How important is Empathy in Leadership?

Empathy, many tag it as a weakness, many as strength, but I would like to begin by asking a simple question-

How often have we wished others, to be on our shoes and understand the problem from our point of view, yet how often have we done the same for others?

Losing human connections, unable to understand the feeling of a person sitting on the other side is now a normal phenomenon but is that how the world is supposed to be?

Recently, I was summoned by one of my clients to understand the gravity of the situation, where a senior official had put his papers down and was unwilling to share any reasons to the management. It took me, just a single meeting (and I was meeting him for the first time) to gain his trust and confidence and he did confide in me the reason for his resignation and that he meant no harm to the organization. What was it, do you think, that did the trick?

I will answer it for you, it was the connection, the ability to relate to the person’s situation and think like him, putting an effort to empathize with him, eventually lead into building a bond with a person, something which is very important for a leader.

There may come a time, where you will find an employee unable to deliver his work properly. While issuing a strict order to deliver on time can be the easiest solution, a good leader will try to focus on the fact, that what is it that is resulting in such behaviour? Every story has two sides to it, a negative side and the noble side and in order to create a bond with your employee, finding the noble side of the story is very important.

Once you place yourself on his shoes, finding a solution to the problem becomes easier and moreover, you will be able to create a bond with your employee, a bond that is genuine and cannot be faked. When you are connected to your employees and empathize with their problems, the trust issue is something that you will hardly have to face in your organization. Don’t we often end up trusting that person the most, who understand us the most?

Just when the nature of leadership is shifting massively, the need to hone your soft skill is of utmost importance and being an emphatic person can actually help you relate to a lot of people and work comfortably with them with better understanding. From meeting leaders from across the globe to, interacting with new generations of leaders and employees, when you develop your skill of empathy in you, understanding their insecurities, problem areas, challenges and keys for motivation becomes a cake-walk.

Many of you might confuse, empathy with sympathy, but here I would like to state, that empathizing with your employee doesn’t make them right, nor wrong, it only gives you the ability to view the broader picture, understand the problem which has triggered the problem and then offer a solution. Often termed as the most unused soft skill in leadership, empathy has always resulted in a happy & positive work environment and more engagement among your employees