We have all been subjected to the unknown these past few months going through a world pandemic. We have had raised concern and anguish in so many areas in our lives and have experienced tremendous uncertainty. As this whole thing has played out differently for each of us, it has affected us in a huge way. It has brought us great concern and fear. All of us are going through a lot of emotions as well as troubling times. If there were ever a time as a Leader that we needed to have Empathy for others it is now!
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. “Influential Leaders Show Empathy.”
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
Effectively build and manage others
Show compassion and concern
Relate to different perspectives or experience levels
Able 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
Support team members to own their power
Demonstrate support and understanding to all cultures
Possess good communication skills.
These are just a few characteristics—there are definitely more. But the important thing here is that we recognize what empathy is all about and how we can strengthen it within our self, and create a culture around it to support others.
Today’s leaders need to be 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, working from home 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 out there done on major corporations, to see the need and the importance found in 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 also 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 think that this is a skill that you get to embrace, think again! If you are not measuring up to this 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 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.
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!
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 as a whole. 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.
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. Empathy is needed right now more than ever!
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 us all demonstrate the best Empathy possible!
We have all been subjected to the unknown these past few months going through a world pandemic. We have had raised concern and anguish in so many areas in our lives and have experienced tremendous uncertainty. As this whole thing has played out differently for each of us, it has affected us in a huge way. It has brought us great concern and fear. All of us are going through a lot of emotions as well as troubling times. If there were ever a time as a Leader that we needed to have Empathy for others it is now!
Today’s leaders need to be 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, working from home 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.
If you do not think that this is a skill that you get to embrace, think again! If you are not measuring up to this 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.
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.