The Soft Skill That Science Found Will Drive Your Leadership Performance

Join 175,000+ people and?subscribe here?for future editions. And don't forget my offer for leaders at the bottom of this post.

* * *

Imagine you could have a?conversational skill?where you could be keenly aware of, and even experience, the feelings and thoughts of others. Sound like some type of human superpower? What if I told you that anyone can have this uncanny ability and use its strength to raise your leadership capacity?

This human superpower is called?empathy.

Empathy is a learned skill available to anyone and it is often misunderstood because there are variations of it.

Defining Empathy

To better grasp what people mean when they talk about empathy, the most common uses for empathy fall in these categories:

1. The type of empathy where we directly feel what others feel.

2. The type of empathy where you imagine yourself in others' shoes.

3. The type of empathy where you imagine the world, or a situation, from someone else's point of view rather than your own.

4. The type of empathy that researchers sometimes call "mind reading." It involves being good at reading others' emotions and body language.

Where do you fit in?

The Research Behind This Superpower

Global training giant Development Dimensions International (DDI) has studied leadership for 46 years. They believe that the essence of optimal leadership can be boiled down to having dozens of "fruitful conversations" with others, inside and outside your organization.

Expanding on this belief, they assessed over 15,000 leaders from more than 300 organizations across 20 industries and 18 countries to determine which conversational skills have the highest impact on overall performance.

The findings, published in their?High-Resolution Leadership report, are revealing. While skills such as "encouraging involvement of others" and "recognizing accomplishments" are important,?empathy rose to the top as the most critical driver of overall performance. Specifically, the ability to?listen and respond with empathy?(see graph below).

In essence, empathy is the cornerstone of effective servant leadership. It's about helping others feel heard and understood.

This whole premise does have an air of genius about it, considering that when you take on the perspective of those you are talking with, it engages people on the spot. This can be a difference-maker.

The DDI report also reveals a dire need for leaders with the skill of empathy. Only four out of 10 frontline leaders assessed in their massive study were proficient or strong on empathy.

Richard S. Wellins, senior vice president of DDI and one of the authors of the High-Resolution Leadership report, had this to say in a?Forbes?interview:

We feel [empathy] is in serious decline. We feel there are two reasons that account for this decline. Organizations have heaped more and more on the plates of leaders, forcing them to limit face-to-face conversations. DDI research revealed that leaders spend more time managing than they do "interacting."

Don't underestimate for a second empathy's true potential. Begin developing leaders to learn this relational skill for competitive advantage. Your ability to empathize, as a leader, will make a difference in the performance of others. And it is critical to good teamwork.

Your turn: Do you agree or disagree with empathy being a critical leadership skill for success? Leave me a comment so I can learn from you.

_____________________

Ready to grow your leaders?

I have created the ‘From Boss to Leader’ course to teach?new and emerging?leaders?the leadership skills they need to succeed in post-pandemic times. Watch this?2-minute video?to see if it may be right for your team. Then I invite you to?book a 15-minute call with me?so I can personally hear your challenges and offer some free advice.

* * *

About Marcel Schwantes

Marcel Schwantes?is a virtual speaker, leadership trainer, executive coach, author,?podcast host, and?syndicated columnist?with a global following. He teaches emerging leaders the skills to build great work cultures where people and businesses flourish.