Lead with empathy

Empathetic leadership is the ability to lead while understanding the contexts, experiences and needs of others, and being aware of their thoughts and feelings. It is the ability to see things from the other person's point of view, as well as our own. Acknowledging that though our opinions differ, each opinion is just as valid as any other.

An organization without empathy:

Jane, hired four years ago as the manager of the sales department, was falling below the company's target for the month. Her colleagues noticed that she was coming in late and leaving early every day. And during meetings? Jane was as focused as a leaf in the middle of a light storm.

Fed up with her lack of productivity, the sales director called her into his office and demanded she explain herself. With tears in her eyes, Jane told Carl that her husband had been diagnosed with cancer and it wasn't looking good.

"You have two choices" interjected Carl "Do your job better or you'll be fired. Doubt you'll be able to pay any of the bills then."

Carl knew that, as director, blame for the drop in sales will be blamed on him. He needed to make sure that one unstable person didn't ruin his chances at the promotion he was seeking.

Jane, hurt and miserable, had no choice but to reduce her visits to her husband's side and leave his care up to the hospital. This invariably increased the cost and when a new trail drug was introduced...she couldn't afford it. Tired and hurting, Jane rushed to the hospital after closing late, as had become normal, only to find out:

"I'm so sorry Jane" said Dr David "Scott passed away this afternoon."

Her husband died and she wasn't even there to say goodbye. Broken and ashamed Jane leapt off a bridge the next day. Yet something happened when she did. The truth about her story reached her colleagues.

The result?

Sales not only dropped drastically. The company had it's highest turnover rate since it's inception. No one could believe that Carl, her boss, had never once reached out to Jane during her struggles. And when top management found out about it? Carl was relieved of his duty.

Empathic leadership goes beyond sympathy for employees. It goes beyond casually sending a mass text every beginning of the month. "The executive who can't remember his employees' names can't remember a significant part of his business, and is operating on quicksand." — Dale Carnegie

It is about getting to personally know and appreciate your employees. It is about standing with them when they're going through tough times. Companies that don't do that, fail.

Empathic leadership:

"As leaders, we need to focus on digitization, but at the same time, we need to become more human." — Leena Nair

Michelle, an accomplished member of the PR department, came into work with a sad expression on her face. Michelle, an outgoing extrovert, was always the first to smile and create joy wherever she went. So when she came into work looking down everyone took notice, especially Kathy her boss.

Without even waiting for an appropriate time, Kathy walked into Michelle's office determined to find out what was wrong.

"Hey E-bunny" (Michelle's nickname short for Energizer Bunny)

"Hey Kathy" replied Michelle trying to force a smile

"Oh no you don't E-bunny, drop the act. I know something's going on. Why do you look so sad?"

"James and I got some bad news yesterday at the hospital."

Kathy gently pulled Michelle towards a couch, grabbed her hand firmly, and gave Michelle a tissue

"What happened?"

Wiping her tears Michelle told Kathy how she and her husband had been so excited to start having kids of their own. The young couple had been together two years and we're eager to have a little angel.

"We found out that James can't get me pregnant."

Grabbing the weeping lady in her arms, Kathy waited until her tears subsided before saying;

"You don't have to be here today. You can take a few days off and just be with your husband."

"What about the Colgate presentation?"

"I'll take care of that don't worry. Just get your things and head home. You are what's important right now."

During her time off, Michelle and her husband got multiple calls and texts from Kathy and the rest of the team. Kathy also sent her the number of an adoption agency through which four months later Samantha was adopted by Michelle and her husband.

Due to how loved Michelle felt, she devoted herself even more to the organization and tripled her productivity. Better still, through her testimonials the organization recruited top employees who were just as dedicated as she was.

This is why empathy is so important in the workplace. An empathetic workplace leads to employees who feel safe and taken care of within their organization, and therefore feel a sense of trust and belonging within the team.

All these qualities are fundamental in order to achieve a highly effective, motivated, and productive company.

How to become an empathic leader:

Watch your mental health

Mental health is essential when it comes to being a leader. Here is why: a pilot who gets to work and tries to fly a plane needs to make sure that he is okay first. Would you be willing to board a plane with a suicidal pilot?

So how do you improve your mental health? It's simple exercise, schedule in time with family and friends, get good sleep, and have a healthy diet.

Listen actively.

If you want to be an empathic leader, you need to learn active listening. This is when you listen to understand, not to respond. You utilitize your eyes to pick up body language and give your employees your full attention.

Lead by example.

"Everything rises and falls on leadership" — John C Maxwell

It's basic. If you want your team or employees to do something, you have to be willing to do it as well. Model the behavior you want to see.

4. Lead with your gut.

As a leader, you have to be instinctive.

It is up to you to critically examine your team and their activities. Things like snide comments, low morale, fear of speaking, and so on. Then as soon as you notice something off don't hesitate to face it head on. "Conflict delayed is conflict multiplied" — Jordan Peterson

5. Get to the root cause.

Don't fall into the trap of making assumptions or judgements with little information.

In order to be an empathetic leader, you have to move past initial judgments, and dig up the root cause as to why an employee has done something or is acting in a certain way. You will be surprised what you will learn just by doing that and how effective your leadership will become.

6. Seek to learn, not teach.

No one person has a monopoly on any one subject. There are so many ways of doing things. Creativity comes into play when you get your team working together towards finding a solution. Frustrations and burnouts come into play when you try to solve everything yourself.

Consequences for a company that isn’t empathetic:

1. Poor employees’ wellbeing.

An organization that doesn't treat it's employees with will not go far. The reason is it doesn’t take care of its employees’ mental health. And that is not a company one can rely on for security and care. Therefore, workers feel overwhelmed, stressed, demoralized, and are likely to suffer from burnout and depression.

2. Self-serving employees.

If employees don’t feel like their basic human need for acknowledgement and compassion are met by their leaders, they will feel unsafe in the workplace.

It is a human reaction that when a person feels endangered, they go into “survival mode”, which means taking care of themselves at all times. And in doing so, they neglect everyone else’s needs, becoming selfish and unempathetic towards colleagues, which then translates to an unempathetic interaction with clients and loss of income.

3. Low productivity and quality levels.

"I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism." — Charles Schwab

But what happens when the opposite is true? You end up with unhappy employees, who don’t feel valued at work, and therefore, the company experiences a decrease in the quality of performance of their employees.

4. Loss of productivity.

The company that is not empathic will end up with employees who are scared, selfish, angry and demoralized. That greatly reduced any chances of productivity and may eventually cause the organization to close down permanently.

Conclusion

The world is changing. Life after the pandemic will bring about a new way of getting things done in regards to organizational success. Change is inevitable. The question is, will you take hold of this new wave and roll with it to greater success in your organization. Or will you let it swallow you whole?

The cold truth is that organizations that want to survive post-pandemic are already making changes. They are already making sure that they have systems in place to give their employees a better working environment. So if you haven't already started then you are way behind.

"The shark that doesn't swim, drowns" — Proverb