World Mental Health Awareness Day

Kitopi - World Mental Health Awareness Day

Kitopi’s number one priority is to be a Best Place to Work for our employees, and as such, we are committed to the welfare of our employees in all aspects, from ensuring fair and competitive compensation, to providing a safe and conducive workspace, to safeguarding our employees’ mental well-being.

We recognize that sometimes things can move fast, and it can be overwhelming, and because of that, we wanted to start by training our leaders to be more mindful and compassionate.

This month, in preparation to World’s Mental Health Awareness Month, we engaged an international compassion leadership coach for a training session on compassionate management, for our global leadership team. Here are some of the key takeaways I’d like to share from the session:

Lead with Compassion

Lead with Compassion; Move away from fear. True accountability is fostered with compassion. Fear generated-accountability is temporary and discouraging, while compassion-generated accountability is authentic, effective, and lasting.

How do we do this? Instead of saying ’Why didn’t you get that done?’, say ’do you have everything you need to get that done?’. Seek to listen and understand, not to be heard. Seek to empower, not intimidate- everything will follow.

Learn to Say No

It’s just two letters, but saying ‘No’ is a great challenge for many. Yet, learning the right time and right way to say no- without guilt- can be the most empowering and liberating skill to sharpen. Why so? Saying no allows us to focus on what truly matters. Saying no allows us to recognize when enough is enough. Saying no helps us achieve more.

The Power of ‘And’

Multiple realities can co-exist. Positive and negative can coexist. The presence of a slightly less positive trait does not preclude someone from possessing another positive trait. It does not diminish someone’s ability to achieve. What does this mean? One can be never punctual AND excellent at collaborating. One can experience anxiety AND excellent at one’s job. Biases are part of human nature, but awareness of this can help us avoid the pitfalls of bias, and unlock potential around us. With the power of ‘And’, we can achieve so much more.