We have a wonderful opportunity to reshape the world of work, to make it more collaborative and productive. To ensure working cultures are more rewarding for internal teams and more responsive to clients’ needs. Out of the chaos of this pandemic rollercoaster is emerging a more empowering way of working together.

And it requires kindness.

In fact, this new world of work we find ourselves in cannot be properly experienced without kindness. Listening more to each other, understanding emotions as much as strategies, finding new ways of connecting that lie outside of everyday tasks, recognising each other’s uniqueness and building better relationships with the kinds of ‘softer’ skills that didn’t get a chance to shine in less forgiving office environments.

We can help to define this new way of working by collaborating with each other in more empowering ways, seeing technology as a means of fostering closer partnerships rather than as a barrier. And, when we return to whatever our new face-to-face normal might be – once again experiencing the unique chemistry that personal interaction inspires – we can bring these freshly-honed skills with us to create better working relationships built on real trust, decision making and communication.

Because real trust goes hand in hand with kindness, especially during tough and uncertain times. The more unpredictable life is, the more we need to trust, depend on and help each other.

There is a danger that leaders and their teams will allow this period of turmoil to infect decision-making with more ambiguity and subsequent stress. This is why kindness is such a valuable quality. It brings clarity to what we do and how we interact with each other.

That’s encapsulated in a dynamic new way of working that we’ve been developing called Extreme Collaboration. As virtual technologies increasingly dictate how we work with each other, we must ensure that teamwork is bolstered not disrupted. If we’re working at greater speed, being bolder and more fearless in our decision-making, we need to embrace a more accelerated ‘extreme’ form of teamwork – and that requires a culture of kindness and trust.

We have to be more skilful in relationships to achieve that. We have to make more effort to know each other. To really know each other. What makes us tick, our strengths and weaknesses, our needs when we’re engaged with work and when we switch off, how each of us precisely fits into this giant workplace mosaic. We need to celebrate our differences and use that individuality in our working lives.
That’s what kindness means. It’s not always an arm around the shoulder and an empathetic one-on-one – although those are essential. Kindness is also about telling truths and encouraging honest exchanges in a safe environment, providing in-the-moment constructive feedback that builds relationships as much as personal development. A mixture of candour and tough love in which our emotional connections with each other guide our interactions.

Thus, humility is an essential element of kind leadership. The command-and-conquer structure that once fuelled business is swiftly being dismantled in the wake of Covid-19. Leaders must now show their emotions and allow teams to openly show theirs. And through that, learn more deeply about the people with whom they work and the influences they have over each other.

Today, teamwork has an emotional element as much as a practical one. We will always be judged by what we do – now, however, we will also be judged by how we do it, how we treat each other, how we interact.

Saying thank-you might seem an old-fashioned principle to champion but it goes to the heart of Extreme Collaboration. Gratitude is kindness, it makes the experience of working life richer and more meaningful because it is a very obvious way of showing appreciation. Perhaps in the hustle and bustle of pre-pandemic office lives, we sometimes neglected to show that gratitude. We might have felt it but didn’t always express it. Today, in our virtual communications and when we return to our offices, it has to underpin everything we do.

Kindness is the grease that keeps the cogs and wheels of Extreme Collaboration moving smoothly. It’s what allows all of the above to happen at speed, in whatever environment we find ourselves in. What’s become apparent over the past months is the way we need to pivot at a moment’s notice, deal with new demands and boundaries with greater agility.

If we approach these challenges with kindness (learn more about this in our new Kind leadership during a crisis, and beyond report), we can outperform because we will be doing so together. Like a multi-talented supergroup relying on each other and making decisions collectively, rather than solo performers enamoured by our own skillsets.

Everybody is reflecting on and tussling with this new and uncertain world, blending office and home-based techniques in scenarios that are still ill-defined. Extreme Collaboration – powered by kindness – can inspire a new model for teamwork that helps us take advantage of this new world of work, embracing uncertainty with confidence.

Kindness is what will help us to build a better way of working with each other, improving relationships and facilitating togetherness to make us all more productive.