Author: Natalie Ellis

Throughout #HRActsofKindness I have spoken to so many people about how they view kindness – watch this space David Ulrich, I may write my own model on this one day!

Gary Cookson was part of the Blog Squad this year at the CIPD ACE event, when he wrote this for me I couldn’t stop smiling so thank you Gary for your excellent take on kindness:

“Bill and Ted famously said “Be Excellent To Each Other”.  Maybe they were onto something but used the wrong adjective. They should have said “Be Kind To Each Other”. After all, who wants to go to a workplace where people are cruel to each other?  We spend 35-40 hours a week at work and that’s a big proportion of your entire week to spend NOT being kind.  If you treat others the way you’d like to be treated yourself, then you will indeed be kind to everyone. In HR we have a duty to encourage this behaviour amongst all employees and to lead by example.  My eldest daughter, when she was 3, asked what I did at work. Its hard to explain HR to an adult let alone a 3 year old child, so I settled on “Daddy’s job is to make people happy at work” and to be honest, as a definition of HR, I’ve not been able to better it since. If I can make people happy by being kind to them, or showing them how to be kind to others, then I’m all for it.”

If you’re not saying “Excellent!” in Ted’s voice already, you need to watch the film again 🙂

The man behind the ACE art is Simon Heath, back in September he wrote a fantastic post about kindness in the workplace and if you’re a #HRActsofKindness fan, this blog post is certainly something you need to read. Simon mentions that kindness can transcend work, age, ethnicity, gender, geography and politics. It can cost nothing and simultaneously hold immeasurable value. It needs no permission, business case, training or instruction to implement. It tends to be highly infectious. We’re all carriers. Give it to someone else. Check out his fantastic post here:  https://workmusing.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/love-virally/

Amelia Tickle was also part of this years Blog Squad and her take on kindness is:

“Kindness costs nothing, if that is in the workplace or out in public. Everyone can give kindness weather it is holding an door open for someone or writing a thank you card. The definition of kindness is “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate” that can transpire at work or in the community. Kindness is all around us, we receive it from birth, then all the way through our life’s. kindness carries a great value and has a ripple affect between person to person, we are all guilty of getting a high from receiving kindness. No matter where you are in the world, kindness can be translated. The power of that is priceless.”

 

 

 

 

 

As many of you know, I work voluntarily as part of the Northamptonshire CIPD committee and when I attend meetings with them, there is a real team spirit and I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to work with them.

I spoke to Gill Amos about what she thought about the #HRActsofKindness initiative and I’m so pleased that I have got to know her this year. She has been a pleasure to work alongside and I can’t wait to work with her again in the new year! Here’s what she had to say on all things kindness:

“I think it is consideration for others and their needs.  It starts with the small things – good manners.  It is about genuine acts of thoughtfulness when people know that there are difficult things happening elsewhere.  Thinking about how you can help rather than being out for yourself.”

Paul Beesley is also on the committee and he has been incredibly supportive of me this year by supporting my development so thank you Paul for being there for me in 2016, I hope we get more opportunity to work together in 2017.

Paul’s company; Beyond Theory has a simple but highly effective mantra, where kindness is pretty much built in as standard; “Look after your people and they’ll take care of your business.”

Kindness is simple and something we can all do, it should be part of our daily working lives. Can you imagine the possibilities if people work together and we’re kinder to each other?

Don’t get me wrong, we cannot get along with everyone that we work with but we can certainly share ideas, be more innovative and demonstrate respect throughout our professional lives. Being kind doesn’t mean it’s boring either, it’s easy to make someone’s day just that little bit brighter, the important thing is not to take our days for granted and not to focus on the negatives, we simply learn from them.

 

 

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all well and enjoying the HR Acts of Kindness challenges list.

I need help from all of you as I want to do something fantastically brilliant to say a special thank you to everyone who has participated in the challenge. I would love to have a picture of you and your teams holding up a piece of paper with the #HRActsofKindness on it!

Once you have taken your smashing photographs, please send them through to me at: natalieellis084@gmail.com and the surprise will be released on 19th December!

 

 

Whilst I was at CIPD ACE 16, I met a young man on the MOL stand, little did I know that he had been following my blog and he bounced over to me wearing huge monster shaped slippers and introduced himself (this is a true story!). David told me that he felt inspired and really liked watching people get involved with #HRActsofKindness so he gave me some insight as to why he wanted to get involved this time around.

“I loved the idea of what you did last time however due to not really knowing the bloggers and HR individuals on Twitter I didn’t get involved myself. I regretted it after so when the opportunity came around to get involved now I threw myself at the opportunity. I feel there is so much going on and changing in the world we forget to stop and take appreciation of small things that happen such as a colleague making you a brew or a birthday taking place and I feel #HRActsofKIndness is a great way for people to do selfless acts of appreciation and generosity and like the film I seen as a child ‘Pay it forward’ I started it here in the MOL Learn office and now others are getting involved too and just discussing the things we do and the positive attitude I feel heightens within the workplace.”

David is a highly motivated person, who really wants to get involved and make a difference and he’s been up to all sorts, spreading kindness and motivating others which is why David is one of my first Kindness Champions. He’s also determined to step into a HR for a career so keep an eye out for him as whatever steps he takes, he’s certainly one to watch!

 

 

‘The way you see someone affects the way you serve them. The way you serve someone affects the way they see you. Kindness is first seen, then expressed’

Joy Marsden – Keep Stepping

I simply adore this quote from Joy and she has certainly been a strong influence in my mind set since I met her in October at MAP, I’m hoping to continue to use that mind set as I progress through the remainder of 2016 into 2017 and beyond!

We are all aware that the world could do with a lot more kindness right now and with the season of goodwill quickly approaching, now is the perfect time to make a small change in your life to make a big impact on someone else’s.

Some of you are creating giving advent boxes for your local communities, some are passing out compliments, others are some are donating clothes to homeless shelters, arranging Christmas parties, some of you are donating money to charities rather than sending Christmas cards; the kindness just keeps on going!

The idea may be simple but it is effective and I would urge as many of you to get involved and make the end of 2016 memorable for all the right reasons!