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Now Reading | Why Compassion is a Better Managerial Tactic than Toughness
As a boss, sometimes it’s hard to know how to respond when an employee does not perform well, or if they make a big mistake that costs your firm money—or worse, does something that threatens a client relationship. It’s tricky territory. I appreciated this perspective from Harvard Business Review. Based on their research, they feel compassion and curiosity should rule the day.
Here are some findings from their different studies:
First, compassion and curiosity increase employee loyalty and trust. Research has shown that feelings of warmth and positive relationships at work have a greater say over employee loyalty than the size of their paycheck. In particular, a study by Jonathan Haidt of New York University shows that the more employees look up to their leaders and are moved by their compassion or kindness (a state he terms elevation), the more loyal they become to him or her. So if you are more compassionate to your employee, not only will he or she be more loyal to you, but anyone else who has witnessed your behavior may also experience elevation and feel more devoted to you.
In a creative environment which we foster at Fierce, this was particularly interesting:
Not only does an angry response erode loyalty and trust, it also inhibits creativity by jacking up the employee’s stress levels. As Doty explains, “Creating an environment where there is fear, anxiety and lack of trust makes people shut down. If people have fear and anxiety, we know from neuroscience that their threat response is engaged, their cognitive control is impacted. As a consequence, their productivity and creativity diminish.” For instance, brain imaging studies show that, when we feel safe, our brain’s stress response is lower.
When a situation arises with an employee their suggestions are to take a moment, put yourself in your employees shoes, and find empathy to forgive. Every situation is different and as the boss or business owner, you have to weigh a lot of things in these moments. I believe that starting with curiosity and compassion is always right. You may have to discipline your employee or fire them in the end, but even in these extreme situations, if you lead the process with compassion and kindness, you have a better chance of it ending well and the employee gaining the most benefit and learning from the experience.
The article shares a great story by Doty, the Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. It was about his first time in the operating room. Here’s what he shared from the interview:
He was so nervous that he perspired profusely. Soon enough, a drop of sweat fell into the operation site and contaminated it. The operation was a simple one and the patients’ life was in no way at stake. As for the operation site, it could have been easily irrigated. However, the operating surgeon — one of the biggest names in surgery at the time — was so angry that he kicked Doty out of the OR room. Doty recalls returning home and crying tears of devastation.
Tellingly, Doty explains in an interview how, if the surgeon had acted differently, he would have gained Doty’s undying loyalty. “If the surgeon, instead of raging, had said something like: Listen young man watch what just happened, you contaminated the field. I know you’re nervous. You can’t be nervous if you want to be a surgeon. Why don’t you go outside and take a few minutes to collect yourself. Readjust your cap in such a way that the sweat doesn’t pour down your face. Then come back and I’ll show you something. Well, then he would have been my hero forever.”
Doty goes on to say that he’s never thrown anyone out of his OR. “It’s not that I let them off the hook, but by choosing a compassionate response when they know they have made a mistake, they are not destroyed, they have learned a lesson, and they want to improve for you because you’ve been kind to them.”
Read the entire article here: https://hbr.org/2015/05/why-compassion-is-a-better-managerial-tactic-than-toughness
