This week is Random Acts of Kindness Week and the idea behind this week is to do something small throughout your day to make someone else’s life better. This could be something as simple as giving someone a compliment, paying for someone’s coffee behind you in line at the coffee shop, or planting a tree. A great place to start spreading kindness during this week is with your co-workers.
We spend a considerable amount of our lives with our co-workers; they are with us every day at work and we interact with them daily so they are great people to bestow our kindness on. When at work we should consider how we can work and act in order to be kind to ourselves and the people around us.
Here are 10 kind things you can do at work that are guaranteed to make your co-workers lives a bit better:
1/ Do Your Part – make sure that you are doing your portion of the work each day to avoid making others pick up your slack.
2/ Avoid Office Gossip – gossiping about co-workers can lead to hurt feelings and people being left out. Avoid gossiping about others and treat all co-workers equally and respectfully.
3/ Say ‘Hello’ in the Morning – not everyone is a morning person but it’s important to greet everyone with a smile and a hello each morning and do your part to make everyone’s morning a bit brighter.
4/ Avoid Strong Smelling Foods – no one likes to have a dominating food smell take over the workplace. Be considerate of others when deciding what to bring for lunch and save the strong smelling foods for at home.
5/ Give Proper Credit & Praise – everyone loves to be recognized for the hard work they do. If you see someone has done a great job, tell them! It will brighten their day and encourage their hard work. If your boss or co-worker asks who is responsible for a task be sure to give credit to the proper person; no one wants to work with someone that takes credit for other people’s hard work – share the accomplishments!
6/ Ask For Input – if you’re having a tough time with a project or can’t figure out a next step ask one of your co-workers. Everyone loves to feel included and coming to them will show them that you recognize the value in their ideas.
7/ Respect Other People’s Time – everyone’s time should be respected. Don’t hover around while they finish a task, instead let them come to you when they have time. And don’t take up their day with gossip or non-work related things. Your co-workers have deadlines they have to meet and will respect and appreciate you giving them the time they need to complete their work.
8/ Don’t Pass Blame – If your boss has an issue with a project you worked on try not to pass blame to your co-workers. Take responsibility for your portion of the work and let your boss confront your teammates if required. There is no need to throw others under the bus to make yourself look better. While that may help you temporarily with your boss it will strain your relationship with your co-workers and make future partnerships difficult.
9/ Treat Others With Respect – it is important to respect not only other people’s time but to respect each person and treat them with dignity. This includes avoiding office gossip, avoiding making inappropriate jokes, and just treating everyone equally and fairly, your co-workers will respect you for it in return.
10/ Be Compassionate – while work is important and is the reason you’re interacting with these individuals, it is also very important to be open with your co-workers and to be compassionate and empathetic to their situation. If someone needs to talk or take a moment for themselves, be respectful of their needs and work together toward a solution. We’re all human and if we can all be compassionate towards others it will brighten everyone’s day and make everyone’s work experience better.
By adopting these small acts of kindness at work we can work in a way that is more inclusive and kind, allowing us to create a generous work environment going well beyond Random Acts of Kindness Week!
For other kindness ideas visit https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/kindness-ideas