Compassion  at  Work:    Mentorum  E-­‐Mentoring  

The Science of Compassion, Telluride, Colorado

Daniel E. Martin, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Management

California State University East Bay

College of Business and Economics

Visiting Associate Professor

Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education Stanford University

•  Do you know anyone who has suffered at work? Negative emotions have significant financial, psychological, and social costs for organizations and employees.

•  Stress is one of the largest areas of workers compensation claims. •  Biting •  We see compassion at work daily, whether through (1) emotional support, (2) providing

time and flexibility, or (3) giving material support, but it is not made salient. •  Compassion can positively engender cooperation in organizations via:

•  Trust •  Positive emotions •  Increasing the quality of interpersonal connections •  Facilitating an understanding of shared values •  Development of interpersonal skills (e.g. active listening. emotional awareness and

conflict resolution) Mentoring may facilitate compassion in an environment that is lacking it.

Why compassion at Workplace?

•  Mentorship:  Exchange  of  knowledge  and  experience  in  dyad  

•  Mentoring  does  not  suffer  significant  biases  associated  with  the  majority  of  

Human  Resources  decision  making  (selection,  compensation,  etc.)  

•  Compassion:  1)  noticing  suffering,  2)  empathically  feeling  the  suffering,  and  3)  

acting  to  address  the  suffering  .  

•  We’ve  built  a  flexible  mentoring/research  platform  that  embraces  mentorship  

in:    •  Academic,  Peer  to  Peer    and  Organizational  (private  and  public)  environments  

•  Drives  awareness  of  suffering/needs,  offers  interpersonal  tools  to  facilitate  caring,  and  address  the  

suffering  or  needs  (all  meeting  business  needs).  

•  Application  of  Psychometric  Matching  Tool  and  Gamification  

Mentorum  

Why would a high power manager waste their time w/ a protégé? Recent reviews of helping behaviors suggest benefits: 1.  Lowered levels of depression 2.  Experiencing greater personal happiness 3.  Life satisfaction 4.  Self-esteem Giving help is also related to higher levels of positive mental health, life adjustment, lower feelings of hopelessness and depression. In other words, it pays to be a compassionate mentor (even if you are evil).

Mentoring and Compassion

•  Mentorship  has  a  positive,  long  lasting  impact  on  career,  social  and  financial  standing.  

•  Benefits  

•  Protégés  have  more  job:    •  Satisfaction  •  Career  mobility/opportunity  •  Recognition    •  Higher  promotion  rate  then  non-­‐mentored  

•  Mentor  also  benefits  with:  

•  Greater  career  satisfaction  •  Sense  of  fulfillment  •  Understanding    junior  employee/new  technology  

Mentoring  Outcomes  

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•  Value for organizations (remember this is a sheep in wolves clothes)- •  Easy tool to reach all constituents

•  Measures impact of the relationship, enabling metrics to show utility of the intervention:

•  Jobs

•  Internship

•  Financial returns

•  Resume review

•  Realistic job previews

•  Knowledge management

•  Corporate social responsibility

Measuring  Impact  

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•  We are extending current use of mentoring programs to establish:

1.  The impact of mentoring on compassion for both self and other for

mentors and the protégés (pre/post).

2.  The impact of individual differences on mentoring,

3.  The likelihood of protégés carrying forward compassionate

engagement as mentors to future protégés, and

4.  Providing participants with feedback to understand the relationships

impact on well-being, progression and productivity.

Compassion Research

•  Data  collection  is  ongoing  in  universities,  government  and  corporations  

•  Weave  compassion  into  the  effort  this  summer/fall.  

•  Being  translated  into  Spanish,  Hindi  and  Chinese  this  summer,  Arabic  soon.  

•  Working  on  other  interventions  with  my  lab  and  Dr.  Yotam  Heineberg    to  facilitate  modular  

scalable  interventions  (for  use  as  Employee  Assistance  Program)  that  can  be  embedded  in  the  

platform.  We  are  piloting  in  universities,  school  systems  in  Hong  Kong  now  ,  and  in  London  

(soon  in  Japan  as  well  with  our  collaborator  Takashi  Kido)  soon.    

•  Feel  free  to  contact  me  here    (or  in  CA)  with  great  research  ideas  or  to  learn    more:    

Daniel  E.  Martin,  Ph.D.:  Daniel.martin@csueastbay.edu  

•  Thanks  so  much!  

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