Empathy in the Workplace
Can you empathise with your work colleagues? Do you care? Empathy is our ability to identify and understand another’s situation, feelings and motives. It’s our capacity to recognise the concerns other people have. Empathy is putting yourself in the other person’s shoes or seeing things through someone else’s eyes.
In leadership, managing our own thoughts and emotions as well as balancing an understanding of those around us is a critical element of defining business culture. According to studies carried out by Development Dimensions International (DDI), empathy is the single most important leadership skill that outshines all others. As Atticus Finch said in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird:
“You can never understand someone unless you understand their point of view, climb in that person’s skin, or stand and walk in that person’s shoes.” Empathetic leaders feel genuine concern for others and are intrinsically motivated to help them thrive.
Personality types
Understanding people can be an incredibly difficult thing to be able to do. Especially if you consider differing personality types – and those of leaders and at the top of organisations which sets much of a trickle-down work place culture. They set the tone for everyone else. In Thomas Erikson’s book ‘Surrounded by Idiots‘, he offers insight into four main personality types. He provides a colour code for each: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. The premise is that different people require different considerations when you’re trying to work alongside them. Erikson states that people are either dominantly Red (dominant, direct, active), Yellow (inspiring, impulsive, influential), Green (stable, calm, supportive) or Blue (analytical, slow, cautious). The more you know about each person’s personality type, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate in your work life and private life. It’s a book well worth reading, especially when considering the power of empathy in leadership and the workplace.
The paradox
The interesting juxtaposition of all of this is that many leaders in my personal experience are often predominantly ‘Red’ but combined with a seemingly lack of self-awareness. My take is that they are often Alpha types, whether male or female leaders. Empathetic wouldn’t be the first thought that comes to mind. Perhaps, the saying ‘like a bull in a china shop’ would be more apt. Often uncompromising, competitive, and driven, they bulldoze their way to the top. A lack of empathy hasn’t apparently held them back. But that style of leadership can be jarring and intimidating for those in their wake. If you combine that leadership style with the constant need for employees to demonstrate a high level of speed, volume, and output, it can lead to a stressful, pressure-pot environment. Mental health in the workplace is a now well-documented subject but employers putting together some meditation sessions doesn’t address causation. In fact, it’s often the same alpha leaders contributing to employee stress and that culture in the first place. Which doesn’t make for good leadership. Life – and business – is all about connections, and having empathy in the workplace is a critical leadership skill. And right now, as companies adjust to the breakneck pace of COVID-19, leaders need to step up by stepping back, putting themselves in the position of their colleagues, and clients. In doing so, they can create a culture of compassion, dignity and respect – highly desirable characteristics that will last far beyond our return to ‘normal.’
Who’s doing it well?
Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, is someone who is hitting the headlines for all the right reasons. Her leadership style is one of empathy in a COVID-19 crisis that tempts people to fend for themselves. The scramble and panic buying of toilet roll and pasta is testament to people abandoning a wider, common purpose. Ardern’s messages are clear, consistent, yet sobering and calming. Her approach isn’t just resonating with her people on an emotional level. Helen Clark, New Zealand’s prime minister from 1999 to 2008 recently stated that people feel that Ardern “doesn’t preach at them; she’s standing with them. There’s a high level of trust and confidence in her because of that empathy.” But it’s not just empathy and nothing more. Her approach has come with policies that have produced stand-out results. Since March, New Zealand has been unique in staking out a national goal of not just flattening the curve of coronavirus cases, as most other countries have aimed to do, but eliminating the virus altogether. And it is on track to do it. COVID-19 testing is widespread. The health system has not been overloaded. New cases peaked in early April. We could all do with a few more empathetic leaders like Ardern right now – on the global stage and in the workplace. Perhaps Jacinda Ardern would have resonated well with Atticus Finch.
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See our next blog ‘Making Progress to Finding your Mojo at Work.’
