A compassionate leader might be mistaken as someone who is primarily kind. And while kindness can be an important—and popular—trait in someone in a leadership or management role, that is not one of the most effective traits of a compassionate leader. Flexibility is.
Processes Work Until They Don’t
If you’ve implemented a process or work methodology in your business, it’s always important to remember that while it provides structure and guidance, it is not the be-all, end-all that everyone must observe. Your people are more important than the process that you’ve instructed them to follow. However, if they begin to believe you that trust your process more than you trust them, you may not get their best work, and you’re unlikely to inspire them.
This is why a compassionate leader maintains a flexible approach to the processes being implemented. Emphasize the people and the results they achieve, not whether they followed a precisely laid out path to do so. Otherwise, when your people find ways to increase the efficiency of your process, you may fail to realize that you have a way to improve your business literally being handed to you.
Mediocrity Always Follows The Rules
If you want to get the best work from people, if you want them to be inspired, rather than listlessly following a routine, you have to be willing to let them shake up that routine. Excellence does not necessarily come from a conventional approach, but average results always do.
Encourage people to try different things in different ways. If it doesn’t work, at least now you know, and the established process is still there, waiting to provide guidance. And if something does work, not only have you inspired an employee and gained more trust and respect within the workplace, you’ve just gotten a new improvement as well. There are rewards for a compassionate leader.
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