The pandemic has shown many organizations that their corporate culture was neither strong nor future-proof. In spite of all the skills that the senior leaders learned in the management programs throughout their careers, the dominating leadership style is still “command and control”. After the stressful experience over the last 2 years of the pandemic, this simply does not work. The new normal after the pandemic calls for one big change in culture and leadership style – empathy in action.
How has Covid affected company cultures?
Covid came rapidly and made everybody take an adaptability test.
As employees, we had to re-organize our homes to be able to work from the kitchen tables. Employers had to issue more flexible internal HR policies, invest in new collaboration technology, and subsidize employees’ home office arrangements to enable continuity of business. The most challenging part of the test was the managers’ capability to meet the old company expectations and deliver results in the new, remote, way of working.
After the covid restrictions were lifted, just when leaders thought that businesses were ready to go “back to normal”, the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, and growing numbers of burnout made it clear that there is no such thing as “going back” and that “normal” is something new now.
Organizations that believed that their culture was so strong and powerful, that nothing would affect them, have failed the adaptability test and lost hundreds of great employees in 2021/22. The agile, flat, and nonhierarchical organizations passed the same test with flying colors.
What caused the Great Resignation?
Partially it can be ‘blamed’ on the pandemic.
Two years of work from home was enough time for people to reflect, re-evaluate their priorities and draw new conclusions about their life. If you are a family person you probably remember how you have grown to like spending so much time with your loved ones while saving money and time on commuting. But working in isolation, away from the teams and the office support system has also caused more stress. Many times it has led to anxiety and depression among ambitious and dedicated employees.
This experience contributed to the growing need for more flexibility, autonomy, and a more human approach to employees. The lack of these new leadership traits has prompted employees to start looking for better jobs.
The other reason for the great resignation is the classic combination of looking for better compensation and happiness at work. Their desire to “jump ship” often had nothing to do with covid.
According to a PWC survey, 71% of ALL job seekers said that they mostly sought a better salary, followed by a life balance, more autonomy, and better opportunities for personal growth.
What do employees say?
The pandemic has thrown many lives upside down and exposed people to unprecedented personal challenges that their leaders often do not even know about.
If you lead a team and believe that your people are ok, take a closer look because according to a global study by Qualtrics every second person at work is most likely not feeling well for various reasons.
Harsh emails, inflexible deadlines, and unreasonable workload that never seems to reduce, make people admit in surveys :
“I experience anxiety attacks” – 57%
“I’m emotionally exhausted” – 54%
“I am sad” – 53%
“I’m irritable” – 50%
Naturally, with this state of mind, parenting is a bigger challenge, sleep is compromised and overall health suffers! So when employees realize that their problems start with turning on the work laptop every morning they begin resenting the employer. People crave to feel more valued, respected, and included.
So how will EMPATHY help the Culture?
A new study of 889 employees by Catalyst found empathy has some significant constructive effects on:
– innovation,
– engagement
– retention
– inclusivity
– life balance
In short, it can significantly move the needle in business results and make us all love the jobs we do. For that reason, it has recently been recognized as the most important leadership skill. While it is inborn in some of us, it can be learned and practiced to perfection by everyone else.
What can you do to demonstrate empathy in action?
First of all, it does start with the proverbial “putting ourselves in somebody else’s shoes”. How?
By planting a short statement in your mind:
“If I had to deal with this, I would feel….”,
Or, by asking yourself a question:
“If I was in this position, what would I be thinking right now?”
Secondly, once you get in touch with the emotions related to your employee’s situation, share it! .., or ask a few questions to start a genuine chat.
For example: “…. this sounds complicated, I would probably feel overwhelmed. How are you feeling?“.
If it feels uncomfortable at first, remember this:
Empathic leaders make themselves vulnerable by openly sharing their own emotions, or showing interest in the emotions of others, even if they know they may not be able to help right away.
It is important not to stop at this point. If you genuinely have connected to the emotions of your employee, you are very likely to naturally move to the third phase – compassion. It is a feeling that makes us want to help and take action toward resolving problems.
As leaders, we are expected to be there to resolve issues and provide help. It’s not always easy, or possible, immediately, but applying these steps will definitely break down the first barriers and bring you closer to becoming an emphatic leader who is there for your team.
Empathy in Action is an understanding of an employee’s struggles and offering help. It is appreciating a person’s point of view and engaging in a healthy conversation that leads to a solution. Resolved problems make us feel safe and happy. Only people who feel happy about working with you will go the extra mile, come up with innovative ideas and help you achieve greater results.
Summary
Empathy is not a new concept for leaders, but it has a new level of importance. Fresh research makes it very clear that empathy is currently the most powerful and desired leadership competency by employees who, if not receive it in their current workplace will go looking for it somewhere else.
Empathy is paramount to helping company leaders rebuild strong culture and maintain the talent in the organization after the pandemic turmoil. If you want to succeed in 2023, start practicing your emphatic leadership skills now.
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