Each day, an alarming amount of reports and stories are being told in the media about how people are becoming more apathetic and disrespectful in the workplace, schools, and at home.  What happened?  More importantly, what can be done to bring about more compassion and respect for humankind? 

High-performance teams evolve from a collaborative and empowering work environment. Personal relationships evolve from compassion and respect.  Like the plague, apathy and complacency can spread throughout an organization and at home. It is easy to catch people who do not care and are not motivated. Motivation is an inside job that comes from making a personal choice. Our minds are powerful.  As soon as we make a cognitive decision to change, we do something different.  Human beings are sensitive creatures that need to be validated and appreciated.  John C. Maxell said, "People don't care about how much you know, until they know how much you care." For teams and relationships to evolve, it is necessary to show Compassion, Awareness and Respect for Everyone.

Ways to Show You C.A.R.E.:

1. Define roles and expectations.
2. Hold everyone accountable and do not enable others.
3. Develop a collaborative leadership style and positive character traits.
4. Involve others in decision making where appropriate.
5. Explain losses, outcomes and reasons for changes.
6. Ask questions and assume/jump-to-conclusions less.
7. Listen with empathy and concern.
8. Make everyone feel valued and appreciated.
9. Become more self-aware and less self-absorbed.
10. Follow the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

These best practices exemplify relationship-building skills for your customers, employees, colleagues, students, family and friends.  If mastered, you will reap the rewards of having a healthy work and home environment. You will have increased morale and productivity in organizations.  You will have increased happiness and closer relationships at home.  Finally, you will have contributed to bettering our society and your life by showing respect for others, as well as yourself.

To your showing you care,

Nancy Stampahar