How an empathetic leadership style can ignite enthusiasm for new things

Changing habits and behaviors can be exhausting, making people often struggle with transformation processes in their daily work lives. An empathetic leadership style helps managers to alleviate concerns within their teams and to spark enthusiasm for new things, explains Tim van Wasen, Managing Director of Dell Technologies in Germany.

The digitization and an economy characterized by complexity and volatility are changing the daily work lives of people at an unprecedented speed. Many employees feel overwhelmed and not sufficiently involved in change processes. Consequently, they lack the motivation or energy to drive forward the digital transformation in their company, as a study by Dell Technologies also shows.

In the long run, it can endanger the success of a company if teams, for example, do not adopt new tools and processes or unintentionally slow down innovation projects. An empathetic leadership style prevents this by putting the needs and requirements of people at the center. What characterizes a work environment where employees feel valued and experience changes as something positive?

1. Freedom and Trust:

People are a company's most important resource and the central source of innovation, but they need freedom and trust to stay motivated and productive. Instead of summoning them to the office every day and meticulously monitoring their presence, companies should offer them flexible workplace and working time models. This, of course, requires trust, but ultimately, work performance can be much better assessed based on the results rather than the number of hours spent in the office.

Trust also means relying on the experience and expertise of employees and enabling them to work autonomously. Managers who offer their teams more decision-making freedom and flexibility thus foster more creativity, good ideas, and innovations.

2. Meaningful Activities:

Boring and repetitive tasks can be demotivating over time and even make people sick. Those who always perform the same undemanding work steps will sooner or later suffer from so-called bore-out, feeling constantly exhausted and drained despite a seemingly low workload. It is better to challenge employees with demanding tasks – after all, few things are as fulfilling as solving a difficult problem or completing a complex project.

However, people need modern tools that facilitate their interaction with others and take over tedious tasks like manual data transfers. Only then can they focus on meaningful activities and tasks that require creativity, knowledge, and experience.

3. Communication at Eye Level:

In highly hierarchical companies, employees often feel unheard. They find it difficult to express their opinions or make suggestions for improvement because they do not receive any appreciation for it. Flat hierarchies and managers who see themselves as allies of their teams prevent this. They provide their teams with support at all times and convey recognition for commitment even when it is not crowned with success.

They openly address mistakes and see them as opportunities for improvement, so employees dare to try new things and drive innovation through bold decisions. Open communication in all directions helps managers to lead empathetically and to identify and resolve potential conflicts like pressure and overwhelm, differing opinions, or varying expectations within the team in a timely manner.

4. Equal Opportunities:

Every person is different and brings their own experiences and work methods into a company. Groups in which employees of different backgrounds, ages, genders, and professional paths come together usually find more creative and innovative solutions than very homogeneous teams – simply because diversity broadens the horizon and is inspiring.

However, managers must also take this diversity into account by creating equal opportunities and listening equally to all team members. Their words and actions provide a guideline for others and are the basis for team cohesion and an open interaction with each other.

Empathetic Leadership Style – Conclusion

Empathy and leadership are anything but contradictory, even though managers often seem to believe so. In fact, empathy is indispensable when it comes to leading teams. Because only those who listen, trust, communicate openly, express appreciation, and actively support their employees create a work climate in which everyone feels comfortable and is inspired to perform at their best. With an outdated leadership understanding, companies can neither successfully implement transformation processes nor win the War for Talents.

About the person

Tim van Wasen is Managing Director of Dell Technologies Germany.

Source: hrjournal.de