When we ask people at the start of our trainings about their curiosities around compassionate leadership, one of the most common questions is, “How can I be a compassionate leader and hold people accountable?” At the Center, compassion and accountability are completely aligned. Discover the five Cs of accountability – five contributors to holding people accountable while leading compassionately.
Some people give and give and give of themselves until they don’t have any more to give. Is there a point where the giving turns counterproductive; when someone is “compassionate to a fault?” This can and does happen, and when it does, it shows the need for awareness of one’s own needs, the value of boundaries, and the importance of understanding what compassion truly is.
As individuals seek to grow their capacity to lead, what role can compassion play? Through its ability to strengthen leaders, enhance team results, build cultures of safety, connection, and belonging, and ultimately create a world of flourishing for everyone, compassion is central to leadership development.
We choose our work based on its alignment with our own values and needs. We naturally identify with work in valuable and healthy ways. If we take this identification too far, it can become harmful. Overidentification can have harmful impacts on both our personal and our professional lives. Foundational practices of inner compassion can support compassionate leaders in avoiding the pitfalls of overidentifying with work.
Does your inner voice ever say things to yourself that you would never say to others? Do you find it hard to forgive yourself for mistakes or bounce back after a setback? We can all strengthen our capacity for self-kindness by recognizing its gifts, understanding our resistance to it, and practicing to become the leader that creates a culture of safety and caring.
Compassionate leaders are well-served by integrating head, heart, and body knowledge. One of our favorite ways of strengthening our head knowledge is curling up with a well-written book and exploring the themes and wisdom within. Here are a few recent reads that would be valuable for any compassionate leader to dig into.
Lack of knowledge is one of the most common barriers to leading compassionately. Many leaders have said they would like to strengthen their compassion skills but lack the knowledge as to how to do it. Science shows that this is a capacity that we have always had. Recognizing that compassion and leadership are complementary can set us on the path of growing our compassionate leadership.
We are a competitive species. Sometimes so much so that we work well past the point of flourishing. Can we courageously make choices in our leadership and life that support thriving for ourselves and for the whole world. To do this, we need to overcome our impulse to perfectionism and the difficulty we have setting healthy boundaries.
As we explore the obstacles to compassionate leadership, we turn to the issue of excessive time demands, which is named consistently in our leader surveys. What is a compassionate leader to do? We start by changing our relationship with time, ourselves, and the culture. Be realistic about the fixed nature of time. Practice self-compassion. Be courageous – name when the system is broken and collaborate to create more human solutions.
