A reminder. . .
with all the turmoil hammering us daily in the news, we all need to be particularly sensitive and compassionate with our vendors, staff and clients/brides.
With one another.
You excel in creating a safe place, one in which the bride can distance herself from the non-wedding stresses affecting her mood and sensibilities… a retreat of sorts that is even more difficult, frustrating and critical today as those outside issues compound the bride’s inability to make a final decision.
But the concern is that those worries and frustrations and distractions also impact you, your manager, your stylists and your staff, and can inadvertently leak out in body language, tone of voice or choice of words.
It is not enough, and not effective, to say flatly “leave those worries at the door,” or to utter the “everything’s going to be OK” mantra.
What is needed is your leadership superpower… one that has proven to lower employee emotional exhaustion, absenteeism and improve employee retention especially during trying times: authentic compassion.
Three medical professionals recently wrote about the impact of compassionate leadership within the medical field in an article published in Harvard Business Review entitled “Leading with Compassion Has Research-Backed Benefits.”
Conclusions offered by Stephen Trzeciak, Anthony Mozzarella and Emma Sepal (based on research for their book “Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways that Serving Others is the Best Medicine for Yourself,”) included this intriguing point:
“Researchers define compassion as an emotional response to another’s struggles that involves an authentic desire to help. It’s distinctly different from a closely related word: empathy. Empathy is the sensing, feeling, detecting and understanding component, but compassion goes beyond empathy by also taking responsive action. Think of it like this: empathy + action = compassion. When a colleague is going through a difficult time, meeting them in their time of need with compassion can be something they will never forget, and it deepens relationships.”
Also according to their research: compassion has powerful beneficial effects for the receiver of your compassion, and also for you the giver.
Or as the Dalai Lama has said:
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”