Stephanie S. Mead

The article presents some suggestions for senior leaders on how to arm employees with strategic thinking. It is stated that fear of failure and of making mistakes is the first real impediment to progress of an employee. It is suggested that an leaders should break the strategic initiative down into incremental parts and concentrate its energy in these areas. It is opined that leaders should be improvise and be creative in response to the variety of circumstances they encounter. A leader must have the internal discipline and fortitude to stay cool and persist over time.

PLANNING TO WIN

Today’s economy is … challenging. On top of that, some organizations are still adapting to the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, like distributed teams, remote meetings, and hybrid offices. The need for strong leaders is more significant than ever in light of those obstacles.Strong leadership skills are essential for managers to build and lead engaged, innovative teams prepared to handle today’s challenges. And the key to being a strong leader might be different from what you think. In an ELB Learning webinar, Kristie DeLoreto, SVP, Client Solutions, and Laura Doerr, VP, Operations at ELB Learning, demonstrated why empathy matters in leadership.Empathy in leadership is the ability to relate to and connect with people to inspire and empower their lives. However, it’s important for leaders to understand the difference between empathy and sympathy. “It’s a very gray line,” said DeLoreto. “I think you either kind of understand it, or you need to practice to get better at being more empathetic or knowing the difference between those two.”Lack of Empathy vs. EmpathyYou may have worked in environments where the first second somebody has performance problems at work, the automatic response is to say, “You’re out.”That is an example of a lack of empathy. Unfortunately, this can be fairly standard in our business world. Someone walks into your office and says, “Your numbers have been down for the third quarter in a row. You have to pick up your numbers. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee what the future will look like.”How inspired is that person going to be at work the next day? On the flip side, here’s the empathetic approach.Someone walks into your office and says, “Your numbers are down for the third quarter in a row. Are you okay? I’m worried about you. What’s going on?”We all have performance issues. Maybe someone’s kid is sick. Maybe they’re having problems in their marriage. We don’t know what’s going on in their lives, which will affect their performance at work. Empathy means being concerned about the human being, not just their output. Most people don’t want to be bad performers; they want to do a good job. Leaders must remember this.Exercising empathy can help leaders build teams, hire employees, and work with clients.Building teams. According to a 2022 Gallup report, employee engagement has dropped over the last several years to 32 percent, and 17 percent of employees are actively disengaged. Recognizing and respecting your employees’ emotions—even the negative ones—is a powerful way to connect with them. Empathy lays the groundwork for mature leadership and connecting with your workers as people.Hiring employees. Empathy is also important in the hiring process. It gives insight into another person’s motivations and helps you judge whether a candidate is right for a position. “If you look at your candidate with empathy, you can see the person and the human they are. And if they’re going to bring that to the table and bring those right skills and the right fit culturally, and all those other pieces just by thinking about that,” said DeLoreto. Working with clients. By employing empathy in your conversations with clients or subject matter experts, you can better understand their pain points and get on the same page. Having an open, thoughtful, empathetic conversation—especially with difficult clients—where you align and get on the same page will improve your relationship. In addition, empathy allows you to understand how another person is likely to behave, which can be powerful in negotiations.Why Leadership Training Can HelpDuring the webinar, DeLoreto polled the audience, asking who had worked for a leader who lacked empathy at any point in their career. The response was a resounding 95 percent “YES.”Effective leadership training needs to include soft skills training such as empathy. While there will always be a demand for training on hard skills, at ELB Learning, we’re seeing more and more clients come to us for manager and leadership development.

Most Important Skill for Leaders Is Empathy—Here’s Why

 It's the beginning of another month!Time for another The Big Question.November's Question got passions raging and great conversation with real substance whose embers are still glowing as more comments still are flowing in. While we had fewer participating posts this month (21 registered and 10+ thus far found that didn't register with us), the level and depth of the conversations were much more involved and intense.We heard Mark Oehlert's whining about the first two The Big Questions being tough, so here's a softball, or should I say SNOWBALL, for you.The Big Question for December is:What will you remember most about 2006?What are the biggest challenges for you/us as head into 2007?What are your predictions for 2007?Please post your responses to these 3 questions on your blog.You can post about you and your life as a workplace learning professional or you may prefer to post about our field, current events that impact learning, or any other interpretation of these questions that makes sense for you. Reflection on the past, acceptance of where we are today, and putting our hopes for the future out there are very much a part of this time of year for many of us who grew up in Western traditions. Tony and I are hoping these three questions will be come an LCB tradition over the coming years.The Big Question ProcessYou can find more details over in the sidebar, but simply answer these questions by posting your response on your own blog. When you have it ready, come back here to Learning Circuits Blog and fill out the form below regarding your post. We'd appreciate it if you would give a link to this post from your post. Adding The Big Question logo to your post would be a perfect early Christmas present for Tony and I. Once you've entered your post in the form, check out some of the other posts and get involved. Be sure to comment on other participants blogs. or if you should feel a stronger need to write post another post to your own blog and repeat the process again.To those of you who will be celebrating, have a safe and happy holidays! Enjoy the conversations! - Tony and DaveTony Karrer eLearning TechnologyLCB Question for December - Past Year, Present Challenges, Future Predictions 04-Dec-2006 15:19:07 Dave Lee eelearningpast experiences.....More to come... 05-Dec-2006 00:00:00 Karl Kapp Kapp NotesThoughts about 2006 and Predictions for 2007 05-Dec-2006 19:18:42 Geetha Krishnan Simply SpeakingLCB Question for December: 2006 - 2007 05-Dec-2006 22:49:03 Dave Lee e e learninglet's continue...present challenges. future predictions 06-Dec-2006 00:00:00 Aradhana Ravindra My Learning BlogWhat will I remember most about 2006? 06-Dec-2006 07:22:10 Jay Cross Internet TimeHere comes tomorrow... 06-Dec-2006 18:58:34 Clive Shepherd Clive on LearningThe big question 07-Dec-2006 03:53:27 Brent Schlenker Corporate eLearning DevelopmentDecember's BIG QUESION! Part I 07-Dec-2006 20:16:26 Clark Quinn LearnletsDecember's BIG Question(s) 08-Dec-2006 13:30:58 Tom Haskins growing changing learning creatingVersion 3 in 2007 09-Dec-2006 09:28:31 Steve Kaufmannthelinguist.com The Big Question 11-Dec-2006 10:45:25 Wendy in-the-middle-of-the-curveBig Question - Dec 2007 11-Dec-2006 15:17:56 Paul Fender Paul SpeaksThe Big Question 11-Dec-2006 16:33:46 Anil Mammen Discursive LearningReflections, Challenges, Predictions 13-Dec-2006 10:48:28 Geeta Bose Learnability MattersThe year that was! And, the year ahead 14-Dec-2006 04:23:29 Mark Oehlert e-ClippingsThe LCB BIG Question (December 2006) 14-Dec-2006 06:52:03 Jim Blehsaw Managing the Professional Services FirmPast Experiences. Present Challenges. Future Predictions. 16-Dec-2006 17:42:32 Brent Schlenker Corporate eLearning DevelopmentDecember's Big Question Part 3 18-Dec-2006 00:00:00 Brent Schlenker Corporate eLearning DevelopmentDecember's Big Question Part 2 18-Dec-2006 17:29:10 TATA Interactive Systems TIS Corporate BlogLCB Question of the month: December 2006 18-Dec-2006 23:20:00 Stephanie Sandifer Change AgencyLooking Back on 2006 and Ahead to 2007 20-Dec-2006 00:00:00

Stephanie S. Mead

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