This week on the podcast I’m sharing about Leadership Compassion and

• Why it’s important
• The reasons why it’s not being soft
• The small things you can do that have a big impact
• What to know so that you can guard against compassion fatigue too.

There’s always going to be differing views about leadership compassion and whether it’s too soft.  I’m hoping this episode will get you thinking about leadership compassion differently and enable you to support your teams and do your work better.

Being compassionate is not something we’re born with.  It comes from a considerate behaviour, kind gestures and generous actions here and there that can make someone’s day.  Even the smallest moments can have a big impact.

Leadership compassion and kindness go hand in hand and enable you to be a leader that people feel that others can relate to, you’re accessible and approachable.

A lot of organisations have done work with their people to encourage their people to come forward and say if they’re struggling.  Some organisations are finding that middle managers don’t know how to deal with these things. 

Similarly there are people who are helping supporting, and often it can feel like they have become overloaded.  Compassion fatigue can affect those in the most dedicated of professions.

Why Should we Advocate Leadership Compassion?

When we’re compassionate it creates connections

You create stronger connections

Connections improve trust

Trust enhances loyalty so people feel they can come to you with issues.

Then you have collaboration regardless of levels of management.

Compassion is not the be-all and end-all – there needs to be leadership compassion with a whole load of other leadership skills.

Leadership compassion can be about being supportive with mentorship, guidance too. 

When we express appreciation for what people have done, recognise accomplishments, or difficult moments, pressurised meetings and share your appreciation for them doing what they do.

Listen to the story of Emma’s girls being confused with the recognition she was given and the discussion that took place.

What are the Benefits of Leadership Compassion?

Sharing compassion means people want to turn up for work, there’s a better workplace environment.  So compassion is often about making people feel comfortable around you, having positivity, flexibility and support.  That way people will come to you with concerns, issues and problem.  So people with come to you because of what you do, rather than just because you’re the boss.

The other side of this is compassion fatigue.

What is Compassion Fatigue?

The condition is often described as ‘the cost of caring’ and can lead to a struggle to empathise or feel compassion for others.  Often there are people are in key areas of work who become the front line for others to offload their emotions or deal with emotive or traumatic situations.

It’s classed a a deep emotional and physical exhaustion. It’s also called secondary trauma and it’s something I’ve been talking about a lot through the pandemic because people are picking up cares, concerns, difficulties through out lockdown.

Therapists and counsellors are often trained to have key ways to be compassionate without absorbing all the feelings, being overloaded and carrying everyone else’s emotional feelings.  In HR, people professions, you’re not given this level of training.

It’s important to look for the clues and know if you recognise those feelings immediately.

So that you know if you’re feeling run down, worn out too often? 

Make sure you know you’ve got tools and skills to reduce those feelings and reduce the stress levels so that you’ve got quick and effective ways to keep yourself back at your best quite quickly. 

Remember it’s not your job to fix things.  Yes be compassionate, support and sign-post.

Talk to me if you want to know about my training on this subject of compassion fatigue.

In summary, it’s important to be compassionate, but ensure that it’s not detrimental to your own energy and wellbeing.

Any questions on this, drop me an email at emma@emmalangton.com

For further information on 1:1, group coaching or training get in touch.

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If you want to be increasing your performance so that you’re more resilient, less stressed in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you send me an email or use the online diary and arrange a time for a chat.