Empathy and Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Signs of the Growing Influence of the Feminine Archetype in Business

In the ever-evolving business world, your ability to access your empathy and emotional intelligence is a must. The workplace is changing to put greater value on these and other feminine qualities. For you as a leader, your effectiveness is no longer simply about making decisions or delegating tasks; rather, your leadership effectiveness is about understanding and connecting with your team on a deeper level.

Let’s look at the growing importance of one feminine quality, empathy. Empathy is about stepping into someone else’s shoes and seeing the world from their perspective. As a leader it is crucial to recognize that each team member has their own challenges, strengths, and aspirations.

In the old masculine-dominated business paradigm, showing empathy by being interested in your employees’ challenges and perspectives would have been seen as weak because employees were mostly seen as cogs in the machine. Their job was simply to show up and “do” without allowing their individuality to get in the way.

But today, empathy is seen as increasingly important. In a recent study, 98% of employees, consider empathy an important factor in the workplace, but only 40% of the employees surveyed agreed that their employers were empathetic. Further, roughly 45% of consumers say they’ll purchase more from a company if it shows empathy.

Additionally, research shows

·         leaders with empathy increase the satisfaction of their employees by 50%. Indeed, 83% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that is empathetic.

·         70 to 80% of virtual workers state that high empathy is important for successful remote work.

·         a lack of empathy contributes to 60% of incidents in the workplace.

·         80% of CEOs report a direct correlation between empathy and the financial performance of their business. Maybe that’s in part due to the fact that around 77% of workers would be willing to work more hours in a more empathetic workplace.

·         And finally, empathy can reduce racism by up to 50%.

How do you show empathy at work? It’s as simple as asking employees how they’re feeling about their current work --whether it’s the same-old, same-old or a new project -- then offering support and guidance as required. As a leader, you can show empathy by recognizing the interpersonal dynamics going on your team and taking time to talk about or check in with team members to enable them to support one another better.

Empathy goes with another increasingly valued feminine quality: emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is about being aware of your own emotions and how they impact others, as well as being able to regulate your emotions effectively.

Leaders who possess emotional intelligence can navigate challenging situations with grace and composure, instead of becoming reactive by letting the fight-or-flight response get the better of them. By demonstrating their own emotional intelligence, you will inspire your team to do the same.

Research shows that supervisors who act in emotionally intelligent ways will create a more positive work climate, have employees who are able to grow into their jobs, and are generally more effective. In short, emotional intelligence is what helps you successfully coach teams, manage stress, deliver feedback, and collaborate with others.

With emotional intelligence, you can achieve two important business goals: create an environment that supports employee well-being, and build greater team cohesion and focus which allow a team to deliver results aligned with company and stakeholder objectives. In fact, some research suggests that you can increase productivity by as much as 20%. This is probably because employees with high emotional intelligence are more likely to stay calm under pressure, resolve conflicts effectively, and respond to coworkers with empathy.

Whether it’s offering support during difficult times, fostering a culture of open communication, or providing constructive feedback, your ability to harness the power of the feminine qualities of empathy and emotional intelligence cannot be overstated. It’s not just about what you do. It’s about how you make your team and others around you feel. By fostering an environment where emotions are acknowledged and valued, leaders can create a culture of trust, collaboration, and psychological safety.

In addition to focusing on completing work competently skill-wise, it’s critical today to have leaders and teams who develop good working relationships with each other and their stakeholders. To that end, empathy and emotional intelligence are qualities that everyone on your team can and should cultivate because in the end, it’s the feminine value of creating human connection that drives success in the workplace today.