What is the Applied Empathy style of leadership?
Over several years of professional life, I observed and learned a few things about leadership while being a part of effective and average teams. I realised that People, Process and Technology are the three foundations of any project, product or service delivery. The Process and Technology components have evolved over centuries since we entered the industrial age that is now entering into the fourth industrial revolution (“Industry 4.0”) era. However, the People part has been consistent forever and influenced the execution of processes and technology. Maybe that’s why people management lessons by Dale Carnegie from 1936 are still relevant as the best seller self-help book.
The above observations about the significance of the people part made me more interested in understanding the subjects of people management and leadership. In this quest, I have learned that empathy matters and coined the term “Applied Empathy” to bundle a bunch of thoughts around how to lead effectively. I first used this term on LinkedIn in response to a post from Mark Jivko. Later, I got to pen it down in detail when the leadership coach Miles Welch asked me on Twitter (@milesw) for my topic of interest for his newsletter on leadership. You will read below my impromptu response explaining my ideas of applied empathy to Miles. Given the opportunity, I will endeavour to follow this leadership style with the simple philosophy of treating my team members as I prefer to be managed with dignity and applied empathy.
LinkedIn post from Mark Jivko describes the detachment part well, which is a significant component in applied empathy to keep things professional. Effective leadership is about getting the best possible outcome from the team. In this quest, Applied Empathy is one style where you, as a lead, endeavour to find ‘the why’ of each team member. It is a selfless attempt to be in your teammate’s shoes and think about what he/she seeks best for herself from this role or project. The approach finds answers to “Why they doing What they doing” which could help a leader to identify doers in the team who love to take ownership of their work.
As Mark said in the post, the process involves getting to know them better without being their BFFs, i.e. the shoulder to cry on. In the professional world, everyone is chasing something to move-on/resign, which should not adversely impact you emotionally as a lead with applied empathy. However, you have to give your best to find out doers in your team by figuring out the followings :
- What drives them?
- Which component of execution can they best serve in?
- Any insecurities they may have?
- What qualities and values helped in their past academic, sports, professional or other achievements?
- Do you remind them of their qualities and values to overcome difficulties/insecurities?
There are always passive and lost people everywhere; you can’t change everyone in your team. However, once you find doers, please keep them in the position of responsibility while keeping the lost ones or newbies on low-risk/transferable work. With applied empathy, you can find doers and make them feel they have their ‘say and share’ in the end game, eventually increasing the feeling of ‘Us’ in the team.
So, in a nutshell, Applied Empathy is all about the People in your team. Take care of critical people in your team, and they will take care of projects/clients.
I hope I explained it well enough in my first attempt to describe applied empathy in leadership. I know there could be more to this. Apologies if it is too vague. I will endeavour to add more with time and experience. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
