can actually exacerbate the situation.
So there,
As I'm talking about that,
There feels like there needs to be an important conversation between the offerer.
Because of course,
As leaders,
We are in the business as well of offering support,
Including compassion to our people.
But we can get it wrong.
Not because we're not experts in compassion,
But we don't know how that individual is wanting to be supported at that time,
In that moment,
With compassion.
So I'm aware that there's plenty of other areas of offering compassion,
Which we can talk about a little bit more in this conversation.
But let me pass it to you and see what you want to say in response to that.
Yeah,
So compassion being situational,
It being relational.
I think for me,
Compassion can be about alleviating and mitigating,
But also preventing suffering.
So I think compassion is useful in any and all circumstances.
But I think there's something about identifying whether this is about responding in the moment to suffering,
Or whether it's taking a wider view and thinking,
You know,
What might lead to suffering.
Obviously,
From my perspective,
When I think about the workplace,
Workplace suffering can be very real.
And sometimes from a leadership perspective,
It's about responding in the moment.
But other times it's considering whether it be a policy,
A process,
A system issue,
What are the things that might lead to workplace suffering for the members of this organisation?
And leaders paying attention to the fact that things often quite inadvertently might lead to workplace suffering,
And that I believe leadership is called to be observant,
To notice,
To pay attention,
And to take compassionate action to prevent that suffering.
Yeah,
And where leaders can play a really important role,
What's been very upmost for me is to have each member of the team engaged in a role that is a role that they enjoy,
And to really be sure that there is the minimum amount of time spent in engaging in tasks that are energetically draining,
Or really,
Let's say,
At the worst,
Hateful,
To use a strong word,
Because that will impact,
Again,
I'm referring back to it can easily impact mental health,
Because we all know this,
If our work is a source of pain and suffering,
That can exacerbate into mental health suffering.
So as compassionate leaders,
We're wise to ensure that our people are enjoying the work that they're doing,
And sit down with them and help them to find ways of enjoying it,
Or move things around,
So that we as leaders ourselves are enjoying our work,
That's really important,
To reflect on am I as a leader enjoying my work,
What can I do to,
If you like,
Raise my game there,
As well as supporting my people to enjoy their work.
Yeah,
I think sometimes leaders are the unblockers in chief,
And by that I mean,
I think leaders paying attention to what are the things that are blocking,
Interfering,
Getting in the way of people enjoying their role,
But also feeling purposeful,
Undertaking the role that they chose to undertake,
Or were employed to undertake,
And so often teams will tell me that they spend so much of their time managing the interferences,
Sometimes that's,
You know,
When we are the source of the interference ourselves,
Sometimes then when we're managing all the interferences that hit us on a day-to-day basis,
And I think where the leader,
The compassionate leader,
Can be the unblocker in chief,
Is paying attention to what's getting in the way,
And unblocking things,
So the team can,
Team members can enjoy their roles more,
And fulfil the purpose that they that they feel most passionate about.
Yeah,
I was going to say,
There's also a piece about being conscious of the stress levels around individuals,
And leaders' individual stress levels,
And looking at the workaholic tendencies that are relatively common,
And the propensity to burn out,
And having a lot of sensitivity to that,
In order to be not just humane,
But also in order to bring out the best in their own performance as a leader,
And also to bring out the best in their team.
Yeah,
Well thank you for that Karen.
To anybody watching and listening,
My proposal is,
Or my assertion is,
That leaders are the chief unblockers.
Is that a term,
As if you're a leader out there,
That you feel comfortable or familiar with?
Why not let us know?
Good term,
Like it.
Okay Karen,
Thanks so much,
Great conversation,
Cheers.
Thank you.
