Most people would agree that kindness makes a positive impact. But, they typically mean it makes a positive impact on people, not the financial performance of a business.
With a tagline of “training leaders to lead with kindness and confidence” you would naturally expect me to believe kindness is a good investment for you as a leader and for your business. But, maybe hearing the word kindness doesn’t make you think of financial benefits.
What about similar words like “goodness”, “caring”, or “gracious”? Do they sound soft and fluffy and disconnected from business performance?
If you think they do, you’re not alone. Many business leaders have a similar reaction.
But, many others hold a different perspective. They view these terms as critical to their business success. Experts have done the research and agree.
To support my statement, here are three examples to remind us that kindness truly makes a positive financial impact on any business.
The Art and ROI of Caring Leadership
First, if ROI is a new term to you, please don’t be embarrassed. I seem to discover an acronym I don’t know with every financial report I hear.
ROI means Return on Investment. In other words, it’s what you get out of what you put in.
In this case, it means what a business gets out of investing in leading with kindness. Or, to use a different term, the ROI of caring leadership.
The term “caring leadership” comes from a book called “The Art of Caring Leadership: How Leading with Heart Uplifts Teams and Organizations” by Heather R. Younger.
I encourage you to check out the book, but here are a couple of excerpts to save you some time.
Heather R. Younger on LinkedIn
In this post on LinkedIn, Heather Younger makes this statement about how Caring Leadership makes a positive impact on the financial performance of a business.
When employees are cared for, appreciated, and heard, they are happier and more productive.
That is what Caring Leadership is all about.
Heather R. Younger
More productive employees create a more productive business. It’s a direct correlation.
As a result, investing in caring for your teammates delivers a return that is realized in better financial performance for the business.
Melissa Houston in Forbes
Melissa Houston provides another summary of Heather R. Younger’s book, in a Forbes article titled, “The Art Of Caring Leadership In Business Can Increase ROI.”
After highlighting the nine tenets from the book, Melissa writes this on the topic of the ROI of Caring Leadership.
There is a direct correlation between the treatment of employees and their productivity. Employees that feel valued have reduced absenteeism, there is a lower attrition rate, less time and money is spent retraining employees, and the list goes on. When employees are happy and serving their customers, customers are grateful for the great service provided and will likely return to your business. But when an employee leaves your company, their company knowledge leaves with them. It can take years for a new employee to gain that knowledge.
Lower attrition rates and employee retention are always favorable for a company’s bottom line, which is why it really does pay to tune into the needs of your employees by doing what it takes to become a more caring leader.
I agree with this message and highlighted one particular point above.
Whether you call it leading with kindness or caring leadership, investing in your employees makes a positive impact to the financial performance of any business in any industry or field.
Another business and leadership expert has demonstrated this in the healthcare industry.
Gracious Leadership
If you’ve been following my blog, the name Janet Smith Meeks is familiar to you. She is the author of the book, “Gracious Leadership: Lead Like You’ve Never Led Before.” [affiliate link]
I first mentioned Janet in the post, “Can A Kind Leader Be Successful“. There I explained that Janet is not only an author. She is also a veteran C-Suite leader within the healthcare and financial services industries.
In other words, she knows how to run a business. And, she knows that kindness, or gracious leadership as she calls it, makes a positive impact to the bottom line.
This quote from her article, Why Gracious Leadership Is A Strategic Imperative, on the website Chief Executive makes that point perfectly clear.
Early in my tenure as a hospital president, I encountered resistance from cynics who believed Gracious Leadership was “soft stuff.” Quite frankly, they were wrong! Through practicing the grace and tough love that are integral to Gracious Leadership, we transformed a struggling, community hospital into an award-winning, high performance regional medical center ranked within the top 5% of hospitals nationally. We had highly engaged employees, physicians who happily collaborated to achieve excellence, very satisfied patients, outstanding quality and great financial results. Gracious Leadership is not soft stuff. Indeed, it’s strategic!
Janet Smith Meeks – Why Gracious Leadership Is A Strategic Imperative
That makes two experts on leadership and business who agree that kindness makes a positive impact to the financial performance of a business.
Let’s add one more example to the conversation.
How Goodness Pays
Before I introduce these next two experts, I want to make a statement that could be controversial.
Leading with kindness is for female leaders
Some people reading this post, may be tempted to think something they probably wouldn’t say out loud. At least not in public.
The previous two authors, Heather and Janet, think that kindness is important because they’re women. Guys don’t think like that.
That is hard for me to even type. And, I bet it’s hard for you to read.
But, sadly that’s a common misconception. Being kind and compassionate is for women who lead not men.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
To support my position, these next two experts are just as male as I am. And, they clearly believe kindness makes a positive financial impact. Or, as they put it in their book title, goodness pays.
Leading with kindness is for all leaders
Paul Batz and Paul Hillen wrote the book, “How Goodness Pays: Why good leaders THRIVE in a transparent business world.” Based on three years of research and the extensive data they collected, they summarized their findings with this statement.
“Good leaders create great results by leading with goodness.”
You can hear them describe this in their own words by watching this short video where you’ll hear Paul Hillen say this.
I used to think that goodness kind of got in the way of that drive for better financial results… Now I believe that goodness is the driver of financial success.
Paul Hillen, Co-Author, How Goodness Pays
And, if you’re unsure if Paul Hillen has the personal experience to support his statement above, I encourage you to review his career profile on LinkedIn by clicking here. He definitely has a resume to give full credibility to his message.
Both of these men are experienced business leaders who have proven they know what it takes to be successful in a company.
They know that goodness makes a positive impact on the bottom line.
Leading with kindness really does pay
Leading with kindness brings benefits far beyond financial performance. And, I’m confident most of you aren’t being gracious and caring for the money.
But, it is important to know that being a kind leader will help you with one of your main goals in business, to make money.
A positive financial impact may not be your primary motivation for caring for your teammates, but it is one more reason to do what’s right.
And, knowing kindness makes a positive impact on the bottom line will build your confidence as you increase your company’s ROI in multiple ways serving your team as a caring and gracious leader.
Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.
Greg
Greg,
I know your blog is primarily about business. I have found it works outside of business. It can apply to Dad’s,
Mom’s’ and others in their personal life. Thanks, Karen
.
Thank you so much for saying that, Karen. It’s encouraging to know my blog is providing value even beyond the business world. I appreciate you reading and taking the time to comment.