I don’t know about you, but I cringe every time I see the #BeKind hashtag. It’s just all so… saccharine. And when companies use it, all too often it’s a performative gesture.
…when kindness truly runs through an organisation and its people it can be transformative and bring real business benefits.
Some organisations have kindness as a value, but when you ask employees if the reality matches up to the aspiration, you find they’re falling short. Which is a shame because when kindness truly runs through an organisation and its people it can be transformative and bring real business benefits.
This is why I developed the KIND™ model of employee engagement which focuses on four areas that can drive a kind company culture:
- Kudos
- Inclusion
- Nurture
- Direction
There are other drivers of employee engagement, but these are the areas where I’ve found kind companies really excel.
So what does this look like in practice?
In a KIND workplace, leaders:
Kudos:
Reward their people, recognise and celebrate success.
Recognition is so important to make people feel valued. Everyone is different though so knowing your people is important here, as is fairness and consistency.
Inclusion:
Create a psychologically safe listening environment where everyone is welcome and set up for success.
This is about people feeling able to speak up, confident that they won’t be ignored, dismissed or ridiculed. Without this kind of environment it’s often the same voices that speak up – and that’s not good because what organisations need is diversity of thought.
Nurture:
Invest in people’s development and give honest, constructive feedback.
Often development is a tag on at the end of a performance review conversation, but KIND managers set and discuss personal development goals at 1:1s, and act as a kind coach providing honest, constructive ‘in the moment’ feedback. This links to the final part of the KIND model, D for Direction and being clear to be kind.
Direction:
Tell a compelling story about the organisation’s purpose, vision and values.
Direction is about outlining an inspiring vision, setting expectations, trusting people to do what’s needed, and stepping back. The best leaders show vulnerability and accept they don’t have all the answers. They employ people who are experts and listen to them. They may make the ultimate decision, but they actively seek the advice of others.
It’s this kind of culture that makes us want to say good things about our organisation, stay with the organisation and strive to do the very best work we can for the organisation.
This improved staff advocacy, loyalty and productivity leads to:
- lower turnover and recruitment costs
- fewer sick days
- more word of mouth referrals.
So, as you can see, being KIND (as opposed to just being kind) really is good for the bottom line.