Business Tip in Forbes Magazine: Try Acts of Kindess

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Submitted by Y. H.

FORBESWOMAN 

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4/30/2012

By Natalie Peace, Contributor
Building successful businesses based on integrity and generosity.

The Right Side of Your Brain, Acts of Kindness, and The Power of a Story

As human beings, we make meaning of our personal lives through stories. Same thing for our businesses. So, why not ensure that the stories told about your business are great ones?

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I’ve seen firsthand how this works beautifully. My business story comes from a unique program invented during a brainstorming session with my management team. We created an event called 22 Days of Kindness.

Over these 22 days, rather than paying my employees for their regular work duties, I paid them to spend their entire shift doing acts of kindness for others.

I empowered my employees to make their own choices about how to “spend” their kindness. One employee put flowers and inspirational notes on car windshields outside our store front. Another employee offered to wash neighboring business’s windows.

Each of my 50 employees could choose to do anything they wanted for their shift, the only request I made was that when someone thanked them they would suggest that the recipient of the act of kindness “pay it forward.”  At the end of their shifts, each employee would record their acts of kindness in a team journal — where they would gain inspiration from each other.

Altogether these acts of kindness created a beautiful collection of stories, and the entire event left a lasting impression on our community and my employees.

My business story continues to reap rewards. How? Even though I sold my businesses a few months ago, the new owner still receives resumes from highly qualified applicants who specifically say they’re applying because they’d heard and loved the story of our 22 Days of Kindness event.

What’s even more amazing is that those 22 days took place nearly two years ago! People continue to share the story of a business that went above and beyond to make an intentional community contribution.

Let’s be honest, when the idea for the 22 Days of Kindness event unfolded with my management team, I had no idea just how many rewards it would reap. I knew it would generate goodwill in the community, through the kindness acts themselves. I also knew it would offer rewards for my employees, who felt amazing doing the acts of kindness. But I could not have predicted how beneficial this would become for my business itself.

Every act of kindness became a story worth repeating – and the entire event itself is a great story now synonymous with my business.

I made a purposeful investment in integrity and generosity. Although I wasn’t looking for a specific return, this investment clearly paid off on multiple bottom lines.

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As Daniel Pink shares in his book “A Whole New Mind,” the new world of business is increasingly responsive to “right-brain” thinkers. This is great news because our right brain is responsible for empathy, connection, our sense of a greater meaning in life, and surprise surprise, the processing of stories.

Instead of sharing only numbers, charts, and graphs with your stakeholders, I’m suggesting you tap into the right side of the brain and bring humanity back into your business.