Is kindness one of your organisational values? Are you struggling to make it tangible every day for your people? As an internal comms person who has worked on many values campaigns in my time, I know how tricky that can be.
Bringing values to life is never just about communication. Actions are important too, particularly in the way that leaders and managers carry out their roles and interact with their teams.
In this blog I’m sharing ideas for the internal comms team and for leaders so that both groups can play their part in making kindness a tangible part of your culture.
The role of leaders
As leaders you are role models for the culture of your organisation. When you communicate with kindness you create the conditions for deeper connection which leads to:
- more effective collaboration
- more inclusion and belonging
- better decision-making
- improved wellbeing
These 3 ideas will get you started to lead with kindness.
- Get to know each other and create connections
When you and your team know each other and understand each others’ priorities and motivations, it is easier to connect and find common ground. In turn this makes it easier to work collaboratively. How you do that varies if you are in person or working remotely, but remember to listen and find the way that is most appropriate for them.
- Get used to using the language of kindness
If something is kind, tell them in those words. Don’t skirt around it. Kindness isn’t weak and fluffy, it is powerful because it connects us. So you don’t need to shy away from the language as being somehow unprofessional.
- Create clarity of purpose and objectives
There is kindness in making sure that everyone understands what is expected of them and what they are contributing towards. Help everyone to see the big why of the work you do and how their work makes a difference. You are then able to make sure everyone is held accountable, again with kindness at the heart of the conversations you have. Even the difficult ones.
Suggestions for internal communicators
These are my top tips for how the internal comms team can contribute to a kind culture:
- Gather stories
The same value can look different in different contexts. Kindness for a remote team could look like checking in on a colleague who has been quiet for a few days. Kindness in a factory might look like double-checking everyone understands how to use a new machine correctly.
- Encourage conversations
Values shouldn’t simply be words on the wall or the screen-saver. They should be something that is actively discussed, not as a tick-box exercise but to understand what the words look like in practice.
- Actively demonstrate that words and actions match
It’s no good saying that kindness is one of your values if this isn’t the experience of your people in the course of their work. The culture should support kindness in action.
These tips aren’t solely about communication. Leadership is important too, as is the need for everyone to take their part in making things work.
Need more help?
There is a lot more that leaders and internal communicators can do to demonstrate and communicate kindness at your organisation, but I hope that this blog has given you a good starting point.
If you would like more help with how to recognise, value and communicate kindness at your organisation, get in touch to see how we can work together.
I also do a talk about kind communication for leaders and managers – let me know if you’re looking for something for your L&D programme offering and would like to book me to speak.
Until next time
Sarah