The most successful leaders spread kindness throughout their atmospheres and teams. Kindness, in fact, is quite inspiring! When team members are inspired they are motivated, which results in higher productivity and ultimately leads to higher success for an organization. In this sense, kindness is an umbrella term. Kindness includes positivity, encouragement, compassion, patience, and generosity. Kindness also includes constructive criticism. Studies have found that superiors want supervisors to take the time to give honest feedback in order for employees to work towards areas of personal improvement. We all want to be successful and perform to the best of our abilities. This requires honest input and communication. This can be yet another way to grow in leadership through kindness, as long as the feedback is given in a respectful manner. 

In the article Kindness as a Leadership Principle, the author Rebecca Harmon points out that the consistent trait shared by successful leaders is kindness. The author focuses on a few ways in which she implements kindness into successful leadership — one of which is practicing taking a pause. When we force ourselves to take a step back from a situation, we are able to gain perspective and clarity. Responding immediately to a stressful or sensitive situation minimizes the opportunity to react appropriately. Assessing the scenario from all perspectives allows us to have empathy and understanding for others. Additionally, if this is a sensitive situation we may react in unkind or emotional ways in which we wouldn’t have if we cooled off before reacting. By practicing taking a step back and pausing before we react, we are leading with kindness, which creates higher opportunities for positive outcomes, in turn benefiting all participating parties. Another approach the author discusses is kindness as a strategy. The idea here is that this leadership practice is focused on the how instead of the what. For example, how do we address conflict within an organization? How do we treat challenging coworkers? When we lead with kindness and consideration we are often better equipped to handle and address unexpected obstacles in a constructive and efficient way. At the same time, we are setting ourselves, as well as our teams, up for a higher probability of success.

When implemented into workspaces, these practices can have unimaginable benefits! When individuals feel better about themselves this translates to higher productivity in the workplace and overall better work, especially in creative fields. Leading with kindness is the best way in which we can achieve our goals and create a better environment for everyone involved!