During my first week as a product marketing consultant at KindWorks.AI, I came across this message by Daniel Lubetzky, Founder and CEO of KIND Snacks. It served as a timely reminder of the power of Kindness to drive impact at work.
KindWorks.AI believes that #BeingKindWorks to improve employee connectivity and performance. After meeting Beni, KindWorks’ friendly, conversational AI agent (or “Kindness buddy”), I experienced firsthand how strengthening my Kindness muscle at work improved my ability to solve problems.
1. Kindness enhanced my connection to our remote team
On my first day, I was onboarded to Beni via our team’s Slack workspace. Onboarded makes it sound a lot more intensive than it was. It was easy to get started with Beni. The Beni app appeared on Slack thanks to the behind-the-scenes magic of the Kindgineering team.
Beni sent me a helpful intro message introducing three types of exercises to improve my Kindness muscle: Kind Starters, Kindness to Others, and Kindness to Self. Kind Starters are on-demand prompts to encourage thoughtful sharing during team meetings. At my first team standup (and every meeting after that), I saw Kind Starters in action. A leadership team member requested a Kind Starter from Beni, and every team member responded. This 5–10 minute share time immediately fostered connection to the global team. Now, I had a jumping off point to begin conversations instead of making awkward small talk. Thanks to Beni’s Kind Starters, it was easier to reach out to team members to ask for help or for insights on their team’s goals.
Beni’s KindStarters reinforced good team communication and collaboration. All team members, including the leadership team, practiced vulnerability and open communication. Encouraged, I maintained transparency with my team about project recommendations, challenges, and feedback. KindStarters were key to better deliverables.
2. Kindness increased my impact on work priorities
In practice, a culture of Kindness is concrete and active. Beni helped the team keep that Kindness culture alive. Before I joined, KindWorks CEO Daniel Lozano told me that he sees giving feedback as being Kind. Feedback helps you learn and improve your capabilities to do better work. It was heartening to see that aspect of the culture in my day-to-day.
Beni’s exercises encouraging Kindness to Others connected me with another team member to share positive feedback. I received a Beni-prompted public recognition from my manager and KindWorks CMO, Nicole Yelsey, praising my recent project. It was affirming to know I was helping the company with my work, especially in a new function. I even requested to extend my internship to develop more tools for the marketing team. I also received unprompted constructive feedback, highlighting Beni’s influence on the Kindness culture. This feedback helped me refine project priorities so I could work on what would be most impactful. Beni’s nudges inspire recognition and support to help team members do their best work.
3. Kindness improved my focus and well-being
Beni’s exercises to promote Kindness to Self were a welcome reminder to ensure my wellness as an employee and as a person. I was not going to solve any problems for the team if I was unfocused or unwell. Sometimes, a Beni reminder to take an intentional 2-minute break was what I needed to refocus on a tough new task. When I fell ill, I knew the team would be supportive of taking the time I needed to recover. My deliverable timelines adjusted, I rested guilt-free, and returned to work ready to perform.
The culture of Kindness that Beni and KindWorks.AI enables is concrete, pervasive, impactful, and long-lasting. I am excited to see other companies build Kind cultures with and for their teams. Sign up for a demo to learn how to bring Beni to your workplace.
BONUS: Kindness at work transferred to Kindness in life
With the help of Beni, I trained my Kindness muscle to reduce the barrier to being actively Kind in my personal life. I volunteered to organize a support group for unemployed MBA classmates. I offered to find a support group for an overwhelmed friend. I reached out to support my hometown’s volunteer day activities to create a more effective flyer. I called my loved ones more often, asking thoughtful questions to connect more deeply. Kindness is truly a superpower that solves problems.
