What Makes A Great Leader?

What Makes A Great Leader?

Updated July 24th 2023

I asked a friend of mine about an old boss of his the other day, and what it was that he admired about him. He said that his old boss, let’s call him John, was a brilliant leader and salesman, that he was liked by everyone, that everyone would go out of their way to assist him in building his business and not one single person from factory floor to board of directors had a bad thing to say about him. On asking my friend what it was about this man, that had everyone liking him and wanting to support and collaborate with him, the answer my friend gave was not John’s ability to anticipate what was coming next, say for example, in a competitive market, or to make decisions quickly, or to think critically. The answer my friend gave was plainly and simply, that John was always interested in other people. It always mattered to John how other people were doing, what was going on for them in their lives, what they needed in the way of support with their current role.

Surprising?

Consider this, the ability to anticipate, to think critically and to take decisive action are of the utmost importance for a leader and an organisation to be successful. Nevertheless, being an effective leader is equally about getting the right people to work with and collaborate with to build and sustain the vision and the plan. Finding and keeping the right people depends on building relationships with those people, and building successful relationships depends on the ability to understand peoples’ needs. We can only understand another persons needs if we have an ability to be empathic. In other words, understanding an individual, a group and a markets needs depends on an ability to put ourselves in their shoes and at least try to understand their perspective of the world, regardless of our differing experience, beliefs, attitudes and values.

Empathy as a term is thrown around a lot as something that we should all ideally develop to be effective in our relationships, as leaders, as colleagues, as friends, spouses, parents etc. Nevertheless, by many it is still viewed as one of those things over there in the corner that is a soft skill, and as leaders, how much time do we actually have to develop our soft skills as part of our staff training plan? It is also viewed as being the opposite to the concepts of decision-making etc that leaders need to have.

Consider this though, as globalisation increases, and the world becomes a smaller place, as borders collapse, and businesses expand into different cultures, the success of an organization depends more and more on building effective relationships.

Is it time to be more like John, in our ability as leaders to harness empathy within our organisation, and hence to have a real impact so that everyone can share the success, or should we turn our back on developing this skill and get left behind?…only you can decide.

Empathy, Diversity and Staff Training

Updated July 24th 2023

When we see other people getting hurt, our brain responds in a characteristic way. The same neural circuits that process first-hand experiences of pain are also activated by images of pain in others. This phenomenon can be described as empathy – the ability to share and understand another person’s feelings. For instance, if I accidentally slam a door, hurting my finger, I wince in pain. Similarly, my colleague, who witnesses the incident, experiences distress on seeing my discomfort.

But there is more to human empathy than merely sharing another creature’s pain. Neuroscientists Jean Decety and Philip L. Jackson argue that human empathy requires several components (Decety and Jackson, 2004). Apart from experiencing shared feelings, an empathic person should also possess the ability to:

• A sense of self-awareness and the ability to distinguish one’s own feelings from the feelings of others: When my colleague sees me wince, she feels my pain. But does she understand the source of her discomfort? If my colleague lacks self-reflection, she might not recognize that I am the one in real trouble.

• Having the capacity to regulate one’s own emotional reactions is crucial. Observing someone else’s distress can be unsettling, and if empathy solely involved “sharing feelings,” empathetic individuals might tend to distance themselves from those in distress, so as not to experience such negative emotions. However, to demonstrate empathic concern or sympathy, my friend must be able to manage her own responses to my pain, showing understanding and support instead.

• Considering another person’s perspective is essential in understanding their emotions and experiences. For instance, while I enjoy attending conferences and events overseas, my colleague has had a fear of flying since childhood. Now, suppose we discover that both of us are required to attend an event abroad that involves flying. To comprehend how my colleague feels upon hearing about this necessity, given her role’s requirements, it becomes crucial for me to empathize and grasp her viewpoint. Without such understanding, it could be challenging for me to recognize and relate to her feelings accurately.

Several other factors also influence the likelihood of people demonstrating empathy, such as:
• Being on familiar terms with the person
• Recognising similarities between themselves and the person
• Having personally experienced the circumstances of the individual

Our willingness to show empathic concern is ruled by our moral, societal and political beliefs. Who deserves our empathic concern?  Societies offer different answers to this question. Very often, the answers are about who’s considered “one of us.” A recent survey of preindustrial societies found that people who feel strong loyalty to their own social group are more willing to consider violence against outsiders. (Cohen et al 2006).

What implications does this have in multicultural workplaces and societies? Much of the time, we give less time and attention to others based on them belonging to another group, race, gender. The frightening thing is, that we are often not aware that we are doing this.  Therefore it is essential that as part of every organisation’s staff training,  awareness is brought to everyone’s own biases, and beliefs, so that we consciously treat everyone equally and fairly.

Enabling people to examine their own beliefs, biases, attitudes and how these might be blocking relationships and productivity is a very important aspect of all our staff training. See some of our Open Courses for examples.