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    You are here Home » coaching

    5 Ways to Show Empathy as a Leader

    Last updated on Apr 29, 2014 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    This
    post first appeared on SmartBlog on
    Leadership
    :

    Empathy among corporate
    managers is in short supply, according to
    a survey of more than 600 employees by talent
    mobility consulting firm Lee Hecht Harrison. The survey found that 58% of
    managers fail to show the right level of understanding toward their employees.

    “Empathy
    isn’t a weakness, but fundamental to good management,”
    said Kristen Leverone, Senior Vice
    President for Lee Hecht Harrison’s Global Talent Development Practice. “It means being able to understand and
    relate to others’ feelings. After all, if a supervisor or manager can’t tune
    into the feelings of employees, it’s going to be very difficult to motivate or
    engage them. The survey seems to have struck a chord, and the findings should
    raise concerns for management.”

    What is empathy? It’s an
    understanding of someone else’s world, and showing the person that you understand.

    Empathy is not agreement –
    and it’s not sympathy (“oh, you poor
    thing
    ”) – it’s simply understanding something from the other’s person’s
    perspective.

    So how can you be a more
    empathetic leader? Here are 5 ways:

    1.
    Get to know your employees.

    How well do you really know your employees? Try this
    test: take out a piece of paper, and for each employee, see if you can name
    their spouse or significant other, names of their kids, where they live, where
    they went to college, and where their parents live.

    If you came up with a lot of
    blanks, I’d recommend spending a little more time in your one-on-ones asking
    and sharing before you jump right into status reports. It’s how relationships and
    trust are built, and demonstrates that you are interested and care.

    2.
    One-on-ones?

    You are having regular one-one-ones with each of your employees aren’t
    you?  If you’re not, it’s kinda hard to
    be empathetic if you don’t have a clue what your employees are doing.

    3.
    Show interest in your employee’s day-to-day work.

    A lot of managers like to
    think of themselves as big picture managers, with little interest in knowing
    the gory details of every aspect of their employee’s jobs. While no employee
    wants to be micro-managed, employees do appreciate it when their managers show
    an interest and appreciation for what they do. Who knows, you might even learn
    something.

    4.
    Listen – and respond with empathy.

    Responding with empathy means
    letting your employee know you heard and understood both what they said, as
    well as how they feel. It’s harder than it sounds, and will take some practice,
    but people will appreciate even the clumsiest of efforts.

    Example: “So Jane, let me see if I understand – you’ve been frustrated at the
    lack of support that you are getting from IT? Is that is?”

    Listening not only shows
    people you care, and that you “get it”, it also often allows people to solve
    their own problems, just from being able to talk it out with someone.

    5.
    Lend a hand.

    Lending a hand, removing
    roadblocks, providing support and/or resources – that’s what managers are
    supposed to do, right? When someone is having a problem, they are stuck, or
    just can’t figure it out on their own;
    “Figure it out, that’s what you’re paid
    to
    do”
    isn’t very empathetic. You may not come right and say that, but you may
    be coming across that way.

    I had the opportunity to
    listen to a CEO talk about his company culture at a presentation lately. He
    took a lot of pride in making sure he knew every employee’s name (about 300
    employees), and liked to wander around chatting with each of them, asking about
    their jobs, their families, etc…

    During one of these chats,
    one of his plant managers let him know that his son had been recently arrested
    – he made a stupid mistake. Needless to say, this was weighing heavily on the
    manager’s mind. The CEO asked him if he had an attorney – and he didn’t. That
    day, the CEO found an attorney for him and paid
    for it
    . Turns out the CEO had a similar experience with his own son.

    While this may be an extreme
    example of empathy and lending a hand, can you imagine the impact that gesture
    had on that plant manager’s commitment to his company and his motivation?
    Priceless.

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