Kindness: a no-cost way to boost team collaboration and future success
It costs nothing to be kind to your coworkers, but it pays off immensely, not only in the future success of the team, but also your own.
Consider how a typical interaction in the workplace can unfold.
Your coworker posts a message in the team channel.
“Hey, does anyone know why this service keeps failing when I deploy?”
You, a senior engineer, roll your eyes as you type the response:
“Did you even check the logs??”
Let’s practice empathy - how would this response make the other person feel?
They may become reluctant to follow up. They may think the solution is obvious and feel pressured to solve it on their own. They may feel embarrassed. As a result, the problem with the failing service may not get resolved quickly.
This has long-term consequences too - the person may become reluctant to ask questions. They may be afraid to seek answers from you specifically. This hurts team collaboration and job satisfaction, two of the strongest indicators of team performance.
Let’s now look at an alternate way to handle this scenario.
The same question gets posted:
“Hey, does anyone know why this service keeps failing when I deploy?”
You, a senior engineer, realises that the person may not be aware logs exist.
“Hey! Have you checked the logs yet? I’d check that first. If you’re seeing an error, I can help you figure it out. If not, do you have more information on what is failing?”
It goes without saying that this response has immense benefits compared to the previous one. The issue will get resolved faster as your coworker becomes encouraged to share more details and get your support.
Long-term, they will be more inclined to ask questions and boost team collaboration. They will likely extend the same kindness to someone else one day, too.
It costs nothing to be kind, but it pays off immensely. People remember how you make them feel. The way you respond today influences whether someone will reach out to you tomorrow. A culture of kindness makes teams more collaborative, reduces stress, and ultimately leads to better solutions.
What’s more, when you are kind, your network grows. People remember you, and they will return the favor when you ask them something in the future.
Your Challenge
For the next week, try to respond with kindness. Do this regardless of how the other person is feeling - if they aren’t nice, your kindness might make them calm down and become kind in return.
Notice how kindness affects your interactions, and let me know the results!
In my mother tongue (Slovenian), there is a proverb that says ‘lepa beseda lepo mesto najde’ - a kind word finds a kind place. Throughout my career I have always found myself in kind places after being kind.