Deepening connection in teams and workplaces at a human level

In between finalising smart Mural boards and online forms for one set of teams, and designing some tools for coaching another, I've been re-connecting with Alister Scott and his colleagues around Compassion Practices. These practices really help with deepening connection in teams and workplaces at a human level, without being hippy-dippy or requiring oodles of time. Most of the practices were created or adapted for front-line health and care workers during the pandemic. They are powerful, free to use and the community is open to anyone who cares about bringing more compassion to their work. I've been thinking about these practices for several months and now is the time to stop studying the map and start walking the territory. So, part of my thinking and designing this afternoon has been about weaving these practices into some of my own individual and team coaching work. It doesn’t require a huge restructure, more a shift in thinking and a commitment to prioritise a bit of time to connect at a deeper, more compassionate level – to focus on human being as well as human doing.

It's easy to get bogged down in theories, and forget the real human beings involved. The Compassion Practices help us to be honest and open about our fears, hopes, sensitivities and passions. They offer a simple way to enable open-hearted listening and genuine appreciation.

The practices are also designed to be simple to use and learn without requiring the intervention of experts or complicated training – as the Compassion Practices network says, “These structured compassion practices are all about reconnecting people to purpose, humanity, self, and each other, in a way that feels accessible, simple, and straightforward to implement.”

And, to finish on a wise quote - by Anita Roddick - that I feel we would all do well to keep in mind, “Kindness doesn’t have to be insipid or random to be effective. Far from it: deliberate kindness can be fierce, tenacious, unexpected, unconditional and sometimes positively revolutionary.”