Compassion and Leadership

Compassion is a foundational aspect of leadership. Compassionate leaders appear to have stronger and have more engaged followers. Organizations with more compassionate leaders have better collaboration, lower turnover, and employees who are more trusting, more connected to each other, and more committed to the company.

What is compassion?
It is the intent to contribute to the happiness and well-being of others. A compassionate leader has a genuine interest in seeing their people not just perform and increase profits but thrive.

Compassionate leadership requires having wisdom about how to lead for the greater good and for the long term.
Assessment: Are You a Compassionate Leader?
Rasmus HougaardJacqueline CarterJason Beck
MAY 15, 2018
https://hbr.org/2018/05/assessment-are-you-a-compassionate-leader


Compassion is one of the three Servant Leadership “C’s”: Compassion, Character and Competence.

Compassion has many explanations. One explanation is that it is a characteristic or trait that makes a person provide comfort to others.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compassion

When leaders and managers are compassionate there is comfort all round in the group or the organization.

Managers can exhibit behaviors at either end of the spectrum on any behavior type. On a voluntary basis majority of the people will choose compassionate persons as their leaders.


Three Servant Leadership “C’s”: Compassion, Character and Competence
https://www.servantleadershipinstitute.com/tips-and-stories/2017/11/9/three-important-leadership-cs-compassion-character-and-competence-part-i


Part II: Compassion, Character, Competence Tips, for building a servant leadership environment of trust.
https://www.servantleadershipinstitute.com/tips-and-stories/2017/11/17/part-ii-compassion-character-competence-tips-for-building-a-servant-leadership-environment-of-trust



More references

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-6354/Dalai-Lama-The-Meaning-of-Compassion-Love.html


Wikipedia Article on Compassion

All religions term compassion as important virtue.

In the Muslim tradition, foremost among God's attributes are mercy and compassion or, in the canonical language of Arabic, Rahman and Rahim. Each of the 114 chapters of the Quran, with one exception, begins with the verse, "In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion





Compassionate Organization - Propositions

Explaining Compassion Organizing
Author(s): Jane E. Dutton, Monica C. Worline, Peter J. Frost and Jacoba Lilius
Source: Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Mar., 2006), pp. 59-96

 Proposition 1a: Widely shared values of holistic personhood,
 expressed humanity, and family increase attention to pain.
 Proposition 1b: Widely shared values of holistic personhood,
 expressed humanity, and family increase felt empathetic concern for
 those in pain

 Proposition 2a: Routines associated with customer service, com
 munity service, and notification of harm increase attention to pain
 and increase the diffusion of attention to pain.
 Proposition 2b: Routines associated with customer service, com
 munity service, and notification of harm increase empathetic con
 cern for those in pain and increase the diffusion of empathetic con
 cern.
 Proposition 2c: Routines associated with customer service, com
 munity service, and notification of harm facilitate coordination of
 responses.

Proposition 3a: Activation of multiple and diverse network clusters
 among different organizational subgroups increases attention to pain
 and the diffusion of attention to pain.
 Proposition 3b: Activation of multiple and diverse network clusters
 among different organizational subgroups increases felt empathetic
 concern for those in pain and the diffusion of empathetic concern.
 Proposition 3c: Networks that are high in credibility, trust, and com
 mon organizational identification increase the legitimacy of attention
 to pain and felt empathetic concern for those in pain.
 Proposition 3d: Activation of secondary networks outside of the
 organization increases attention to pain and felt empathetic concern
 for those in pain.


 Proposition 4a: Values of holistic personhood, expressed humanity,
 and family increase the scale, scope, speed, and customization of
 responses directed toward those in pain.
 Proposition 4b: Values of holistic personhood, expressed humanity,
 and family facilitate the coordination of resources directed toward
 those in pain.

 Proposition 5a: Routines associated with customer service, com
 munity service, notification of harm, and hospitality increase the
 scale, scope, speed, and customization of responses directed
 toward those in pain.
 Proposition 5b: Routines associated with customer service, com
 munity service, notification of harm, and hospitality facilitate the
 coordination of resources directed toward those in pain.

 Proposition 6a: Access to multiple and diverse network clusters
 inside and outside an organization increases the scale, scope,

 speed, and customization of responses directed toward those in
 pain
 Proposition 6b: Access to multiple and diverse network clusters
 inside and outside an organization facilitates the coordination of
 resources directed toward those in pain.



 Proposition 7a: The emergence of roles in the process increases
 the scale, scope, speed, and customization of responses directed
 toward those in pain.
 Proposition 7b: The emergence of roles in the process facilitates
 the coordination of resources directed toward those in pain.

 Proposition 8a: Improvisation of routines in the process increases
 the scale, scope, speed, and customization of responses directed
 toward those in pain.
 Proposition 8b: Improvisation of routines in the process facilitates
 the coordination of resources directed toward those in pain.

 Proposition 9a: The more that leaders model compassionate action
 in public settings, the greater the attention to pain and empathetic
 concern directed toward those in pain.
 Proposition 9b: The more that leaders model compassionate action
 in public settings, the greater the scale, scope, speed,  and cus
 tomization of responses directed toward those in pain

 Proposition 10a: The greater the number and spread of caring sto
 ries, the greater the attention and empathetic concern directed
 toward those in pain.
 Proposition 10b: The greater the number and spread of caring sto
 ries, the greater the scale, scope, speed,   and customization of
 responses directed toward those in pain






Updated  15 April 2019,  2 December 2018
First published 27 November 2018