This year I had the privilege and honor of co-chairing the 20th Annual Kindest Kansas Citian Banquet. The theme is kindness is contagious...catch it! It is a fundraiser for the STOP violence program of Synergy Services. Synergy Services provides intervention, prevention and education of family violence. Please check out the website for more information at SynergyServices.org. As I was reflecting on the event, I posed the question what does it take to be kinder at work?
This question led me straight to the dictionary. Kind according to Webster means; sympathetic, friendly, gentle, generous etc.; cordial (p. 413). What if kindness was the norm in workplaces rather than the exception?
Although I am not sure how one becomes kinder, it always start with a decision to do so. Growing up, my mom practiced kindness on a regular basis. Not only in how she dealth with dad, my two brothers and me, but also in her tenure at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis. Mom worked in the Wire Transfer department for over 20 years. She was in contact daily with other banks, and always treated them with the utmost kindness and respect. Although not a high powered position, she used those many conversations as a way to spread kindness.
When mom retired, we heard stories as to how those other banks really missed the daily conversations with her. This story causes me to wonder, if kindness is contagious (as we saw with my mom), how does the workplace catch it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment