Before communicating, put yourself in their shoes
Empathy goes a long way in helping leaders connect with employees.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders took quite a refresher course in how best to communicate with employees. I’ve spoken to executives from a variety of industries on five continents, and much of what they said about communicating during that time is remarkably similar. Whether in banking, consumer products or consulting, they were worried about communicating effectively as well as about their employees’ safety and emotional state.
The advice I gave them then is no different from what I recommend to leaders facing any crisis: Before you communicate, put yourself in the shoes of the people you’re talking to. During the height of the pandemic, people all over the world were feeling challenged—their world had been shaken. They might express their feelings in culturally different ways, but the actual feelings are the same. They have the human need for empathy—to know the feelings they are experiencing are acknowledged.
Here is some solid advice about how to do this.
1. Don’t pretend that you know how your employees are feeling.
An executive doesn’t know what hourly workers feel like or what personal challenges their employees might be confronting. Do they have elderly parents to take care of? Do they have a child with special needs? Are they in debt?
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