Leadership in times of crisis: the importance of compassion in the workplace

Leaders have been experiencing new challenges: in times of crisis, such as the pandemic and its sudden shift to remote work, they must be able to lead but also to take care of people both at the office and at a distance. Empathy, listening, involvement and effective communication are the most important skills.

Good leadership has always been a moving target. Not only in business but also in education, sport and politics, leaders have to constantly adapt to changing conditions, without losing sight of their people and their organization’s purpose. 

Covid-19 has brought a series of new and fast-changing challenges to leaders, who were affected as acutely as those they lead. With no guidance or precedent, they responded by implementing a mishmash of reactive work-from-home strategies to ensure business continuity with no real long-term plan: juggling between supporting both their teams and their stakeholders and the gradual re-opening of physical office locations has demanded an extra level of resilience and strength of character.

With mass vaccinations being rolled out in many countries, the return-to-office seems to be on the horizon, with many businesses exploring the pros and cons of permanent hybrid working arrangements. 

As leaders ponder their options for the road ahead, it is necessary to take stock of the past year and learn the lesson: remote work has taught us that people can deliver results whether they are in the office or working remotely and that old-fashioned managers and organizations are often a bottleneck. The challenge is not the physical distance but in mindset. It needs to change radically if we want to embrace the future of work.

Living at Work

Remote work can unlock productivity and creativity but also push burnout. Meetings are booming, workdays are lengthening. In fact, research shows that the average workday during lockdown was 48 minutes longer: employees have been sending more emails, they have attended more meetings and exchanged an increasing number of chat messages. Did we really become more flexible, or did the line between personal and professional become more and more blurry? 

A recent survey by Sifted shows that the shift to remote working actually made a toxic environment worse, amplifying the negative effects of micromanagement. Lack of communication and trust was the most common reason given, as companies moved personal interactions to Zoom and Slack without a real strategy and purpose.

As we begin to emerge from a pandemic that upended the way we live and work, more and more companies are opting for a hybrid workforce. But the transition back to workplaces comes with undeniable challenges and uncertainty on how to implement a hybrid strategy means running the risk of negatively affecting people's lives, careers and mental health. 

While the shift to a hybrid workforce comes with undeniable challenges, there are actionable steps employers, leaders and employees can take to ease the transition and effectively support people’s well-being, whether they’re in the boardroom or in their home office. The first step to achieving an effective remote leadership model is self-compassion and empathy, seeking support through self-care practices and perhaps also reaching out for peer support.

The post-pandemic workplace: flexibility, diversity and empathy

The future of work looks promising for both businesses and workers. But to build resilient and inclusive hybrid organizations, leaders must grow from the challenges of the past year. Addressing everyone’s needs and well-being, including their own, won’t be an easy task for leaders: it will require empathy, creativity and a strong commitment to building an inclusive environment. 

If it’s true that we are moving toward a mixed model of work, with some employees at the office and others outside of the physical space, company leaders will first of all need to consider bias, and set people for success regardless of their location. Furthermore, at an organizational level, dynamic and responsive leaders can begin to proactively promote practical initiatives to counteract the impact of home working. Examples included:

• Mimic the commute - suggesting home workers walked, cycled or got outside during the usual commute to/from work time period

• Walkabout meetings - planning walking, audio work meetings

• Plant and Grow - delivering plant boxes to staff homes to encourage non-work activities and sharing of gardening tips

• Step Challenges - team and group walking challenges to build morale and support health and wellbeing

• Zoom quizzes and challenges - supporting team social interactions via various video conferencing events and challenges

Photo by Michael Burrows from Pexels

As outlined by Jess Baker, a business psychologist and leadership coach, empathetic leadership means having the ability to understand the needs of others, and being aware of their feelings and thoughts. According to Jess, these are the fundamental traits of a compassionate leader:

•  empathy – they can tune into how other people are feeling

• curiosity – they take an authentic interest in others; ignoring preconceived ideas of people (ie unconscious bias) helps everyone to feel included

• connectivity – they develop healthy relationships with colleagues and clients

• contribution - they consider their work meaningful and understand their role in delivering outcomes, cooperating fully with colleagues, and committing to the result

• courage - because the right decision is not always an easy one to take

However, embracing emotions and reactions to a crisis is, first of all, done on an individual level: unless we recognize our own natural human response to a crisis and process these strong emotions, we won’t be able to grasp these reactions from whoever we seek to help. To put it in another way, leaders must help themselves before they can do the same for others. 

Succeeding at the Hybrid Game: Learn Empathy 

To improve their performance and effectiveness, leaders may need to develop the capability to demonstrate empathy. Some people naturally exude empathy and have an advantage over their peers who have difficulty expressing empathy. Most leaders fall in the middle and are sometimes or somewhat empathetic. Fortunately, empathy is not a fixed trait. It can be learned. If given enough time and support, leaders can develop and enhance their empathy skills through coaching, training, or developmental opportunities and initiatives.

The pandemic has had an interesting impact on empathy learning: with an unexpected glimpse into each other’s intimate home settings caused by home working and video calls, COVID19 has accelerated leaders ability to be compassionate, to really listen and relate to their team’s experience. Now, with the summer months that have allowed leaders the rest time and recovery they need, they can continue as they have already started: asking people what they need, listening and then doing what is their power to support their teams, building on the foundation of compassionate leadership already created. Truly leading with empathy into the next stage of the pandemic recovery.