Up-level with Empathy-centered Leadership

It’s the last weekend of summer. Anticipating a busy fall, you want to ramp up to achieve goals for Q4 ‘24. You need everyone quickly back in work mode and engaged.?

Empathetic leadership is essential to: align four generations, nurture trusting relationships, stimulate innovation, delegate effectively, reduce conflict, support well-being, motivate frontline workers, and navigate uncertainty.

Modern leaders are coaches not commanders, facilitating not dictating decisions. They empower employees with trust and data to work at the speed of digitalized business.?

“Empathy for each individual is one of the crucial aspects of leading. If you understand how each person is feeling, you can tailor your approach to working with them to maximize the output for both them personally and their group.” – Tom Hunt , Founder and CEO of Fame.io .

Modern Work Fundamentals #2: Empathetic Leadership

Empathetic leaders foster trust and belonging, deepen team relationships, individualize oversight, welcome all employee contributions, and emphasize a learning mindset.

Modern leaders manage better practicing empathy habits, connecting with employees’ perspectives and experiences–starting by asking open questions and listening actively.

During the uneven summer-to-fall transition, help people recalibrate, refrain from judgments, recognize team members’ mindsets and different adjustment timelines.?

Orient team members again to why their work matters. Help them feel understood, valued, and supported as your team navigates unpredictable market conditions.?

Empathetic Evidence

The benefits of empathetic leadership are compelling, including:?

• Inspiring positive change within the workplace (87%)
• Mutual respect between employees and leaders (87%)
• Increased productivity among employees (85%)
• Reduced employee turnover (78%)

[Source - EY’s Empathy in Business Survey, 2023 ]

The perception of empathetic leaders needs to change, starting at the top:

• 41% of CEOs say “colleagues aren’t supportive when I try to be empathetic.”
• 38% of CEOs say “I will be viewed as weak.”
• 35% of CEOs say “Culturally, I wasn’t raised to show empathy.”?
• 83% of CEOs believe empathy is undervalued by U.S. organizations.

[Source - Business Solver’s State of Workplace Empathy Report, 2024 ]

“Empathy for each individual is one of the crucial aspects of leading… it's about understanding how each person is doing in their role and how they are feeling.” – Tom Hunt

What Empathy Habits will you focus on next?

Safe Space: Showing vulnerability and encouraging open discussion.

Validating Contributions: Restating others’ words to confirm understanding.

Team Feedback: Soliciting inputs and addressing concerns.

Employee Empowerment: Giving team members new responsibilities to own.

Failure Forgiveness: Encouraging experimentation and learning from mistakes.

Next newsletter: Multigenerational Engagement

Expecting September to be a month of both transition and rapid growth, I will be addressing key issues you’re dealing with at the office and across your distributed teams. Thank you for reading! Your insights and feedback are always welcome.?

Other Resources

• Try my LinkedIn courses including: Empathy for Sales Professionals , Engaging & Retaining Gen Z (using empathy skills), and The Future of Work: The Necessary Skills for the Future Workforce
• Check out many empathy habits to practice in my book: Empathy Works: The Key to Competitive Advantage in the New Era of Work [2022] rated a ‘must-read’ by Kirkus Reviews.
• Listen to my podcast: Transforming Work with Sophie Wade and the latest Episode 122 with Annie Dean, from Atlassian discussing the modern culture of work.
• Get more leadership insights from Episode 107 with Tom Hunt from Fame discussing intentional leadership which is quoted from above.