High Growth Firms are Driving Revenue and Retaining Top Talent with a Secret Weapon … Empathy

When I was in college, my dad invited me to visit USA Today’s corporate offices outside of D.C.; he helped launch the newspaper and broadcasting company and eventually served as its president. As a communications and public relations major, I was thrilled with the opportunity to learn how the USA Today team produced their powerful articles supported by data-rich infographics and color photography. But little did I know the most important career and life lesson I’d learn … happened before I even hit the elevator.

When my dad escorted me into the lobby, he first introduced me to the receptionist. Before we left her desk, he told her, “We appreciate what you do every day to make us successful.” I still remember the pride in her smile. We then passed a custodian on our way to the elevators. My dad greeted him by name and asked, “How’s your wife recuperating from surgery?” After hearing that she was doing well, my dad responded, “Glad to hear it. You just let us know if you need anything.” When we got in the elevator, my dad advised, “Never forget to truly see and listen to the people who are driving your success.” Referring to the receptionist and custodian, he continued, “Every talent member adds value so look for it, those two are your company’s first impression: the cleanliness and the efficient warm welcome.” I’ve never forgotten this lesson. Empathetic leadership is not new, but today in an era of client and talent demanding authentic and transparent problem solving solutions, compassionate empathy from leaders is essential. According to a Deloitte study, before the pandemic even hit 42% of talent members were experiencing burnout in 2020. No surprise the pandemic and Great Resignation have brought record-breaking changes to the employment market. Millions of Americans left their jobs each month last year, and along with increased burnout and stress levels, many employees are reevaluating their values and attitudes about their work. This volatility is drastically affecting your bottom line. High turnover costs time and resources to find and train new employees and can shake your clients’ trust in your team’s reliability. Instability can also affect your team members’ productivity and innovation. Today’s leaders cannot afford to ignore tools that will retain and attract talent, drive growth, empower employees to become key revenue drivers, and enhance relationships with clients and partners. What I’m seeing in high growth firms is the committee of leadership embracing compassionate empathy as an essential tool to take care of both their talent and clients. Your team and your clients want authenticity, the reassurance that you acknowledge them and their problems, and a supportive partnership. With its focus on action and a willingness to help, compassionate empathy can accomplish what emotional and cognitive empathy cannot. Simply knowing what someone is experiencing doesn’t help that person. If someone approaches a problem practicing emotional empathy alone, that person may become paralyzed by emotions and unable to find a solution. Over time, someone practicing emotional empathy risks becoming emotionally drained themselves. With compassionate empathy, a leader can feel and understand the emotions involved but separate themselves from the problem to find the best solution. This practice is rejuvenating as the practitioner is energized by helping others instead of being drained.

How do I practice compassionate empathy?

To practice compassionate empathy, you must train yourself to acknowledge the feelings at play in a problem and then step back to assess the entire situation and decide on a solution. You must create space for compassionate empathy in your work. Like my dad, it’s a muscle you flex by intentionally incorporating it into daily activities like walking into the office. It doesn’t have to be rocket science. It’s the little touches, taking five extra minutes in your 1:1 meetings to connect. I often suggest a walk about for CEOs. Once a month walk around the office just to informally connect person-to- person and actively listen. Your teams see you as engaged and approachable. Believe it or not, these little visibility efforts also reduce some of the noise and drama simply because your talent feels seen. These skills are equally impactful when we take a few extra minutes to actively listen to clients today. Often times it’s through these additional moments of conversation we find another way to help clients combat an newly discovered challenge, further solidifying and often expanding your relationship. I have structured my day to ensure I can practice compassionate empathy. When I noticed I was spending time simply reacting to my inbox messages, I began writing out a to-do list to set the day’s course before logging in to my computer. I also ensure I am truly present during meetings and phone calls and have an open door policy to be available for my team in my office and online. This helps me find time for talent empowerment and development, and I’ve found it’s my favorite part of the day. I also reduced meeting time from one hour to forty-five minutes with intentional agendas and key takeaways to ensure efficiency. Compassionate empathy only works if it’s genuine and if the recipient recognizes it as authentic. We’ve all been the recipient of a hurried “How are you?” This filler question anticipates a quick, reassuring answer so the parties can move on to the substance of the conversation. Investing some time to learn about and ask the custodian about his wife’s recovery from surgery will show you care about your team members as humans. You should ask specific questions about work, family, or anything that might be on the employee’s mind. If you know someone is struggling with a work task, collaborate with that employee to develop a solution to remove obstacles and enable that team member to successfully finish that project. You may find that your compassionate empathy practice differs from another’s practice, do what works for you as it becomes more authentic. Perhaps you enjoy ten-minute virtual coffee meetings with employees or company town hall meetings to share data and insights. Regardless of the form it takes, the time you invest in your team will be well worth it the next time a recruiter wants to chat with your talent or the competition approaches a client.

Contact us to see if we can help you with your talent challenges today.