Kindness is about taking ACTION!
Just thinking about doing something to help someone out isn’t kindness. Kindness only occurs when you take action to make something better for someone! This is extremely important for leaders (at work, in the community, and at home) to understand.
I’ve been back to traveling. And the last flight I was on, as we deplaned, I noticed a young lady on her cell phone, and she was crying. So I eavesdropped. Yes, that’s what I did. And I heard that she didn’t have money to get to where she needed to go. So I tapped her on the shoulder, interrupted her conversation and gave her the cash she needed for train fare. She stopped crying and hugged me.
Kindness is about action. It’s about connecting your internal feelings of empathy and compassion to another person and turning your thoughts into an action that will help someone. I have a daughter in her mid-twenties…if she needed help in an airport, wouldn’t I want someone to act kindly to her?
As a leader, acting kindly will often require you to step out of your comfort zone. To break some “rules” (like no eavesdropping), or taking actions that cross into your employees' personal lives (like inviting a new team member to your house for the holidays). Taking action, and breaking those rules will help you connect with others you might not have in past. And it will help you "assume positive intent"…
Today, when you feel the urge to help someone, but you are waffling, on the fence, please take action, because that is what kindness is all about!
What kind action, as a leader, have you being 'thinking' about taking, but haven't taken yet?
Learn more about the Three Key Kind Leader Practices and their associated behaviors in The Kind Leader Guided Book Club! Fall cohort is starting on September 15th! Click here to register!