Compassion and Employee Engagement

Comment

Comment by Warren Egnal on November 5, 2009 at 12:51pm

Compassion is vital. Without listening, understanding and empathyzing with employee perspectives and perceptions, it is impossible to deploy successful initiatives and ensure resonant communications that will advance reaching corporate objectives. Recognizing what the audience is feeling and needs is critical to motivating and mobilizing the team to exhibit the behaviours that lead to Retention, Advocacy, Effort and Passion, the key components of true engagement. Furthermore, unless management is constructing initiatives and making decisions within the context of what their people believe, want and need, they will be ignored, stymied and, ultimately, employee workarounds and obstructions will doom new strategies to failure.

Compassion is also of signiifcant help in ensuring employees migrate through change (we must communicate why the destination is worth the pain of the journey) and shapes a disciplined approach to ensuring new behaviour through Awareness, Acceptance, Alignment & Action--the communications continuum that is essential to driving engagement.

Comment by Susan Mazza on November 5, 2009 at 12:01pm

I just love the idea of more human "polar fleece" Maggie - what a great metaphor!

In response to the question What is the role of compassion in employee engagement? here's a few thoughts...

Great video. In watching it I was reminded of a phrase a friend said to me "You can't hate someone whose story you know." You also can't engage people when they do not feel known and appreciated. We all have a story. Without compassion I do not believe we can get into people's world enough to discover how to meet them where they are and discover how best to ignite their passion to engage in a way that is meaningful to them. Without a climate of compassion there is no freedom - to express ourselves, to step up and out of our comfort zones, or to risk engaging with not just our minds but our hearts as well.

Comment by David Zinger on November 5, 2009 at 8:45am

It will be interesting to see there this goes and how it develops and I am hopeful the employee engagement community can play a role in furthering the demonstration and lived sense of compassion in the workplace.

Comment by Peter Hart on November 5, 2009 at 8:37am

And open hearts...

Comment by David Zinger on November 5, 2009 at 7:54am

Maggie:
So well said. I love the image of flanelette!
David

Comment by maggie chicoine on November 5, 2009 at 7:51am

My grandmother always said that we need more "flanelette" in our lives. My version: we need more human "polar fleece". Soft eyes, gentle smiles, welcoming hands.