Taking a step back from the daily stresses of life, on June 21st, the iProspect Toronto team spent the day to reflect on the importance of kindness and its impact on creating a better world.
The initiative was done in collaboration with the kindness.org, a nonprofit organization with a bold hypothesis: Kindness is the catalyst in solving the world’s biggest challenges. They believe a kinder world is possible and they’re mission is to educate and inspire people to choose kindness. Co-founder and CEO, Jaclyn Lindsey led the iProspect team through a series of activities all focused on encouraging kindness in the workplace and beyond.
“The day could not have gone any better. Jaclyn is an inspiring leader and her compelling words impacted the team far beyond the one-day initiative, “says Ronnie Malewski, VP, Client Partners. “When planning the CSR initiative, we knew that we wanted to partner with an organization that was somewhat out of the ordinary and also ran true to our values. Based on the first call we had with Jaclyn, we knew there was something special that we needed to explore.”
Jaclyn kicked off the day by sharing the organization’s mission and vision and spoke to kindness in the workplace and how kind acts can affect positive change. Putting theory into action, team members were asked to write a note to a colleague, including a compliment, a regret they have and wish to apologize for or to highlight something they are grateful for. The notes were shared at the end of the day and the impact continues to be felt to this day.
The team then took to the streets of Toronto to complete the iProspect Kindness Quest. Armed with a list of kind acts, the teams set out to complete as many kind acts as possible in the allotted 2-hour period. “The Kindness Quest was an unreal experience,” says Ronnie. “The moment that touched me the most was the impact we had for simply giving a bouquet of flowers to someone. We approached a stranger in a food court who was sitting alone and appeared to be on their lunch break. Their reaction to the bouquet was priceless, they immediately began to cry and were so thankful.” Other teams picked up litter, complimented strangers, donated blood, wrote kind notes on post-its and left them in bathroom mirrors, paid it forward at a coffee shop, signed up for a local volunteer opportunity in the near future, and the list goes on!
“Every time we work with a team to bring kindness to the workplace, I learn something new. In this case, iProspect was willing to go beyond their office and bring kindness to their community” says Jaclyn Lindsey. “It was a powerful experience to watch them push their boundaries and hear what manifested on the streets of Toronto. I’m grateful they’re a company that’s forward thinking in how they engage their employees.”
For more information, visit kindness.org
