How HR Can Make a Lasting Impact—Without Burning Out
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There’s a growing demand for organizations to foster positive workplaces. Today, employee engagement is seen as a core measure of success, while employee well-being has become central to leadership conversations. Yet despite our best intentions, many HR leaders are burning out. According to Gallup, only 23% of U.S. employees strongly agree they trust their organization’s leadership—a signal that something deeper is draining energy from both our people and our systems.
Many of us entered HR to make a difference, but the pace, pressure, and constant pivots can make even the most passionate among us feel overwhelmed.
It’s time to ask: Where is our energy going, and how can we reclaim it?
HR is uniquely positioned to restore energy within an organization. We are not just a compliance or support function—we are culture carriers, responsible for balancing people and performance.
Yet, perceptions of HR are often challenged in ways that finance, operations, or commercial functions rarely experience. Why? Because HR’s impact is intertwined with people rather than purely transactional deliverables.
Lean into the negative narrative that HR can’t be strategic & human at the same time.
Redefine HR as a function that balances results and relationships.
Let’s choose to lead the path forward—one that drives performance and honors people.
Since I was a kid working the cash register in my father’s store, I’ve been fascinated by how businesses run through people. Over the years, I’ve observed one universal truth: Great leaders balance performance and people.
And at the core of that balance? Kindness.
Yet, kindness is often misunderstood in leadership:
🚫 “Kindness is weakness.”
🚫 “Kindness means avoiding tough conversations.”
🚫 “Kindness is just being nice.”
None of these are true. Kindness is a strength—a deliberate choice to lead with:
HR professionals and leaders must own the responsibility of fostering a culture where kindness is embedded in decision-making—not as an afterthought, but as a strategy. Kindness becomes powerful when it’s put into practice—through everyday leadership behaviors and intentionality.
Leading with kindness doesn’t mean ignoring results. It means aligning leadership with self-awareness, confidence, and clarity. Here’s how to start:
Ask yourself: “Honestly, what do I really want?” This question unlocks self-awareness and fuels intentional leadership. To reflect deeper, consider:
Many of us operate under mental models formed over years—beliefs about our function, leadership, and impact. But are those beliefs serving us? Ask:
True leadership is the ability to hold both confidence and compassion at once. Confidence without kindness can create distance and disengagement. Kindness without confidence can lead to ineffectiveness.
When you hit roadblocks, ask:
The answers to these questions broaden your knowledge, enhance your insight, clarify the path you’re navigating and give you drive to lead in a way that’s meaningful to you.
Leading with kindness isn’t always the easy path—it requires self-awareness, courage, and resilience. But it’s the path that will make you proud when you look in the mirror.
Being kind at work, works. You don’t have to choose between being strategic and being empathetic. Be both.
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