Empathy in Leadership. 5 reasons why it works
In a world of ever-growing artificial influence, being human and showing human characteristics has never been so important. To put it another way, empathy is everything.
Let’s take leadership. Placing empathy squarely and proudly at the heart of your leadership style not only builds trust, but fosters a culture of belonging for everyone who works with you. But that’s just the beginning. As you’ll discover, empathy can impact your business in so many more ways.
But look, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, let’s have a think about empathy as a thing.
What empathy means
Empathy is being aware of other people’s emotions. It’s the ability to understand how someone else sees a specific situation, and why they react the way they do. Now, that doesn’t mean you must agree with their point of view, but you should be able to understand it. Say someone pulls out in front of you when you’re driving. Empathy is taking a moment, and trying to understand what might have motivated the person to do that. It’s about being perceptive (and receptive) towards other points of view.
In a nutshell, empathy is more than putting yourself in someone else’s position. It’s seeing through their eyes based on their experience, needs, and values. Isn’t that the same as compassion we hear you cry? Well, it’s similar. But ‘compassion’ is the emotional response to empathy. This is what drives the need to lend a hand.
Right, now we’ve defined empathy, let’s look at what it can do for your leadership – and your people. Here’s our top five reasons why empathy in leadership works:
1 Behaviour breeds behaviour.
Empathy is contagious. By embedding empathetic communication and behaviour in your leadership practise, your teams are more likely to work with applied empathy in their interactions with customers. And not just colleague-to-customer. This environment of understanding and support will lay the foundations of team culture that fosters mutual respect, productive innovation and job satisfaction.
2 Empathy improves wellbeing and psychological safety.
Human beings are social creatures. We crave meaningful connection with others to help lead fulfilling and rewarding lives. The degree to which we need to feel empathy from others varies depending on many factors. However, empathy researchers have identified that, for many, human connection is a critical factor of general wellbeing and performance.
3 Empathy builds stronger teams.
Tony Robbins Empathetic Leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on identifying with others and understanding their point of view. Empathetic leaders take a genuine interest in the people around them. What makes them tick, what inspires them, and the way they feel. They want to understand why people are the way they are. And this desire helps them become great leaders who are able to connect with many types of people and adapt their style depending on who they’re interacting with.
4 Creating loyalty through empathy.
Did you know that happy employees tend to stick around for longer than unhappy ones? It’s not exactly a groundbreaking revelation, but it’s often overlooked in organisations of all sizes. The more someone is heard, understood, appreciated and valued, the more content they are to stay put.
5 Empathy inspires new ways of thinking.
If you have some innovative thinkers in your team, a little empathy goes a long way. An atmosphere of understanding and celebration will release all kinds of creativity. Having an empathy-free zone keeps people in their own creative prisons, afraid and nervous of sharing new exciting ideas. Your people are empowered to express their thoughts and take risks (in a good way).
How to spark empathy in leadership
The benefits and importance of empathy in leadership are there for all to see. But how do we go about starting the empathy ball rolling? Well, for this we turn to Dr Brene Brown, leading emotions researcher. She’s pinpointed 4 steps to practicing empathy.
1 Perspective taking. This is all about seeing things from someone else’s point of view. By allowing yourself to be open and reflecting on your own past experiences, you can recall times when you felt a similar emotion or acted in a similar way. This can help you better understand and relate to where the other person is coming from.
2. Staying out of judgement – Okay, okay. We all do it. Making quick judgements about someone before we know all the facts. Is it someone we’re proud of? Nope. Is it human nature to pigeonhole people based on first impressions? Perhaps. One of the secrets to empathy is consciously staying out of judgement so that we simply listen without making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. Working with applied empathy means we must listen and understand.
3. Recognising others’ emotions – Active listening focusses on trying to recognise how the other person is feeling. Pinpointing and labelling the emotion can help you better understand what they are going through.
4. Communication understanding – By identifying how the other person feels you can connect with their perspective and emotions. In other words, you can let them know you understand. Empathy statements help build connection and enable you to respond in a way that is meaningful to them.
Here at Be Human Collective, our bespoke employee training brings empathy into all kinds of situations, especially colleague to customer. Our clients tell us that the skills they learn with us go on to thrive in all parts of their lives, both professional and personal. For more details please get in touch.
Thanks,
Be Human Collective.
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