Research tells us compassion works
Compassion is one of the oldest healing tools. Today, it is still one of the best. Organizations that prioritize compassion benefit from lower staff turnover, attraction and retention of more highly qualified staff and greater customer loyalty. A compassionate culture, led from the top, amplifies other attributes of successful organizations, like trust, dignity and respect — values on which all stakeholders increasingly place a premium.
In health care, patients who are treated compassionately benefit from improved quality of care, better health outcomes, fewer medical errors, and a deeper human connection with their caregivers. A compassionate culture can also combat occurrences of gender violence and harassment in the workplace by mitigating the fear that victims will be silenced or shunned if they report such incidents and helping coworkers know how to show support.
In the everyday workplace, research shows significant correlations to better business outcomes when employees feel they are part of a compassionate and caring team. Moreover, organizations with a compassionate culture give employees the courage to produce new ideas and raise concerns without fear of being mocked or subjected to retaliation. Compassion and business profitability go hand in hand.
In public policy, sensitivity to the values of compassion, how they need to be properly structured as a core function and elevated in the cultural framework of an organization can help reduce the risk of unintended harm through the creation of robust compassion guardrails.
Every public institution today needs to be attentive to their impact on the most vulnerable. A focus on compassion is a good starting point in meeting that responsibility.
In advocating an orgnizaton’s position before governmetn and other influece shapers, the languarge of compassion can go a long way to building trust, winning support and creating compeititeve advantage. It is the ideal way for a leader or CEO to put a distinct stamp on a speech or legislative presentation with words that gleam and inspire.