Kindness and Cruelty

The picture above has been hanging on my office wall for over twenty years. Some people I have engaged with online have commented on the image and enquired about how it came to be hanging there. 

My father brought this print home from some school he was renovating when I was just a child. 

Perhaps the teachers misunderstood the message when this picture was hanging on classroom walls. As probably in their own lives, they had experienced cruelty.

We’ve all heard adults say if they went home and told the parents that the teacher slapped them, the response was you must have deserved it, and you got another slap on the ear or worse.

We have a 17-year-old dog, Sadie. (17 x 7) That’s old. She was a rescue dog and badly treated by the previous owner. She will still not eat her food if you are standing close by. We must come inside and close the door before she starts to eat, which she does with an ear always cocked.

The memory of being badly treated lasts forever, be it dog or human. 

The picture message is simple: look after your people and provide a good working environment; you will get the best out of them for your business and personally. 

I provide coaching/training to many businesses to practise the principles espoused in this image.

The only proviso I would have to my previous comments would be something that employees suggest can happen.

They are provided with good spaces to work, good food, and fitness facilities on-site, encouraging people to stay at work longer with little work-life balance.

The skills leaders will realise that tired and weary employees will just go through the motions with reduced ability and opportunity to bring creativity to their role.

My advice is to continue to provide good working environments, then send your people home to relax with their families and friends, and return to the office refreshed and full of creativity. 

N.B. 

This means no contact after working hours unless in an emergency. Emergencies are something that happens once or twice a year, not every other day.

My Advice: 

In my previous writing, I have mentioned that I trained as a coach for Dale Carnegie Inc., founded by the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People’.

The three fundamental principles of this book are:

• Don’t criticise, condemn or complain

• Give honest, sincere appreciation

• Arouse in the other person an eager want.

The only way to get a person to willingly do something is to use these principles. 

By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie