THREE WAYS TO GIVE THE GIFT OF KINDNESS AND HOW IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE THAT MATTERS

The Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX) conducted a study which found the following:

Teams operating in a respectful environment: 

• Possess 26% more energy. 

• Are 30% more likely to feel motivated and enthusiastic about acquiring new skills and being exposed to new ideas. 

• Express 36% more satisfaction with their jobs and are 44% more committed to their organizations.  

Leading with hospitality moves people to move, with purpose and passion, because of a leader’s genuine kindness. In other words, when leaders are real and authentic as opposed to putting up a front, trying to portray a certain image or persona for their own self-serving reasons, their teams become far more comfortable in their roles. 

This is the point of leadership; which is to inspire and influence people to give their very best effort toward a specific, collective cause or goal.

I’ve always believed Leadership is like Sales and Sales is a form of Leadership. Why?  

For a leader to be successful at leading anyone toward anything, and for a salesperson to be successful in selling anyone anything, they must both earn the trust of another person. One of the quickest ways to earn trust from people is to simply be trustworthy, honest and open. A genuinely, kind person is certainly worthy of being trusted far more than someone who always, “fakes it until they make it.” 

Kindness truly is a choice, and, when leaders actively choose to be kind to the people they lead, those people will naturally follow. They’ll want in.  Show me a genuinely kind leader, and I’ll show you someone who can successfully ignite action, meaningful work, and passion in a team. 

Our genuine kindness has the potential to inspire, help, encourage, teach, coach, improve, and enhance the work of others and their lives; largely because genuine kindness is often so unexpected.  

When we see it or receive kindness from others, it truly is a gift.  That’s reason enough to give kindness.

Three Ways to GiVE Kindness:

(The letter “i” is purposely lowercase, since the essence of kindness is to “give”, and to truly “give” anything of ourselves to anyone else, we put others before ourselves.  That’s why the “i” is lowercase.)

• GiVE your time. Set aside time for each person on your team. Plan for it and give some time for the benefit of others. It will be noticed, appreciated, and worth it for both you and for them. Take thirty minutes each day to focus on one person on your team. Explore what you can do to help them, either personally or professionally. Pick a different person each day for a week or a month or more until you’ve made it through your entire roster of team members. Then go back to the beginning of the list and repeat. 

• GiVE your talent.  Whatever is your greatest strength, your best talent, and “that awesome thing” people say you do better than anyone else, zero in on it and flat out give it away to people. 

• GiVE your heart.  Perhaps the kindest, most welcomed and most comforting thing about any human being is when we know they care. When you give your heart to people on your team, you’ll inspire them to perform at their best and give more of what makes them great as well.  Kindness is contagious.  It’s worth spreading at work, at home, and in our communities.

Have a great day.

PS – Pre-order my next book, Lead with Hospitality here. Release date is April 27th, 2021.

I’ve compiled twenty years’ worth of leadership lessons, stories, and applications for how to lead with hospitality and why it makes a difference that matters for everyone in your life, at work, at home, and in your community.

PPS – Shop the GiVE Kindness Collection here and get 15% with code “TaylorScott”.