This week I’m pleased to bring the last in the current series of conversations with kind leaders: a conversation I had with Saskia Roskom, co-founder of The Biskery, a specialist biscuit baking business.
Key takeaways
- Kind and nice are not the same thing. Kindness as a leader often requires you to take a longer-term view, not simply to act quickly in the moment to make things immediately easier.
- Kind leadership is about conversation. Understanding another person’s perspective is a core part of it and the only way you can really get someone else’s perspective is by asking them and not assuming you know.
- Create an atmosphere where people genuinely feel comfortable to speak up and express the things that they need and want to get their job done. Be honest with yourself about the impact you have as the boss and find ways to ensure people know you are genuine about them speaking up.
- If you’re a leader who finds bringing in kindness difficult, you might want to start with another member of your team who finds it easier to adopt this approach and see how your team responds. It’s a learning curve, especially if it doesn’t come naturally to you.
- Being kind to yourself is important too
You can listen to the whole of my conversation with Saskia on the Time for Kindness YouTube channel. Please do get in touch to let me know what you thought of this interview and all the conversations we’ve shared with the other leaders in this series.
Help me find more
Please spread the word about these conversations with your colleagues, friends and family. We all need positive, hopeful examples of what it truly means to be a successful leader.
I’d like to have more of these conversations to share the stories, so get in touch if you’re a kind leader yourself or you know someone who is.
Take care
Sarah
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