KIND

What if someone told you the key to success was kindness? While it doesn''t always make headlines, there is a growing recognition that kindness is vital to strong performance at work. In the broad range of leadership skills, kindness is inherently quieter, more personal and harder to see - and yes, less interesting or cinematic than controversial tweets and ''bullying boss'' behaviour. But kindness builds empathy and trust, which ultimately creates a sense of psychological safety - and that safety leads to more creativity; a better quality of decision-making; safer critical thinking; higher levels of staff loyalty, flexibility and retention; a heightened sense of engagement; and, ultimately, higher productivity and profitability.In KIND , Graham Allcott explores how we can create work cultures that encourage kindness. He argues that, far from being a ''fluffy'' or nebulous idea, kindness and empathy are 21st century superpowers, which can transform any organization into a dynamic environment where people want to work. The author aims to convince the doubters, as well as helping already ''kindful'' people, to articulate the power of kindness and make a stronger case for its greater profile in their working environments.Drawing on psychology and neuroscience as well as management theory and business research, he shows how kindness helps encourage productive and positive work cultures. From busting three important myths that need to be addressed to engage the more cynical reader - or the reader''s more cynical colleagues - to covering ''The Eight Principles of Kindfulness at Work'', Graham Allcott offers practical advice on how to make kindfulness part of the fabric of your working life so both you and your team can thrive.>

Autorentext

Graham Allcott is the founder of Think Productive, as well as a well-known author and speaker; his six books include the global bestseller, How to be a Productivity Ninja. He is also active on social media platforms and with his weekly email, Rev Up for the Week. How to be a Productivity Ninja has sold over 100,000 copies in the UK alone, and been translated into several languages, including Dutch, Spanish, German, Thai, Mandarin, Russian and Arabic.

He's also an experienced speaker, having presented at Talks at Google, the London Business Forum, General Assembly, and for 100+ corporate clients including Barclays, Amazon, Zoopla, T-Rowe Price, Volkswagen, Audi, eBay, Canon and Global Radio.

Klappentext

The business case for recognising and understanding the importance of kindness at work, and the need to use these skills to enhance performance and develop a healthy and sustainable working culture.

In the range of leadership skills, kindness is inherently quieter, more personal, harder to see - and yes, less interesting or cinematic than controversial tweets and 'bullying boss' behaviour. But the most successful leaders and organizations recognise that kindness builds empathy, trust and psychological safety, the cornerstones of so many desirable traits and outcomes in many businesses: more creativity; a better quality of decision-making; safer critical thinking; higher levels of staff loyalty, flexibility and retention; a heightened sense of engagement; and higher productivity and profitability.

The central premise of Kind is that if you want to create psychological safety in your organization, then there are no better approaches than to create a culture that encourages kindness. Kindness and empathy act in a sort of loop: acts of kindness inspire more empathy; empathy inspires acts of kindness. This in turn creates more trust between individuals, which ultimately leads to a collective sense of feeling safe to take interpersonal risks. Through this psychological safety, people communicate their riskier and more creative ideas, own their mistakes instead of trying to cover them up, give the feedback that helps people to grow (even when it risks upsetting them) and support each other with a sense of loyalty and reciprocity. By using the language of competency and performance, the author aims to convince the cynics, as well as helping already 'kindful' workers to articulate the power of kindness and make a strong case for its greater profile in their organizations. The author argues that, far from being a ?fluffy' or nebulous idea, kindness and empathy should be seen as 21st century superpowers.

Part One of the book makes the case for how kindness can support productive and positive work cultures, and draws upon research and data from psychology, neuroscience, management theory, sociology and business research. It also busts three important myths that need to be addressed to engage the more cynical reader (or the reader's cynical colleagues).
Part Two is centred around the Eight Principles of Kindfulness. Each chapter covers one of the eight principles. These offer practical advice for how to make kindness part of the fabric of your team and organisation, and are structured to take the reader on a journey from thinking about themselves and their mindset ("kindness starts with you?), through to thinking about the people around them and then finally organisational culture ("it doesn't end with you?).

Each chapter includes: an opening quote, original graphics, a kindful hero story, and a range of exercises to ensure practical action is taken by the reader. The end of each chapter includes questions for reflection and a kindness challenge.

Inhalt

Introduction

PART ONE: The Quiet Power of Kindness
1: The case for kindness at work
2: The three myths of kindness

PART TWO: The Eight Principles of Kindfulness

• 3: Kindness starts with you
• 4: Set clear expectations
• 5: Listen deeply
• 6: People first, work second. Always.
• 7: Be humble
• 8: Treat people the way THEY want to be treated
• 9: Slow down

• 10: It doesn't end with you

  Final thoughts: The Future