In our recent survey on “Compassionate Leadership Amid the Chaos,” we asked respondents which emotions they have been experiencing during the crisis. The responses of leaders and team members diverged substantially, and leaders can learn and take action based on these differences. We recommend the steps to take in order to build more effective teams.

Survey results are in! We received over 200 responses from twenty-two countries to our recent Compassionate Leadership Amid the Chaos Survey. Here are some of the initial high-level points we take away after a preliminary review of the data and the open-ended responses.

In our conversations with many colleagues around the globe since the shelter-in-place rules went into effect a few short weeks ago, we’ve noticed how leaders are translating their compassionate leadership style to the virtual environment. Along with our own experiences teaching, facilitating, and convening on Zoom since its debut, we share these observations and ideas for weaving more compassion into your new regime of leading by remote connection.

In one unexpected fell swoop, the boundaries between work and home came tumbling down. Now that this genie is out of the bottle, what will we do with it?

The COVID-19 virus is a wake-up call to our shared common humanity and to develop truly global compassion. The threats we face today are global in scale. If we are to thrive, we must act compassionately toward our village, which is simply the entire world.

What can compassionate leaders do in this moment of unprecedented chaos? How do you instill confidence, trust, transparency, open communications, and encourage the team to stay positive? How do you embody compassionate leadership?

This year’s Wisdom 2.0 conference, in San Francisco March 5-7, drew thousands from around the world who showed up to connect despite COVID-19 concerns. The conference and its satellite events champion “to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work, and useful to the world.” Read our takeaways…

Compassion, at its core, is a distinctly human act. Does that mean that organizations cannot be compassionate?

Organizational compassion requires compassionate intention. Without that intention, the benefits of compassion are unlikely to follow.

The same attributes that lead to gaining power are attributes that are undermined once one has achieved a position of power. Dacher Keltner, in The Power Paradox, shows us the origins of power, how it is part of all our everyday transactions and can consistently be a positive thing, how power can be abused and lost, and the costs of subjecting others to conditions that create powerlessness.