Use empathetic leadership to jumpstart team performance

How many leaders could you describe as empathetic? If you’re a leader, do you see yourself as empathetic? 

It’s a daunting thought to take on a leadership role - generating results, building a vision, unifying teams and communicating the organization’s objectives - without already having strong self-awareness and empathy skills.  

Why are these important questions? Because empathy doesn’t always come naturally (and there’s no shame in admitting this).

Not everyone is curious about or deeply compassionate or even interested in other people. But we can get better at it, and let’s be honest, we must get better at it if we’re in a leadership role.

A truly effective, empathetic leader (as opposed perhaps to a transactional or apathetic leader) is aware of their interpersonal strengths and shortcomings. They actively listen to others’ needs and find a way to meet them, all while leading multiple teams and aligning actions to the needs of the organization.

Does 'empathetic' describe the leaders in your organization (or you, as a leader)?

We’ve probably all experienced a leader who barely notices (let alone knows how to manage) what’s happening around them, and they're not our role models.

True, they’ve likely been thrust into a leadership position with minimal training or experience in how to motivate and support others, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Highly self-aware, emotionally intelligent leaders are more effective than those with lower self-awareness.

Like most leadership skills, empathy can be taught

Although empathy is better understood and practised in the workplace now than in previous decades, it’s still not always viewed as a key performance indicator.

Yet, it’s at the core of leading a company to success; an important business skill that increases retention, drives innovation and supports employees’ wellbeing, especially during times of change.

There are thousands of studies about the importance of organizational values. Leaders who actively demonstrate empathy in line with stated values set a standard for others to emulate. It creates a foundation for a positive, supportive work environment. This in turn creates cohesion and intuitive collaboration, resulting in high-performing teams.  

What does empathetic leadership in the workplace really mean?

Empathy is the ability to connect to another human being. It means being able to identify and understand the thoughts, perspectives and emotions of others, and to respond with appropriate emotions.

It takes emotional sensitivity to see the world through others’ eyes and relate to what they’re feeling, without judgment.

Empathy isn’t about problem-solving or giving unwarranted advice. Nor is it a nice-to-have. The more urgent the needs of the business, the more critical it is to connect meaningfully with the people on your team. The term ‘soft skill’ is misleading and outdated here; empathy is crucial.

Sympathy, for the record, is something quite different. Sympathy peers down from above, setting a distance between you and the person you’re sympathising with, whereas empathy climbs down to sit beside you.  

Traditional hierarchical structures can make it difficult for leaders to climb down this proverbial ladder, but the point is that empathetic leadership might sometimes involve stepping out of the manager/director/CEO role for a moment.

Cognitive vs emotional empathy

There are different kinds of empathy, and when we talk about 'empathetic leadership, we refer to the skilled use of cognitive empathy... 

Practical empathetic leadership skills in the workplace

In the CIPD’s Health and Wellbeing at Work 2023 survey, 76% of respondents from 918 organizations reported stress-related absence, with poor management style and heavy workloads most commonly to blame.  

Clearly there is work to be done! Here are seven ways to get better at empathy…

1. Listen. Don’t assume, or judge, or dismiss, or project your own perspective onto a team member’s experience. Instead, show that you hear them, see them, and understand them. No interruptions, no quick glances at your phone, and no multitasking! Resist the urge to listen for what you think you already know, or to react in any way. We don’t truly understand what someone else is going through until we hear it directly from them.
2. Try not to ‘fix’ or problem-solve. Sometimes, people are not looking for answers, they just need to be seen and heard.
3. Create a psychologically safe environment. Without it, team members won’t feel confident enough to speak up. Even if you sometimes feel removed from daily operations as a leader, stay available, be open to dialogue, recognize people’s strengths and give regular feedback. The follow-up is as important as the listening.
4. Improve your self-awareness. How aware are you about how you come across as a leader? Could you do more to recognize your blind spots? There’s often a huge gap between how a leader thinks they come across and how they actually appear to colleagues.
5. Check your behaviour for blaming, judging, dismissing. Do you listen to someone’s problem or do you judge? Do you take out-of-the-box ideas on board, or dismiss them? Do you check in on under-performing colleagues?
6. Don’t be overly positive. When colleagues are upset, sugar-coating with positive mantras isn’t helpful. Show them that you can understand why something is hard, rather than trying to pretend that it isn’t. Or ask them: ‘Help me understand.’
7. Lose the blame culture. ‘How did it get to this’ or ‘who’s to blame?’  Blame is never useful; it destroys a psychologically safe environment.

An empathetic leader sees the individual within the collective. Really sees them. Leaders who empathize know that invisible struggles exist and seek ways to understand them. Instead of jumping to conclusions when colleagues are under pressure, underperforming or simply not bringing their best selves to work, they get behind the ‘why’.

Awareness + empathy = inspiring leadership

The reality is that leaders who lack self-awareness and empathy will struggle to connect with their teams on a human level. People are not robots, and when we neglect the human side, we see low morale, decreased productivity and higher attrition.

But plenty of organizations are beginning to realize empathy’s value. Investing time and effort into developing and practising empathy (i.e. getting the best from your people) makes great sense, both for a healthier organizational culture and, of course, for the bottom line.

If organizations can cultivate resilient and compassionate work environments amid the chaos of today’s working world, they are more likely to survive. If leaders can find ways to prioritize employee needs while advancing the company’s overarching goals, they too are more likely to survive. 
As Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, reminded us when he launched the 2021 Work Trend Index Report, ‘care is the new currency’.

And here lies the opportunity: it’s not all about business speak and performance ratings, it’s about remembering that despite the astronomical rise of AI in our lives, our leaders are leading humans, teaching them to use AI, not the other way around. And however tough life may become as a leader under persistent pressure to improve business performance, we simply can’t afford to forget how to be human.

To learn more about empathetic leadership, we wrote a 15-page booklet on how to nurture your empathy at work. Access your Ebook now

Self-aware leaders are more effective at inspiring and motivating their teams than their less aware counterparts. That’s why our leadership programs start with self-understanding; helping leaders see where they excel, where they struggle and where they’re just treading water. Once this awareness is established, we guide leaders in understanding others, enabling them to nurture talent, unify teams and lead innovative, dynamic organizations.