Empathy has always been a Leadership Superpower, yet many Corporations, Associations and Organizations are now recognizing it as an essential Leadership Quality. For many years, even decades, empathy was considered a soft skill and we are now finding just how important it is!
What is the hype about empathy? Do you know “How Empathy Enhances Your Leadership.”
Empathy is the ability to experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or experiences of others. Empathy is more than just sympathy, which is being able to understand and support others with compassion and with sensitivity. It is the action of understanding and being aware of, or sensitive to, and experiencing the feelings, thoughts, or emotions of others.
Empathy can be a lot of things and can mean a lot of different things to different people. I feel that empathy can be described with these characteristics:
- Good listening skills
- Understanding what others are feeling
- Ability to effectively build and manage others
- Showing compassion and concern
- Relating to different perspectives or experience levels
- Ability to relate to different age groups, seeing qualities in every generation
- Increased awareness and perspective of how things affect others
- Willing to give time and energy to others
- Supporting team members to own their power
- Demonstrating support and understanding to all cultures
- Possessing good communication skills
- Prioritizing Inclusion and valuing all personnel
These are just a few characteristics—there are more. But the important thing here is that we recognize what empathy is all about and how we can strengthen it within ourselves and others.
Today’s top leaders are more people focused. This can be tougher now, as we have technology that allows you to work in one state or one country, while your immediate boss works in another state or country, or even just another building. We have the highest levels ever, working from home and usually in their pajamas or comfy clothes, not in their professional attire or even ready for the day. We may not even see the person that oversees our position very often, if even at all.
There is a vast need for these skills due to the lack of connection we are having as a society. Yes, technology is taking us places and is phenomenal. But we do have connection issues, and management gets to play a big part in making this part work. We have people that are unbelievably bright and intelligent yet lack any serious common sense.
There have been studies done on major corporations, to see the need and the importance for empathy. These studies were done to show how successful people are in their job performance, and how empathy was in relation to their job or position. This study was done across multi-cultural areas, and included over 35 countries. Across the board, they wanted to know answers to areas like this:
- Are you willing to help an employee with personal problems?
- Do you show interest in your team’s hopes, their personal needs, or in their dreams?
- Are you sensitive to signs of overwork in others?
- Do you convey compassion towards them when others disclose a personal loss?
They were also evaluated, by a superior or boss, who rated them on three items that measured job performance. Here are the three additional areas:
- How would you rate this person’s performance in their current position?
- Where would you place this person as a leader compared to the other leaders in your organization?
- What is the likelihood that this person will plateau, be demoted, or fired in the next five years based on their actions and behaviors as a manager?
If you do not think0 this is a skill that you get to embrace, think again! If you are not measuring up to these criteria, you will not be easily employable, or stand out as a viable candidate, in the management and leadership world. Empathy has truly been tied to performance, and the simple practice of empathy was found to play a significant role.
“The Universe provides abundantly when you’re in a state of Gratefulness.” ~Wayne Dyer
I bring all of this up for you to see the importance and the value of both the characteristics, and the role they play in our workforce. You do not have to chase this to be able to implement it. You get to recognize it for what it is and how it could best serve you. Allow the Universe to provide abundantly for you! You get to be aware of what is out there, and how you could be more connected, how you could take better action, and how you could up level your skill-set and your life, by being better with your empathy and your gratitude. We have never been in a time like this that Empathy would be the difference of you receiving a promotion or possibly being demoted. Empathy is that critical in our current times, and it is not going to go away!
The other significant role we are seeing with leaders that lead with empathy is the feeling of community in the workplace. Sure, gratitude is a big part too, but people want to feel like they are understood, and appreciated. And the big one is that people need to belong! This is huge!
In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, belonging is one of our basic needs. It is crucial that we feel like we belong and are part of something bigger than ourselves. There has been study after study to agree with this and to support how important it is for us to feel like we belong.
We all want to belong to something bigger. We have a natural need for connection, and we thrive when we are supported and understood. Makes total sense that having a community feeling at our workplace would make us more committed to the success of the company. We are more willing to give it extra effort to hit a deadline or push a little harder to put out a new product. Having community will create employee retention, employee engagement, and will raise the morale. We need this and our people want this.
Embrace this if you are not already. Up-level where you are at if you already do embrace it. We can all do better. We can all do more and can all BE more.
Empathy has become huge in our workplace, as we have such diversity in our colleagues and in our businesses. Embrace Empathy with your struggling colleagues and support them. So that as a team and business, you meet your deadlines, you finish your projects, and your work gets done well. Think about it—when we step up and assist someone going through a tough time, it builds trust and connection. If we throw them under the bus when they are struggling already, they will just become the weak link in the chain—and as we know, that one weak link can weaken the entire chain. We have all heard it before—you are only as strong as your weakest link.
If you are the leader over the entire group, you will be seen differently if you are not supportive and understanding. It will build a wedge into how much respect they have for you, and how much you deserve, and the entire group may lose trust in you. If you are a leader over a specific group or project, when you show up with empathy and understanding, this will allow for your supervisor or manager—even your boss—to see you as a leader. You will be magnifying those skills that they desire in those that they promote into higher responsibility positions.
It only works in your favor—and it is the right thing to do. We will all face different times of challenge, and we all have times when we deserve the support and cooperation of a community and team we can count on. As the leader, it is also your responsibility to bring out the best in the people on your team—and how better to lead, than through example.
Having Empathy is different than Demonstrating Empathy. Let’s all demonstrate the best Empathy possible! Watch the video to see “How Empathy Enhances Your Leadership.”