Leaders must learn how to effectively manage and practice empathy. Empathy must spread into our design thinking practices to shape how we interact and engage with others while developing solutions. This practice is essential as a leader.
From empathy, we learn more about ourselves and those around us, helping us transform and solidify strong connections.
Empathy is even more important in times of crisis. It draws us together and despite its associated risk, it helps us become better leaders and drive change.
We can now dive deeper into empathy and its impacts on leadership through challenges.
A Deep Understanding of Empathy
When we seek to pull back the layers of others, we uncover three core elements — sympathy, compassion, and empathy. Sympathy is the first layer. We can define sympathy as when you understand someone’s sentiments. On the other hand, compassion, the second layer, is defined as concern for the feelings of others. Empathy, the third layer, is defined as the capacity of an individual to understand another both emotionally and intellectually.
The Impacts of Fear
As much as we don’t want to admit it, many of us are driven by a form of fear. When it comes to business and leadership, many individuals are fearful of being outshined. We may fear that someone may have a better idea that will then undermine us as a leader.
However, this mindset is naturally flawed. As leaders, instead, we must seek to build strong teams with very talented and skilled people using empathy. These teams should rise beyond us and then make us and the organization shine. We need to remember this and move out of the defensive, self-conscious mindset many of us are suffering from. When we are empathetic, we learn to value the strengths of our overall team and see things from a well-rounded perspective.
Leadership During Challenges
During challenges, leadership tends to take another form. The challenges drive the team to demand change and influence. As a result, additional stress is placed on the leader to direct and lead change. But, we must not lose focus on our overall goal — to lead, mentor, and inspire others. Therefore, despite these challenges, we must refrain from simply telling people what to do. We must instead aim to explain and demonstrate why we do it.
Final Thoughts
COVID-19 has shown us the value of empathy and sincerity. When not exercised through these hard times and challenges, it’s very clear to others when individuals aren’t genuine.
Instead, we must use and empower empathy to uncover the why behind the what and reframe how we think to better align with a solution to the problem under review.
Take charge and ensure you’re consistently being empathetic. You will see improvements in your overall leadership and team culture.
