By Dr. Siew Fang Law and Hannes van Rensburg
“Toughen up” or “power through” mentality is no longer sufficient to build resilient leaders and leadership. As leaders, you need to give yourself permission to prioritise care. By doing so, you will be able to alter the energy within yourself and the workplace.
Do you feel that you are at the edge of compassion fatigue or burnout? Are you currently navigating the increasingly complex, challenging, and dynamic nature of workplaces? In today’s high-pressure and fast-paced environment, the focus on productivity and performance often overshadows the importance of checking in with our sense of well-being.
We need an effective model to help us navigate our inner landscape and external currents, so we can feel safe to recharge our energy and build a more caring organisational culture. One of the most effective ways to begin building a compassionate work culture is by looking at a surprisingly simple concept: the Japanese bento box.
The bento box, a compartmentalised lunch box designed to provide a beautifully balanced meal with various delicious flavours, textures, and nutrients, can offer valuable insights into the delicate art of balancing the interconnectedness of its elements. The principles of the bento box can inspire us to make sense of the interconnected nature of building a culture of care in today’s workplaces. The compartments within the bento box provide a structure to remind us of the importance of maintaining our well-being so we can continue to support our teams and our organisation effectively. We, much like the bento box, can maintain equilibrium across multiple dimensions of our lives. These dimensions span from our individual well-being to our relationships with others, shaping the organisational culture, and beyond.
How to Care for Leaders Who Care
We can use the bento box as an analogy for a visual and metaphorical well-being barometer. The aim is to create a healthy balance across different dimensions. You can draw on key principles inspired by the bento box, such as consciousness, action, reciprocity, and equilibrium, to design and implement workplace strategies and programs with hearts to lift and sustain your and the organisation’s energy and still remain effective in your roles through experiencing the power of care. You could ensure your department has the resources (funding, time, people, space, capacity, and capabilities) to foster compassion throughout the organisation. Here are three practical tips inspired by the bento box principles that can help you achieve equilibrium within yourself and your organisation:
1. Encourage Self-Care as a Priority (Individual Dimension)
Just like the bento box, you can assess or check-in on your personal and organisational barometers to understand whether self-care has been prioritised and practiced. Are there reasonable space and time allocations to engage in regular healthy activities that recharge your emotional, mental, and physical energy? These activities could range from exercise to hobbies or spending time with loved ones. Additionally, leadership coaching and mentoring may help you and your leaders work on your psychosocial safety and well-being. You may find suitable coaches who can guide you through some of your shadow work and ensure that you are practicing what you preach when it comes to self-care.
By normalising and mainstreaming self-care starting at the leadership level, you can promote a culture where prioritising personal well-being is normal and is considered a strength, not an abnormality or limitation, in your workplace.
2. Foster Connection and Peer Support (Relationship Dimension)
Leadership can be a lonely endeavour, but a leader cannot work alone. This is where the bento box principle of reciprocity comes into play. Connect with your peers beyond the organisation. Consciously organise the right kind of peer support groups or mentorship programs, where you and others feel safe to connect, build trust, share challenges, brainstorm solutions, and emotionally support each other. These connections help prevent the sense of isolation and loneliness that often contributes to an empty tank.
3. Shape a Culture of Care (Organisational Dimension)
In the bento box, the food is arranged thoughtfully to create balance. Similarly, you can cultivate organisational culture with care to ensure that priorities are not just expected to deliver results but also to nurture the well-being of yourself and your teams. You can build programs that embody and celebrate empathy, work-life balance, and emotional intelligence.
You may articulate clear expectations around the behaviours of compassionate leadership, such as encouraging active listening and presence, showing appreciation for team efforts, and maintaining transparency.
The need for compassionate leadership has never been more critical. When compassionate leaders are not cared for and leave the organisation, less compassionate leaders stay. Resulting in key leadership talent being lost and workplace culture shifts. Essential for long-term trust and sustainability, you can set the process in motion by revising policies to encourage and celebrate compassionate behaviours, promote training in emotional intelligence, and role model caring values.
You can create an environment where you and your leaders feel empowered and normal to take time and hold space to care for both yourselves and your teams. Starting with showing care and providing a road map to yourself and your leaders, especially when you are aware that people are struggling from within but want to change for the better, you can shift a work environment from an apathetic and toxic culture to a caring and healthier one. The ripple effects will benefit your clients and customers and positively impact your communities and society.
“Toughen up” or “power through” mentality is no longer sufficient to build resilient leaders and leadership. Give yourself permission to prioritise care. By doing so, you will be able to alter the energy within yourself and the workplace. Ultimately, when you feel cared for, you are better equipped to care for others—and that is the foundation of a truly compassionate and sustainably productive workplace.
Dr. Siew Fang Law
