Leadership Lesson: Empathy

He knocked at my door. He looked very worried. A member of the team was at my door to see me. Initially hesitant, I asked him to relax and talk to me. He stood up and locked my door. Wondering what he was up to, he carefully unbuttoned his shirt. After removing the shirt, I saw he had a medical bag tucked inside his inner wear. Brownish fluid was in the bag.

I was shocked. So this was how he had been coming to work? He told me he had cancer but was afraid to let anyone know. He was scared he may be fired because he was a salesperson. He needed the job badly. 

I assured him I had him covered but continuing in sales would be tough for him. He didn’t really have the energy to do all the legwork. I approached the Head of HR and spoke to him. He was very concerned also and within a few days, he was redeployed to a back office role where he sat almost all day and did not have to be exposed to the rigorous demands of sales. He was also given several concessions including help with his medical treatment. 

He died a year after. I don’t know why I remembered him today. I was glad he spoke to me but even more glad we could help him.

We need more empathy in leadership at all levels. Empathy is working in other people’s shoes. I’ve realized that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Leadership should go beyond the figures and performance alone as we can’t reduce people to just mere statistics. We should be concerned that it’s the same people that will generate the performance. I’m of the school of thought that staff don’t leave organizations, they only leave their supervisors. As leaders, we need to be more approachable. Your people must be able to talk to you. You need to be in touch with the feelings of their infirmities. 

As a leader, I now understand that empathy doesn’t mean I’m weak, it just shows that I’m human. Our teams need to see that human aspect of leaders more.

Written by Adebayo Adeyinka Deputy General Manager and Exec Technical Assistant to the Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc.

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