Head Tale

A way to change your frame – “kindness isn’t about individuals, it’s about the wider workplace culture.”

Ask yourself – is your organization led by people who are kind or not?  Is this a common trait that is exhibited by all managers?  If one manager leaves, do a huge majority of staff lament the loss simply because that manager was known for their kindness?

Because it doesn’t matter how kind you as an individual are.  Or how nice your frontline staff are.  Or a single manager is.

If you’re leadership isn’t cultivating a widespread culture of kindness, you are not going to have a good workplace culture and instead you will have turnover, gossip, anger, resistance, distrust and worse (do you hear about people crying before coming to work?  At work?  Having panic attacks with the thought of going to work?)

The quote below, sent to me by a colleague, talks about the lessons learned in positive workplaces reminded me of a former coworker who recently sought me out.

She talked about how much it meant that I used to give every one of my staff at a former location where I was the Branch Head a handwritten card with a small $5 gift card to a local business every December.

She said the handwritten, personalized card talking about her strengths and/or a memorable moment from the past year meant more than the gift card (admittedly, only a small token of appreciation) and she admitted she took this for granted until she ended up working under other bosses who didn’t do this then, this year, she was once again with a boss who had a similar practice and also gave a handwritten card and a small gift.

You may not be an outwardly cruel person. But sometimes the absence of kindness is just as powerful in influencing the culture of your workplace.

From “The Kind Librarian“…