Empathy and Authority:  Finding a Balance in Leadership

Leadership has always been characterized as a skill that is multi-layered yet intricately intertwined with quite a few characteristics. Two of the most defining traits of a leader that are necessary for leadership to be effective include authority and empathy. While empathy cultivates trust and understanding, authority depicts the ability of a leader to be decisive, the ability of a leader to be authoritative. Indeed, being both authoritative and empathetic are critical traits for a leader who wants to ensure the continuity of teams and maintain focus on long term goals.

Empathy is an important trait that is often over looked specially within within high pressure environments, where deadlines, meetings and results take center stage. However empathy is the very trait that humanizes leadership. Moreover, leaders that practice empathy tend to listen to their teams, respect their issues, and assist in creating an environment where team members feel wanted. This bond strengthens team spirit and creates an environment where employees freely express their objectives, emotions, and worries. Consequentially, this leads to constructive communication, which in turn increases collaboration and engagement while nurturing higher trust levels.

Nonetheless, empathy is not sufficient for quality leadership. This position also entails power. Power helps create an environment of respect and discipline within a team. An authoritative leader is one who can act and make choices that steer the organization towards its aims amidst ambiguity and disapproval. Authority does not imply despotism or dominance but having a strong sense of purpose and knowing when to set limits and when to act decisively in the interests of the organization’s goals. The chief authorities among leaders are the visionaries, executives and strategists or else there is chaos, most who possess authority without compassion may foster a workplace environment based on fear and dismissal.

Eliminating those contradictions is the challenge for any leader, let alone a transition leader, and the question to answer is whence this element of harmony, this all-season, all-weather leadership style. Such leaders generate a peculiar situation within their team as they are feared and respected solely because they are trusted. Consider a leader who is empathetic but does not hesitate to exercise their authority – their followers are more likely to remain loyal to the cause, knowing that their leader does care about them but is also capable of making tough calls for the greater good of the organization. When this kind of equilibrium is established it creates an atmosphere in which a person becomes eager to do his best knowing fully well that his assistant will not be afraid to make a decision if need be and will take the responsibility for it.

The first thing leaders need to do in order to strike a balance is become self aware. So as to get started, it is key to know how exactly one leads and how it affects people. Empathy and authority are often considered to be the most contradictory of traits, especially if there’s a lack of understanding and perception that to be empathetic is to relinquish power. But truly beneficial leaders recognize that empathy is not subservient to authority-in fact, it actually elevates it. By listening and caring, a leader makes it easier for others to accept their authority, which in turn renders people more willing to serve under them. This in turn gives the leader the necessary power to make empathetic but effective decisions.

Furthermore, it can be concluded that effective communication is one of the most effective forms of business empathy balance and expressing authority. So, leaders who speak out and speak frankly to their teams can help them effectively understand both empathy and authority. It can also be seen when a leader makes decisions, as he or she speaks about the reasons behind and invites reactions, that he or she provides and maintains authority while also showcasing empathy. Such communication leads to respect, so team members feel appreciated and encouraged to speak up even when their views are contrary to those that informed the decisions made. Such openness establishes a feeling of joint working and oneness, in which authority is not wielded from the top downward but shared in order to focus the team on a target.

Also, it’s critical for the figure in charge to be alert regarding the message their actions are communicating. Both interpersonal sensitivity and its expression have to match and be real. It’s not about a person becoming so emotional that their judgment is impaired, it is about having the ability to put oneself in the shoes of others and have friendly feelings towards them, for example, being concerned for employees or colleagues throughout the ups and downs. Also, the use of authority has to be respectful and both fair and just. Leaders who command without understanding vice versa seem heartless and either a dictator or a meeker who only pleads for everyone’s pity and cannot lead them to any decision. Thus, what is important is to show that such authority stems from the care for the actual success and well-being of the team. This calls for emotional maturity and the ability to shift the emphasis of leadership approaches depending on the individuals as well as the organization.

Such leaders as those above are also able to boost team work or an environment where everyone is free to express and offer their opinions and logic the most because they understand how and when to be authoritative. It is only when leaders demonstrate this type of understanding that their subordinates are prompted into action, whereby they are active in devising solutions or suggestions. In such a situation where every team member values team work and shared objectives, authority in itself becomes a responsibility as it is geared towards the team’s performance, rather than individual achievement.

At the end of the day, it is necessary to focus on the following practices and improving oneself by continuously learning in order to be an authoritative yet an empathic leader. Any leader who seeks to increase her decisiveness and emotional understanding will then be in a more suitable position to deal with the intricacies of leadership. They need to be ready to look at their leadership practices in detail, actively seek and incorporate criticism of their practices. The leader who is able to possess such qualities such as empathy as well as authority would be able to earn the respect and admiration of many because those who lead are often required to show fairness and strength.

So, when joined together, empathy and authority do not make an uncomfortable duo, but rather they are quite distinctive attributes for effective leadership. They however tend to be integrated with caution and care to ensure that they both do not end up compromising each other. Leaders who are strong but empathic founded alto of trust and faith in whom makes up or society and who are productive and willing to listen to others. In an era where the style of leadership continues to change and grows, those leaders able to achieve this harmony will positively affect their group in the long run as they will be able to manage the different groups while able to achieve their appearing goals in the different set with the right actions.