Today I came across this article and a term I’d never heard before: Intelligent Kindness. In one simple phrase it encapsulated to me, precisely what we mean when we talk about kindness in the world of work.
This article specifically refers to kindness in healthcare and how kindness can impact: professionals/patient connections; patient wellbeing; patient recovery; and staff satisfaction. This is good for individuals, teams and organisations.
In my research, I found a few studies that explored self awareness and its influence and impact on patient wellbeing. I can clearly see a link here with kindness
To be kind, we must be aware of what our values are, how we are perceived by others, how others respond to us and how we respond to them
Kindness and self awareness are inextricably linked. When professionals are in a state of stress and dealing with crisis, they go from challenge to response and skip the integral interim step of reflect.
To ensure we respond kindly we need to ensure a split second of reflection:
Challenge – reflect – respond with intelligent kindness