By Doug Van Dyke, Leadership Simplified, www.leadershipsimplified.com

Recently, I read an article about Yo Yo Ma, the renowned cellist. While the article highlighted several of his accomplishments, it also delved in to what motivates him. Early in his career, the thrill of travel excited him. In his thirties, he enjoyed collaboration with other talented professionals. Once he and his wife had children, however, he began to question the meaning of his profession. Importantly, he assessed how he could make a difference in the world. Yo Yo Ma also listed the personal quality that he believes is the most valuable to possess. He put it this way: “The most important thing we can do as humans and enlightened people is to be empathetic.” Perhaps there is a lesson for enlightened leaders in Ma’s statement. Let’s look a bit further.

Good old Webster’s defines empathy as “understanding and being sensitive to the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another without having the feelings, thoughts, and experiences fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.”  Does being an empathetic leader mean being wimpy? No, no, my friends. You can still be quite strong, and direct, and effective while being empathetic. However, being an empathetic leader does call for three key abilities.

0. The ability to tap into your EQ. The trait of empathy is tied to emotional intelligence or EQ (emotional quotient). As such, seek to understand or expand other EQ items such as optimism that can enhance empathy characteristics. For many leaders, focusing on the emotions that other team members are feeling is very difficult. They would prefer to be strictly rational, logical. For these professionals, an expanded knowledge of EQ is important. Here is the good news: EQ can be learned. That’s right! We can grow our intelligence and get smarter (lots smarter). In the process, we can broaden our leadership impact by effectively modeling empathy in appropriate situations.
   
   
0. The ability to convey. What I mean here is that you are able to communicate in a fashion that lets others know you understand how they are feeling. This ability centers on the skill of asking terrific open-ended questions, listening attentively, and using power paraphrasing during your responses. Your ability to convey your understanding will forge higher, more meaningful collaborative relationships with team members. If you need some brushing up on the mission critical skills of questioning, listening, and responding, consider reading a spiffy book named Leadership Simplified or listening to the related communication CD. 
   
   
0. The ability to implement. Gathering information, embracing concepts, and learning skills is all well and good. Nothing impacts positive results, however, quite like implementation. A leader’s ability to take concepts and plans and turn them into strategic reality is paramount to team success. So how do leaders improve their ability to implement? Answer: A cocktail of focus, guts, and trial and error.

First, leadership calls for focus. There are a lot of leaders who get caught up in management fads and “good ideas” suggested by a smattering of peers. Blindly following these can lead to a directional zig-zag that can confuse team members and hurt productivity. But focus calls for leaders to quickly sift through this kudzu and keep their sights on the strategic plans they crafted the previous year or quarter. Note: there is nothing wrong with intelligently tweaking strategic plans from time to time.

The second item pertaining to implementation is guts. It takes some chutzpa to implement. There are risks. And great leaders always take risks – calculated ones. In contrast, most poor leaders are so risk averse that they miss out on opportunities that would have otherwise catapulted their organizations forward.

The third item is trial and error. Leadership calls for us to try things. If we are good, most of the things we try work out well. Some things do not. Smart leaders learn a lot from setbacks. Take that learning and inject it into your next calculated, strategic risk. Realize this: when we stop trying new things, when we cease to innovate, when we stop reinventing our organizations, we are dead in the water.       

Bottom Line: Change seems to be happening at a faster pace than ever. Performance expectations are high, and they are not going to diminish anytime soon. As quality professionals we must intelligently lead our teams through an aggressive marketplace. It is easy to become Attila The Hun when faced with this scenario. During this holiday season, take a step to the side and tune in to what your team members might be feeling. Use high-level communication skills to make certain you are on-target with your understanding of their feelings and perspective. Seek to be an empathetic leader. It does not mean you have to be a big softie. The result of your empathy will be a richer understanding of your team’s psyche, coupled with ideas on how to propel their success to a higher level.

Merry Christmas, my friends. Be safe, enjoy many wonders, and be thankful!   

Doug Van Dyke is a leadership and communication consultant, executive coach, and business planner. He is the author of Leadership Simplified – THE Field Guide for Savvy Leaders.  Doug’s audios and videos are also available at www.leadershipsimplified.com. To learn more about consulting services, coaching, and training, or to have Doug speak at your next event, contact him today at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). 

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