As a leader, empathy plays an essential role in understanding other people’s motives and feelings. Acknowledging and understanding these feelings is crucial to successfully achieving one’s desires and managing other people’s emotions. Empathy helps develop relationships with others through valuing the human aspect of career growth which opens new possibilities of self-knowledge and helps establish trust with employees.

 

Why is empathy important?

Empathy is an important leadership quality. One needs to empathize with employees and customers, but it differs from person to person. Some might need contact information for support, whereas others might not want personal contact. While some people might want reassurance that all their needs are met, others get annoyed if they are constantly asked how they are doing. Without empathy, effective leadership becomes difficult because employees will lose motivation since someone does not understand what they need.

 

Examples of empathy at work and in leadership

Empathy can be used to inspire creativity and collaboration. The act of having empathy has a calming effect on people who lack self-esteem, and, in this way, it is beneficial to an organization. When empathy goes wrong, it can fail miserably. When it fails, there are underlying causes such as unresolved emotional issues, trauma, or unexpected personal stressors that the empathic person cannot identify or utilize when optimally communicated.

One specific example of empathy in both leadership and other ways is understood by Tesla Corporation CEO Elon Musk and his concern for mining accidents. His company “Tesla” designed special vehicles that could extract from mines more efficiently and at less risk than traditional mining vehicles. In the line of duty, Tesla employees are now assured that the management cares for their needs. As such, they can outdo themselves due to good working conditions.

The conclusion of the blog post stresses the importance of empathy in leadership. It offers suggestions on how an empathetic leader would act and several tips for leading more empathetically. In order to be a better person, one should try empathy during difficult conversations and times of conflict. They can use the statement “Stop thinking – just listen.” while calling it an ingrained pattern: it is an elegant and kind way to maintain compassion without intruding.