How To Show Compassion To Others

Leadership Recipe Four – How To Show Compassion To Others

Firstly how are you? Can I/we help? Are you showing kindness to yourself? To others?

Are you looking for ways how to show more compassion to others?

In tough times with many people mentally struggling due to the impact of COVID and other challenges happening in 2023, it's more important than ever to show compassion and empathy. Empathy is the new style of leadership!

Compassion is a necessary trait to have, as it allows us to connect with the people in our lives on a deeper level and understand how they feel.

Fortunately, it isn't as hard as you may think to show compassion at work or towards your friends and family.

Continuing with our leadership recipe series, let's step back into Chef Sonia's kitchen and whip up my top-rated how-to-show compassion main course today.

We will provide all the steps and ingredients needed to build a proper understanding and connection with those around you. So are you ready to get cooking and make some compassion? Let's get started!

Remember you can absolutely set boundaries and be strong as a leader and human and still be kind and empathetic. Thoughts?

Access Recipes One to Three Here!

What Is Compassion?

Oxford Languages defines compassion as "sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others."

In other words, it's how we respond to those in need with empathy and understanding. You can express compassion through various emotions, such as kindness, sympathy, and caring.

So, for example, when someone hurts or goes through a difficult time, compassion leads us to show understanding, support, and acceptance to help someone without judgement.

Compassion involves:

●     Understanding how others' experiences may be different from our own and how we can assist in their struggles.

●     Recognising how our words and actions can affect those around us, both positively and negatively.

●     Being able to tap into our own feelings as well as the feelings of others.

●     Demonstrating empathy and sensitivity towards colleagues to encourage better working relationships.

●     Listening to others' stories and feelings

●     Being able to put yourself in another person's shoes

●     Offering support without judgement

●     Keeping an open mind

●     Staying sensitive to how someone is feeling

With these compassion skills, you can become an expert in how to show compassion and develop a deeper level of connection and understanding with those around you.

Why Is Compassion Important For Leaders

Perhaps you are wondering precisely why compassion is important and how it can make you a better leader.

Compassion is essential for successful leadership. It enables leaders to make more effective decisions by understanding how their actions and words may affect those around them.

This type of leadership serves as a positive example for the rest of the organisation and creates a strong team dynamic.

Compassionate leaders demonstrate empathy and sensitivity towards their colleagues, encouraging better collaboration and productive working relationships.

Compassion also builds trust, allowing leaders to be seen by their teammates as both understanding and relatable.

Leading with compassion also fosters innovation, encouraging employees to take risks and creating an environment where failure is seen not as a detriment but as an opportunity to learn and grow. This leads to creating a workplace culture that empowers others to thrive.

Now that we know what compassion is and why it is vital for leaders let's gather the key ingredients.

How To Show Compassion To Others - Key Ingredients

1 Cup - Kindness

Kindness allows us to be more understanding and supportive of other people. It also helps us be more mindful of how our words and actions affect those around us and how we can help them through their struggles. Kindness also enables us to remain open-minded while offering support and understanding.

1 Tbsp - Empathy

Empathy involves putting yourself in someone else's shoes. It helps you gain a deeper understanding of how others are feeling, how their feelings may differ from yours, and how best to respond to them to provide the most help and support.

1/2 Tsp - Sensitivity

Sensitivity is another crucial part of compassion as it allows you to attune to how someone feels and how your actions or words may affect them. It also helps you remain open-minded while providing constructive feedback to help others grow in their roles.

2 Cups - Sympathy

Sympathy involves tapping into how someone feels and being self-aware of how they may interpret your words or actions. It helps you to provide a greater level of understanding and support while remaining sensitive to how someone may react in certain situations.

1/2 Tbsp - Motivation

Motivation is crucial to compassion and kindness as it makes us take action and put in the effort to offer to help those around us. It also enables leaders to create an environment that encourages innovation, creativity, and growth in their team members.

1 Cup - Caring

Caring involves paying attention to how someone feels and offering support or guidance in the best way for them. Caring helps you to remain open-minded and understanding while also helping you make decisions that are in the best interest of those around you.

1/2 Tsp - Distress

Distress can be tricky to deal with, but by understanding how someone is feeling and how it affects them, we can better help them cope with their struggles. It involves acknowledging how someone may feel as valid, understanding how it affects them and helping them find ways to cope with their difficulties.

1/4 Tbsp - Tolerance

It is important to remember that everyone has different perspectives, so by having a level of tolerance and being open-minded when approaching various topics or conversations, we can provide unbiased guidance or help. In addition, tolerance helps us to be more understanding, supportive, and empathetic while remaining open to how someone may react.

1 Cup - Non-Judgemental

Being non-judgmental prevents us from making assumptions about how someone may be feeling or how they should act in a particular situation. Offering support without judging helps us remain mindful of our words and actions while also allowing us to provide constructive feedback and the best environment for others to grow and reach their potential.

Preparation Time:  Building compassion is a lifelong journey. It involves a day-to-day effort to practise compassion and patience to develop the tools needed to effectively understand, empathise with, and offer support to those around us.

Cooking Time: You can make a conscious effort to be more compassionate in daily situations; over time, it will come more naturally.

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Cooking Up Compassion - 7 Simple Ways How To Show Compassion To Others: The Step-By-Step Guide

Here are 7 ways to show compassion to others step-by-step.

1. Put Kindness On The Menu

It's easy to forget how mighty small acts of kindness can be. To show compassion, start by being kind and respectful to everyone you meet. Think carefully before speaking, and consider how your words may affect the person you're talking to.

However, being kind doesn't mean letting people walk all over you. As I like to say, 'kind, not soft.'

It takes courage to be kind, and it may be easier said than done for you, especially at first. But we can all learn to cultivate compassion and share one kind word or gesture with the world at a time.

It takes courage to be kind. Extending kindness and compassion to others, and even to ourselves, risks judgement, rejection and being seen as going against the norm in some organisational cultures. Sometimes it means we make ourselves vulnerable, which might be uncomfortable, but in the long run it leaves us in a position of strength.

An excerpt from First Comes Courage by Sonia McDonald.

Chef's Tip: The more kind we are, the more compassionate we become. Kindness is not just about how we treat others but how we think of ourselves too. Every act of kindness you show yourself will bring you closer to understanding how to show compassion for others.

Step 2: Compassion Is A Skill That You Can Learn - Decide To Become More Compassionate

Becoming more compassionate is not always easy, but it is a powerful and rewarding step that can transform how we interact with the world.

Unfortunately, most of us aren't born with compassion, but it is a skill that anyone can learn.

Start by understanding how you think and how this affects how you interact with others. Then, think about how your thoughts, beliefs, and words may impact your reaction in certain situations.

Once you become mindful of how your attitude and behaviour can affect those around you, you can start to take steps to become more compassionate.

This might include learning how to listen actively, how to respond without judgement, how to provide constructive feedback, how to offer support and how to be kind.

Chef's Tip: There are no quick fixes regarding how to show compassion, but with practice and dedication, you can make a positive difference.

Step 3: Recognise Your Own Triggers And Work On Managing Them

Compassion is essential to how we interact with the world and treat those around us. It requires a willingness to be open to how our actions can influence others around us and our reactions to different situations.

To become more compassionate, you must recognise what situations trigger you, and how you can better manage them. It means becoming aware when you feel strong emotions such as anger or frustration, and learning how to stay calm and understanding even when faced with difficult people or situations. 

Once you learn how to recognise and manage your triggers, you can begin developing a more profound sense of compassion for yourself and for others around you, even in challenging situations. You can also try using mindfulness to create a greater understanding of compassion and to keep calm when something triggers you.

Chef's Tip: "We are not a victim of our emotions or thoughts. We can understand our triggers and use them as tools to help us respond more objectively." - Elizabeth Thornton.

Step 4: Pour In A Cup Of Caring - Take More Notice Of Other People's Psychological Well-Being

One of the most simple ways to show compassion is to take the time to notice how other people are feeling. This means knowing how your words and actions can affect someone else's psychological well-being and understanding how some situations may cause others distress.

Practising a non-judgemental attitude towards those who have different opinions than yours while being tolerant of their views can help foster a more profound compassion for yourself and others around you.

Chef's Tip: Compassion is not always easy, but it can be incredibly rewarding. The more we practise compassion, the better we understand how our actions or attitude can affect those around us.

Step 5: Embrace Empathy - Put yourself in the other person's shoes

One way to become more compassionate is to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Empathy involves developing a better understanding of how they might feel and how the situation affects them.

It's essential to take a step back and observe how they react to the problem. Pay attention to their body language, facial expressions, and words. Also, make eye contact with them.

You should be asking yourself questions such as:

●     Are they visibly upset?

●     Are their words angry or emotional?

●     Is there tension in their gestures? 

Take your time to observe how the other person is feeling. Once you can better put yourself in the other person's shoes, you can start understanding how they think and feel and why they are affected the way they are.

Chef's Tip: "Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another." – Alfred Adler.

Step 6: Be Patient With Yourself - Progress Takes Time

Becoming more compassionate takes time, effort, practice and patience. Progress won't instantly happen overnight. Instead, it's a slow and steady process, so cut yourself some slack.

It is important not to become overwhelmed or discouraged if you don't see results as fast as you would like. Instead, focus on how far you've come and how much you've already achieved.

Try to celebrate small successes and practice self-care when you need it. If things become too overwhelming, don't forget to take a break, recharge, and keep going when the time is right.

Also, if you have a setback and don't handle a particular situation well, or get the response you had imagined, don't dwell on it too much.

Instead, learn from the experience and do better next time.

Chef's Tip: "Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." – George Bernard Shaw.

Step 7: Practise Self-Compassion

Embracing self-care means learning how to stay calm, and be warm and understanding towards yourself, even when facing complex challenges.

Practise being non-judgemental towards yourself while remaining tolerant of your flaws, and not focusing on your failures, but rather, your strengths.

By forgiving yourself and accepting your perceived flaws, you can begin developing a deeper sense of compassion for yourself that will eventually extend outwards towards others around you.

Chef's Tip: "Self-compassion means being kind and understanding of yourself when confronted with personal failings. Ultimately, the concept is to treat yourself just as you would treat another person who is suffering." - Sonia McDonald

Final Thoughts

Once you have incorporated these steps into your daily routine, you will start experiencing how rewarding compassion can be.

By understanding how someone is feeling, and their emotions may affect them, you will develop a greater capacity for empathy and understanding.

In addition, you will be better equipped to help those around you and create a more positive space for everyone in your life.

And there you have it - an easy-to-follow recipe for how to show compassion that's sure to help you make the world a better place one kindness at a time! 

With a little bit of kindness, empathy, sensitivity, sympathy, motivation and care, you can make meaningful connections with those around you that will last a lifetime.

Compassion is the key ingredient for success, so don't forget to add it to your cooking, life, and leadership. Bon Appetit!

Are you ready to take the next step to unlock your compassion? Download our brochure and contact us to discover how you can become a more compassionate leader today.

Until next week!

Stay Kind & Courageous, Sonia x

Author of Leadership Attitude, Just Rock It! and First Comes Courage

Keynote Speaker, Courage Crusader and Imperfect Founder

P.S. You got this!

About LeadershipHQ

We are a leadership development and performance organisation. We encourage leaders to realise their full potential, discover their calling, and make a real difference in the world. With us, you’ll find a truly invested team that offers genuine care and support while telling it like it is. We are deeply committed to the success of our clients. You won’t have to deal with the egos of large consulting firms – your success and progression are everything to us. In our work, everyone feels safe and inspired.

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About the Author – Sonia McDonald

Sonia is passionate about her voice. When Sonia speaks, everyone in the room feels like she is having a conversation with them as her audience will feel as if they are the only one in the room. She speaks from the heart. She is brave. She wants everyone to be brave. She is an impactful and motivational leadership expert and speaker that creates a life-changing experience. People call Sonia sassy, inspirational, real and a speaker who leaves a lasting impression. Her high-energy, authenticity and humour combined with actionable and practical advice, empowers her audience and provides them with great drive and confidence to take courageous actions and inspire great leadership in all aspects of their lives.

Sonia also is founder of LeadershipHQ and McDonald Inc. and is also a renowned and award-winning author, having written several of her own books, Leadership Attitude, Just Rock It! and First Comes Courage as well as being a regular contributor in The Australian, HRD Magazine, Smart Healthy Women and Women’s Business Media. She was named as one of the Top 250 Influential Women in the world as well as Top 100 Australian Entrepreneurs by Richtopia.

Through her leadership advisory and coaching work at LeadershipHQ, and founding the Outstanding Leadership Awards, Sonia is internationally recognised as an expert in leadership and culture, organisational development, neuroscience, kindness, and courage.

Sonia is also a full-time single parent and has a passion for women in business and teenage mental health. Sonia travels and speaks across Australia and Globe, and she is on a mission to building a world of great leaders and leadership.