Compassionate leadership in healthcare

Compassion matters both at the level of individual care and at the level of organisations

What does compassionate leadership in healthcare look like? Clearly, healthcare professionals should seek to be compassionate as we provide care, but is there a way to systematise compassion at the level of organisations? Or is the very idea of ‘operationalising’ a value like compassion contrary to its essential nature? Is compassion too personal and too relational to form part of standard operating procedures or to be made into a mandatory feature of healthcare management?

When considering compassionate leadership, it is useful to think not about systematising compassion as such, but about creating circumstances in which compassion is not inhibited, but is rewarded and promoted. Can we design workplaces and work processes that facilitate compassion, acknowledge compassionate care, reward it, and actively encourage compassion to flourish?

This is possible and a growing evidence-base provides detail on what it involves. From the perspective of managers, listening is central – listening to staff and listening to patients. Listening fosters collaboration, mutual respect, and better care. Listening creates an environment in which everyone’s ideas and perspectives are valued. It promotes trust and encourages open dialogue, which are both essential for innovation, problem-solving, and collaboration. When individuals feel heard, they are more invested in the tasks at hand, leading to a more inclusive and creative team atmosphere and greater compassion in care.

In addition, listening strengthens relationships by showing interest and understanding, even when diverse views are expressed. Listening helps to identify potential conflicts early, address them before they escalate, and cement the working relationships which form the basis of compassionate care. Ultimately, listening is not just a passive activity, but a critical component of successful teamwork that helps teams to cohere, focus on the outcomes that matter, and keep core human values, such as compassion, at the heart of healthcare.

Other strategies are also needed, in addition to listening. In our new book, Handbook of Compassion in Healthcare: A Practical Approach, Dr Caragh Behan and I explore many aspects of compassion in healthcare at the level of individual patient care and at the level of healthcare systems. At all times, compassion matters deeply and can make the vital difference between good care and great care.

At an organisational level, we outline specific approaches that healthcare professionals and managers can take to increase compassion across healthcare systems. These steps include leading by example to promote compassionate behaviour for better care, supporting the wellbeing of colleagues and staff, and fostering open communication across clinical and managerial teams.

Other measures include involving patients and families in decision-making and valuing their perspectives, and promoting teamwork and collaboration that are inclusive, adaptive, and resilient. These measures are complemented by recognising and rewarding compassionate care, both formally and informally.

Self-compassion is central. Healthcare is challenging – we are all human, and self-compassion is the basis of compassion for others. It is important that we recognise our personal limits, especially in the context of large organisations that can appear to lack compassion at the level of the overall system. Sometimes we cannot have an immediate systemic impact to increase compassion in our organisations, so we need to focus on achievable goals, at least for now. Systemic change is a long-term project.

Compassion matters both at the level of individual care and at the level of organisations. There is a great deal that managers can do to promote compassionate organisations and reward compassionate care among staff.

At all times, compassion remains a very human value, which gives it added resonance in the deeply human contexts of illness, treatment, and outcomes. The central argument of our book is that we can enhance compassion in healthcare through conscious effort. We care best when we are as aware as possible, as mindful as possible, as compassionate as possible, and supported by our organisations.

We can only do what is possible, but compassion extends the limits of the possible in healthcare. And that, surely, is the essence of good medicine.

Prof Brendan Kelly is Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin and co-author, with Dr Caragh Behan, of The Handbook of Compassion in Healthcare: A Practical Approach,  which is available on an open-access basis: www.cambridge.org/core/books/handbook-of-compassion-in-healthcare/4B98BECD58FAA99F62F8C4B0BB39663D