A World of HR Solutions:
Cultivating Care in the Workplace
Contributing author – Sioux Benson Messinger

Most of your life’s relational time, roughly 80 percent, will be spent with your colleagues rather than your family members or loved ones. It then follows that three things are true:

• The morale of your colleagues and/or employees will likely have a significant effect on your general outlook and sense of well-being. 
• Choosing to be proactive in creating warm and positive interpersonal experiences at work will leave you happier at work.
• Research indicates that employees perform best when their contributions are genuinely appreciated. 

From a managerial standpoint, cultivating kindness is simply essential. So, how do we cultivate care in the workplace? 

Step One: Stay Simple. There’s no need to make any act of caring a gargantuan one. Instead, keep the acts small and simple. As Mark Twain said so well, “I can live on a good compliment for a week.”

Step Two: Notice the photos, decorations and doodads that give a colleague’s cubicle its own personal touch. Each item is a clue leading you directly to this person’s heart. (Isn’t this easy?) Pictures of pets or loved ones, memorabilia, items from a favorite sports team: these are the topics that will help you connect with any particular colleague. An interesting necktie or piece of jewelry also works well.

Step Three: Say hello to your colleague, mention one of the items above, and then follow it by a question or statement that gets them talking. Here are a couple of examples:
“I’ve noticed your picture of that adorable boy. Tell me about him.”
“I see you’re a 49’ers fan. Do you attend the games or are you more of a couch fan? How about other sports or is football your only love?” etc.

If you’re tempted to dismiss these acts of caring as insignificant, think about the last time you received one.  Ever notice how you’re more likely to make space for a merging car just after someone has made space for your vehicle? The popular film Pay It Forward illustrates this effect and the inherent contagious nature of kindness, duplicating itself in a long chain of generosity. One simple act of caring can instigate many others.

Finally, managers and coworkers should perform at least one act of intentional caring per week. You could even mark this as a repeating task on your palm pilot or computer calendar. Then watch how good you’ll feel (and how nicely others relate to you). 

Sioux Benson Messinger is CEO of Fair & Powerful Communication Inc. Contact Mel Turner, CPS Training Services Manager, to find out more about courses like Cultivating Care in the Workplace.

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