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Cindy Zhou shares how to be more empathetic at work. Cindy is the Chief Marketing Officer at LogRhythm, is based in Boulder, Colorado, and leads a team around the globe. She led teams as an executive at IBM and has worked with startups. Cindy talks about utilizing the principles of Agile by having a daily standup and doing a lot of skip-level one-on-ones. Through Cindy’s interview, you’ll find how to be a more connected, trusting, and vulnerable leader as you lead your “team from anywhere.”
Why Empathy Is Important
“Just taking a moment to ask people how they are doing is more important than ever.”
Empathy builds leadership, strengthens relationships, fosters work productivity and overall job satisfaction
What Empathy Means
Empathy is fundamentally your ability to see the world as somebody else does.You understand what it feels like to be that person.
How to Demonstrate Empathy
With an empathy-first leadership philosophy, leaders take time to understand what their team is going through and try to alleviate fear as much as they can. They can be more empathetic at work by listening and connecting first and not jumping to give advice.
Characteristics of Empathy
- Be Genuine,
- Care about your team,
- Great desire to make your team proud
- Want what’s best for the team.
Think about how you can be a better leader for your team so that your team sees career progression and a solid future at your organization by offering possible routes for the future, and possible learning opportunities.
How to Demonstrate Empathy in One-On-One/Daily Standup Meetings
- Open up your one on ones with how that person on your team is doing physically and mentally. How’s your family? How are your loved ones?
- Focus on building trust through transparency and vulnerability in your communication.
- Be open about personal challenges, your own personal life situations, and life stories.
- Helps you be visible and have a strong leadership presence.
- A consistent thread of communication on a daily basis
How to Demonstrate Empathy in Meetings with A New Team as a New Leader
- Speak with every single person one on one
- What’s working?
- What’s not working?
- Career aspirations?
- What will you (as the leader) promise?
- Transparency?
- Trustworthiness?
- Openness?
- To share your thinking behind every decision that you make even if someone doesn’t agree?
- To consider every team member and the team as a whole when making decisions?
- Benefits of this conversation as a new leader:
- The team is comfortable and confident in what they are doing
- They feel that their work matters
- Takes time, yes, but pays off in dividends over time. Prioritize one-on-one meetings over other kinds of meetings because your team is your first priority.
Links
To learn how to become more empathetic at work, listen to this episode today.
Online Leadership Courses to Lead a Team From Anywhere:
Check out these online courses for remote leaders from the Team Anywhere Team.
How to Be an Effective Remote Manager | How to Build Virtual Accountability
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