Practice Kindness
- Barbara Giesing
- Apr 21
- 2 min read
We’re bombarded on a daily basis with news of people behaving badly towards each other, so we need to promote and practice kindness in our lives and with our employees.
What does that mean?
When you walk into the office each day or log on for remote work, do you greet the people you see all the time or do you just get right to it? Do you ask how they are and mean it or do you pay no attention to any response and just move on? When you’re having a tough day, do you take it out on others or do you apologize for appearing gruff or frustrated (because they can tell you’re not happy)?
Smile. Just doing that can make a difference in someone’s day. When you see someone who looks happy, it often makes you feel a little brighter. Make a point to do that for others!
We have opportunities every day to promote kindness and we need to ensure we’re doing that and promote it among our staff. If you see someone struggling to pick something up, step in and offer to help or simply pick it up for them. If someone has a heavy load and needs help opening a door, stop looking at your phone and rush ahead to help. If someone is talking to you about an issue, make sure you’re truly listening and engaged in the conversation.
There are endless possibilities of ways to promote kindness, and yet we often don’t think about it or realize what we could do or could have done! We need to make conscious efforts to be nice to one another.
With your employees, don’t take them for granted; make sure you’re acknowledging their contribution to the team and/or organization. Saying a heart-felt thank you is a kind and generous thing to do. Model behavior that encourages others to reach out.
Begin meetings by asking for any acts of kindness that the team has experienced that day. Brainstorm ideas for what things you can each do!
Practicing kindness promotes civility, teamwork and a positive culture. We need more kindness in our lives!
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