As a reflective blog this place helps me to understand compassion in the many different environments we find ourselves in. This month  leadership is something that we all talk about and some argue that, we are all leaders but what does this really mean.

In addition if we are all leaders how can we become compassionate leaders and confidently share our goals with each other (universality), understand each other’s different needs (diversity) and help each other to improve (recovery)  our lives and skills?

West et al (2017) in their paper Caring to Change, suggests that we all need to know what compassion means if we are to become good leaders. They quote another author who found similar components of compassion to mine above. They also suggest that compassionate leadership is supportive, nurturing, empathic, positive and innovate which includes helping others to improve their practice. Of course the environment does have a lot to do with how successful compassionate leadership can be. They argue that there must be within the environment, a shared vision of good practice, good team working, staff inclusion and support to develop innovative and effective ways of working.

But what about compassion for the leader? if the above are not in place for them how can they be expected to lead and worse are we setting them up to fail?  The supportive element can be encouraged when discussing the universal needs of the team so everyone feels that they have been heard. The diverse element can be developed by particiption and inclusion, exploring individual skills and promoting them within the team. This can include organisationsal skills, creative skills, and critical thinking skills. The recovery element can be developed by working together as a team, encouraging not challenging and supporting each other to develop their own practice. For the compassionate leader to lead well (West et al 2017), the support of the team and a good working environment are fundamental components for developing good practice.

West et al (2017) do discuss all of the above in some detail but they do not consider the role that the leader has in cordinating all elements of compassionate leadership, some of which may be well out of their control. In developing compassion for those who are leaders we must also be aware that they too need support, recognition of their skills and experience and a strong team of similar people around them. Most importantly of all is to recognise  Martha Nussbaum’s  (2011) 10 Capabilities, that all human beings have to help them to be more compassionate of others, regardless of their own status. These are

Life, bodily health, bodily integrity, sense imagination and thought, emotions, practical reason, affiliation, other species, play, control over one’s environment.

If the compassionate leader does not have these capabilites, then they must be more self compassionate in their true ability to lead others, in developing innovative practice.