{"id":2398,"date":"2023-02-23T09:45:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T09:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workwithimpact.co.uk\/?p=2398"},"modified":"2023-02-23T09:45:53","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T09:45:53","slug":"maximising-employee-performance-through-compassionate-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workwithimpact.co.uk\/news\/maximising-employee-performance-through-compassionate-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Maximising Employee Performance Through Compassionate Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Compassion can be defined as \u201csensitivity to suffering\/distress in self and others with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it<\/em>\u201d Cole-King and Gilbert, 2011. Compassionate leadership creates the right environment for individuals to enable them to reach their full potential and feel respected and valued at work [1]. It is about building close relationship thus giving us a sense of belonging \u2013 an essential human need, which after the challenges we all experienced over the last few years, is now stronger than ever. In this article, we will be exploring what it means to lead with compassion and how it can maximise employee performance in an organisation.<\/p>\n

The Four Behaviours of Compassionate Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Professor Michael West, who has done a tremendous amount of research on the topic, compassionate leadership is underpinned by four key behaviours:<\/p>\n

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  1. Attending<\/strong> \u2013 taking the time to be fully present with others and listen to what they have to share, their challenges and frustrations, in the same way that you would listen to their success stories. Nancy Klein refers to this as \u201clistening with fascination\u201d [2]<\/li>\n
  2. Understanding<\/strong> \u2013 taking the time to understand what they are experiencing and not imposing our own understanding of the situation<\/li>\n
  3. Empathising<\/strong> \u2013 having a caring and empathetic response to what is being shared<\/li>\n
  4. Helping<\/strong> \u2013 taking the time to implement appropriate action to help them overcome any obstacles they are facing so they can do their job effectively<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Compassionate leadership has been reported to create psychological safety in the workplace and enhance intrinsic motivation of employees [2]. These factors have been shown to lead to an increase in employee productivity, performance, and bottom-line profitability [3]<\/p>\n

    The Link between Compassionate Leadership and Performance <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Compassionate leadership fosters a culture of openness and learning and increases levels of trust and collaboration through creating strong relationships and connections [7]. Compassionate leadership can increase the performance of employees in a variety of ways, including:<\/p>\n