Just recently, I shared some experiences about deploying kindness at work on my IG Stories, and got an overwhelming response in my DMs. I basically shared my guiding philosophy at work: Give More Than You Receive, and I got a lot of responses asking me to elaborate. So…
But what does it all mean?
I believe that deploying kindness is the secret to winning in your career, and in life. I’ve been in rough work situations before, and I’ve been in good companies before. The one consistent trait I recognise that allowed me to thrive in challenging environments is this central idea:
There’s more where that came from.
That means that what you just gave, and shared, is for free. That you’ll have more to give later on, and you’re not afraid to share it with people. Fundamentally, the origin point is this: “I don’t fear the concept of Insufficiency”.
This does not just apply to ideas. It also applies to:
- Carrying Your Colleagues Work
- Caring for Colleagues
- Communicating with Workmates
- Engaging with Customers
- Sharing Information with your Team mates
- Sharing Ideas with People
Yes, I know a lot of this is “out of scope” work, but hear me out because Kindness is….
…Finding the best outcome for the other person
Kindness isn’t just about being gentle or making someone feel good. That isn’t the objective. The real objective is to open a relationship and build it with the best outcome for the other person in mind, regardless of whether the other party treats you well or not.
That doesn’t mean you do everything for everyone. Instead, kindness in the workplace is about being there when they absolutely need you. ‘m greatly influenced by the idea that if you extend a circle of safety out to others, that resultant confidence gives them the latitude to perform at higher levels. So, give them that feeling that you’ve got their back, and do what is needed to help them succeed.
But this isn’t Altruism…
Here’s the secret sauce: While you do start out simply caring for everyone in actionable ways, you end up with PLENTY of Goodwill. Goodwill that you can tap on to smoothen things out, goodwill you can depend on when you need assistance to push something big forward, or even when you need advice and special counsel. It will change your career for the better. In short…
If they succeed, you succeed.
It’s really that simple.
I have personally experienced goodwill coming back to me from unexpected people at my places of work. At the beginning, the relationships were a little icy. So I started by helping people in every way I could.
That meant volunteering to cover for them when they were away, providing intelligence when they were negotiating for something, and supporting their ideas when they needed it. I didn’t need to do it. After all, it was “not in my scope of work”, but I thought it would be good to do it anyway.
For customers, I would often give a free marketing idea to them every time I met them. I would also volunteer to help them with campaigns, even if it was “not in my scope” of work. Actually, a lot of the things I did in the past 8 years were not remotely in my scope of work.
Real-World Revenue Impact
Guess what?
My customers came back to me to talk about more ideas, often allowing me to build complete campaigns for them and executing them with me. Many of them became fast friends with me, and they were more than willing to put in the work to make campaigns successful. This allowed us, for example, to take an F&B startup from $0 to past $1 million in revenue within our first year of working together.
While that naturally benefitted their business, it also gave me some serious results as proof of concepts to take back to the team. I benefitted immensely from these exchanges, both emotionally and career-wise.
Interestingly, putting in this extra work also garnered goodwill from the team, allowing me to pull off campaigns and events that would have been untenable in other workplaces. Events like A Rooftop Affair, which challenged the idea of what a typical mall event could be, raised plenty of objections when we first started.
However, the goodwill and trust we built as a team meant that we didn’t fray at the edges when things got heated, and we ended up creating Singapore’s only Rooftop Open-Air Concert. I expect more groundbreaking events in the coming years that will bring them to the next level.
But Kindness is not easy…
Being honest about things, and acting to fix problems, isn’t always welcome – BUT IT IS KINDNESS. People will be sceptical, and some people will refuse your help. It’s fascinating to me that people would do so, but today’s society gears people up to be defensive, to guard what they know and have while trying to get on top of others.
For those that believe in deploying kindness and giving more than your receive, I implore you to keep doing it and finding ways to use this mindset to create impact. Show the people around you that it does make an impact on the bottom line, and that if you do it collectively, you’ll make ridiculous gains.
Well, that’s it from me. Until next time, keep seeking greatness!
