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Compassion in Business

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The 3-Minute Playbook:

  • Writer: Nigel Kilpatrick
    Nigel Kilpatrick
  • Jun 11
  • 2 min read
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Compassion Isn’t Soft — It’s a Strategic Lever for High-Performing Cultures


Why This Matters


Compassion isn’t about being nice. It’s about building the kind of cultures where people want to stay, grow, and lead.

Here’s what the world’s best-performing HR teams already know: When people feel psychologically safe and seen, they outperform.


1️⃣ Google: Compassion through Psychological Safety

Google’s Project Aristotle found that the highest-performing teams weren’t the ones with the most expertise — but the ones with the most psychological safety.

That means:

  • People felt they could speak up without fear

  • Leaders listened with empathy

  • Team members supported one another

💡 Try this: Introduce the 3-step Compassionate Conversation Protocol:

  1. Ask: What’s really happening beneath the surface for this person?

  2. Check: What assumptions am I making?

  3. Act: How can I offer support and accountability together?

2️⃣ Cisco: Scaling Trust and Belonging

Cisco’s “Conscious Culture” initiative made trust and belonging not just values, but tracked behaviours.

They:

  • Trained leaders in empathy as a business skill

  • Integrated “how” results were achieved into performance reviews

  • Tracked safety, inclusion, and team health on dashboards

💡 Try this:Create a Compassion Index that includes:

  • % of managers trained in trust-building behaviors

  • Psychological safety pulse scores

  • Stay interviews completed

  • Manager response times to emotional or interpersonal issues

3️⃣ LinkedIn: Leading with Compassion at the Top

Former CEO Jeff Weiner made compassion his personal leadership principle — not in HR, but in every executive decision.

He defines it as:

“Empathy, plus action.”Not just understanding pain — but choosing to relieve it.

💡 Try this: Start your next executive team meeting by asking:

“What decision today would be different if we put compassion at the centre?”

✅ TL;DR: The People Shift Framework

Old HR Playbook

The People Shift Playbook

Policies for compliance

Policies for people

Leadership for control

Leadership for empathy + clarity

Engagement as a perk

Engagement as an outcome of compassion

Final Thought

The most successful organisations in the world aren’t running from compassion. They’re building billion-dollar cultures on it.

Is yours?

📞 Let’s Explore It Together

Book a 30-minute call to explore how The People Shift can help you make compassion your strategic advantage.

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