Why You Can No Longer Overlook The Power Of Empathy In Leadership

Empathy is your ability to imagine the feelings of others and making the connection with that feeling in yourself and your own experiences. The point being that it’s not enough to be open to your employee’s narrative, but to recognize that what may look like just a story from the outside is lived life for someone.

For leaders too, the same definition sticks. Empathetic leadership is how a leader chooses to lead while being aware of the thoughts and feelings, as well as the situations, experiences, and needs of their employees. Not just being aware, in fact, but while being connected to the current context of their behaviour.

Empathy has always been a crucial leadership ability, but it is now taking on a new meaning and importance. It is far from a soft skill in today’s corporate scenario, and it has the potential to produce big commercial benefits.?

Why is empathy at work suddenly so important?

A large percentage of the workforce is still grief stricken and emotionally burnt out from the strain of the pandemic, not to mention that work life has become increasingly technology-driven – ever lessening the need for direct connection between employees and colleagues.

Remote work only magnified the value gaps in teams as it locked everyone within the safe walls of their drawing rooms. And hybrid works presents only a vague prospect for bringing that gap to a close.

On top of that, people are experiencing stress at multiple levels.

According to a global research conducted during the Covid-19 outbreak months of March and April in 2020, 42% of people saw their mental health deteriorate. While 20% were taking longer to complete work, 15% were having difficulty thinking, and 12% were finding it difficult to manage their responsibilities. That was only the beginning.

Close two to years into the pandemic, several lockdowns later, there’s evidence to show that a post-pandemic mental health crisis is looming not very far in the future.

Another reason, more significant to the business-centric viewpoint, is that when employees are treated rudely at work, their productivity declines, and they are less concerned with helping others.

Workplace incivility is on the rise, according to a recent Georgetown University research, and the consequences are wide-ranging, involving decreased performance and collaboration, deteriorated customer experiences, and higher turnover.

Negativity or harsh treatment at work also leads to a spill over effect that impacts employees’ personal lives , their relationships and even the way they feel about their parenting capabilities.

In such a scenario, the willingness and effort that is required to listen to and comprehend other people at work has never been needed more.?

What difference does an empathetic leader make?

Making decisions, mentoring, motivating workers, and planning and organising work are some of the most crucial leadership responsibilities. And all of these require the capacity to listen and react with empathy.

However, only 40% of leaders, exhibit sufficient competence in the skill of empathy. As stress factors continue to rise and employees struggle with burnout and job satisfaction, it is important to recognize the impact empathy in leaders can have on the overall work experience.

Catalyst polled almost 900 workers from a variety of sectors in the United States to learn more about the impact of empathetic leadership on their work lives. Empathy, they discovered, is a key driver of employee outcomes like innovation, engagement, and inclusion—especially during critical situations:

1. Workers who said their leaders were empathic were more likely to say they had the space to be innovative—61 percent compared to only 13 percent of employees with less empathetic leaders.

2.?Only 32 percent of those who received less empathy from their leaders reported as being engaged in their work, compared to 76 percent of those who experienced more empathy.

3.?When individuals believe their leaders are more empathic, they are more able to balance the demands of work and life, with 86 percent reporting that they are able to effectively juggle their personal, family, and professional commitments. This compares to only 60 percent of those who said empathy was lacking in their leaders.

These powerful results have clear consequences for leaders:?Employees are more inclined to invest in the business when leaders invest in building a supportive and inclusive work environment.

Even if they do not address you directly, people on your teams and throughout your organisation are paying attention to your words and actions.

How to Lead with Empathy

It’s not necessary to share the same opinions and outlooks to comprehend and acknowledge another person's feelings, thoughts, and experiences. Putting yourself in another’s shoes does not need for you to have the same foot size.

But there’s a trick to it.

The focus needs to be on what they feel and undergo rather than what you would feel if you happened to be in the same boat.

Empathy may be demonstrated in two ways by leaders.

• First, they can explore someone else's emotions through cognitive empathy ("How would I be thinking right now if I were in his/her shoes?")
• Second, they?may use affective empathy to focus on a person's experiences (“Walking?in his/her shoes would make me feel__”).

But leaders work most effectively when they maintain a balance between the two approaches. When they communicate their worries and enquire about challenges directly, and then listen to their employees' replies, they are able to take more sure-footed strides.

To show that you care and are paying attention, it's enough to touch base, ask questions, and gauge how much your employee wants to share. But it is also essential to have additional mental support services and initiatives if the problem persists.

Summing up

Leaders set the tone for workplace culture and push policy and strategy decisions that affect employees directly. Your choices, actions, and words have a great deal of power, and they may make or break an employee's capacity to succeed in a dynamic world.

Inclusion, retention, and other employee experiences are all dependent on your being deliberate and taking the time to engage with your employees.

Care and concern cannot be discounted in a world where the boundaries between work and life have blurred to such an extent. Especially when there’s only good to be gained from it.