Written by: Janette Young, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Who forgets the boss who shows a real act of kindness to you when you are in distress? Do you have stories of kindness at work? The impact of kindness leads to greater loyalty.
Too little attention has been paid to kindness within leadership in the contemporary environment. However, historically, do pay attention, as ancient figures like the Chinese Philosopher Confucius focused on Ren which contained five main components one of which is kindness as part of his philosophy. We have much to learn today from the great philosophers.
There has been a recent shift to re-focusing on kindness within leadership. Dr. Janette Young in her 2022 book Leadership Resilience in a Digital Age writes a chapter on Conversation and Kindness in Leadership.It is one of the facets that support the creation of the Digital Sage. Indeed, she highlights that kindness encourages individuals and team members to stay connected and support each other in times that may be both high and low. As such, a leader spearheading this approach leaves a leadership trail that supports their reputation in a good way.
Kindness can be associated with empathy for others, therefore as a leader, step into the shoes of another to understand them, and in this way become supportive. Kindness may also create a virtuous cycle as it may boomerang right back to you! Indeed, kindness can transform relations and help create positive moods and positive relationships in teams and companies. Kindness can create a caring ethos and benign culture. A culture of kindness is something to strive for in an organization. As such, each leader needs to demonstrate kindness as they walk the talk.
Kindness is definitely a value to be encouraged and applied in a genuine way, by leaders who see the positive impact this creates in the workplace. Kindness helps transform relationships and create cooperation (Young 2022). For those who want to work in an innovative workplace, kindness plays its part because it motivates others to be part of a collaborative culture. It brings forward a humane touch. Kindness in leadership is very much linked to the preservation of all in a company and it undoubtedly plays its part in encouraging wellbeing and resilience.
Dr Janette Young,
Northern Lights Innovation
Janette Young, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Janette Young is an experienced senior academic, coach and consultant. She has worked in UK Universities as a Director of master’s programmes for many years. Most recently, author of Leadership Resilience in a Digital Age, Routledge. Janette explores personal resilience intelligence in these ever-changing times. Her latest book highlights the voice of the creative digital leaders she interviewed on this topic. The book presents stories about how leaders have faced significant challenges and pressure, and how they have used these experiences as catalysts to transform, flourish, and develop personal resilience. In the book she presents strategies and solutions for personal resilience and presents a framework for the leaders as a Digital Sage.
Janette is passionate about all things personal development and focuses on knowingness, personal resilience (PRQ), creativity, innovation, design, mind body and spirit, and wellbeing in all her work.
Her previous book was Personal Knowledge Capital: the inner and outer path of knowledge creation in a web world. Elsevier/Chandos.
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