By Jenn Lyons, Director of Marketing, Genex Services
With increasing discussions on the importance of empathy in caring for injured workers, I thought about lessons I learned from a recent humanitarian trip to Rwanda. Over the summer, I visited a small orphanage there and discovered a country that has been through the absolute darkest times, yet is now filled with the kindest and gentlest people I have met. A mere two decades after a horrific genocide that left no citizen untouched, Rwandans today exemplify kindness, strength and resilience.
Few of us will ever face the tragedies seen in this small African nation, and the experience was life changing for me. Surely, those same lessons of community could translate well into all facets of life. I took the lessons learned from Rwanda home to my daughter and hope that these will forever change the fabric of our family.
At work, I began thinking about the roles that qualities of kindness, empathy and resilience play in our industry. As a result of corporate, team or project-level change, we frequently encounter “every team for itself,” or worst, “every person for him/herself” attitudes that separate and deteriorate relationships that are vital to a team’s success. In Rwanda, we saw how these same attitudes led to the near ruin of their society. What can we learn from their journey that can improve our workplace interactions and lead to better outcomes in workers’ comp?
Creating Connection
Each month in Rwanda, neighbors come together for a half day of mandatory community service, called Umuganda, which translated means, “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome.” This is a proactive step to move forward from a genocide in which neighbors attacked neighbors. The common purpose of community members working side by side on projects helps heal the differences among them; instilling a sense of connection to advance as a united nation.
Creating connectivity among team members and across departments is often a challenge for managers, especially in today’s economic climate, where mergers and acquisitions often force former competitors to join forces and fuse into a new team. If more employees felt connected and invested in their team, how would our workplace look different? Could preventable or careless injuries be averted if more team members looked out for each other?
When an injury occurs, the disconnect that often follows when an injured worker is away from the workplace can be detrimental in return-to-work efforts and team productivity. It stands to reason an employee would be more motivated to return to work post-injury if the individual felt connected to co-workers, missed by the team, and valued by management.
Proactive Resilience
Most firms are in a constant state of corporate change to remain relevant in their industry. Change, by nature, is unnerving and potentially paralyzing when individuals are unsure of what will come next. This can be costly in both employee morale and productivity.
There may be a change in a strategic direction, but change is also brought on by an injury or short- or long-term loss of a team member. Although we frequently say “business as usual” when change occurs, the reality is fear commonly accompanies any unknown element and can bring exemplary employees to a halt if they don’t have a clear understanding of the path forward. A work-related injury often means significant change both for the injured worker who must adjust to a new routine temporarily or possibly a new way of working, as well as team members, who need to understand how they will function going forward and prevent this from happening again.
Rwandans have shown the world how to make a proactive choice to come together by setting clear goals and a path forward, rather than letting change cripple their nation. In fact, Rwanda aggressively pursued their Millennium Development Goals, a worldwide initiative which resulted in a million people being lifted out of extreme poverty within 10 years and making primary education accessible for more than 95% of children.1
When proactive resilience is practiced in the workplace, employees choose to move forward as a team in the face of challenges that change can bring. When people are connected and invested in each other and in their goals, they care more about what they do, how they do it and who is by their side – and it materializes in their performance.
Umuganda Every Day
Many of us have heard or witnessed stories of remarkable courage, loyalty, forgiveness or kindness displayed in challenging situations. But we need to do more than just acknowledge the lessons of these stories. It’s crucial that regardless of the size or nature of a situation, we find ways to incorporate the lessons that exemplify the best of humanity.
Since returning from Rwanda, I have declared Umuganda in my office every day. I’m lucky enough to work on a tight-knit team who approaches projects and problems together. This strong sense of common purpose was crucial during a recent brand launch project where we had to negotiate individual preferences and opinions, evaluate internal and external feedback and make very difficult decisions to arrive at the best strategy to carry our company forward. Change is constant and the fear falling down always lingers. But we know we have each other’s backs and we rise and fall as a team.
Within the routine of the workday, Rwanda has also shown me that intangible, immeasurable changes in human interaction and connection can bring about positive change. These incremental changes in how we treat others can help improve productivity, reduce delays in return to work, and keep teams and businesses moving forward in the face of challenges. Recent articles in leading publications such as the Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal actively touted the benefits of empathy and collaboration. These are valid and strategic reasons to renew our industry’s commitment to how we approach and treat injured workers, as well as colleagues. But more importantly, these lessons highlight how we can strive to treat each other with the respect, empathy and compassion to create invaluable connections and understanding.
Notes
1http://www.euractiv.com/development-policy/rwandas-track-record-mdgs-inspir-analysis-530726
Disclosure:
Genex Services is a WorkCompWire Ad Partner.
This is not a paid placement.