Credit: Adobe Photostock, Empathetic Leaders and Their Team Win More
What makes a great leader? There are many different answers to this question and many different ways to lead. Some leaders are known for their honesty, others for their drive and determination, while others again for their creativity or strategic thinking.
In our experience working with senior executives from Fortune 500 companies, to small and medium size business, to emerging startups, we’ve found that one of the most important leadership skills is empathy.
In fact, research shows that leaders who demonstrate high levels of empathy also tend to have teams that outperform their peers in terms of employee engagement, retention, trust, and motivation. So if you aspire to lead at a high level someday, developing your capacity for empathy will be an invaluable asset on your resume.
What is empathy?
Empathy comes from the understanding of being able "to put oneself into someone else's shoes." It's the ability to feel what another person is feeling and has a long history in psychological research.
Empathy is powerful because it enables us to connect with others truly. When we're empathetic, we're not just thinking about how someone feels; we are actually feeling what that person is feeling in the moment.
Empathy is a skill that can be developed. You can learn how to be more empathetic, and it's especially important for leaders to do so because empathy is the key to unlocking employee engagement and commitment.
Why is empathy so important for effective leadership?
The highest-performing teams have more empathy than their peers. In fact, a recent study of 10,000 leaders and employees found that the top-performing teams had twice as much empathy as their lower-performing peers. Moreover, employees who report that their leaders have high empathy also report feeling three times more engaged, eight times more motivated, and three times more committed to their company than the average employee.
Empathy is the foundation of trust, which is one of the main drivers of engagement, productivity, and retention. When employees don't trust their leaders, it disrupts the organization's ability to work together efficiently, costing companies a lot of money.
Empathy is a critical aspect of effective leadership for many reasons. Perhaps most importantly, it allows us to put ourselves in other people's shoes and understand what they're feeling and why. This, in turn, can help us to build strong relationships with our peers and employees.
How can you build your capacity to be more empathetic?
Empathy is a critical aspect of effective leadership. Active listening and maintaining an open mind are essential for leaders to understand what their followers are saying and feeling.
Additionally, leaders must be able to put themselves in other people's shoes to gain different perspectives. They need to see things from other points of view to make the best decisions for their team or organization.
Furthermore, empathy allows leaders to get feedback from their followers without feeling defensive. People who feel heard and understood are more likely to trust and respect their leader.
Here are three of the most effective ways to increase your capacity for empathy are:
Learn to listen. Are you an active listener? Do you know how to listen to others truly? When you're actively listening to someone, you're not just waiting for your turn to speak. Instead, you're actively trying to understand what the other person is saying and why they feel the way they do.
Keep an open mind. When you're open-minded, you're more likely to consider all sides of an issue and to understand why other people feel the way they do. Being open-minded also helps you be more patient with others and allows you to see the problems from a different point of view.
Get outside your own head. When you notice that you're stuck in your own thinking and feeling, you can use this as an opportunity to bring yourself back to being more open and sensitive to other people.
Conclusion
Empathy is an essential leadership skill to develop. When you're empathetic, you understand why people do what they do and feel how they feel, making it easier to inspire them. It also helps create a more inclusive workplace where people feel truly seen and understood. This helps you build trust, which is essential for any team or company to function well.
Learn how to be more empathetic, and use this skill daily. The more you ask for feedback and practice being compassionate, the easier it will become, and the better your relationships will be in the long run.
We invite you to follow our new page at Core Ai Corporation for more insights on Leadership Development and helping managers develop to be the leader their team deserves.
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