Posts Tagged ‘compassion’
Compassion: The importance of touch
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
Compassion is needed more than ever in our workplaces. Empathy and compassion can reverse most of the harm inflicted on bullied targets by converting co-workers from do-nothing witnesses to morally courageous, helpful colleagues. They could, in an ideal world, convince the executive to drop his loyalty to the bully and do what is right for the many affected workers. Dacher Kelter, PhD, an advocate for the good in human beings, discusses how important is touch to the make the required changes. Americans are loathe to touch; maybe we are denying our humanity and blocking chances to be better people. Watch his video below.
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Tags: compassion, Dacher Kelter, touch
Posted in Bullying Tutorials | Post a Comment »
Difficult to Detect a Broken Heart
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
The Neuroscience of Compassion
Targets of bullying experience rejection by cowardly co-workers, indifference from HR and senior management, and limited tolerance by friends and family. Why aren’t people more compassionate? Why don’t they see the pain and help more? Brand new research suggests that we humans are wired to quickly and empathically react to the physical pain of others. For example, watching someone break an ankle and step on it triggers pain centers in our own brains nearly immediately.
However, social pain or the mental anguish of others takes longer to trigger a response and that reaction requires much more brain work. For example, when a woman with cerebral palsy laments that she has never been kissed and probably will never have a romantic relationship, it should trigger a compassionate response. It does, but it takes time. The latency and location of neurological responses are tracked by fMRI. The research was done by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Antonio Damasio at USC’s Brain and Creativity Institute. (Paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
Tags: compassion, fMRI, neuroscience
Posted in Bullying Tutorials, Health Care, Science | 3 Comments »
Corporate Compassion: Oxymoron?
Friday, May 1st, 2009
On the 10 yr. anniversary of the Columbine High school massacre – the impetus for many of the 38 state versions of anti-bullying laws for children – the father of one of the victims is expanding his presentation about learning that we need more compassion in the world, a lesson he learned from Rachel’s sacrifice. The resulting nonprofit Colorado-based Rachel’s Challenge is now poised to take her story to the corporate world. This is all positive and good. We need a rekindling of compassion at these desperate times. And it has to happen in the workplace.
A Columbine Victim’s Spirit of Hope Grows
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: April 17, 2009ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Darrell Scott has told the story of his daughter Rachel’s life, death and legacy thousands of times in schools all over the world in the 10 years since her murder at age 17 in the mass shootings at Columbine High School, a few miles south of here.
Read the entire article at the NY Times
However, has it dawned on corporations that it needs to treat its own employees with dignity, compassion and humanity? The employees hear the story of bullying at Columbine and tearfully resonate with the tragic consequences for Rachel, Scott’s daughter. Since 37% of U.S. adults have been bullied at sometime in their careers at work, they know bullying firsthand. But owners and corporate executives might accept this feel-good message without acknowledging that it happens on their watch in their workplace due in large part to their indifference or loyalty to the abusive bullies who work for them.
There’s a major discconect going on here. Shed the tears for Rachel, but don’t shed any workers in the trenches who are told to grow a thicker skin, to “work it out between yourselves,” or to leavel the job they once loved because someone arbitrarily decided to launch a campaign of cruelty to drive them out.
Oh, did I mention the 600,000 jobs shed per month that allows companies to disassemble families’ economic security, physical and mental health, and hopefulness? And what about those compassionate employers who rushed to dump fixed pensions for long-term workers, to make them gamble in the stock market with 401K plans with lots of stock invested in crappy companies who drove everyone except the executives into the ditch?
So, feel-good corporate stories about discovering compassion have their place. Just don’t let employers off the hook when it comes to bullying in the workplace.
GN
Tags: Columbine, compassion, teen bullying
Posted in Employer Action/Inaction | Post a Comment »
WWII Lesson in Standing Up to Tyranny
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
World War II Lessons for Bullied Targets and Co-Workers
What saying “no” to demonic tyranny looks like
The Holocaust ravaged European Jews. No greater illustration of tyranny on an incomparable scale can be considered than the elimination of an entire race of people across Europe. The Nazis attempted to eradicate the Jews in every country they occupied during World War II.
Nazis invaded Denmark in 1940. The Danes had an active resistance movement. It was a late-war decision to deport Danish Jews to concentration camps.
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Tags: compassion, danes, nazis
Posted in Bullying Tutorials, Social Justice | Post a Comment »
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