You are not too busy to be kind

Three times in the past week I have heard some variation of top brass at nonprofits claiming the work is too urgent/important/unique/special to worry about organizational culture and employee well-being.

With due respect, I call bullshit.

You are not too busy saving the world to skip creating a humane and supportive workplace for your team. You are not too busy to ignore the niceties, like kindness and recognition. You will not accomplish more by maintaining a workaholic/burnout environment where bosses act like A-holes because everything is just too urgent to worry about that sort of thing. You will, however, experience high staff turnover and savage reviews on Glassdoor.

You’re making a choice. Own it.