Behind every successful business, it’s very likely that you will find a leader who has perfected the art of being empathetic.
Experienced entrepreneurs know that success cannot come if only financial matters are taken into account.
This is why leaders focus their attention on understanding how clients and employees view the business itself, as this can help create better strategies. It is the employees who are in contact with clients, so it is extremely important to respond to their requests with understanding and empathy..
World-renowned leaders express their gratitude through employee rewards, training and development, sending the message that the company cares for them. The logical consequence of creating a positive work atmosphere are the results that lead to long-term business success.
The power of empathy in business is reflected in the understanding of clients, their needs, fears, desires, and even the things that keep them awake at night. If one sales team understands their customer, then they can easily explain to the potential customer how certain services or products can improve their life.
And what is more important than increasing sales is that this approach builds customer loyalty and increases the number of referrals. In order for firms to have loyal clients and good teamwork, it is the responsibility of managers to create a culture of empathy throughout the organization of the firm.
It is a complex ability that consists of three distinctive parts:
- Cognitive empathy – the capacity to understand the perspective or mental state of another.
- Emotional empathy – the appropriate response to other people’s emotions.
- Somatic empathy – understanding others’ pain and helping them.
Empathy is directly linked to accelerated productivity and innovation
Numerous studies have shown a correlation between employees who possess strong empathy with productivity and innovation.
This is reflected in increasing efficiency as innovative ideas of employees influence the increase in the number of solutions offered by a company through its services or products. Therefore, these leaders tend to hire people with developed “soft skills” because those skills cannot be perfected during a short training course for a specific job position, and are strongly reflective of the differentiation and success of businesses on the market.
The 2017 Aristotle Project, published by Google, showed that the most important new company ideas came from B-teams consisting of employees with a wide range of soft skills, including equality, generosity, curiosity, others, empathy, and emotional intelligence.
These teams did not always have top experts, but members felt encouraged when presenting at meetings, knowing that they were listened to carefully by leaders and top managers, and thus, great ideas were born.
Higher competitive advantage and market value
Companies that achieve great success and whose employees have the best performance are also at the top of the list in terms of empathy. This might seem surprising at first, taking the current global capitalist economy into account. However, statistics show that empathy is more important to business success today than ever before.
What do the results of empathy research say?
Research data show that companies that foster a culture of empathy attract more highly educated and proactive staff. Such companies, according to statistics, have more loyal employees, who stay longer in the same company.
According to a Gallup poll, 60 percent of millennials are open to new job opportunities, while only 29 percent say they feel comfortable with their current job engagement.
Studies by the Queens School of Business and Gallup show that this lack of empathetic connection between employees and the firms they work for can result in lower productivity and missed workdays.
The Center for Creative Leadership reports data that also advocates the importance of empathy in business. An analysis of 6,731 managers in 38 countries showed that empathy has a positive effect on business results. In particular, managers who showed empathy received higher ratings of their supervisors’ performance than managers who did not demonstrate these skills.
Importantly, the study also emphasized that this ability can be learned. Proactive training with segments such as active listening-teaching and techniques have the effect of increasing empathy in many businesses and should take part in team-building activities.
Although empathy is usually considered to be more on an individual level, people who have soft skills developed understand that empathy can be a massive phenomenon that can bring about radical social changes.
Understanding the power of social networks can contribute to the spread of empathy for the purpose of creating positive mass action, and the immense benefit of social networks will come when users are willing to transmit not only information but also empathic connectivity.
