262: Employees Need Empathy From Leaders and Half Aren't Getting It with Raj Sharma

A great leader is able to resiliently and bravely handle core challenges and address key obstacles, all while building a work culture of belonging, safety and trust. And having leaders who demonstrate true empathy has become far more important to employees in today’s post-covid world. To explore what empathy in the workplace is today and how leaders must demonstrate it more fully and authentically, is our inspiring guest Raj Sharma from Ernst & Young. 

Raj is the Vice Chair at Ernst & Young (EY) Consulting. His 25 years of experience in commercial and financial services has helped him become a global business executive and transformative technology leader, building businesses and executing strategic growth initiatives worldwide. He now leads over 25,000 consultants across the Americas service line.

In our conversation, we explore the importance of empathy in leadership by examining EY’s recent study on empathy in business. We learn about the most compelling results from the study and what motivated EY to do this research in the first place, how their findings can help other leaders, and what our guest thinks about empathy overall. 

Discussing the research findings that over 50% of employees don’t see real empathy at work, Raj explains how empathy can lead to innovation and accountability and how you can improve actionable empathy in your own workplace. We discuss his 5 steps for becoming a great leader and what Raj finds most challenging about managing such a large workforce. Finally, we explore the idea that leaders aren’t just “born” – there is a great deal of work, commitment and self-mastery required in becoming a highly effective leader and manager. To learn more about empathy and its critical role in sustaining a successful organization, don’t miss today’s show. 

 

Key Highlights From This Episode:

• A note of thanks to our loyal listeners for 500 000 downloads and our top 1.5% ranking! [00:53]

• Introducing Raj Sharma and his inspiring professional background. [02:48]

• Why Ernst and Young (EY) decided to do a study on empathy in leadership. [04:18]

• What leaders can learn from EY’s empathy observations, and Raj’s take on empathy. [07:20]

• The most compelling findings from EY’s study. [13:01]

• How empathy creates safe spaces that drive creativity and accountability. [14:37]

• Why more than 50% of study participants value empathy but aren’t getting it at work. [18:39]

• Some steps for improving authentic, actionable empathy at your organization. [19:40]

• Kathy’s five characteristics of a great leader, and Raj’s five steps to become one. [23:55]

• The most difficult aspect of managing a massive team/workforce, according to Raj. [35:44]

• A call from Raj to learn more about empathy and get acquainted with EY’s empathy survey and study tool. [38:02]

 

For More Information:

Raj Sharma on LinkedIn

Raj Sharma on Twitter

Ernst & Young (EY) Consulting

Ernst & Young (EY) Consulting on Twitter

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: 

EY’s 2023 Empathy in Business Survey, Authentic Empathy:  The key to your organization's business success

Steve Payne on LinkedIn

New EY US Consulting Study, Employees Overwhelmingly Expect Empathy In The Workplace, But Many Say It Feels Disingenuous

Kathy’s Forbes Interview with Raj, Employees Now Expect Empathy In The Workplace, But Half Aren’t Getting It

Kathy’s Globe and Mail Article, Why Promoting Your Star Employee Into A Managerial Role May Not Be A Great Idea

Kathy’s Book, The Most Powerful You

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If you enjoy the book, we’d so appreciate your giving the book a positive rating and review on Amazon! And check out Kathy’s digital companion course The Most Powerful You, to help you close the 7 most damaging power gaps in the most effective way possible. 

Kathy’s Power Gaps Survey, Support To Build Your LinkedIn Profile To Great Success & Other Free Resources

Kathy’s TEDx Talk, Time To Brave Up & Free Career Path Self-Assessment

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Quotes:

“Empathy is not sympathy — I can be sympathetic to anything, [but] I can only be empathetic when I understand what you’re going through, and [I’m] putting myself in your shoes, and I’m taking action to ensure that I’m helping you.” — @RajShramUM [11:01]

“We always knew that empathy creates a safer place for people to work, but we were surprised at the data [demonstrating] that [empathy] is driving so much creativity and so much innovation in the company.” — @RajShramUM [14:36]

“If you create a safe place where people are not afraid to fail, and [where] every failure does not have an impact associated with it — now you’re creating a culture of mutual respect, belonging, and more importantly, accountability.” — @RajShramUM [14:49]

“If you’re going to create a consistent culture of high-performing teams, empathy has to be a big part of it.” — @RajShramUM [18:13]

“It’s not good [enough to just] talk about empathy; the most important thing is authentic, actionable empathy.” — @RajShramUM [19:42]

“Have the courage to listen, [and] have the compassion to make the changes.” — @RajShramUM [21:14]

 

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