How to Show Kindness and Generosity at Work (Online)

I scroll through LinkedIn every morning and even on the weekends, it's a great way to keep up with my network and the contributions and careers of my friends and colleagues. Usually, I like a dozen posts or so - colleagues sharing new jobs or promotions, papers they've written, press releases about their work, insights they want to share.

I mean, why not click that "like" or "support" or "celebrate"? Some people have real anxiety about posting into the void, and I want them to see and feel my appreciation, even if we aren't close and even (especially) if we haven't spoken in a while.

But if your LinkedIn stats are anything like mine, you know I'm in the minority here. Most people scroll by without any acknowledgement of what they just read. 955 people will see one of my posts, and 17 will like it. You might say people just don't like my posts, but I suspect it's not personal. It's a cultural norm around social media.

Instead of this standard approach that minimizes the efforts of your fellow human beings, I encourage you to cultivate a practice of celebrating other people's wins and good news. Just click to support their new role, their promotion, their big news. Drop a quick comment of encouragement and recognition. If your own network would be interested, reshare their post.

One of the principles of the Integrated Life is to "Know Your Power" and recognize that you have so much power beyond your charitable checkbook. This applies to how you show up in your work relationships, too. Let's take inventory:

• Your attention: You can actively post about someone's work on LinkedIn or another social media channel (if you haven't already, check out Threads! It's like Twitter, but people are nice), lending your credibility and dropping a link. Click "Repost" to share their content with your network - no commentary needed.
• Your positive affirmation: Instead of of commenting with "Congrats!" which my self-deprecating brain always reads with an element of surprise like "wow, you got really lucky with this opportunity!" try to leave comments affirming people for their accomplishments as the natural result of their talents and hard work. Here's a few examples: "They made a great choice!", "They are so lucky to have you!" "Happy to see this recognition of your leadership."
• Your network: You can introduce someone to a potential client, employee, customer, colleague, boss, friend, collaborator, mentor, mentee, investor, grantee, supporter, etc. (be sure to follow good etiquette around double-opt-in introductions). Whether via LinkedIn or email or in real life - be someone who is known to help others meet the right people.
• Your skills and knowledge: is someone asking for feedback on an idea? Can you share generously and graciously about a lesson you've learned? If you are sharing the same concept or insight over and over, can you turn it into an article, a post or even a class or explainer video?
• Your curation: There are some awesome folks on LinkedIn and other platforms who develop an information niche and become a valued source for others. I'm specifically thinking of Mandy Van Deven who does this amazing thing where she posts philanthropy jobs from around the web every day. Or Pete Pittman, CFP® who sends a short and sweet list of 5 interesting articles that caught his eye this week called "Pete's 5 Favorites." With information overload, it's great to get curated content from someone you trust.

Before I reach out to you to ask for a professional favor (your time, your network, your advice, your investment of any kind), I always ask myself - what have *I given to this relationship? Have I introduced them to someone in my network that could help them? Have I highlighted their work? Have I given them my time and advice freely and without expectation of return?

Kindness and generosity in the context of work settings is not about "seeming" nice to get that next client, next job, next promotion. One of my favorite sayings is that you should treat all people with respect because of who YOU are, not because of who THEY are. Showing kindness and a "Just Give" mentality at work is not about how you might benefit, but about being the kind of person who helps lift up others in their professional life.

And it is also true that people like to work with people they like. So Just Give, and give more than you take, and watch where it takes you.