The Many Benefits of Leading With Empathy – WWD

As businesses grappled with how the global pandemic impacted their leadership and workforce management, many executives turned to unconventional skills to lead their teams remotely — including practicing empathy and active listening.

While deploying empathy as a management technique has been around for some time and is considered a “soft” leadership skill, the result of using it during the pandemic proved to be a game changer. Companies found practicing empathy not only built trust and raised morale, but it measurably increased retention and productivity.

In the second of a two-part series on the topic, WWD garners insights from behavioral specialists and consultants as well as industry leaders inside and outside of fashion and retail to reveal why empathy has evolved into an essential leadership skill today.

Inspiring employees

Fred Garcia, president of The Logos Consulting Group, an executive leadership and communications consulting firm, sees empathy as vital to a leader’s success beyond the immediate challenges of the pandemic.

Garcia said to empathize “is to feel with someone. To be there for the team and for those they lead. They need to feel with them through the hurdles they will face in 2022 and beyond. If leaders want to show their people that they care for and are there for them, empathy is essential. Empathy is the lifeblood of connection.

“Demonstrating empathy consistently, in both word and deed, is the single most important way a leader or organization can show that they value and appreciate their employees,” Garcia told WWD. “By showing empathy, leaders show they care and are accountable for their employees — to care about their well-being, to care about their ability to grow and succeed in the business, to care about the contribution they make to the entire enterprise.”

And when leaders are authentic and show empathy and care for their employees, “they inspire those who work for them,” he added.

Natasha Bowman, president of Performance Renew and author of “You Can’t Do That at Work!” and “The Power of One: Leading With Civility, Candor and Courage,” echoed Garcia in regard to how empathy can strengthen communications.

“The role of empathy in a business leader has more impact than one may feel is possible,” Bowman told WWD. “Empathy is the pathway to stronger communication because when you understand someone else’s needs you have already started to bridge any gaps between you. There is no more sincere manner — not a mandated directive — to open up the gateway to amazing benefits that help individuals, as well as the organization as a whole.”

Bowman said one of the primary benefits of practicing empathy as a leader is the development of stronger team cohesiveness. “As business leaders, you need to know that the people who rally around each other tend to create stronger bonds and share a personal stake in the outcome of everyone they work with,” Bowman explained. “Another positive outcome that empathy can lead to is a shift in culture to one that embraces the spirit of the individual and realizes that everyone — regardless of background and personal life preferences — has something to contribute.”

Robyn Bolton, founder and chief navigator of business consultancy Mile Zero LLC, said practicing empathy across the entire company, and not just with leaders, can have remarkable benefits — especially when companies take a humanistic approach. “Business is done by and with humans and leading with empathy reflects that,” Bolton said.

“Traditionally, executives viewed their role as managing resources to achieve certain business outcomes,” Bolton told WWD. “This approach worked well when employment options were limited, employees expected to spend their whole career at one company, and companies provided benefits like pensions and housing. But things have changed. Companies have slashed benefits like pensions, retirement funding and even health care coverage, people expect to change companies multiple times throughout their careers and career options are infinitely greater than simply climbing the corporate ladder.”

Bolton said business leaders recognize that they are “no longer managing cogs in a corporate wheel, they are leading humans with abundant options, varying priorities and different motivations.” And through practicing empathy, leaders connect with their employees “on a level that recognizes and validates their individual identities and shared humanity, strengthens the trust between them and sets the stage for greater collaboration and loyalty.”

Strengthening retention

Victoria Mendoza, chief executive officer of MediaPeanut, said as a tech expert and a CEO, she believes empathy is a hallmark of a great company leader. “Now that we are in the middle of a seemingly never-ending pandemic, I see leadership empathy as the main reason why employees remain in the workplace,” Mendoza told WWD.

“A company culture that lives up to the virtue of empathy from the top-level management to entry-level workers are well worth staying because they value employee sentiments while going the extra mile of really finding the reasons why employees perform and do not perform their functions,” Mendoza said. “In this time of many challenges brought by the pandemic from the high inflation, shifting work models to the actual threat of being sick poses a great effect on a person’s mental health.”

Mendoza said being able to understand the individual struggles of employees “is the most important skill in company leadership. it makes employees feel that the company and not only the leadership is concerned about their welfare.”

Similar to Bolton, Mendoza said empathy should be practiced across the entire company. She said it should not only be at the top-level management, “but also go down to the entry-level workers. Each employee should have that attitude of understanding and empathizing with each other so that flexibility, resilience and adaptability are fostered within the company.”

While practicing empathy across all levels of an organization has benefits, extending the practice to customers adds another dimension. At Messenger, Loredana Crisan, vice president of messaging experience, said putting people first is a priority. “At Messenger, our guiding value is ‘put people first,’ which applies to both our customers and our teams,” Crisan told WWD. “There has never been a time in the workplace when this approach was needed more. Whether it’s giving people the space to walk away and practice self care or creating moments in the day where they’re seen as people first and employees second.”

Crisan said this level of humanity “should be the foundation for the workplace, especially right now when people are dealing with so much stress brought forward by the pandemic, to ensure we’re fostering empathy and healthy collaboration.”

For leaders, practicing empathy can be an effective change management tool. Michael Tennant, founder and CEO of Curiosity Lab, said the benefits “of having a leader with empathy are countless. To me, empathy is the ability to authentically take perspective, or place yourself in other people’s shoes, combined with the wisdom and humility to test intuition rather than run with your assumptions.”

Tennant, who has held various roles at companies such as MTC, Vice Media, P&G and Coca-Cola, told WWD that having empathetic leaders “allows for a greater ability to remain grounded during change and crisis.”

“Specifically, leaders with empathy have more confidence and supply the tools to support a team through emotionally charged situations related to race, gender and power, including stepping up for those who have a harder time being heard,” he said. “It’s essentially a willingness to do what’s right rather than stick with the status quo to remain safe.”

Good for business?

Ashley Cox, author, founder and CEO of SproutHR, said taking a humanistic approach benefits managers and employees alike and is also good for business. “Employees are tired of working for companies where they’re simply viewed as parts of a machine, expected to come to work and give their best effort while shutting off everything that inherently makes them human,” Cox told WWD. “However, when we ignore the humanity behind the worker, we’re missing out on the best part of our people.”

Cox said leaders who practice empathy in their roles “lead with more compassion rather than from a place of fear. When employees feel seen, heard and validated as humans, they’re much happier. Time and again, studies show that employee happiness directly impacts engagement, performance and retention. Not only is leading with empathy good for employees, but it’s also good for business.”

When asked how it works, Cox said when practicing empathy leaders step into the shoes of their employees, “allowing them to see things from a new perspective or through a different lens.” She said understanding where your employees are coming from and how they feel “enables leaders to create more thoughtful, diverse, and equitable company cultures and practices. Not only will this benefit current employees, but will also be key to attracting and retaining top talent, regardless of industry.”

Michelle Cordeiro Grant, founder and CEO of lingerie brand Lively, told WWD that business leaders “who practice empathy in their roles results in more creative thinking and idea generation in the business.”

“Without empathy, as a leader you can’t actually know what’s happening in your company’s culture — there’s a facade between your perception and reality,” she explained. “Leading with empathy allows you to get an honest read on where your culture sits today and sets you up to be able to guide it toward where you want it to be tomorrow.”

Cordeiro Grant said being an empathetic leader also goes hand in hand with being a vulnerable one. “Allowing your team to see you not only as a boss, but also as a human who doesn’t actually have all of the answers, paves the way for a foundation to lead and figure it out in the best way possible,” she said adding that practicing empathy as a leader also “creates a corporate culture where employees actually want to stay, are more invested in the company and its future and want to support the evolution of the brand. And, most importantly, they actually care.”