New ways of working are leading to disconnection and disengagement, leaving people wondering, “What is my role here and can I even make the impact I want to make?” And yet, we often forget, we have the power to design the environments we want to thrive within. While the challenges are all around us, we believe there is a way to course correct.

September brings reminders of limited time before the calendar year ends. How many weeks left in the year? Not many! If you are looking at a very full plate of to-dos, is there a more compassionate series of thoughts and actions that will ease the path forward? How might you reorient your personal and organizational compass and recalibrate the long-term goals you set at the start of the year?

We are all wired with the same desires – to feel safe, to be loved. These needs put us on paths to seek connection and offer opportunities for our purest expressions of our humanity. There are many things that impede our attempts at getting these needs met. When leaders strive to create cultures of safety, connection, and belonging, we are meeting those core human needs. This is no easy feat.

In this Compassionate Leadership Case Study, we explore how Pinuccia Contino, the Deputy Director for Consumers – European Commission, used a department reorganization as an opportunity to link the power of well-being and compassion to the pillars of her department’s work, aligning with both the values and purpose of the organization.

We may be able to rush to the top, be prepared for on-going circumstances, and push through the pain, but if we fail to rest, we fail to fully succeed. Even leaders deserve time and space to build in times of rest. To do so is a compassionate choice for yourself and those you lead.

For those who only hold on to the softer side of compassion, nurturing compassion, it is hard to recognize the true power leading with compassion offers. Compassionate leaders can hold on to the paradoxical aspect of compassion, which is that it also requires great strength. While power alone or strength over systems may feel more efficient, we all know this approach isn’t effective long-term.

Compassion has the power to help employees flourish and create stronger, more innovative organizations. The evidence is clear. Creating compassionate organizational environments leads to significant benefits for the organization: lower turnover, higher employee engagement and satisfaction, greater creativity and innovation, and higher-quality connections with deeper trust. But, there is one big catch…

We often respond to challenge with the belief that vulnerability is weakness. Older command and control models of success often include stoic leaders in stuffy suits looking down on others with orders or mandates. These times call for us to shed such old beliefs and embrace our humanity. Compassionate leadership offers us the path to becoming a strong, effective leader through connection and care.

When was the last time you stepped outside and inhaled deeply? Perhaps you can recall a time you let your toes be tickled by grass, or stood in awe at the base of a mountain wall made of stone, craning your neck to see the blue sky. When was the last time gravel crunched under your feet, or a babbling brook laughed as it gurgled on by, while you sat, simply watching on stones nearby?

From the moment we wake, headlines scream at us and videos cause our stomachs to lurch. It’s tempting to tune out when paying attention can be overwhelming, but a multitude of voices remind us that the time for compassion is now. We’re not strangers to threats to humanity and the planet. The impacts of climate change, social injustice, war and the suffering these forces cause are very present.