People Strategy With Gloria: How To Lead With Compassion
Compassionate leadership isn’t about being “too soft,” letting work slide, or being a push-over. A strong leader knows that when you act with compassion, it communicates to your team that they are valued and respected. Cultivating compassion is an important step to building a healthy and productive workplace. Read on for a few People Strategy tips from Gloria on how to elevate your leadership through effectively demonstrating compassion for your team members.
Gloria McConnell, Consultant & Coach at Success Labs
LISTEN TO HEAR, NOT TO RESPOND
Listening to respond makes the conversation about you. Sometimes, it’s helpful for leaders to move away from the “problem-solving” reflex and listen to hear and understand, so that people know their experiences are being validated.
SEEK OUT COMPASSIONATE ROLE MODELS
Society often spotlights leaders who are tough and goal-oriented. While there’s a time and place for that, being tough should never exclude being compassionate. Actively seek out examples of admirable, compassionate leadership — or ask your mentors about lessons they learned from responding to a difficult situation compassionately. Take these lessons to heart, and emulate these practices for your team.
USING YOUR JUDGMENT, YES. BEING JUDGMENTAL, NO
Always keep an open mind and fight the urge to judge others based on your own experiences. Being judgmental is a very different thing from practicing discernment and using your experienced judgment to handle a problem. When someone is confiding in you, listening non-judgmentally helps you to better understand their perspective and if necessary, lead them to a solution.
Contact Gloria today to talk more about how to lead with compassion, especially if you are experiencing difficult conflicts among your team.
Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to grow leaders, build teams and drive results through great people strategy. Contact us to get proactive about expanding your company’s potential, and stay up-to-date with our latest news and leadership development updates here.