Author: Mayte Barba, researcher at the Conscious Enterprises Center of Tecnológico de Monterrey.
One of the contexts where the lack of empathy is most acutely felt is when we make mistakes.
Empathy is a value of great importance that allows us to lead a healthy social life and confront the complexity of human relationships in a diverse and constantly changing world. In this sense, empathy plays a crucial role in community building. Professionals who study human behavior understand that empathic expression is essential for human development, especially in the pursuit of a fairer world free from violence.
Empathy leads us to genuinely care about other people and understand their concerns and contexts, distancing ourselves from judgment and criticism. This ability to understand others' emotions and thoughts is an essential part of emotional intelligence, as it enables us to identify and manage our own emotions and those of others. In fact, as Stanley McChrystal rightly stated, effective leadership largely boils down to empathy.
More than two thousand years ago, Publio Terencio Afro wrote the phrase that summarizes the essence of empathy: "Nothing human is alien to me." This means that as human beings, we can understand and relate to the experiences and emotions of others. We have felt pain, sadness, love, frustration, happiness, and anger, which deeply connects us with others.
The poet Octavio Paz expressed this idea extraordinarily in his poem "Piedra de Sol":
"To be I must be another, leave myself, seek myself among the others, the others who are not if I do not exist, the others who give me full existence, I am not; there is no I, we are always us."
However, empathy can be problematic if we do not know how to balance it. Paul Bloom, in his book "Against Empathy," argues that it can provoke biases and lead to impulsive decisions, as it uses immediate and personal emotions that do not consider rational aspects and anticipating long-term consequences. In this context, the proposal is to enrich empathy with rational compassion, which involves both feeling and understanding others' emotions but also critically considering the broader context of situations and the consequences of the decisions we make regarding them.
One of the contexts where the lack of empathy is most acutely felt is when we make mistakes. In the human sphere, errors are inevitable. Although we wish they would not happen, they can affect our projects, image, and results. How leaders react to mistakes influences the loyalty and trust of their collaborators. According to research, a compassionate response from a leader to mistakes leads to better results. Furthermore, these situations can be opportunities to provide constructive feedback, offer guidance, and share learning experiences, even from the leader's own mistakes.
In this sense, empathy is the first step in creating that environment of psychological safety that allows us not to lose sight of the value of the person and to take advantage of those experiences for individual and organizational growth and learning, which is one of the main responsibilities of a leader. With that start, we can then move towards rational compassion, making more balanced and strategic decisions, considering long-term well-being, and reducing the impulsive component that Bloom warned about. Ultimately, empathy can help leaders generate interactions in which people come out believing more in themselves, with greater confidence in their relationship with their leader, and in a mental and emotional state that allows them to face problems with greater resources.
To develop empathy in our roles as leaders, here are some recommendations:
- Active Listening: Pay genuine attention to what others have to say without distractions or interruptions.
- Open and Honest Communication: Foster an environment where collaborators feel comfortable expressing their opinions and concerns.
- Acceptance of Differences: Recognize the uniqueness of each individual and work on overcoming cognitive biases through self-awareness.
- Development of Respect: Encourage an environment of mutual respect where all voices are valued and respected.
- Sensitivity to Others' Context and Realities: Understand that personal circumstances can influence others' actions and reactions.
- Act Compassionately: Focus on understanding and supporting others rather than judging or blaming.
- Forgiving Mistakes: Recognize that we all make mistakes and be willing to forgive and help others learn from them.
- Dedicate Time to Get to Know Collaborators and Colleagues: Understand their aspirations, challenges, and personal goals.
- Balance the Mind and the Heart: Exercise an open and calm mind, as well as a sensitive heart connected to the needs and emotions of others.
Originally published by El Financiero.