The Story
Brene Brown describes vulnerability as “the willingness to show up and be seen, even when there are no guarantees.”
I recently witnessed an exchange between an employee and their manager that illustrates this beautifully.
An employee disclosed to their manager some deeply personal matters causing angst and said that they might be demonstrating some distracted behaviours as a result.
Of course, there was a risk in that disclosure.
A risk that the manager would be dismissive, punitive or disinterested.
Instead, the interaction that followed was empathetic, compassionate and practical.
Human beings recognising and honouring other human beings, rather than widgets simply there to do a job.
And of course, there are many examples of workplaces where this is absolutely not the case.
In these instances, personal means just that.
Leave your issues at the door, and don’t bring them (or any associated behaviours) to work.
You are at work to work.
I managed ok in that circumstance, so you should be able too.
There is a fear that vulnerability means oversharing and inappropriately deep-delving into aspects of people’s lives outside of work. A perception that showing vulnerability is demonstrating weakness. Or, that it means letting people get away with poor behaviour or performance.
The Data
A recent article in the Mandarin starkly illustrates this point:
- 47% of the survey respondents disagreed that their workplace empathised with employees.
- 90% said that having their manager show more empathy would make a difference in their work life.
- Of those who had unempathetic bosses, 41% said it affected their loyalty to the organisation.
- 47% said that more empathetic leaders would improve their job satisfaction, 34% their job performance, and 38% their productivity.
- And perhaps most worryingly: 38% of Australians saying they did not trust the people who employed them and 40% of people saying bosses did not trust their staff.
The Takeaway
We know the data.
We know people often join organisations but leave managers.
We know that a culture of fear and low trust drives poor behaviours in the medium to longer term.
We know that when people are not safe to speak things get missed; and mistakes are made, sometimes catastrophically.
We know the medium to long-term impact of these sorts of cultures on productivity, mental well-being, job performance and morale.
We also know organisations are looking for ways to improve productivity; reduce employee turnover, and increase engagement, loyalty and job satisfaction.
We know that creating a culture where good work gets done is more likely where there is empathetic leadership. And this doesn’t mean a culture of zero accountability or acceptance of poor performance. It also doesn’t mean knowing the minutiae of people’s lives.
It simply means accepting that people show up to work as a whole person, and that work is a part of employee’s lives but not the only part.
It means accepting people’s truth as their truth, even if it’s not yours.
It means that empathy matters – now more than ever. It means building trust with individuals, with teams and with leaders matters – now more than ever.
We know that how leaders lead matters.
What Australian employees want from their workplace
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