Changing habits and behaviors takes effort. That is why people often struggle with transformation processes in their daily work. An empathetic leadership style helps superiors to reduce concerns within their teams and to spark enthusiasm for new ideas, explains Tim van Wasen, managing director of Dell Technologies in Germany.
Digitalization and an economic world characterized by complexity and volatility are changing people’s daily work routines at an unprecedented rate. Many employees feel overwhelmed and insufficiently involved in change processes. As a result, they lack the motivation or energy to help drive the digital transformation in the company.
In the long term, a company’s success can be jeopardized if teams, for example, do not accept new tools and processes or unintentionally slow down innovation projects. An empathetic leadership style prevents this by focusing on the needs and requirements of people. What characterizes a working environment in which employees feel valued and experience change as something positive?
1. Freedom and trust:
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People are a company’s most important resource and a central source of innovation, but they need freedom and trust to remain motivated and productive. Instead of ordering them to the office every day and meticulously monitoring their attendance, companies should offer them flexible workplace and working time models. Of course, this requires trust, but ultimately, work performance can be much better evaluated based on the results instead of the number of hours spent in the office.
Trust also means relying on the experience and expertise of employees and allowing them to work independently. Supervisors who offer their teams more freedom of choice and flexibility thus ensure more creativity, good ideas and innovation.
2. Meaningful activities:
Boring and repetitive tasks can be demotivating in the long run and even make you sick. If you always do the same undemanding tasks, you will sooner or later suffer from what is known as a bore-out and feel constantly exhausted and drained despite actually having little stress. It is better to challenge employees with demanding tasks – after all, few things are as fulfilling as solving a difficult problem or completing a complex project.
However, people need modern tools to do this, tools that make it easier for them to exchange ideas with others and relieve them of mind-numbing tasks such as manual data entry. Only in this way can they concentrate on meaningful activities and tasks that require creativity, knowledge and experience.
3. Communication at eye level:
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In companies with very hierarchical management, employees often feel that they are not being heard. It is difficult for them to express their opinions or make suggestions for improvement because they do not receive any appreciation for doing so. Flat hierarchies and superiors who see themselves as allies of their teams prevent this. They always have their teams’ backs and give recognition for commitment even when it is not crowned with success.
They address mistakes openly and see them as an opportunity for improvement, so that employees dare to try new things and drive innovation through courageous decisions. Open communication in all directions helps superiors to lead empathetically and to recognize and resolve potential conflicts such as pressure and excessive demands, dissenting opinions or different expectations in the team in good time.
4. Equal opportunities:
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Everyone is different and brings their own experiences and ways of working to a company. Groups in which employees from different backgrounds, as well as different ages, genders and professional backgrounds, come together, therefore, usually find more creative and innovative solutions than very homogeneous teams – simply because diversity broadens horizons and has an inspiring effect.
However, superiors must also take this diversity into account by creating equal opportunities and listening to all team members equally. Their words and actions provide a guide for others and are the basis for team cohesion and open interaction.
Empathetic Leadership Style – conclusion
Empathy and leadership are anything but contradictory, even though superiors often seem to believe so. In fact, empathy is indispensable when it comes to leading teams. Only those who listen, trust, communicate openly, express appreciation and actively support employees can create a working environment in which everyone feels comfortable and is inspired to achieve their best. With an antiquated understanding of leadership, companies can neither successfully implement transformation processes nor win the war for talent.
