Empathy Leads To Results In The Workplace.

Empathy belongs in every leader’s toolbox. That’s because understanding others leads to trust, which leads to an open exchange of ideas, which leads to a commitment to act on those ideas, which fosters a desire to hold ourselves accountable for our actions. All of these things lead to what leaders want—results.

That’s right, empathy leads to results.

If you are a logical, results-driven leader you may think that sounds like a lot of work to get people to just do the job they were hired to do. I get it. For years I traveled the country as a keynote speaker championing reality-based leadership whose core message was “Just do your job: no drama, no excuses.” Then one day, I got a call from one of my clients, “Nicole, we are doing exactly what you told us to do, and the employees are threatening a union walkout.”

I arrived at their facility and within five minutes of observation, I understood why their employees’ discontent had reached a boiling point. While management had clearly communicated the results they expected, through their actions, they also clearly communicated that they had zero concern for their staff. Even the basic needs of their employees were neglected. For example, while working in a sweltering warehouse employees had no access to water.

I pulled the plant manager and operations manager into the conference room, and I drew Patrick Lencioni’s pyramid on the whiteboard.

I showed them that while they made clear the results they wanted and how they would hold their employees accountable, they had built these two attributes on a foundation of dysfunction —absence of trust, fear of conflict, and lack of commitment. And they had made accountability a one-way street. Nowhere had they identified their accountability as employers in providing their employees the support and resources needed to get their jobs done.

Thankfully, they grasped the concept quickly, and we got to work helping them build an understanding of their employees combined with the responsibilities being requested of them.

The Empathy Walk

The first step was creating a structure in which every employee, regardless of their role in the company, was required to spend time on the assembly line. This not only increased everyone’s understanding of how it worked, but it also opened dialogue and an exchange of ideas between management and employees on how to improve the line. The next step was helping employees understand the bigger picture and their contribution to it. When they did x, y, or z, different revenue streams were increased or decreased, which would result in the company’s ability to expand—which would mean more opportunities for advancement and increased benefits—or the company’s need to tighten their belt—which would mean the potential for layoffs and a decreased capacity to innovate.

The greater understanding helped to build the foundation of trust, an open exchange of ideas, and a commitment of the employer to support their employees and a commitment of the employees to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Then accountability could exist, and desired results could be achieved.

This experience was a spark that placed me on my professional empathy journey and helped me realize that empathy is a strength that we, as leaders, can build, support, and leverage to create the outcomes we seek. If you are just beginning your empathy journey and are unsure how to translate it to your work environment, let’s have a conversation about how to make that happen.

Build more empathy muscle: Become an empathy engineer.