HR FOCUS
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EMPATHY – A LESS VALUED LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY RAJIV MISRA R Square Consulting
Recently while reading an article, I underwent multiple emotions from disbelief to shock and finally to disgust. The article narrated the story of a company that sent a communication to a few hundred employees to attend an online talk on Covid 19. When the employees logged in, they could see a slide that simply read “Covid 19”. After 15 mins a junior member of the HR team logged in and said one sentence- “Due to Covid 19 you are fired” and logged off the call. I tried to put myself in the employees’ shoes and gauge the emotions which could be going through their minds during the wait and post the one-sentence firing. From despondency to depression, all of us have been in the grip of a range of emotions over the last year that has led us to be emotionally and psychologically drained. Whether it is anxiety about the present and future income or about how our loved ones are going to be impacted by the pandemic there is an undercurrent of uneasiness in the environment which is palpable. As human beings, we crave certainty and order in our lives, which mostly leads to our need for more and more information. To be asked to leave their jobs without any information about notice period details, severance pay, outplacement support, or benefits continuation must have been like being set adrift in a stormy sea with no lifejacket. The way the company chose to communicate this news through a junior HR team member said much more about the leadership of the company than its website, the vision document, or the values described in the employee handbook.
cut the workforce. So here are few suggestions on what the leader should do: •
Leadership is what is experienced by others and not what is talked about in various company documents.
The first thing is to communicate transparently. Let the employees know the real situation and as far as cash flows are concerned and try to find a solution jointly. In case, you feel that the junior members of the team lack the maturity to contribute to the decision-making, call the mid and senior-level employees for this session.
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The incident made it clear that the company leadership lacked empathy, a critical, but oft undervalued competency.
Look at layoffs as the last option. Is it possible to cut pay by 30% rather than asking 30% of the team to leave?
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If lay-offs must be done, the senior-most leader in the company should make the communication. Give reasons, provide information about notice period, severance pay, possible time by when re-hire may be possible, outplacement support, etc. Please take their questions and answer them to the best of your ability. If people get abusive or vent, have the humility to accept that without showing any anger or discomfort.
My discomfort was less with the decision of asking people to leave and more with the way it was done, with no respect shown to employees. We often come across a notion that a Leader can rally people around with charisma and drive. Empathy is not something that comes to our mind when we think of leaders. However, I feel that it is the most critical competency to be a great leader as leadership is about leading people and you cannot lead people if you do not understand what they are feeling and going through. It is a tough time for business and tough decisions need to be taken. So, if a tough decision means that a leader must ask people to leave, then it needs to be done. The question is, how do you communicate this decision to the affected team member? As business owners, many of my SME clients have sought my suggestion on how to handle a situation of having to
I was told a long time back by my senior in the army “People don’t remember what you told them, but they never forget how you made them feel”. If you as a leader make the people feel humiliated, small, and not valued, they will remember it for the rest of their lives. And they will talk about it to friends, acquaintances, and anyone who would care to listen. And in today’s hyperconnected world, they would also post it on social media, making an irreparable dent in your reputation as a Leader
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