Why Empathetic Leadership Builds Strong Teams

Taking employee relations to a more empathetic level leads to stronger bonds, higher levels of performance and improved retention rates.

This approach and its benefits were explained by David Suson, author and corporate leadership coach with Proliance Group LLC, at the SHRM Talent Conference & Expo 2024 on April 15.

Leaders who manage with empathy, Suson said, create a work environment of highly engaged individuals. In these settings, morale and performance are at an all-time high, and no one wants to leave.

“Top performers are excited about their jobs, and they love it,” Suson said.

He said these employees stay with their companies because they aren’t complaining about their managers.

“They’re not complaining about anything,” he said, “and all the company’s problems seem to go away. That whole idea of quiet quitting, where people are just doing enough to get by, is gone.”

In a survey of more than 3,000 workers, Suson said he found that the No. 1 reason people gave for quitting is that they hated their boss. Those who said they would never quit told Suson it was because they loved their boss.

Creating that environment “is not rocket science,” he said.

“Actually, it’s very simple. If you want an amazing environment, you must foster a culture of open communication, invest in professional development, recognize and reward excellence, promote work/life balance, and provide expectations and opportunities for career advancement,” Suson said.

This is not a culture where other workers can take advantage of a supervisor’s empathy, however.

“It’s the opposite,” Suson said. These employees work harder for their supervisors because they feel valued as individuals.

For many bosses, their first exposure to leadership or management came from their parents and teachers—and for those who played sports, their coaches—Suson explained.

“If you broke curfew, your parents would punish you. If you got a bad grade or acted up, you had to stay after in class. If you were late for practice, your coach would make you run laps,” he said.

Much of the time, how we were trained as kids was through threats or intimidation, he said.

Some managers say, “ ‘It’s my way or the highway. I have your paycheck. If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, you’re going to lose your job,’ ” Suson said. But successful managers have changed this mindset to “ ‘I’m lucky you chose to work for me. You could work anywhere, and you chose me. I’m so lucky.’ ”

He said it’s easy to inspire people instead of fire people: Get your workers to want to work harder by showing them that you value them.

 Paul Bergeron is a freelance writer based in Virginia.