Let's dose up on human decency and kindness

Arminé Nalbandian reflects on her personal aspirations as part of #resolutions23, in the hope that they might be helpful to others.

This column is part of our #resolutions23 series.

In the first few weeks of 2023, after I had just resolved to stop mindlessly scrolling through memes, I mindlessly scrolled across this gem:

It made me think that while resolutions might be short lived in practice, this early part of the year is still a great time for creating space for reflection and lifting one’s gaze. It’s also easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of improvements that can be made to your working and personal life – not to mention the weight of the intractability of the pressing societal challenges many of us hope to impact.

At the Centre for Social Impact, we believe everyone has a role in creating social change. So to keep things simple, I’m going to reflect on my personal aspirations for self and organisation this year in the hope that they might be helpful to others:

1. Invest in my most valuable organisational asset – people. There are 1.4 million Australians working in the charity sector, yet research tells us there is a stubborn culture of underinvestment in developing its people. That means there are more than 1 in 10 employees in Australia doing some of the most meaningful work in service of others, largely without the benefit of continuous training and structured peer learning. To help address significant societal and environmental challenges, we need new ways of working, exposure to new ways of thinking about the world and opportunities to learn from each other.
2. Practice daily levity, humour and self-deprecation. These are great tools for connection and compassion, and help bring perspective and energy against intractability.
3. Maintain decency in the face of discomfort. We enter 2023 with rising global tensions, an increasingly divided politics, and pressing economic and environmental woes. And while those pressures are a reality, our reaction to those pressures is a choice.

Above all, in 2023, let’s dose up on human decency and kindness.