Awakening Compassion at Work The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations

Caring Is a Competitive Advantage

Suffering in the workplace can rob our colleagues and coworkers of humanity, dignity, and motivation and is an unrecognized and costly drain on organizational potential. Marshaling evidence from two decades of field research, scholars and consultants Monica Worline and Jane Dutton show that alleviating such suffering confers measurable competitive advantages in areas like innovation, collaboration, service quality, and talent attraction and retention. They outline four steps for meeting suffering with compassion and show how to build a capacity for compassion into the structures and practices of an organization—because ultimately, as they write, “Compassion is an irreplaceable dimension of excellence for any organization that wants to make the most of its human capabilities.”

Monica C. Worline, PhD, is CEO of EnlivenWork. She is a research scientist at Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education and Executive Director of CompassionLab.

Jane E. Dutton, PhD, is the Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology and cofounder of the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business; she is also a founding member of CompassionLab.

Foreword author Raj Sisodia is a professor at Babson College and the co-founder of Conscious Capitalism, Inc.

CONTENTS

Foreword ix
PART ONE: An Introduction to Suffering, Compassion, and Work 1

1  What Is Compassion at Work? 3 

2  Does Compassion at Work Really Matter? 13 

PART TWO: Awakening Compassion in Our Work Lives 31

3  Noticing: The Portal to Awakening Compassion 33 

4  Interpreting: The Key to Responding with Compassion 43 

5  Feeling: The Bridge to Compassionate Action 59 

6  Acting: The Moves That Alleviate Suffering at Work 75 

PART THREE: Awakening Compassion Competence in Organizations 93

7  Envisioning Compassion Competence 95 

8  Understanding Compassion Competence 113 

9  Designing for Compassion Competence 133 

10  Leading for Compassion Competence 165 

PART FOUR: Blueprints for Awakening Compassion at Work 189

11  Your Personal Blueprint for Compassion at Work 191 

12  Your Organization’s Blueprint for Competence 195 

13  Overcoming Obstacles to Compassion at Work 207 

EPILOGUE: A Call to Awaken 221

Notes 225

Acknowledgments 240

Index 243

About the Authors 251