The Compassionate Organisation assessment will ask you a series of questions about the organisation that you currently work in. The questionnaire will ask you about yourself and the people you work with. Try not to overthink your answers and where possible, go with your first response and try to answer as many questions as you can (the more questions you answer, the more accurate your score will be).The assessment is a developmental tool, there are no 'wrong' or 'right' answers. Your results will form the basis of your Compassionate Organisation Self Assessment report.
After you have completed the assessment you'll receive your score and a report giving you suggestions, ideas and practices for increasing compassion within your organisation.
In my organisation we are expected to show the world a 'professional face' irrespective of what is happening in our personal lives.
When someone in the organisation is experiencing difficulties, leaders are always ready with a listening ear.
If an employee has a family member who is ill, others rally round to ask how they are doing and to offer help.
It is considered unprofessional to cry in our organisation and frowned upon by others.
Talking to others is considered as essential for building relationships in our organisation.
I am not able to think of an occasion when others have shown concern for me when I have been ill, upset or suffering in the past.
Offering help in my organisation is considered to be treading on someone else's toes and a sign that they can't cope.
I feel that my organisation values my work life balance.
The senior team in my organisation don't know my name.
Asking for help in my organisation is seen as a weakness.
I am encouraged to have regular breaks and take a proper lunch by my boss.
I have a strong impression that the first person to leave the office for home at night is seen as less committed than those who stay late.
When someone in my organisation is in need, we really think about the best way to help them rather than treat everyone in the same way.
In my organisation, I can recall seeing colleagues who are suffering treated with compassion.
My boss has been open about when his/her projects have failed and encourages us to do the same.
When someone is suffering in their personal life in my organisation it is seen as proof of weakness and bad management to ask how they can be helped in terms of their workload.
Within my organisation we are actively encouraged to volunteer, support others or come together for a cause.
I feel comfortable offering to help colleagues who appear to be struggling.
In my organisation when someone returns to work after a period of illness, it is made clear that time off is not acceptable.
In my organisation senior level leaders model behaviours such as taking breaks and creating a good work life balance.
When a colleague is struggling or has failed on a project in my organisation, others distance themselves.
Show Result
Mostly Compassionate
Your score suggests that your organisation encourages compassion at work. This means that people feel comfortable offering to help when others are suffering, finding practical ways to act. You notice what is going on for others in the team and are encouraged to support each other in times of need. Your organisation sees you as an individual and respects your work-life boundaries.
The development of a compassionate organisation is multi factorial. Policies, procedures, organisational culture and leadership all contribute to compassion in the workplace. It sounds like your organisation is doing a great job. Building a compassionate organisation doesn't need to be complicated, the following evidence based suggestions will give you additional ideas to continue to build compassion in your organisation.
Think about small ways that you can show compassion by listening to others, sending a card if they are experiencing personal difficulties, making time to talk to colleagues.
Consider developing your own compassion. Try some of the free compassion practices on our site such as the 'Just Like Me' practice.
Talk about acts of compassion in the workplace with others. If you've observed an act of compassion, perhaps a colleague helping someone out or volunteering for a charity, celebrate it.
As an organisation, talk about how you will respond when you notice suffering. Rather than a generic response to suffering, personalise your response to the needs of the individual.
And for Leaders...?
If you're leading the organisation, think about how you can embed compassionate practices into your policies and procedures. We know that stressful command and control leadership styles don't optimise performance. Think of ways that you can make this explicit with your managers, instead fostering a compassion ethic.
Create compassion champions in your organisation, people who will notice it, talk about it, celebrate and actively encourage it.
Consider ways to build compassion such as charitable events, time off per month for employees to volunteer to a cause of their choosing or events where teams of staff are seconded for a day to help charities.
A great place to start is to model compassionate behaviour. Research by Jonathan Haidt at New York University showed that when we observe compassion in others we are more likely to demonstrate it ourselves. Make time to talk with staff, to listen to them and find out more about who they are. If you know they are suffering through difficult personal circumstances, send a card or flowers or offer to help in a practical way. Compassion is empathy with action. Haidt's research suggested that when employees observed compassion in leaders they showed increased loyalty and commitment to the organisation.
You can't know everyone in your organisation so ask your departmental heads or team members to let you know when employees are experiencing difficult circumstances, it will give you an opportunity to show compassion as well as modelling this behaviour so that it can cascade into the rest of the organisation, contributing to a compassionate culture.
When you notice that employees are building their own compassion and being compassionate towards colleagues, find ways to acknowledge and reward it. Use your website, newsletter or internet to let others know about it. Celebrate compassionate wins. Social scientists James Fowler of UC San Diego and Nicolas Christakis of Harvard found that when this happens, compassion is contagious!
Mostly Uncompassionate
Your score suggests that your organisation is low on compassion in the workplace. It's possible that your organisational culture discourages compassion, considering it a weakness to talk about pain, notice suffering and act to alleviate it. Employees in your organisation may find it difficult to help those who are suffering or actively avoid being around them. It is worth considering your working practices and policies, examining them to see if they make compassionate acts difficult or approach suffering with punitive measures rather than compassion. If you're a leader, reflect upon how you and the senior management team model compassionate behaviours.
Think about small ways that you can show compassion by listening to others, sending a card if they are experiencing personal difficulties, making time to talk to colleagues.
Consider developing your own compassion. Try some of the free compassion practices on our site such as the 'Just Like Me' practice.
Talk about acts of compassion in the workplace with others. If you've observed an act of compassion, perhaps a colleague helping someone out or volunteering for a charity, celebrate it.
As an organisation, talk about how you will respond when you notice suffering. Rather than a generic response to suffering, personalise your response to the needs of the individual.
And for Leaders...?
If you're leading the organisation, think about how you can embed compassionate practices into your policies and procedures. We know that stressful command and control leadership styles don't optimise performance. Think of ways that you can make this explicit with your managers, instead fostering a compassion ethic.
Create compassion champions in your organisation, people who will notice it, talk about it, celebrate and actively encourage it.
Consider ways to build compassion such as charitable events, time off per month for employees to volunteer to a cause of their choosing or events where teams of staff are seconded for a day to help charities.
A great place to start is to model compassionate behaviour. Research by Jonathan Haidt at New York University showed that when we observe compassion in others we are more likely to demonstrate it ourselves. Make time to talk with staff, to listen to them and find out more about who they are. If you know they are suffering through difficult personal circumstances, send a card or flowers or offer to help in a practical way. Compassion is empathy with action. Haidt's research suggested that when employees observed compassion in leaders they showed increased loyalty and commitment to the organisation.
You can't know everyone in your organisation so ask your departmental heads or team members to let you know when employees are experiencing difficult circumstances, it will give you an opportunity to show compassion as well as modelling this behaviour so that it can cascade into the rest of the organisation, contributing to a compassionate culture.
When you notice that employees are building their own compassion and being compassionate towards colleagues, find ways to acknowledge and reward it. Use your website, newsletter or internet to let others know about it. Celebrate compassionate wins. Social scientists James Fowler of UC San Diego and Nicolas Christakis of Harvard found that when this happens, compassion is contagious!
