November 13th is World Kindness Day and it made me reflect on how important being kind is for your career. It’s very important.
Yes, there are successful people who are jerks, but you’ll get much further in life (and will be able to look at yourself in the mirror each morning) if you take the route of kindness.
Today I want to share ideas for small acts of kindness, that are deliberate and transform your relationships with your co-workers and other professional connections.
Does kindness need to be random?
No. That’s the short answer.
Kindness can be very deliberate and planned and that doesn’t make it any less meaningful. Knowing ahead of time that a friend will need your help when they’re facing a big family gathering and just don’t feel up for it, doesn’t mean a kind gesture isn’t genuine. Sending them a thoughtful message, calling them the night before or dropping off a little “family gathering survival box” with earplugs, chocolates and a funny card is just a nice when it’s planned versus doing something spontaneous.
In fact, planning these things gives you more opportunities to have an impact with others. So don’t worry about making it ‘random acts of kindness’. Those are great but not the only way to go.
Why do we need more kindness at work?
Whether you’re working from home permanently or like going to the office, or you’re mixing the two: I’m sure you, like many of us, have felt the strain of the last 3 years. It’s been a burden on our human relationships and how we work together, relate to each other, communicate and whether we feel part of a team.
When you come to the office or to a zoom call, you might be struggling. It’s okay to still be adjusting. Even if the pandemic isn’t as omnipresent anymore, world politics, energy crises and the environmental meltdown don’t exactly help us all relax in comfort. Dealing with these things impacts us every day.
So that’s why we need more kindness. Towards each other and towards ourselves. If you’re kind to someone else you might help them snap out of a cycle of negative thinking. When someone makes you a compliment or grabs you a coffee from your favourite coffee shop, it might just give you the boost you need to get your task finished.
What can you do for others?
In my experience, doing something nice for others feels much better (and that feeling lasts longer) than doing something nice for yourself. And that’s where acts of kindness start and have an immediate impact.
Kindness doesn’t cost anything. It just requires your attention and awareness and the willingness to take the first step.
Here are some great examples that work wonders in a professional context:
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Compliment your co-worker. When someone does something great, tell them. Let them know that you appreciate their meeting summary or how they stepped in to help you finish a presentation. Tell them you really like the idea they raised at the team meeting. Let them know when a client liked their work. And: copy their manager into this email. This last part is as important as the compliment itself, because you’re getting a two-for-one. One compliment puts a smile on your colleague’s face, boosts their confidence AND makes their accomplishment visible for their manager.
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Remember the support crew. In every working environment there are people who keep things moving and form the glue that holds everything together. These people include team admins, PAs, receptionists, office managers, cleaning and security staff. Acknowledge their contributions. It costs nothing. If you want to go even further, a small gesture like a box of chocolates or donuts or a nice card goes a long way. (for Obama, a fist-bump worked)
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Ask “how are you” and really listen to the answer. As a German, taking things literally is in my DNA. When someone asks me how I am I will tell them honestly, even if that wasn’t what they wanted. But what if you did ask your colleague genuinely how they are doing and then gave them the time and space to share? This can be their chance to get something off their chest and for you to just listen. One small question can help them offload some of what they’re carrying and feel better for it.
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Share food. In German we say food and drink connects body and soul. It also connects people, and most cultures have celebrations around food for that reason. Whether you like cooking and baking or want to grab something on the way to work, bringing something with you to share is an excellent way to bring people together for a few minutes of delicious silence mixed with chatter and smiles.
It’s not difficult to be kind, but we can all get caught up in our busy lives and filled schedules and forget to pause. When you pause, it’s a chance to think about the contributions you can make that inject kindness and a feel-good factor into your work environment.
Try one of these suggestions this week and see what happens. If you can make kindness a regular habit, I’m certain others will notice and will respond with more kindness, too.
Hit reply and share your personal story of something kind you did or something a colleague or friend did for you.
Have a great week!
Eva