Kindness Is Contagious: Hiring With Intention

Kindness is contagious.

Think about how simple gestures impact your mood – whether it’s a co-worker helping you out on a last minute project, a person holding the elevator for you when you’re running late, or perhaps a neighbor helping you carry your groceries up the stairs so you can tend to your screaming toddler. Attitude and kindness are contagious, and it often makes you want to go out of your way for others when people do it for you.

Observing kind interactions and behavior can have a similarly uplifting impact as well. This fuzzy feeling actually has a name – it’s called moral elevation. The journal “Biological Psychiatry” said, “Moral elevation, or elevation, is a specific emotional state triggered by witnessing displays of profound virtue and moral beauty.”

Oddly enough, the contagiousness of kindness was reinforced for me last week while I was waiting on a hospital bed to have surgery. It’s a place where nervousness and vulnerability are usually in overdrive, so the kindness of health care professionals can go a long way in improving your experience.

During my entire procedure – from the first contact with the front desk receptionist to the point of discharge – I was extremely impressed with my health care experience.

Knowing I was preparing to write a feature article on employee engagement (which will be published in June), I wanted to learn more about how this hospital managed to get employees who were capable, kind to me and each other, and seemed to also enjoy their jobs. It’s rare to be in a place where literally everyone is kind. This isn’t fake kind either; I can sniff that out from a mile away. This was the type of kind that only happens when you genuinely like where you are and who you work around.

Naturally, the reporter in me went into overdrive (and the conversation served as a nice distraction from my impending surgery) and I asked the nurse, “How did the hospital manage to hire such exceptional people who are all so kind and capable?” She smiled and said, “With a lot of intention.” She then explained to me that the hospital hired people who shared the core cultural values of the hospital and that applicants were required to complete a pre-hire questionnaire to determine how they would behave in various situations.

The hospital’s culture was carefully curated and intentional. Perhaps in a case of moral elevation, my friend who was with me in the hospital that day was so impressed with the treatment I received that she decided to switch doctors and made an appointment with my doctor after we left the hospital.

I walked away thinking that day that culture is key – not just for employees, but for customers, patients or members.

If there’s anything that’s nearly as stressful as surgery, it’s managing money. It’s also one of the number one causes of divorce in this country. So naturally, credit unions should want to create an environment in which people feel good about what can sometimes be a very stressful experience.

How do you create a positive environment? You start with intentional hiring.

George Hofheimer, EVP, chief research and development officer at the Filene Research Institute, said when you’re interviewing potential candidates, it’s important to determine whether the organization’s mission and values activate the candidate. Hofheimer suggested asking questions that get at those behavioral attributes that understand link and fit.

When we support and care about an organization’s mission, we’re more likely to be passionate and go out of our way to accomplish tasks that support it.

So what happens after you’ve found that amazing candidate who aligns with your organization’s mission?

At Filene, Hofheimer said new hires go through an assessment called the big five: “We gain an understanding of people’s work styles, people’s approaches to conflict, people’s approach to process, and have a very deep discussion with those people that are managing those people to understand how you manage this personality type because we’re all very different.”

An article from the American Management Association said, “When possible, let an employee’s strengths guide the way you deploy his or her talent in your organization. Then use employee performance measurement tools to quantify positive outcomes for both your people and your company.”

Determining what makes an employee tick allows you to harness their strengths and ultimately create a culture where employees work better together, are better equipped to serve members, and are ultimately happier in their jobs. When employees are happy, they’re usually also kind and the organization will likely thrive. After all, kindness is contagious.

Tahira Hayes is a correspondent-at-large for CU Times. She can be reached at thayes@cutimes.com.