All relationships are gloriously messy. Because all humans are irresistibly paradoxical. Though most of us prefer to make decisions based on “OUGHT” instead of “IS”. Therefore, all of us suffer, at some point, some more, some less.
Yet, companies (meaning the people making up what we call companies) insist, tacitly of course, that suffering ought to be a private matter, wanting only the glory and not the messiness. Companies expect that our families and friends ought to be those who deal with the ickiness of our suffering, so that we may show up at work, impeccably professional. Because work is after all, ALL about “producing value”, and suffering distracts from the pursuit of this holy grail, or so we’ve been taught to believe. So obligingly, we show up at work, day after day, a self-edited “half-human”.
But, what if it is precisely this very messiness, these very paradoxes, the “IS-ness” of suffering, that is the gateway to abiding belonging, boundless creativity and enduring purpose? And compassion being the key that unlocks these gates?
Contrary to the sentiment that compassion is a sign of weakness, compassion demands courageous. Neither is compassion a fad, being the golden thread that weaves through all ancient holy texts. But the million-dollar question remains, “does compassion belong in the workplace?” Well, that depends on whether your definition of a life well-lived includes work; whether you believe that numbers come before the human, or the other way round; and fundamentally, whether you believe that everyone wakes up every morning wondering how to make other people’s life miserable, or intending to be our best.
By introducing you a 5-step framework of how to be compassionate at work, I hope to persuade you to, at the very least, flirt with the possibility that compassion may yet be the most radical form of ancient technology that unleashes the promise dormant within each of us.