Yesterday, BillionMinds was in Calgary – in the final of a pitch competition at Inventures. It thrilled us to be one of five startups to make the final in the Future of Work category, but we were also really interested by the other finalists. One particularly caught our eye – a startup called Kindness.ai, which nudges employees towards small acts of kindness towards each other.

It can be tempting to believe that in serious workplaces, there is no room or time for kindness, but kindness doesn’t imply removing accountability. It is simply a reflection of how people treat one another on a day-to-day basis. If you’ve been lucky enough to work in an office where kindness thrives, you will probably recognize this. Kindness makes work a more pleasant place to be, improves your ability to be open, and can even improve your productivity. Over the last few years, there has been more research into the power of kindness, including some intriguing studies that show that giving compliments to others can make us feel even happier than receiving them (we already feel better for complimenting you on your outfit earlier ;-)).

Kindness has always been important, but in the modern workplace, it is becoming even more so. As workplaces become more distributed, we are writing to each other more and talking less – and, as we discussed in a previous newsletter, when you write to a colleague, they typically receive your communication more negatively than you intended. Plus, the physical distance from our colleagues creates fewer natural opportunities for us to express gratitude towards each other, or to pay each other compliments.

That’s one reason Kindness.ai is an interesting solution – by providing regular reminders to employees to be kind, it has the potential to tilt a company culture in a more positive direction for everyone’s benefit. But whether you decide to use software to help you or not, next time a kind thought pops into your head, turn it into a kind action. It just makes business sense…