After the pandemic, there is a trend that is beginning to consolidate in companies: Kindness. “Kindness is much more than being nice,” says an expert in organizational Kindness.
Translated from the original work of Alina Camacho Hauad (Spanish version here).
Phrases like “I didn’t come to make friends” or “boss is the boss even if he/she is a bad boss” are more than outdated in the corporate context. The reason? It has been proven that Kindness and feeling safe in a work environment where they can share their opinions and concerns, without fear of being judged or harmed, make employees more committed, satisfied and generate results at the highest level in organizations.
That was one of the conclusions of the meeting in Bogotá “Building a brighter future of work”, with Human Resources managers of several representative companies, organized by KindWorks.AI, a global team with the particular mission of strengthening Kindness in the habits of employees using technology and artificial intelligence to solve the biggest challenges of people and companies.
This initiative is led by Daniel Lozano, economist, MSc in Economics, MBA, MSc in software engineering, and former president of the Artificial Intelligence Society at the University of Oxford.
After working in the world of the stock market and working for a multinational, where he learned first-hand about artificial intelligence and was immersed in cutting-edge technology, Daniel discovered a deeper meaning to life.
“It was an idea that came up before the pandemic, but it materialized when we observed that, at work, many people were not delivering results, they were not having a good time. And, as countries like the United States were experiencing a large volume of job resignations, in January 2021 I had a conversation with my wife about how to materialize the idea as soon as possible — since it “couldn’t wait any longer” -.
Given the important benefit brought by the premise that “Kindness is much more than being nice: it is being truly interested in people”, workers can benefit from it, says the 37-year-old businessman.
And, in times of change like the ones the country is experiencing, there is nothing more appropriate than to think of an initiative that contributes to the transformation of companies based on a word that speaks of the need to have a more humane society: Kindness.
According to studies conducted by Gallup, Betterup, and Ernest and Young, 79% of employees do not feel connected to their work; 43% do not feel any “connection” with colleagues and 43% feel undervalued.
But how can we turn these figures around? According to experts who attended the meeting, an act as simple as saying hello and asking how a person is doing generates a chemical effect on those who do so, because, thanks to these small acts of Kindness, the body releases oxytocin and this leads to an increase in happiness, job satisfaction and greater commitment to results.
A recipe for happy employees
According to a report by Change Americas, six out of ten companies in the country report difficulties in retaining their employees. The analysis includes data from more than 300 of the largest companies in Colombia, which shows that the need to humanize companies, retain talent, improve the organizational climate, and not only think that salary compensation is important but also emotional compensation, are vital elements for people to want to stay in an organization.
“We must offer spaces for people to motivate themselves: an environment in which they can express their opinions and build,” says Jarko Vlasak Perez, Human Resources Manager in Colombia for the multinational Bayer, who is convinced that it is necessary to give a purpose and generate an organizational culture in which being and feeling are not isolated.
Margarita Cediel, Director of Human Resources at Compass Group Services, agrees with this, being forceful in stating that “leaders need to be closer to our collaborators, get away from the desk and find out what connects and makes sense for each one of them”.
In addition, it is necessary to “go back to basics, to connect from the human and the everyday, because this generates meaning and allows us to relate from a place of empathy.”
The truth is that in post-pandemic times and the empire of artificial intelligence with technology such as chat GPT, which threatens to displace jobs and functions in the company, there are also new ways of working and greater challenges for the retention of human talent with a premise: return to the simple and generate small acts with great results.
“It is necessary to generate flexibility and focus on the good experience of employees. This is evident for the sustainability of transformations in organizations”, comments Ricardo Bernal, Partner and expert in organizational transformations
And going back to the simple is part of rethinking the modus operandi of the human resources areas in organizations. “Experience teaches us that motivation is something intrinsic to each person. The important thing is that we accompany them to find what is the engine that moves them to be part of the company, so that we can create the appropriate environment for them to shine.”
“We must help our people feel that through their work they can contribute to changing the world,” says Lucía Amaya, Scotiabank’s Vice President of Human Resources.
Most experts agree that Kindness, more than a human talent preaching, should be an authentic feeling that can contribute to generate a powerful organizational culture, focused on objectives and that understands that people are above numbers.
Summary and recommendations for creating healthy work environments
- Smile. It sounds simple, but it is the most powerful tool to empower and inspire work teams.
- Motivate. It is at the center of a company’s transformation.
- Be flexible. Understand and communicate to teams that we are in changing times in which technology and new ways of working must invite them to understand the change.
- Overcome the fear of failure. We also learn from failures, and we must avoid thinking that making mistakes is wrong as much as possible.
- Letting go. It goes far beyond letting go of material things: the idea is to learn to let go of control when circumstances demand it.
Do you want to improve the well-being and productivity of your teams? Join the Kindness movement and revolutionize your culture with KindWorks. Other companies are already seeing a 255% increase in how connected their workers feel, among other significant increases in the levels of impact and recognition that teams have.
Contact us to start the journey of Kindness in your company: Contact us on WhatsApp or learn more at www.KindWorks.AI.
