World Kindness Day. - 13 November
Ah, World Kindness Day. It makes us feel all warm and snug, every year. Hygge-like. As the international news stories tell of ever-more alarming crises, and as waves of anger seem to roll through our streets, kindness may seem like a rare occurrence these days. But that's all the more reason to uphold it. Kindness may seem scarce in the modern world, but it's also precious, and worth protecting.
Sometimes, our career paths aren't always smooth. There are forks in the road. Bumps in the route. Missing paving slabs. Sometimes it feels as though the hill ahead might just be too steep to climb. When that happens, there's often more kindness around than we anticipate. We think of our workplaces as solemn, austere places. Stern and humourless - fortresses of industry. But it's good to remember that alongside the sober exteriors of chrome and glass, there are sometimes shafts of sunlight, to warm us on our journeys. There are supportive colleagues and friends, of course, to make us smile through our professional challenges, and to share stories of times when they had their own mountains to scale. There are, increasingly, organisational wellbeing programmes, employee helplines and mentoring schemes. And an understanding chat with a sympathetic manager can sometimes steer you gently off the exit ramp and back onto the career highway.
This is especially true when you're feeling the competing pressures of family and professional demands. And when that happens, a spot of kindness can make all the difference in the world. In today's workplaces, the most valued thoughtfulness may well be a little bit of flexibility - just the simplest of tweaks. Often free of charge, quite possibly unnoticed by anyone else, but worth its weight in gold to the recipient - and quite possibly to their organisation, in the long run. The ability to shift the start or end of the working day to enable families to share out school runs between parents. Permission to work from home for part of the week to check on an elderly parent at lunchtime. A job share to enable you to juggle all your commitments whilst still developing vital skills and gaining professional experience. The tiniest things can make or break your professional journey - sometimes, we just have to be brave enough to ask for them. If we've looked high and low and we can't find that shaft of sunlight in our own workplaces, the next step is to take the plunge and join a company which prizes kindness highly. With leaders who aren't panicked about setting precedents because they know that they benefit hugely from a hybrid workforce. Who know that a job share will bring them twice as many industry contacts for the same price as a single employee. Who appreciate that a part-time arrangement can bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the boardroom table for a fraction of the usual cost. But also, quite simply, who know that a little kindness goes a long way in the world.
We promise they're out there. If you're looking for them, we'd love to hear from you.