In the world of leadership, the HEARTH code serves as a beacon for those seeking to create a nurturing and inclusive workplace. In a series of articles, we’ll explore six components of leadership HEARTH and how each component can play a pivotal role in effective leadership practices, where team members can grow and learn in a safe environment as they support the organization.
If you remember from another article, I talked about the rudimentary lessons we learned as children. I’d like to explore the first element of the HEARTH code of heart through the story of the three little pigs. As the story goes, life was difficult for the three pigs so when they were old enough, mama pig sent them out into the world to seek their fortunes. We all dreamed of getting out from under our parental guidance and we can be so mesmerized by the idea of a monetary fortune that we forget about the bigger payoff of impacting lives in the process. Leadership is not merely about achieving business goals; it's about fostering an environment where individuals feel safe and can thrive.
Our first characteristic that represents strength in leadership is heart. At the core of great leadership is the ability to lead with heart. A leader who genuinely cares for their team members is more likely to inspire loyalty and dedication. A team won’t care about what the leader cares about until the leader shows he cares about them. Employees who know their leaders have their best interests at heart are more likely to go above and beyond to achieve shared goals.
I know the heart can be deceitful as the Bible says but the Bible also says in Colossians 3:12a, “put on then a heart of compassion.” The tense of the words “put on“ is an aorist imperative which means to keep on putting, repeatedly, ongoing continuously put on a heart of compassion.
Leading with a compassionate heart is hard work when you consider every leader comes into the workspace carrying a myriad of other personal and professional problems, fears and insecurities. Many leaders are like the first two pigs in the story. They just want to show up and do very little and then dance and celebrate with their fortunes. These leaders are not interested in strengthening the leadership acumen and even less concerned about those they’ve been entrusted to lead. They may feel that choosing to lead with a heart of compassion is unpopular or it may be seen as weak. Therefore, these leaders will not work at showing compassion or building a strong organizational foundation. These leaders do what is easy because people are not the focus nor is the organization. Like the first two pigs they are simply after a fortune with no impact.
Many leaders like the first two pigs do what they think is necessary to appear to be engaged, and to be leading a team that they care about, but that is furthest from the truth. They are not interested or don’t know that leading with a heart of compassion is the key to building a strong, organizational structure that will withstand the wind and the fires that will come to every organization. In many organizations, these leaders look good on the outside, but neither their organization nor that leader will be able to withstand the winds of time or the big bad wolf of adversities.
The third little pig worked hard and built a sturdy house complete with a fine HEARTH. Not only did his house look like it could withstand the strongest winds, it did.
The lesson that I learned from this classic kids’ story was that life can be hard, especially in the work environment, but we can make more work for ourselves and make our team members miserable if we’re not leading with a heart of compassion. However, when you lead with a heart of compassion, it may seem that you are alone in the journey, but in the end team members or other leaders will come running to you because you have created a safe, warm, and welcoming environment.