How kind is your workplace?

I recently came across this video on how create a DIY kindness board at https://youtu.be/QxGCsnHrJJQand I got to thinking about how we can create a kinder, gentler workplace. It seems that in our efforts to be faster, bigger and better, we often forget that simple acts of kindness can go a long way to driving employee engagement and creating a sense of belonging.

Imagine each employee or team has a Kindness Board with 30 simple ideas on how to be kind to a co-worker this month? Imagine people stopping by the board and picking off an idea to implement. Imagine people being intentional about treating each other with kindness – randomly and for no particular reason.

When people are treated kindly they feel more valued and are more apt to go the extra mile – to delight the customer, contribute a creative idea or work extra hours to get the assignment done on time. They’re also more likely to feel happy at work. Isn’t happiness the new workplace app – the surprising key to productivity?

Perhaps elaborate recognition and reward strategies can be replaced with a simple Kindness Board? Rewarding kindness and thoughtfulness towards our co-workers ought to be part of our performance management systems, shouldn’t it? After all, you get the behavior you reward.

How do you reward kindness in your workplace?