In the first two posts of this blog series, we described eight dimensions of compassionate leadership – four focused on individual compassionate leadership and four focused on creating compassionate culture. As a next step toward an implemented action plan, we recommend picking one or two of the eight dimensions to be your focus for the coming three to six months.
To build your action plan, begin by assessing the tools you have at your disposal to complete your plan and the obstacles you may face. Many of you have your tried-and-true method of building action plans, which you are most welcome to utilize for this important activity. Alternatively, feel free to use one of these Center for Compassionate Leadership Worksheets that will organize your thoughts around your plan. There are two worksheets you can download in this PDF – one for focusing on individual development and one for focusing on strengthening organizational compassionate culture.
Each one of the areas shown on the worksheets is described below.
Strengths and Resources
Given the dimension you are seeking to strengthen, what foundations of strength will you be building on? What resources are already at your disposal to direct toward growing in this dimension of compassionate leadership? It is valuable to identify pre-existing strengths and resources as you begin the process to make your path easier to travel.
Challenges and Obstacles
What stands in your way of growing in this specific dimension? Some examples of challenges could include lack of experience or knowledge, fear, or social/organizational/cultural norms that feel oppositional to your growth. It could also include being comfortable with and reliant on an old pattern. Naming these challenges prepares you to face potential obstacles directly. Acknowledging and naming difficulties can often be half of the battle.
Practices, Policies and Procedures
Everyday Practices
What simple practice could you weave into your average day that would help deepen your compassion? Anything that you can do throughout your day with whatever is in front of you can qualify as an everyday practice. Practices that support awareness, connection, empathy, and action (the four components of compassion) and/or leadership, are everyday practices in support of compassionate leadership. Consider having one everyday practice as part of every day. Engage in the same practice for a few weeks and you may find it becomes almost instinctive and natural. We’ve shared just a few Everyday Practices here, and welcome you to think of more that are part of your environment. Perhaps you already take a moment of gratitude each day, send appreciation to people you don’t agree with, listen deeply, or breath with intention. All are additional examples to fill your basket with simple Everyday Practices.
Formal Practices
What could you add to your day to train your compassionate leadership muscles? These practices are more complex than everyday practices because they require more than just a spontaneous response. They might require pen and paper, quiet space, or a specific amount of time. These formal practices also offer an opportunity to deepen your capacities for compassionate leadership. These practices can include meditation, journaling, breathwork, movement, or structured study. One challenge with these is that they often require more space to imbed in your existing life. Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew. Take into account what you might need to let go of in order to add formal practice. Here are five practices to get you started.
Policies and Procedures
What could be codified in my organization’s policies and procedures that will help grow its compassionate culture? Policies and procedures generally support organizational compassionate leadership dimensions. There are many areas where policies can support compassionate leadership include hiring and recruiting, onboarding and training, dispute resolution, reporting procedures for ethical and other violations, organizational mission and values, formal reviews and feedback, post-project assessment, crisis response, and how to treat external relationships such as clients, partners, suppliers, and the communities in which you operate. The list really is unlimited, and offers many areas of opportunity to activate compassionate culture.
Less Structured Norms
How could we engage in our regular work practices that will help compassionate culture flourish? While policies and procedures are critical for defining the boundaries of acceptability and affirming explicitly desired behaviors, the world unfolds in day-to-day interactions. It is valuable to have rituals and clearly understood norms around celebrating success, communication, feedback, problem resolution, career development, and personal crisis support. While these norms may not be written down, they can still be just as clear and well understood. Maybe you decide to start meetings with a moment of reflection. Or perhaps you encourage your team to generate out of the box ideas for a quarterly challenge. Here too, the list is limited only by your creativity, your mindset, and your environment.
Study, Growth and Learning Tools
Just as athletes use video to review their form and plan their strategy against an upcoming opponent, compassionate leaders can use study and training to support their strategy and planning. Nonetheless, to really grow your compassionate leadership muscles, you need to get out onto the field of practice. Therefore, we recommend using these tools specifically as ways to help you get on the field with wise action.
Assessment
Where do the strengths and weaknesses exist in the dimension in which you are hoping to bring about change? Assessments can be external tools to measure your individual state or your organizational state. You can also ask people within your organization about what they do and don’t need, and define the starting point and to measure progress along the way. Be careful, however, not to allow assessment to keep you from moving to action.
Knowledge
Are there specific things you would like to know how to do better in this dimension? If so, find good references and learn how you can perform better. The Resources section of our website can provide you with a starting point for academic research, books, and other centers of excellence to use to enhance your knowledge. Much like assessment, however, you will want to be careful that study does not keep you from moving to action.
Training and Development
Are there ways you would like to be trained to develop your strengths in the chosen dimension? Training is readily available in all of the dimensions considered in this exercise.
Support Network
One of the most important principles to remember in this process is that you deserve support! A beautiful aspect of our shared common humanity is that while we are responsible in all that we do to our fellow humans, we are completely worthy of receiving support as well. Build ample opportunities to receive support into your roadmap, and you will flourish. Relationships enhance growth. You can’t become yourself, by yourself. We all benefit from the giving and receiving of support.
Self-care and Support
What will you do during this period to make sure you are taking really good care of yourself? It will be important to give yourself permission to let go, and not worry about being perfect. How can you stretch but not stress? Good diet, sleep, hydration, and physical movement practices that you are already using should be maintained, and uplevel your self-care practices if necessary. We only have so much fuel in our tanks, and they need daily attention to keep us harmonized and well.
Thought Partners
Who can help you navigate through the complex thought process of bringing your desired change to life? Think about people who understand the circumstances you are dealing with, or people who have experience with similar change. A natural starting point for this might be your colleagues at work, a mentor, coach, or professional contacts from previous organizations, associations, and educational experiences. If you would like specific support from the Center for Compassionate Leadership, we welcome sharing in our social communities or feel free to email us directly.
Emotional Support
Who do you turn to for emotional support? Be sure to identify friends, family, colleagues, or others who could help if you experience stress or challenges in this process. Share your plans and ideas with them. Most importantly, choose people who can provide positive support to help you stay courageous and motivated along the way. Be open to feedback, reflection, and encouragement. Change takes time, and we need to stay focused on receiving the acknowledgement and celebration of all accomplishments, even the small ones.
Moving to Action
Having discerned the dimensions of compassionate leadership that you want to focus on first, the next step is to develop your action plan. Look back over the information you organized around available tools and levers (Compassionate Leader Dimension Worksheet) and consider how and where you will use the different tools, practices, and support network elements to create your change. How will things need to be sequenced? Where are bottlenecks, and which tasks require the longest planning lead times?
What would you like to achieve first to get your progress in motion? It might include contacting people whose assistance or guidance you will need, or possibly the gathering of specific data or information that you need. It could also include beginning a regular practice of some sort. Then consider as you move forward what steps would follow on the way forward toward the change you want to create.
An alternative way to start would be to consider the change you would like to see in three to six months and work backward from there. As you build backward, you can see the steps that are required to make each subsequent step possible.
We offer one action plan worksheet to organize your plan. This template is only one of many different ways to plan out your action. Use whatever structure works for you. As this worksheet becomes filled out, the work for the next few months will become clear.
Congratulations, you are well on your way to deepening your compassionate leadership skills. Remember to involve and rely on your support network. This work is both world-changing and challenging. We need each other to bring it into its full potential.
Start your plan, chart your path, and let’s go! Are you ready? If you can see it your mind’s eye and desire it in your heart, know that change and transformation is already in motion. Change has a momentum all its own. Your impact can be powerful and make a difference in the world. Can you feel it?