Why Leaders and Managers Need Empathy for Success?

Empathy is a beautiful feeling. It has the potential to heal someone. It can make someone forget the pain. What is it? Is it a painkiller or is it some wonder medicine? Do you have the answer? No, perfectly fine. Even, I was not aware of the wonderful healing capabilities of “Empathy”. So, what does it mean? It is the person’s state of mind wherein he/she can understand another person’s feeling or emotions like his feelings. I mean to say that a person who is putting himself or herself in another person’s shoes. It is the broader aspect of Empathy.

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It is believed that empathy is second nature to human beings. It always existed in human nature. Many examples reflect the empathetic nature of an individual. One of the Presidents of The United States of America is known for a very unusual facial expression. He used to bite his lower lip to indicate that he was feeling someone’s pain. We feel sad if a heroes’ ship is sinking in a movie scene. On the other hand, we feel ecstatic if two long lost lovers met after a long time. It shows the deep-rooted empathy in human nature.

It has been observed by scientists many times. This behavior is possible because of the Mirror Neurons. These neurons are believed to be the cornerstone of human empathy. Many kinds of research categorize empathy in two parts: “Cognitive Empathy and Effective Empathy.

Affective empathy is a kind of feeling or sensation one can get in response to the other person’s feelings or emotions. It means a person can get worried if he sees someone in fear or anxiety.

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Cognitive empathy, on the other hand, is a kind of identification and understanding of somebody else’s emotions. It is believed that people suffering from Autism find it difficult to empathize. It is also called a theory of mind by many psychologists.

Empathy in terms of Neuroscientific Viewpoint

The scientific researches of the brain show that a specific area of the brain which is called inferior frontal gyrus is very important for Empathy. If this part of the brain is damaged then that person is unable to identify the emotional aspects of facial expressions.

Empathy in terms of Emotional Viewpoint

It has been discovered that a person can feel emotions for the real people but also imaginary things and people. It is this ability that allows people to understand wide-ranging feelings that are otherwise not possible.

Empathy in terms of Prosocial Viewpoint

Herbert Spencer, a Sociologist who proposed that empathy helps in the endurance of species. Empathy is one such attribute of human beings that promotes “helping behavior”. It is this empathetical nature that aids other people

Now, I am sure we have understood the word Empathy. The next question comes to the mind, why do we need it? A million-dollar question! Why is it even necessary to empathize in the first place? Can’t we do away with empathy? What is going to happen if we cannot empathize?

I know these are lots of questions. They will be answered in a while. Let’s understand the answer to the first question “Why do we need it”.

The world we are living in is called a materialistic world. We love materials more than our relations. Nobody cares if a person is happy or sad. The one thing that matters the most nowadays, is how much wealth a person has. It’s a different matter altogether whether he accumulated that wealth legitimately or not.

If a person is in pain, few lovely words can get him out of that pain for some time. Empathy does not mean that the person requires getting help all the time. It is the feeling expressed by another person that he can understand his thoughts of pain.

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Advantages of Empathy

1-) It increases the social connection among people. When we are empathizing, we are in a better position to understand another person’s feelings and emotions. It means the greater connect within the masses.

2-) It gives people the power to control their own emotions. A manager can manage his emotions even if he is feeling strained or overwhelmed.

3- ) As we discussed above, empathy promotes the behaviour of helpfulness. It will also encourage others to empathize when someone is empathizing.

The above-mentioned points answered the two questions: “Why do we need empathy?” and “Why is it even necessary to empathize at first place?”

Let’s understand or try to find the answer to the question “Can’t we do away with empathy?” Yes, we can however by dropping empathy from our daily essential behaviour, we will also drop the many advantages mentioned above.

Leaders and managers are always at the forefront of any organization. It means they have the added responsibility of not only performing their task with 100% potential but also encourage their employees in times of need by empathizing whenever and wherever required.

Empathy promotes helping behavior. It means a leader or a manager if using empathy at the right time, may help an organization immensely. It will boost the morale of an employee and make him more comfortable while working in that dreadful situation.

On the other hand, if a person in authority is unable to empathize deliberately or he forgets to do so, have a cascading effect on the employees. The employees are more connected to each other than the manager. The news will spread like a fire that the manager cannot understand an employee’s pain. It will be a catastrophe for the working environment of an organization.

The above-mentioned discussion also answered the last question: “What is going to happen if we cannot empathize?” The last thing which I would like to discuss is, “why there is a lack of empathy among people?”.

There can be many answers about why someone is more empathetic while the other person is not. Let’s discuss some of the points.

1. Cognitive Biases: If a person is failed in some task then the other person is linking that failure to his internal characteristics. If the same failure encountered by the same person, he held the external factors liable for it.

2. Blame the Victims:Some people tend to believe that if a person is suffering then it is because of his/her act. This is terrible thinking.

I have tried to cover every possible explanation that I could. A Leader or a Manager is someone who has a huge responsibility to lead a team or an organization. Empathy thus adds value to the leadership values. It makes him/her more approachable. It is one virtue that can make him stand apart from the rest of the leaders or managers of an organization. So, Leaders and Managers, it is my request to create a separate room for Empathy in your thinking arena.