The words business and compassion could not be used in the same sentence until very recently.
Because;
There was no room for emotions in the business world.
Professional behaviour was required.
Corporate stance required to act in accordance with the rules.
Leaders could not show weakness.
How pointless all these sentences sound right now, don’t they? At this point, there is plenty of room for emotions in the business world. The phrase “acting professionally (!)” has become extremely out-dated and has been replaced by people-oriented management/leadership. Institutionalism has gone beyond the rules and companies where employees feel the best have become ideal companies. The burden on leaders to appear emotionless has been lifted.
Leaders who are compassionate, empathise with their employees, tell their own mistakes when necessary, apologise and express their fears came to the fore.
This change is the reason why we have started to hear the concepts of compassionate leadership, compassionate company and compassion culture more frequently.
Pay attention to these 3 points!
Compassion is not only about helping others, but also about truly seeing the needs of others.
Our tendency to avoid negative emotions triggers our tendency towards compassion.
Being compassionate enables us to find meaning in life and not only make others happy, but also make ourselves feel good.
The reflection of these psychological facts in the business world is exactly the same. This is the reason why employees feel better and safer in companies that have compassion in their corporate culture.
Research reveals that within a compassionate corporate culture, employees led by compassionate leaders are 25 per cent more engaged in their work and 11 per cent less likely to experience burnout syndrome. (Source: Harvard Business Review)
The relationship between empathy and compassion
Does being compassionate lead to empathy or do people with a high sense of empathy become more compassionate? It doesn’t matter! What matters is that empathy, one of the most important levers of leadership, emerges at the same time as compassion. Compassion includes mercy, and even leads us to go beyond. It also enables us to take action about people whose feelings we understand by empathizing.
Being able to empathise alone means feeling the weight of people’s difficulties. At this point, it is important to manage the potential burden of empathy by balancing it with compassion.
Understanding the concepts correctly
To be merciful is to understand someone else’s experience more superficially and to be sad. The merciful person has little motivation to act. When we feel sympathy, there is an increase in our willingness to help and our understanding of the other person, and we begin to feel it more. When we feel empathy, we develop a sincere, instinctive understanding of the other person’s experience. This makes the other person feel less alone, but it is not always solution-orientated. When we feel compassion, we understand what the other person is going through and are willing to act. Compassion is the feeling that arises when we ask ourselves what we can do to support the person in difficulty.
Leading with Compassion
At this point, compassion is seen as one of the most important components of effective leadership. This is more than an assumption. Scientific researches focusing on neuroimaging show that the human brain reacts more favourably to a leader who shows compassion.
Compassionate leaders do not take more responsibility; they take more care of those who take responsibility. (Source: Simon Sinek)
They focus on employee well-being, which makes employees feel more secure.
Employees who feel safe and well are more engaged.
High employee engagement leads to high performance and better business results.
Are you looking for resources for better business results? What makes leaders unique is that they often have that resource within themselves. It is only possible by showing compassion rather than mercy; by showing support rather than sympathy or empathy alone.
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