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Culture of Kindness

  • Define your Values
  • Give Earned Credit
  • Address Conflicts Constructively
  • Focus on Lessons Learned, Not Blame
  • Measure Individual Success
  • Show Gratitude

Leonardo da Vinci's Self-supporting bridge diagram.

What Socially Motivates You?

Being Kind:  Why Kindness Matters

I see this same theme showing up every weekend in my feed on LinkedIn:  Be Kind.  I don’t know if it’s a reminder being sent out to teams after an awesome week, or a cry for help, but it’s always there.  During the week the feed changes to various exciting things happening in the world of business, before shifting back to the same theme:  be kind.  

Why?  Why is it important to even think about kindness?  It’s an interesting question, and as we talk about social motivators it’s the first one I want to bring up.   More than any other individual social condition, a culture built around kindness can increase your teams’ productivity and create a sense of belonging that will translate into more productive, successful teams (Vo, 2022).  I know that’s quite a claim to make, so let’s go over it.  

Social Motivators and Research

In 2022, Vo and team conducted a massive data research project to explore the effects of social conditions meeting individual needs as it relates to work motivation.  There were four motivating conditions that were explored:

  • Religious Affiliation
  • Political Participation
  • Humane Orientation through Kindness and Altruism
  • In-Group Collectivism as expressed by pride and loyalty for the organization

The research then focused on six key hypotheses tested as it relates to work motivation: 

  1. Competence:  How one’s mastery at the tasks at hand impact their motivation to do the job. 
  2. Autonomy:  The ability to do their job, make their own decisions, and take accountability for their own actions. 
  3. Social Relatedness:  Feeling secure with their teammates through social connections.  
  4. Motivating Conditions Impact Competence:  The impact of each of the four motivating conditions are expected to enhance one’s motivation at each level of competence.  
  5. Motivating Conditions Impact Autonomy:  The impact of each of the four motivating conditions are expected to positively effect one’s motivation at each level of autonomy.
  6. Motivating Conditions Impact Social Relatedness:  The impact of each of the four motivating conditions are expected to enhance social connection motivation.  

So there’s a lot to unpack here, and if you want the full details of the research project, check the link below.  The primary goal is to explore the impacts of Competence, Autonomy, and Social Relatedness on work motivation.  Each are powerful influencers, and should not be ignored.  I’ll dig into each in future articles.  What’s really impressive, though, is the follow-up:  How social conditions can mitigate or enhance the impact of competence, autonomy, and social relatedness.  

The Competence Exception and Motivation

It seems pretty intuitive that someone more comfortable with a job will feel more motivated to complete the job, and to a certain extent that is true.  What was interesting is that the more competent someone was at a role, the less motivated they were to complete the role (Vo, 2022, p.9).  There wasn’t a conclusion as to this result, though it’s hypothesized that, once a task become routine, there is less desire to do the tasks.  Challenges appear to directly impact motivation.  What’s really interesting is that both Autonomy and Social Relatedness behaved as expected:  The more of each one has, the more motivated the team gets. 

The Impact of Kindness 

As researchers reviewed the differing impacts of motivating conditions on competence, autonomy, and social relatedness.  The results were very interesting: 

  • Competence  
    • Positive Impact Observed
      • A strong culture of  Kindness had a positive impact, statistically increasing motivation for those at every level of competence, even as motivation dropped with higher competence.  
      • High Company Loyalty also increased motivation significantly, though it still dropped significantly with higher competence.  
    • Interesting Insight:  Religious affiliation had a very interesting impact on motivation with competence, effectively evening out the difference between high and low competence on motivation.  
  • Autonomy
    • Positive Impact Observed
      • Higher political participation had a slightly higher positive impact with increased autonomy, though only when high levels of autonomy was granted.  
      • A strong culture of Kindness very significant increase in motivation for those with autonomy, even when low levels of autonomy were observed. 
  • Social Relatedness
    • Positive Impact Observed
      • A strong culture of Kindness was the only statistically significant motivational factor that increased motivation with regards to social relatedness, and it was significant.  I found this particularly enlightening, and once pointed out I could see how this same concept could be rubber-stamped across all social environments.  

As outlined above, kindness was the one social motivator that could impact an individual’s work motivation, regardless of one’s level of competence, how much autonomy they have been given, and how much one relates to their team.  

Building a Culture of Kindness

We know that Kindness makes a huge impact on a team’s motivation, but how do you build a culture of kindness?  Here are some key steps you can use to shift your company culture, regardless of who you are in the company.  

  • Define Your Values:  Company values are great, and every company has a list of values they like to highlight.  These should be communicated, reiterated, and focus on the importance of kindness and compassion while working with one another, and then act on them.  Writing your values is a great step, but you, as leadership, employees, and as teams, need to live them.  
  • Give Earned Credit:  Recognize those who have great ideas, and give credit to those who deserve it.  This means recognizing a great idea from the janitor if they are overheard and the idea is used, not the guy who implemented it.  Be willing to recognize those who make a difference, and don’t take credit for someone else’s work.  This seems obvious, but it’s amazing to see how often this is not done.  
  • Address Conflicts Constructively:  Conflict is going to happen, and believe it or not, it’s healthy if approached constructively.  Everyone should have a chance to have a say, every perspective should be listened to with the desire to understand (not respond), and then move forward with the understanding that all concerns where heard, understood, and considered.  
  • Focus On Lessons Learned, Not Blame:  It’s human nature to find someone or something to blame, and feel like a bad situation was completely out of your control.  The honest truth:  you can always do something to mitigate all risk, even if you didn’t know you could at the time.  That’s part of learning, growing, and becoming better.  When you run into issues, focus on the lessons you are learning and how to avoid the problem in future, rather than who is to blame.  When folks feel like they are allowed to make honest mistakes, they will be more willing to put all their effort into making something happen.  And you will earn their trust. 
  • Measure Individual Success:  Not everyone is going to be at the same level, and often it can feel like they continue to struggle while others who have more seniority get all the recognition.  As a leader, meet people where they are and recognize their individual growth.  
  • Show Gratitude:  As a teammate, show appreciation for the contributions of your peers, however small it might be at the time.  Gratitude can go a long way in building social bonds.  

Research has shown that a culture of kindness, above all else, can have a more of an impact than any other factor in your organization.  By building a culture where everyone is kind and compassionate, you will increase your teams motivation at a social level, engaging them as a team to complete tasks and accomplish more than you could at any other cultural level.  Treat people with respect, listen to understand, and show gratitude at all levels, and you will have a truly great place to work.  

 

For more information on the research, check out the referenced link below. 

Vo, Thuy Thi Diem, Kristine Velasquez Tuliao, and Chung-Wen Chen. “Work motivation: The roles of individual needs and social conditions.” Behavioral Sciences 12.2 (2022): 49.

 

 

2.6x More Productive

Employees who trust their leaders are 2.6 times more productive on tasks, bringing more value to the team!

41% Lower Absenteeism

Employees who trust their leaders are more likely to show up, be engaged, and stay engaged.  

50% Less Likely to shop for another job

Employees who trust their leadership are more likely to stay where they are and grow in their roles, rather than shop around for other positions or companies. 

Safety Motivation: 

Does your Team trust You?

Why You Need To Build Trust

We have all been there at one point or another in our careers.  A leader comes into a new position, starts making changes, and the layoffs start.  I’ve seen this happen to other teams, and to my own team.  The results are painful to watch.  The remaining team members just keep their heads down, doing what they are told.  Feedback isn’t taken, feedback isn’t wanted, and no one wants to give the new boss a reason to let them go before they are ready.  Resumes are flying, and soon the team starts to lose members all over the place. 

In the case of really good, quality organizations, leaders that cause this type of disruption for the sake of disruption are let go (I’ve seen this happen twice).  For those organizations that are not quality, they let their best people go, hire new people, and start a cycle of high turnover.  It’s not pretty, and it could all be avoided if leadership took the time to build trust.  

Trust Makes Good Teams

Trusting employees are 260% more motivated to work, have 41% lower rates of absenteeism, and are 50% less likely to look for another job (Reichheld & Dunlop, 2023).  Teams that are able to trust their leadership build better relationships, and are free to create a social structure that is strong, inclusive, and supportive of each other.  Trust satisfies the Safety need in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and is itself a foundational need only superseded by the need for survival.  Without it, all other motivational methods are rendered useless.

Distrust Is More Rampant Than You Think

The numbers are grim: roughly 1 in 4 workers don’t trust their employer. At the same time, most employers overestimate their workforce’s trust level by almost 40% (Reichheld & Dunlop, 2023).  That’s right; in most organizations a full quarter of your workforce doesn’t trust you as leadership.  What’s more, you likely overestimate the amount of trust you have because, as an untrusting body, your employees are not going to tell you they don’t trust you for fear of retribution.  

Build Your Trust Now

It’s often been said, you build trust in drops, lose trust in buckets.  If you have a team that doesn’t trust you or your leadership, you have a long row to hoe.  You can either say a lot of words and hope they will believe you (spoiler alert:  they won’t), or you can get to work.  Here’s how you build trust. 

  • Be Empathetic: Know your team and listen to understand.  Your team is going to say things, even if they don’t trust you.  They will tell you there are problems, even if you don’t want to hear them.  Actively listen and try to understand the problem.  Don’t dismiss concerns, listen.  Don’t try to fix anything, listen.  Don’t try to second-guess their problem and come with a solution, LISTEN.  Once you fully understand the concern, circle back around with the team and discuss solutions AND GET THEIR INPUT.  
  • Be Compassionate:  Actively advocate for your team and alleviate their challenges.  Trust that people are basically good, and when given the chance will do all they can to be the best at what they do.  Work to remove obstacles, work round them, or build solutions with the team to make things better.
  • Be Honest:  Transparency and honesty are respected, even if the team doesn’t hear what they want to hear.  There will be bad times.  There may be some folks that will need to leave because of performance issues or attitude issues.  There may be lay-offs that are necessary because projects vary, come to an end, or economics mean demand has gone down.  Show that you understand their concerns, be straight-up honest about why people are being let go (when legally possible), and explain how a decision was trickled down to them.  
  • Be Honorable:  If you say you are going do to something, do it.  If you tell people that there will be no lay-offs, keep your word.  If you promise training and career development options, don’t exclude anyone.  The minute you break your word, you are no longer trustworthy.  

“A full quarter of your employees doesn’t trust you as leadership.”

  • Be Empathetic: Know your team and listen to understand
  • Be Compassionate:  Actively advocate for your team and alleviate their challenges
  • Be Honest:  Transparency and honesty are respected
  • Be Honorable:  If you say you are going do to something, do it

Learn More | Contact Us

 

Everyone is talking about AI, though they generally mean Generative AI.  While GenAI will likely have a huge impact on Learning and Development, I’d like to explore the impacts of Analytical, or Behavioral, AI.  Behavioral AI is the sleeping giant of Narrow AI applications, and will likely have a larger impact on our lives and business than Generative AI.  But how will it impact training? 

You have a lot of content that requires a lot of practice and application before you build on it. Your content is well structured, and you need the best way to deliver it. That’s the strength of the Flipped Classroom! Best served in the cohort model, consider flipping your classroom if you need to teach for more than 24 delivery hours (3 business days) in a row.

You know you have a problem: users aren’t using the training you purchased, and Management wants to cut it. What can you do? How can you bridge the gap and show the value of training to Managers, while also encouraging your employees to use the courses available? Here are 5 ways:
1. Do your job task analyses
2. Centralize your learning in one place
3. Build job-based learning paths for every role
4. Include a budget for industry certifications
5. Have the Management Champion learning

You are a training professional, and your company has finally invested in a large learning library with curated content that covers just about every possible skill under the sun. You are thrilled because your co-workers in all departments can up-skill themselves and grow. And yet, it doesn’t get used, and management start asking why they even invested in the first place. Below we talk about why there’s a disconnect between management and employees regarding training.

The Training Disconnect: Why Isn't Your Learning Library Getting Used?
The Training Disconnect: Why Isn’t Your Learning Library Getting Used?

In my previous role, our company had invested in a large, curated online training library for use by our employees. It was amazing, massive, and a little difficult to use if you didn’t know what you needed. Still, it was an amazing investment in the growth of individuals: but no one knew it was there. I would like to say this was an exception to the rule, but at nearly every job I’ve ever had, this has been the standard. Companies will invest in training libraries and make them available to their employees, and yet they are rarely utilized. This has two impacts:

  1. Management feels that training is a waste of money
  2. Employees feel like they are on their own when it comes to advancing their career

Both are right, in a way, which is concerning, and yet it has management and employees at odds. Managers will point out that training isn’t being used when it’s available, and employees point out that they didn’t know it was there and couldn’t navigate the massive library.

Let’s talk about the Management position first, to understand their concerns. When they see an investment not being used, they see a waste of resources that could go to hiring another Sales executive or Engineer. Why are we paying for something that is standing idle? It’s not in the best interest of the business to have that program on the books when we can use those resources elsewhere to better grow the business. And, from a certain point of view, they are right. Any resource not used within a company is a wasted resource.

This prompts the first question from management: Why did we invest in this learning library in the first place? And any HR rep or L&D team member can quickly reply: to invest in up-skilling of our employee base and build a resilient organization. That should be obvious. But no one seems to ask the next question, or rather, don’t like the answer: Then why aren’t employees using it?

This goes to the Employee point of view. Employees want to grow in their careers, earn better pay, become more knowledgeable, and respected within their circles of influence. This comes from experience and learning. Training can help with this, and often a diverse, liberal training library can help fill gaps that otherwise are tough to pick up on the job. This is where those large, curated libraries of training topics are so valuable: they have such a diverse collection that employees can find just about any skill to learn and develop. It’s also their curse: there’s SO MUCH THERE that it’s tough to get started. Even if you have a general idea, often there are 5-10 difference courses on the same topic, which is right? Employees need guidance when navigating these large libraries to use them effectively.

So, why are the libraries not being used? Employees don’t know they are there, and/or they don’t know where to start. They need content to be organized in a logical manner that makes sense for their role.