Compassion has previously been viewed as a weakness. That’s history! Today, leaders are expected to treat their teams with greater attention to care, while respecting each person’s unique attributes. Joanna Pera’s latest webinar, directed by the Hospice & Home Care Webinar Network, walks you through the steps to create a compassionate workplace.

Joanna has identified the three major components of compassion. Here is a quick breakdown of what they are, how to do a self-audit and action steps to guide you on your journey of leading with compassion.

CAM: The Three Aspects of Compassion

C — Cognitive: I understand your problems.

A — Affective: I feel for you.

M — Motivation: I want to help you.

Showing compassion to peers, employees, supervisors, and patients is vital to creating and maintaining job satisfaction and work-related motivation. All three aspects are critical in demonstrating compassion. Ask yourself the questions below when doing a self-audit, then follow up with action steps.

• Do you communicate compassion in your conversations and your actions?
• Do you listen carefully to what is being said?
• Do you convey your understanding in a supportive way?
• Do you show empathy through your words and actions?
• Do you take action to help?

Action steps

• Start with self-compassion.
• Communicate calmly and effectively.
• Give words of understanding and encouragement.
• Look for ways to be more thoughtful.

Compassionate leadership is more than just a feel-good addition to your skillset. It is a requirement of modern leaders who want to navigate their teams and organizations to sustainable success. This compassion checklist is a featured toolkit item from Joanna Pera’s webinar How to Create a Compassionate Workplace.