The concept of empathy is mentioned frequently in the context of emotional intelligence. Thanks to Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, most modern business leaders understand how essential emotional intelligence is for effective leadership, but how often do you pause to consider what empathy actually is, why it’s considered such an essential element of emotional intelligence and why empathetic leadership is important.
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What is Empathy?
Empathy is a soft skill considered to be a key element of emotional intelligence. It is defined as ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’. It involves seeing things from the other person’s perspective and relating to their feelings. Demonstrating empathy means showing the other person you understand how they feel.
Researchers identify three different types of empathy:
Emotional empathy: the feeling ability to share another person’s emotions.
Cognitive empathy: the thinking ability to understand what another person might be feeling.
Compassionate empathy: the ability to feel someone else’s emotions and act to help them, considered the most powerful form of empathy.
Empathy and sympathy are often used interchangeably, but they are different. Sympathy is a feeling of concern or compassion for the other person but without understanding the feelings the other person is having, so it can be experienced as pity. If you want to understand more about the difference between the two further, watch this video from the American academic Brené Brown who has researched and written extensively on empathy.
What is Empathetic Leadership?
An empathetic leadership style involves understanding and relating to fellow employees’ thoughts, feelings and experiences and using that knowledge to respond in a way that helps individual employees feel valued and respected. Responding to individual employees doesn’t mean empathetic leaders always jump in to solve everyone’s problems. Instead, they create authentic, natural relationships with their team members which allow them to provide the most appropriate support (or challenge if required) based on a deeper understanding of the individual’s situation.
An empathetic leadership style involves making personal connections with the people you work with so you can understand and share their perspectives. These connections can be made by:
- Active listening: giving people your full attention, attending to visual, spoken and emotional cues in how they are speaking and presenting themselves, asking open questions to learn more and demonstrating that you are actively engaged in the conversation by keeping eye contact, using verbal affirmations and positive body language.
- Treating people as individuals: taking time to understand what motivates each person, their challenges, and the essential experiences shaping their outlook on life.
- Welcoming feedback: openly discussing issues and concerns without an immediately defensive or hostile response.
- Demonstrating genuine compassion: reaching out to support and guide employees in a manner that matches their circumstances and needs rather than a generic approach.
- Awareness of own biases: understanding how your own experiences and culture shape how you respond to people allows you to learn when to put aside your personal opinions to see someone else’s perspective.
- Having boundaries: being clear with yourself on what you personally share, actions you can take and how you see your responsibilities to others helps create an inner confidence that enables empathy. Boundaries help you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes without losing sight of what is important to you and the role you have to perform. They also stop you over-identifying with the other person.
The Benefits of Empathetic Leadership
Empathy in leadership creates stronger relationships between the leader and employees, which leads to successful leadership with the following business benefits:
Innovation & Creativity
Empathetic leadership skills help employees feel supported and understood, creating a climate where creativity and innovative working methods flourish. Being able to understand how their employees feel is key to motivating them.
Inclusivity
Leaders who actively listen to their employees, are open to feedback and have an awareness of their own biases are more likely to be inclusive leaders who champion equality and celebrate diversity. Understanding how others feel is essential to creating a workplace welcoming everyone. In turn, a workplace that welcomes everyone is more likely to be successful because of the wide variety of perspectives it represents.
Better Communication
Empathetic leadership provides a role model for employees to seek to understand each other better which in turn leads to teams who understand different perspectives, something which is critical to improving communication. When we know what really matters to each individual and what drives their thoughts, feelings and actions, we can tailor how we communicate with them so that it is more likely to be received positively.
Fosters Teamwork & Collaboration
Empathetic leaders encourage teamwork and collaboration because they model a professional approach to working with others that respects the individual differences between team members. By being empathetic to individuals in the team, leaders can demonstrate how listening, being open to feedback, valuing everyone as their own person and showing compassion all contribute to people being able to work together in a way that is mutually rewarding.
Ability to Resolve Conflict
A leader with empathy skills can help resolve conflicts in the workplace by listening to different people’s perspectives, accepting feedback and using their knowledge about how others feel to suggest compromises or solutions that will be acceptable to the different parties involved.
Improved Employee Relations
Empathetic leadership encourages employees to feel that their leader understands them as individuals, improving job satisfaction levels and employee relations because they feel supported, valued and significant.
Reduced Turnover
Empathetic leaders are likely to have strong personal relationships with their employees, creating a loyal workforce less likely to want to leave the company. It is common for employees to put a strong emphasis on working with a manager who is fair and respectful and provides personal and professional support.
Brand Reputation
Organisations with empathetic leadership are more likely to have a reputation for being compassionate and supportive of their employees, which helps with recruitment (as it makes people want to work there) and the brand’s broader reputation (as it makes people feel positively towards it).
