The need

Despite extensive research informing us of the benefits of empathetic leaders such as increased engagement, performance, productivity, and organisational growth, it is a leadership characteristic that is woefully missing in many organisations.

This month an EY Consulting survey confirmed that 90% of workers believe empathetic leadership leads to higher job satisfaction and 79% agree it decreases employee turnover.

The majority (88%) felt that empathic leadership creates loyalty amongst employees towards their leaders.

This could be the panacea for The Great Resignation that is causing so much angst at the current time. Empathy in the workplace not only retains your valuable talent but also attracts it, giving you competitive advantage.

The EY survey also revealed that respondents had left a previous job because their boss wasn’t empathetic to their struggles at work (54%) or in their personal lives (49%).

“Empathy’s ability to create a culture of trust and innovation is unmatched, and this previously overlooked trait must be at the forefront of businesses across all industries.”

~ Steve Payne, EY Americas Vice Chair

For me, the more disturbing of the survey results was that almost half (46%) of employee feel that their company’s efforts to be empathetic toward employees are dishonest.

These employees feel that their companies are talking the talk, but not walking the walk, in regard to empathy and support in the workplace.

Two in five (42%) say their company does not follow through when it makes promises.

When there is no accountability, there is no trust and that is a dangerous place to be.

The empathetic leader qualities

Employees surveyed described the top five qualities they look for in an empathetic leader and I want to explore them in this article in regard to leading a hybrid team.

1.     Open and transparent (41%)

2.     Fair (37%)

3.     Follows through on action (37%)

4.     Encourages others to share their opinions (36%)

5.     Trusted to handle difficult conversations (34%)

Open and transparent

No-one trusts a leader who hides behind platitudes and untruths. Transparent leaders are open and honest with their people. They involve their team in decision-making and share information widely ensuring everyone, regardless of location, is informed and involved.

Transparent leaders do not treat their employees like children and assume they will not be able to handle the information shared. Your employees are adults and just as mature and capable of handling information as you are. Of course, there may be circumstances when it would not be appropriate to share information with your team but that should be the exception.

Transparent leaders not only give employees feedback but actively seek it out for themselves. They are open about wanting to be better at what they do and ask for honest feedback. Their employees know that there will be no judgement or reprisal if the feedback highlights a weakness in the leader. Employees are asked to provide examples in their feedback and the leader’s response is ‘thank-you.’ These leaders do not get defensive or angry – they embrace the feedback as an opportunity for growth. Most of all, they act upon it.

Transparent leaders are also authentic. As well as being transparent, they are ethical and true to themselves. They do not hide behind a mask. What you see is what you get. The authentic leader is self-aware – they know who they are and how they impact others. They bring their whole self to the leadership role – intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

When authentic leaders make a mistake, they are prepared to acknowledge it. They know they are not infallible and do not pretend to have all the answers. This is a leader who is trusted. These leaders are prepared to be vulnerable and share their feeling and concerns. They will ask for help when they need it. When leaders are honest with themselves and their team, they create trust.

The authentic leader holds themselves accountable for their actions. They do what they said they would do. They follow through. Their words hold weight. If for any reason they cannot deliver, they share the reason why.

Transparent leaders communicate with clarity. They ensure that their employees have heard what they intended them to hear. There is no place for ambiguity especially in a hybrid team.

Fair

Empathetic leaders treat each employee equally. They lead with inclusivity and equity. The challenge for leaders of geographically distributed teams is the propensity to proximity bias.

Proximity bias refers to our tendency to give preferential treatment to those in our immediate vicinity.

In the hybrid environment this means giving preferential treatment to those with whom you are co-located – those in the office.

In the past many organizations frowned on working from home referring to it as ‘shirking from home.’

With hybrid working the norm, there is no place for discrimination based on where someone is working from.

This will create cultural conflicts and divides between employees working out of an office and those working remotely. You will create an ‘us and them’ situation.

Your hybrid model should give employees choice and flexibility about where and when they work. Some employees will choose to split their time between the office and working remotely. Other employees may prefer to spend most of their time working remotely due to their personal circumstances. They may have constraints around childcare or health issues. 

As a leader, you must treat everyone with their differing circumstances equally and fairly.

Everyone must be in sync.

You cannot allow an out-of-sight, out-of-mind, out-of-touch situation to develop.

The potential disparities between those in the office and those working remotely must be addressed. It is imperative that you address the biases and put in place protocols that promote equity now, before the inequities are allowed to develop and become entrenched in your culture.

Follows through on action

Empathetic leaders take personal responsibility for the choices they make and for their behaviours and actions.

They do not point the finger at others when things don’t go to plan. They take ownership and act accordingly.

In a nutshell, they say, “the buck stops here.”

Leaders with accountability assume ownership for the performance of their team. They are the captain at the helm and the only one who can be held accountable for the ship.

Accountable leaders seek opportunities for the organisation to succeed and they champion those opportunities. They will question decisions that don’t seem to be the best for organisational success.

Accountability means commitment, which is doing whatever it takes to get something done.

When leaders are accountable, they create trust within the team as they show commitment to delivering on their promises.

Leaders also need to build accountability within their teams. Each individual needs to be held accountable for their actions, so that the entire team can achieve its desired outcomes.

Encourages others to share their opinions

Good leaders create an environment of psychological safety.

Dr. Amy Edmonson, Harvard Business School Professor, and behavioural scientist, introduced the construct back in 1999 when she published an influential paper on the subject. She defined it as:

“Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes."

Her studies found that teams that made more mistakes were actually more successful than others. This was because they created an environment in which people felt comfortable to take risks - the key to fostering innovation in the workplace.

The same outcome was discovered in a multi-year study by Google that commenced in 2012 called Project Aristotle. The goal was to answer the question: “What makes a team effective at Google?”

The researchers found that what really mattered was less about who is on the team, and more about how the team worked together. Psychological safety was top of the list meaning that team members felt safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other.

Leaders ensure that everyone, wherever they are located, feel able to share their opinion. They have a voice whether they are in the office or working remotely. They are treated with trust and respect. Empathetic leaders are cognisant of the preferences of their team members. Some members of the team may be more comfortable openly offering their opinion whilst others may be more comfortable being asked for their opinion.

Trusted to handle difficult conversations

Empathetic leaders are prepared to have the difficult conversations. They know that it is kinder to have the conversation in timely and contextual manner rather than let the situation deteriorate to a place difficult to recover from.

Having a difficult conversation about a person’s performance, conduct or behavior, in a timely manner, allows that person to take remediating action before performance diminishes further or the bad behaviour becomes embedded.

A good leader knows their responsibility of the greater good of the team and the organisation. Helping people be the best they can be is an ethical obligation as their leader. Letting bad behavior fester and permeate the team is devastating for team morale and performance.

If a leader does not have the difficult conversations, it is like telling the team that you have abdicated all responsibility and they must to deal with the difficult team member themselves. This destroys trust and respect. The team must trust you to do the job for which you have been appointed.

As leadership author John Maxwell says if you are not willing to have hard conversations, you shouldn’t be in a position of leadership. It’s that simple.

When the people and the team do not grow, nor does the leader.

The last word

“The ability to connect with employees and provide a supportive work environment is more important than ever. Organizations and leaders must prioritize empathy to foster innovation, inspire growth and successfully lead business transformation efforts.”

~ Steve Payne, EY Americas Vice Chair