How To Create A Mindful And Compassionate Workplace: The Story Of LinkedIn

Since I left corporate America to be my own boss there has been only one time that I’ve actually considered going back. That time was a few months ago while working with LinkedIn. I had been asked to do a series of online leadership courses (including a course on Mindfulness Practices at Work) for LinkedIn Learning, their online learning platform. Arriving on the LinkedIn campus in Carpinteria, California, I saw people relaxed, connecting, in deep creative conversations. There was a general air of positivity.

The first day, I dismissed it as my own sense of excitement with a new experience. And California. The second day I started to notice the interactions among the production team and the sense of care they had for each other, even in stressful situations. I saw team-members be compassionate when someone on the team screwed up (including me). The third day I started to really get curious. As a student of culture and leadership, I spoke with random people on the LinkedIn campus. A guard who was contracted to LinkedIn and often works with other companies in the area confirmed my suspicion. There was something special about the culture at LinkedIn: “These people are just nice to each other. And they’re really passionate about their work. This is definitely my favorite work assignment!” he said.

I sat down with Scott Shute, Head of Mindfulness and Compassion Programs at LinkedIn to learn about how LinkedIn is building this culture of engagement, compassion and mindfulness.

Henna Inam: Please share the story of why LinkedIn is bringing mindfulness and compassion to the workplace? How did you get involved?

Scott Shute: For six years, I was the VP of Global Customer Operations at LinkedIn. About four years ago I started leading a weekly meditation class at work. It’s a personal passion of mine, something I started when I was a teenager. I’ve been teaching since I was in college, and this practice has been a big part of my personal success strategy. I wanted to share it with my co-workers. Over time I noticed that there were quite a few other mindfulness-related activities that were happening organically. I volunteered to be the Executive Sponsor and create an official mindfulness program at LinkedIn. I served as a volunteer in this capacity – leading other volunteers – for a few years. We try to offer something for everyone – fun 30-day challenges, mindfulness retreats, weekly meditation sessions, workshops, online classes, and a speaker series to hear from experts outside of LinkedIn.

On the compassion front, our CEO, Jeff Weiner, has been speaking publicly about how compassion is one of the most important traits of a great leader. As an Operations leader, I saw the need to go deeper. In other words, if we’re going to tell our employees that it’s important to be compassionate, it’s also important to create a framework explaining exactly what that means. We’ve created that framework and we’re offering workshops for our employees.

I was fortunate to design and create this role, which I’m incredibly grateful for, to focus on “Mainstreaming Mindfulness” and “Operationalizing Compassion,” ultimately weaving these concepts and practices into the very fabric of our culture.

Inam: Where did your personal conviction come from?

Shute: I had a sort of spiritual awakening at the age of 13 and have since then realized that each of us is looking for something bigger than ourselves. In the workplace, I wanted to bring the goodness of the wisdom traditions in a secular way. If we can help people feel inspired to connect with purpose, values, and meaning in the workplace, that is a form of compassion in action.

Inam: Can you share more about your mindfulness and compassion frameworks?

Shute: Mindfulness is about self-awareness and self-discovery, mostly about “me.” Compassion is going from “me” to “we.” At LinkedIn, we define compassion as the capacity of having awareness of others, a mindset of wishing the best for others, and the courage to take action. We’re collecting stories of compassion to embed it as a part of our culture. For example, we are looking at every facet of how we run our business – our policies, how we run our meetings, and even how we build and sell products. We are also looking at how we do training, on-boarding, performance reviews, as well as rewards and recognition, with compassion at the heart of everything we do. External to our company, we are constantly evaluating how we can be sensitive to the needs of our community, members of LinkedIn, our enterprise customers, and the environment.

Inam: What are you learning about the impact of mindfulness and compassion on people, culture and results?

Shute: When we act mindfully and with compassion, we are the best versions of ourselves. Research and our own observations show that people that practice mindfulness have lowered physical symptoms of stress, they’re able to better focus, they have less anxiety, and they’re more creative. People who are acting compassionately have better relationships, a better sense of well-being, and a deeper understanding of the people they serve.

Inam: How do you measure success in these types of programs?

Shute: For now, we’re looking at consumption, how many people attend the classes, and if they find them valuable. We’re getting great results, both in demand and in satisfaction with the classes.

Over time I think it would be interesting to measure the quality of our managers and leaders. We have a series of questions in our employee surveys that are related to manager effectiveness. No concrete plans at the moment, but I think it would be intriguing to look at those scores against managers that have attended training and/or managers that are putting into practice the things we’re teaching.

Inam: For those organizations who are interested in exploring this topic for themselves, what are some critical elements to get started?

Shute: The most critical element is having some passionate early adopters. The bulk of what we’re doing in the mindfulness space is done by volunteers. In our case, the culture is very open and was ready for it. We haven’t got much pushback. In fact, our CEO, Jeff Weiner, has been very open in discussing the benefits of both mindfulness and compassion – for individuals and in his personal life. This has created an environment where this work can flourish. Having support from senior leaders is important if a company is creating something at the systemic level. Even without that, there’s always room for one person with a passion to create something local.

Inam: Are there forums for organizations such as LinkedIn to learn and share the learnings from these types of programs?

Shute: There are several resources available. We just sponsored a Compassion in Leadership Summit in June to spark the conversation about Compassion. We want to codify it and celebrate leaders that are putting it into practice.

On the mindfulness front, I help lead a group of folks that are bringing mindfulness to their workplaces. We share best practices and are building a community together. We’ve created some resources, including a basic playbook on how to start a mindfulness program here.

Inam: How do these programs have an impact on your eco-system outside of LinkedIn to the broader LinkedIn community?

Shute: Mindfulness is about each of us as individuals building self-awareness. Compassion is about taking that awareness into our relationships and our service with others. I think operating from a deeper place of compassion gives us a better understanding of our members and customers.

It helps us be more aware of their needs and builds a mindset of truly wanting to help them achieve their goals. I think that creates a healthier ecosystem for LinkedIn and the people we serve. Beyond that, we hope to fuel the conversation about compassion in leadership and in the workplace. We believe that compassion is not just a better way of living, it’s a strategic advantage. It’s a better way to operate as an individual, a better way to build a team, and a better way to build a business. If we all built our businesses with compassion at the core, together we can change work from the inside out.

A version of this post first appeared in my Forbes leadership blog.

This article was written by Henna Inam, C-level executive coach, global speaker, and author of the book Wired for Disruption. She helps leaders grow their agility to be a force for good and thrive in times of change. They create organizations that drive breakthroughs in innovation, growth, and engagement. In roles including Head E-Innovation and Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, Henna drove transformation throughout her 20-year corporate career as an executive with Fortune 500 companies. Join the thousands who follow her blog here. Connect on Linkedin.