The speaker argues that leaders should practice empathy when dealing with employee performance problems. Rather than immediately threatening job loss over poor numbers, empathetic leaders ask about personal circumstances (e.g., sick child, marital problems, dying parent) and show concern for the person, not only their output.
Chapters
So why is it that when somebody has performance problems at work, why is it that our instinct is to say, you're out? We do not practice empathy. What does empathy look like? Here's the lack of empathy. This is normal in our business world. You walk into someone's office. Someone walks into our office and says, your numbers have been down for the third quarter in a row. You have to pick up your numbers. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what the future will look like. How inspired do you think that person is to come to work the next day? Here's what empathy looks like. You walk into someone's office. Someone walks into your office and says, your numbers are down for the third quarter in a row. Are you okay? I'm worried about you. What's going on? We all have performance issues. Maybe someone's kid is sick. Maybe they're having problems in their marriage. Maybe one of their parents is dying. We don't know what's going on in their lives. And of course it will affect performance at work. Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output.
