How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Passive Care

Techniques > Conversation techniques > Building rapport > Passive Care

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

When working with and around other people, make sure that you do not harm them in any way through your words or actions.

Do not be blindly selfish. When you act, consider how your actions will affect others.

Do not harm them emotionally by speaking harshly or unkindly to them, or otherwise acting in ways that will upset them.

Do not harm them socially, for example by gossiping about them or spreading stories that may make others think less of them.

Do not harm them physically by attacking them or acting in a way that will lead to them becoming physiologically harmed.

Example

At work, I sustain a level of professional integrity where I do not bad-mouth others, even if I do not like them.

Discussion

One of the basic requirements for people who live and work around one another is that there is a basic level of trust. I will not trust people who do not seem to care about me and most certainly will not trust those whose actions lead to my sustaining harm or upset of any kind.

Passive care may be contrasted with active care, where you go out of you way to help others. In passive, care, you 'do no harm', much as in the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors.

Passive care is not the opposite of active care. The opposite of passive care is active harm, where you deliberately seek to harm others. By avoiding active harm, you are implementing passive care.