Lead with Empathy: But why?

One of my team members recently remarked, "This organization is far more fulfilling than my previous workplaces. Here the conversation starts with my family and myself rather than the task at hand."?

I asked, "Isn't that a common practice?”?

And the answer was "Not really".?

This made me think. While I was personally elated, I got concerned too - why a simple act of empathy is ignored by leaders?

Oxford Dictionary defines empathy as the ability to understand another person’s feelings, experience, etc.?Simon Sinek, a known author defined empathy as being concerned about the human being, not just their output.?Simply put, if we take care of the person, the output is automatically taken care of.

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To achieve organizational objectives and employee outcomes, leaders leverage multiple tools and techniques. In a survey by Catalyst, Empathy is a highly important driver of employee outcomes such as innovation, engagement, and inclusion—especially in times of crisis. In fact, empathy is a must-have in today’s workplace where the task force has experienced an unprecedented pandemic. I am often reminded of an advert where a shop owner girl, due to her empathy towards the pandemic-impacted, supported them believing in a simple but powerful statement - "Do something so big that the shop becomes smaller for it." And it became big. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXaeeqfHNHQ

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Empathy is a key aspect of success with customers and partners too. How many times did you get to sell based on the specifications or features and benefits? Business happens when human beings connect. Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, had said: “Our core business is connected with the customers’ needs and we will not be able to satisfy them if we don’t have a deep sense of empathy”. I agree, if we don't connect with our customers with empathy, we may not be able to serve them to their satisfaction.?

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Empathy is impacting all aspects of life – family, friendship, business, leadership and so on. It is because we are all made in that way. You would have witnessed how friendships flourish when both of the friends care for each other. The same for family - the togetherness in the family is because we care, genuinely care, for the well-being of each other.

The decisions we take are based on what we "feel" after sifting through the data and weighing the options.?As leaders, and business associates – we need to have empathy. Moreover, as technical sellers and solution architects, we should have empathy with our partners & customers. This helps us to connect better while understanding their perspectives. Our response then would be far better. Its the caring attitude which brings in that trust and confidence.

John C Maxwell perfectly summed it up - “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Why don't you share your experience with “Why to lead with Empathy” in a comment below? Look forward to an engaging dialogue.

#IWork4Dell #Empathy #SimplifyWithSourabh

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This is the first post for #SimplifyWithSourabh. The idea for this initiative came from my friends and colleagues who wanted me to share some bytes from my experience. #SimplifyWithSourabh includes posts based on my experience where I try to simplify a concept related to life or technology. Stay tuned as I share my experiences and my thoughts with you. The views mentioned are my own.

This article was first published in a closed group Soltech, Recognizing enterprising technophiles across the cloud . I would encourage all the technophiles to join the group for more relevant feeds.