Note: this post originally appeared as an email on our weekly newsletter.
Sometimes it feels like, despite all of your best efforts, your business is just treading water. The truth is, we’ve all been there. The next time you feel like you’re stuck in a rut and not making progress, it might be a good idea to look at your company culture.
A Company Culture of Kindness: Why it’s Worth Building
There’s plenty of research to suggest that when companies focus on creating a cultural environment of kindness, they wind up improving performance and their bottom line. Here are three reasons why you should invest in a company culture of kindness, with the science to back it up.
1. There’s no risk. It’s very easy to create a culture of kindness.
In studying what motivates others to be kind, the research of Jonathan Haidt at New York University points out that showing acts of kindness to your team will actually make them more likely to perform them themselves. In addition, observing acts of kindness can make the viewer feel the same sense of well-being as the recipient, a phenomenon Haidt calls “elevation.” It only takes one example of a kind act in the workplace to start a pattern. That’s a pretty low investment.
We’ll give you some examples to share for free. Check out the videos on Random Acts of Kindness.
2. There’s a big reward. Kindness increases productivity.
According to the Harvard Business Review, when your team is friendly and personable, help each other out, and the working atmosphere is positive, they are more engaged at work. This leads to positive working relationships, a desire to contribute and perform well for all, and increased productivity. In fact, the same article explains why you can’t afford to have a negative culture.
3. The quality of teamwork will improve. Kindness feeds your brain.
Judith Glaser, CEO of Benchmark Communications and author of Creating WE, says our brains are actually hard-wired to respond to kindness and trust: “When someone is kind and respectful to us, our brains produce more oxytocin and dopamine, which helps us relax, feel open to others, and be more sharing and cooperative,” says Glaser.
Bonus: Being kind will make you happy. If anything, try it for yourself.
According to this article from Inc., research conducted by psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky at the University of California, Riverside showed that being kind increased happiness. Students in her study that were assigned five random acts of kindness per week for a period of six weeks actually increased their levels of happiness by 41 percent.
Life is stressful enough. Isn’t it worth it to do something to make yourself happy every now and again?
We challenge you to do something kind for someone you work with today and share it with us on PURE Tytanium. We’ll re-post your stories on our blog and social media pages to highlight your examples of great leaders in kindness.
Let’s spread the word.