Establishing Trust and Rapport
Trust lies at the foundation of every relationship. Without it, people would not be able to form meaningful ones. As work has become such a vital piece of everyday life, colleagues must also be able to trust one another to be productive at the workplace. There is great value in building trust among colleagues, as it leads to more effective collaboration. This is why company leaders must establish a work environment that values trust, compassion, and understanding. While there exist various styles of leadership at the office, it is crucial to strike a balance between compassion and control within management. Effective leadership can maintain a company’s structure, trust employees with work tasks, and express compassion for their health and well-being simultaneously.
In fact, around 90% of employees find greater fulfillment in their jobs when their management demonstrates empathy. These qualities reveal a certain humanness to managers, making them easier to talk or relate to. If an employee naturally recognizes this type of connection with a leader, their morale will increase, enhancing their overall work experience. It is reasonable that we all perform better when we feel valued. True leadership lies not only within a manager’s ability to enforce company policies and expectations but also in the vulnerability they share with their employees, allowing for a more authentic connection. All in all, trust and empathy significantly enhance innovation and productivity, as they undoubtedly form a more supportive work environment.
Why Empathy is Vital for a Healthy Work Environment
There is a common misconception about leadership style in the modern-day workforce. Traditionally, authoritarian leadership has been the most prevalent, suggesting that only a strict and assertive leader warrants respect and compliance. This way, employees fall in line and seldom resist an organization’s structure. In modern times, research has found that supreme authority actually decreases collaboration, trust, and employee morale, leading to a higher employee turnover rate due to dissatisfaction with the work environment.
The solution has much to do with empathetic leadership and the way managers treat their employees, confronting the idea of autocracy and replacing it with democracy. This ultimately enhances employee retention, engagement, and job satisfaction. A work culture that exudes trust and compassion paves the way for open communication, creative thinking, and teamwork. In this environment, all ideas are welcome and valued, leaving no room for baseless criticism or toxic, imbalanced power dynamics.
For example, Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, exemplifies the notion of empathetic and democratic leadership seamlessly, having paved her way toward great success in the auto industry. Through understanding her employees’ and customers’ needs, she has been able to generate greater profits by welcoming innovative ideas and strategies among her colleagues. She believes that connecting with them on an emotional level is a key characteristic of doing business effectively.
Barra demonstrates great integrity in her promotion of ethical conduct and open communication with employees. This approach has led to a more customer-focused outcome,
achieving higher sales and utilizing technology more efficiently, especially with electric vehicles. In fact, she stands on the idea of sustainability and strives towards a greener future in which people may transport as they please while preserving the planet through her zero-emissions agenda.
Trust as the Foundation of Effective Leadership
As Barra also expresses, her success depends on compassionate leadership as the basis for all customer and employee relationships, both inside and outside the company. A compassionate leader will exhibit emotional intelligence and express genuine care for their employees. This is done through building trust and rapport initially, then demonstrating a will to actively listen to employees’ thoughts and feelings. Empathetic leadership will naturally help to build emotional connections among colleagues.
Truthfully, leaders foster a more supportive work environment when they show compassion, according to an overwhelming 87% of United States employees in the Empathy in Business Survey. This enables them to trust their employees with their vulnerable sides, displaying a mutual understanding of one another’s personhood. Compassion plays a significant role in creating a psychologically safe environment for employees who may be in a vulnerable headspace.
The survey also observed that over 75% of employees believe empathy establishes mutual respect among colleagues, cuts down employee turnover, and, relative to business, increases productivity. These outcomes are astoundingly positive, which cannot be said for an autocratic management team that merely focuses on completing work assignments and forgetting that employees are people. As mentioned before, there must be a balance.
Practical Strategies for Establishing Bonds Through Leadership
Interestingly, 90% of employees, past and present, believe that their work culture has determined whether they stay at a company or not. This heavily suggests the large impact a company’s culture has on employee morale. If employees do not feel valued or think the culture is toxic, they will look elsewhere, in search of a more worthwhile and rewarding opportunity. They will stop at nothing to find a company that instills the values of trust, compassion, and fulfillment, prioritizing a more empathetic approach toward leadership and management. They will look for the following:
- Open and Transparent Communication
Communication is key, as they say about relationships in general. Simple and effective communication, when delivered openly and honestly, is the difference-maker in the workspace. Relaying important information to employees brings great value to the table, showing that a leader can be trusted to fill them in. This means leaders should provide regular updates, give constructive feedback, and hold honest discussions; all of these can solidify relationships between leaders and employees. Remember: trust is built through open conversations, especially about what is going on inside and outside the office.
- Ownership and Autonomy
Additionally, trust is established when giving employees the freedom to make their own decisions and take initiative. If a leader only barks orders at their team, an autocracy is bound to form, making work feel more like a dreadful task than a positive experience. Leaders should foster the idea of self-autonomy, allowing employees the opportunity to think for themselves, express their opinions, and experience their own emotions without being judged or reprimanded. This will prove the leader values their input and cares about their true, authentic thoughts and feelings.
Ultimately, this builds solidarity among employees at the office, as everyone begins to feel comfortable sharing their opinions and even giving feedback of their own. A strong, compassionate leader will welcome their employees’ opinions of them and never disregard anything they have to say. It shows accountability and ownership, regardless of who is right or wrong.
- Consistency and Integrity
Once a leader can take ownership of their actions and instill the same values among their employees, integrity becomes a focal part of the work culture. Generally, most people value actions over words; so, when employees observe positive behavior from their leaders, they are more likely to follow suit. For instance, if a leader is consistently the first one into the office in the morning, other employees may feel inspired to do the same. This is more than possible when a leader first builds rapport with their employees and then proves they are consistent through their actions.
These observable behaviors subconsciously create standards by which the employees want to work. This uncovers the true impact of leaders who embody integrity and ethical behavior within the work culture. Another example is when a leader creates a systematic routine of honest check-ins with team members on different projects. This demonstrates the leader’s willingness to stay updated, resolve issues, and offer mitigating solutions, all because they genuinely care. Consistency and integrity are likely the most critical components of empathetic leadership.
- Gratitude and Acknowledgement
A leader becomes a true inspiration when they interact with their employees while recognizing their efforts toward the organization. Minor acts, such as leaving handwritten notes, personalized messages, or little gifts of appreciation, make the world of difference when it comes to building employee morale. Although leaders stand on a higher pedestal, these small deeds inform their employees of their shared equality and humanness at work. It eradicates traditional autocracy, bringing down the barriers between employer and employee, and modernizing the idea of superiority. This is not to say that insubordination is now justified, but rather, the role of a leader has transformed and evolved for the better.
- An Empowering Mindset by Offering Support and Development Opportunities
In this new role, the leader demonstrates compassion for their employees’ needs and recognizes the value of growth. They remain humble amidst challenges and are grounded in their roots, becoming a source of inspiration for everyone around them. Not only do they invest their time and energy into their employees, but they challenge them to strive for continuous learning by offering opportunities for personal development initiatives.
Understanding the Need for Empathy
In the modern workforce, these leaders will shoot straight to the top, as the traditional model of autocracy and instilling fear has been fizzling out. This is because empathetic leaders understand that their colleagues are human first and employees second. While a superiority complex may still exist among company leaders today, an empathetic leader goes against the traditional norm and spins the narrative in their employees’ favor. They initially embed trust, compassion, and support at the workplace before anything else, immediately promoting a culture that is healthy and positive. This culture will bring about positive change and spark inspiration among all colleagues, not merely in the leader who barks orders. Subsequently, this creates a more sustainable work environment with lower employee turnover rates and more understanding of what the company’s objectives are, as long as they align with the proper values.
In fact, it is beneficial to maintain a balance between compassion and control in leadership. If a leader constantly dictates the operation of their company, employees will grow resentful. Conversely, if a leader allows chaos without structure, the company will never be productive or accomplish its goals. This is why robust management must strike a balance between the two, with a primary focus on empathy as the model leadership style. Empathetic leadership drives innovation and productivity on a new level, increasing employees’ tolerance for challenges on the job and garnering more interest and engagement in the projects they work on.
All in all, a compassionate leader will act with integrity, instill positive conduct, and truly value their employees, not just as workers, but as people. They will actively listen to their thoughts, feelings, and opinions, seeking to understand them as individuals by tapping into their own emotional intelligence. And, most importantly, they will consistently check and examine their own leadership styles and take the initiative toward building a more trust-based, supportive work environment.
