The Covid period has been notable for the stress placed upon people and it has heralded calls for more compassion, both towards ourselves and towards others.  In a recent study by the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, the benefits of self-compassion for leaders were aptly illustrated.

“We tend to think of leadership as a universally good thing, so we don’t fully account for the hardships of leadership—we don’t think of self-compassion as something that’s particularly needed or important,” the researchers say. “But without self-compassion, the hardships can lead you to think, ‘If I’m having such trouble with this role, am I really a leader at all?’ We found that self-compassion helps you to hold onto your identity as a leader.”

Caring for oneself

Volunteers were asked to complete a short self-compassion exercise at various points throughout the week, after which they had to write up an experience in which they were kind and understanding towards themselves during the course of their usual leadership tasks.

The results showed that when people participated in this exercise, they were better able to identify with their leadership role.  This in turn meant that they were more able to offer help to their team, and not only with their professional tasks but their personal challenges as well.

What’s more, the employees perceived their leaders to be both more competent and more civil on those days, which suggests it’s a valuable exercise for team and leader alike.

“Self-compassion helps you be more leader-like, which creates a more positive impression of you, but it also helps the people around you,” the researchers say. “So even if you do it out of self-interest, it’s going to have a positive impact on the people around you as well.”

The researchers believe that the exercise is sufficiently straightforward to be easily implemented into their daily life.  If it’s not possible to do it in writing, they believe it could be performed via focused reflection instead.  It may prove particularly beneficial to those who are new to leadership and are perhaps therefore not as comfortable in the role.

“A lot of research suggests that we’re not very compassionate toward ourselves; that we’re pretty hard on ourselves,” the researchers conclude. “If you can shift how you see yourself to a more compassionate stance, many benefits occur. There are ways to build the idea into your life more fully, and that’s what I’d recommend.”