Chief people and culture officer at Loyalty NZ redefines leadership at HRD New Zealand National HR Summit
Historically, during the 80s and 90s, organisations focused very much on results and performance. Bringing your personal life to work was frowned upon and for many people, the only person present at the office was their ‘work persona’.
“Things have changed for us as people, and things have changed for us as leaders,” said Adéle Pieterse, chief people and culture officer at Loyalty New Zealand.
“I think there’s a great need for leaders to understand that it’s not about their title or about their role itself, or the status they have in the organisation – it’s not even about being in charge of people, it’s more about how you take care of those in your charge, and that is the focus that we as leaders need to adopt.”
“I think there’s many contributors that lead to the rise of empathy,” said Pieterse. “There are so many different types of leadership these days. To understand how leadership has evolved, we need to look at how we as a society have changed.”
Women have become a more permanent part of the workforce and are now stepping into leadership positions, and the onset of social media began blurring the lines between work life and home life. Plus, as little as 10 years ago, we didn’t know that DEIB existed and now we’re fully entrenched in the idea, while a worldwide pandemic inherently changed the way we looked at work.
Pieterse outlined three benefits to empathetic leadership: It creates a more authentic work life; it helps to prevent burnout and stress; and it creates an environment of psychological safety.
“It creates more trust with your team members,” she said. “If we have got more trust and we feel that we can share the challenges that we go through, the mistakes that we make – that creates trust, then further creates empowering and honest relationships and that leads to collaboration and productivity.”
Pieterse is quick to point out that for some, empathy comes naturally and for others, it doesn’t, and they really struggle with it.
“A lot of our leaders have been promoted to leadership roles, but they don’t have leadership skills yet. That’s why we need to invest in our leaders and spend time mentoring them.”
Pieterse provided five tips on how to cultivate a culture of empathy:
Don’t jump to conclusions: “If we don’t start asking questions and we’re not curious we’re not going to get to the heart of the problem,” said Pieterse. “We need to get to the heart of the problem to be able to know what the solutions are.”
Practice active listening: “I think sometimes we listen to respond instead of to understand,” explained Pieterse. “Ask yourself, are you really listening to understand and relate to that individual.”
Get a better perspective: With all the talk of DEIB in recent years, getting a better perspective should come easily. “You’ve got different people, with different backgrounds, skills and ideas and they’re all valuable, so are you treating it as valuable?”
Validate others: “This is an opportunity where an empathetic leader can provide refuge for their teams so they feel it’s a place with security, stability, and safety.”
Show interest in people’s lives: “Use those one on ones to really get interested in who your people are, what’s important to them and what motivates them,” said Pieterse. “But it needs to be authentic, if it’s not, people will see straight through you.”
