Awakening Compassion at Work

Awakening Compassion at Work is a new book by authors Monica Worline and Jane Dutton. We are researchers who have spent the past 20 years studying compassion in workplaces and other organizations. This book shares our research, as well as that of others in our field, in an accessible and practical form - with the mission of helping to inform and inspire the world's "compassion architects" -- those people who make compassion come alive in their organizations and communities.

We are living in an epidemic of disengagement and despair at work; an epidemic that is a costly drain on human and organizational potential. These widespread forms of suffering rob workplaces of humanity, dignity, and motivation. So why doesn’t alleviating suffering rise to the top of most managers’ and leaders’ concerns? As we write, organizations have undervalued compassion but it is an essential form of human skill in today’s workplace.

We draw from evidence from a variety of researchers to demonstrate that compassion confers measurable strategic advantages in businesses that compete on innovation, collaboration, service quality, adaptability, and talent. We also add to the growing body of work on compassion as an interpersonal experience by showing compassion as a distinctive form of organizational competence as well.

This book and the related materials offered by Monica and Jane offer blueprints for organizational change that highlight steps anyone can take to alleviate suffering in their workplace, including systemic substantive design principles to guide leaders and change agents toward creating lasting and sustainable compassion competence in their organizations.

Please visit www.awakeningcompassionatwork.com 

Facebook: Monica Worline
Twitter: @MonicaWorline

Location: Menlo Park, CA, USA