Maintaining Empathy and Assertiveness Balance in the Workplace
No leader is perfect, and developing your skills is a constant and conscious effort. Attending leadership and management courses is one way of enhancing your abilities. These classes will emphasise the importance of leadership qualities, such as empathy and assertiveness.
But you may wonder--can these two seemingly contrasting ideas work together to make you a better leader?
Defining the Concept and Pitfalls of Empathy
Any courses for managers will tell you empathy is significant in leadership. This trait fosters understanding and compassion toward your team members' emotions, needs, and concerns.
Empathy allows leaders to connect with their employees on a human level. This also enables them to build trust, enhance communication, boost morale, and make better decisions.
However, leaders with a strong sense of empathy may encounter these issues:
Being perceived as weak: Many often misconstrue empathy as excessive kindness, sensitivity, vulnerability, or other traits associated with weakness. This can be an issue as leaders should be perceived as strong, respected, and charismatic, particularly in the cut-throat professional setting.
Struggling to establish boundaries: Part of leadership is supporting your employees when needed. However, empathic leaders tend to get overwhelmed by their members' challenges, failing to set boundaries.
Hindering diversity: One of empathy's most prominent negative manifestations is bias. People naturally tend to form "us" versus "them" distinctions, leading to prejudices that may affect assignments or promotions and result in a lack of diversity.
While practising empathy is not a mistake, pouring too much of this trait into your leadership can cause massive problems before you even know it. Hence, knowing when you should draw the line and put your foot down is also vital in leadership; this is where assertiveness comes in.
Understanding the Principles of Assertiveness
Many leaders typically shy away from the thought of being assertive. This is due to the notion that this train is about being aggressive or dominating. What many do not know is assertiveness is not at all about that.
Assertiveness in leadership only involves conveying your thoughts, emotions, and requirements with clarity, directness, and respect. It is about upholding open and honest communication while respecting oneself and your members. Hence, its general idea is only about boundary-setting and not about abusing your authority.
The importance of leadership skills manifests in identifying the differences between assertiveness, aggressiveness, and passiveness.
Assertiveness: involves confidently expressing your thoughts, feelings, and needs while respecting yourself and others.
Aggressiveness: entails imposing your own thoughts and needs on others, disregarding their perspectives and feelings.
Passiveness: refers to suppressing your thoughts and needs to accommodate others, often at the cost of your well-being.
Embracing assertiveness in your leadership creates a harmonious balance, cultivating a positive and collaborative atmosphere in the workplace.
Leadership Through Empathy and Assertiveness
Balancing empathy and assertiveness is indeed challenging. But being able to master and apply these two characteristics can make your leadership so much better. Here are some things you need to consider to employ empathic assertiveness.
Leadership Style: You can adopt various leadership styles, and defining what is yours should be your first step. Identify your strengths, values, and beliefs. Ask yourself how you want to influence your team.
Listen: Being empathic and assertive will start with listening actively to your team. Understand what they mean, feel, and need. By doing this, you can provide them with a compassionate yet objective solution.
Communicate: Learn to express yourself clearly and respectfully. Remember that assertiveness is not being aggressive or dominant. In the same way that empathy is not agreement or sympathy. When you know how to express yourself clearly, you can avoid conflicts and resentments.
Adapt: Different situations and people require different approaches. Learn and adapt when it is time to show empathy and assertiveness. This can help you show flexibility and sensitivity to your team members.
Feedback: When practising empathy and assertiveness, feedback is paramount. By asking your members and reflecting on yourself, you are letting yourself grow and improve as a leader. Seeking feedback helps in showing humility and willingness to change.
Self-Care: Leading as an empathic assertive leader can be draining. Therefore, taking a moment to relax is essential to being a leader. Recharge your batteries, cope with stress, and maintain your balance.
These tips can help you navigate through the differences between empathy and assertiveness. If you want to learn more about how you can apply these qualities, try to seek professional help.
Corporate Learning Solutions is a leadership training specialist based in Australia. Our programs are designed to help existing and emerging leaders be the best version of themselves and influence the world through leadership skills.
Ready to work your way to improve your leadership abilities? Contact us now at https://www.corplearn.com.au/.
