Hi there and welcome. It’s Kerstin Jatho here from 4Seeds Consulting, a transformational coach who shifts people from languishing to flourishing. In this video, I want to talk to you about a key leadership skill called empathy.
Empathy is about putting yourself in another person’s shoes for a while and not solving their challenge. And that’s the key difference between empathy and sympathy. Empathy, as I say, you put yourself in their shoes, you try and feel it, you try and understand it, but then you move out of that position again and you go back to your own.
In a 2019 study, it has been demonstrated that companies and leaders who focus on empathy as part of their culture, naturally increase performance, productivity, innovation, engagement, and motivation. All these nice-to-have things that we want.
So how do you bring empathy into your leadership style? And the two key questions to always think about when it comes to empathy is, what impact does this decision have on my team?
So, it can be a simple thing like, ‘we want to increase turnover by 20%’, which is a nice goal to have. But do you think about what that means for your team? How does this decision impact on them? So that’s where empathy comes in. You put yourself in their shoes for a while.
The second one is about thinking, ‘is the decision that we are making as a company or as a leader … Is it fair and just towards the employees?’ And if not, ‘what are the barriers that we can remove and make it easier for them?’ So, empathy is key. It fosters positive relationships and brings in a very high, enjoyable culture, which is what we all want. We want to work for companies where we like to go to.
Over to you for sharing your comments and experiences.
How are you bringing empathy into your organization and what are the successes from doing that?
About the Author: Kerstin Jatho
Kerstin is the senior transformational coach and team development facilitator for 4Seeds Consulting. She is also the author of Growing Butterfly Wings, a book on applying positive psychology principles during a lengthy recovery. Her passion is to develop people-centred organisations where people thrive and achieve their potential in the workplace. You can find Kerstin on LinkedIn, Soundcloud, YouTube and Facebook.
