Empathy in Leadership

A great boss does more than just manage people.

By Michael B. Cohen, MD

Posted on: September 4, 2010

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To a significant extent, the focus of leadership in any organization should be the people. In my case, it is a traditional academic pathology department, including its clinical laboratory. In dealing with others, the first precept is knowing yourself, including your own needs, strengths and weaknesses, personal style, etc. Commensurate with this is a leader's shift in focus from her own success to that of the organization, which is predicated on the success of the people in that organization. My goal in this article is to make a few observations and provide some resources. Following Peter Drucker's point of view that ~80 percent of management is generic, the comments are readily applicable to health care.

According to the Energy Project, "True competitive advantage for organizations will depend on attracting, motivating and retaining the best talent." This advice is, of course, nothing new but worth reiterating nonetheless. And, according to a recent survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education, strong positive responses to the following questions were reasons that people find their colleges to be good working places: "I have a good relationship with my supervisor," "I am given responsibility and freedom to do my job," "My job makes good use of my skills and abilities," "People are supportive of colleagues regardless of heritage and background," "My supervisor supports my effort to balance work and personal life," and "I understand how my job contributes to the institution's mission."

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Conversely, negative answers to the following questions were associated with lower levels of satisfaction: "My department has adequate faculty/staff to achieve our goals," "I am paid fairly for my work," "Issues of low performance are addressed in my department," "There is a sense that we're all on the same team at this institution," "Our review process accurately measures my job performance," and "Faculty, administration and staff are meaningfully involved in institutional planning." These pros and cons apply just as well outside of the ivory tower.

For Warren Buffet, there are three key criteria one should evaluate in prospective employees: Brains, Energy and Integrity.¹ I would agree that intelligence (brains), work ethic (energy) and integrity are the important parameters to assess during the hiring process. Some of these will depend on meaningful checking of references. In addition, I have found a fourth criterion-interpersonal skills-to be very important as well. Being able to 'play in the sand box with others' is, surprisingly, not as easy for many people and given the importance of teamwork in most organizations this parameter is, in my experience, critically important. In short, as Jim Collins has noted, "get the right people on the bus."² Laboratory leaders, including myself, would do well to strictly adhere to this.

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Empathy in Leadership

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