TEST: Are you a compassionate leader?

Compassion has become increasingly recognized as a foundational aspect of leadership. Studies have found that organizations with more compassionate leaders have better collaboration, lower turnover, and employees who are more trusting, more connected to each other, have greater wellbeing and are more committed to the organization.

Recent reports during COVID showed that compassionate civic leaders led more resilient and adaptable municipal teams.

When Harvard Business Review surveyed more than 1,000 leaders from 800 organizations:

• 91% of them said compassion is very important for their leadership, and

• 80% said they would like to enhance their compassion but do not know how.

Compassion is the intent to contribute to the happiness and well-being of others and to help alleviate their suffering.

A compassionate leader is a servant leader and has a genuine interest in seeing their people not just perform well, but to thrive. But this doesn’t mean “being soft” or trying to please people by giving them what they want; rather, it requires giving people what they need, such as tough feedback.

Compassionate leadership requires having wisdom about how to lead for the greater good and for the long term.

Take the Are You A Compassionate Leader? (HBR) test here.

You will receive a report outlining where you can improve as well as some practical tips for becoming a more compassionate leader.

Further Reading: Compassion is Key to Resilient Civic Leadership (Public Sector Digest, Oct 2020)

Compassionate Integrity Training for Civic Leaders

If you are a civic leader (Mayor, Councillor/Board member, CAO, Senior staff person) seeking formal compassionate integrity training tailored to the municipal sector, register early for this 5-week university certificate course here.

https://youtu.be/oyvpKqlGHVc