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Empathetic leadership: tips for startups

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Just been a visionary, then a founder, now a boss – the more a start-up grows, the more important becomes the ability to lead a team and the greater are the challenges. Expert Lisa Hyna shares her tips for startups on how empathic leadership succeeds and how leadership coaching can help founders.

THE CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP IN STARTUPS

Depending on the business model, stage of life or team constellation, founders repeatedly face challenges in their day-to-day management. In most cases, young entrepreneurs are faced with expectations from all sides and the pressure to develop leadership skills in order to successfully manage a team. How do you want to develop as a manager? How can you take working relationships to a new and better level?

In the tech sector in particular, most founders focus on their specialist area and less on management – or have never been confronted with the topic of team leadership. Yet more and more employees are looking for meaning and purpose in their work. According to a study by EY US Consulting, 86 percent of employees believe that empathetic leadership increases team motivation. They don’t just want to fulfill tasks, they want to contribute to something bigger. They are driven by self-motivation and the search for personal fulfillment. If you recognize and promote these needs, you can create an environment in which employees can develop their full potential.

DEVELOPING AN EMPATHIC LEADERSHIP STYLE

Now the question is: How do you achieve empathetic leadership and are there any tips to help you?

Empathische Führung Tipps für Startups Zitat von Lisa Hyna

One of the most important tasks you have as a manager is to create the right conditions for your team. Leadership is not just about setting goals and delegating tasks, but also about creating an environment in which employees can develop their full potential. Everyday actions speak louder than words in a feedback meeting. Your own values are the basis for this framework. Because your values influence your decisions. These decisions lead to real actions, which in turn generate results. Authentic leadership is therefore a continuous cycle in which values drive the process.

IDENTIFY YOUR VALUES

In my founder coaching, we start at the personality level and, thus, at a deeper level. My coachees often react with surprise at this point because, despite their expectations, we work with unconscious emotions and experiences. However, if you open yourself up to this, you can gain valuable new insights. Because problems are not always apparent in everyday life. They fade into the background or fall into oblivion. I support my coachees in becoming aware of these issues.

Here is a simple exercise that can help you gain initial access to your values.

Take a sheet of paper, 10 minutes of time and ask yourself the following questions:

  • Describe your inner attitude when leading. What values do you represent?
  • What do you believe of yourself in your role as a leader?
  • Where do you find guidance?

ANCHORING VALUES IN YOUR MANAGEMENT STYLE

Let’s assume you have identified the values of “clarity” and “trust” for yourself. An empathetic leadership style based on these values can sustainably improve the working atmosphere and the performance of your team. By implementing these principles in your day-to-day leadership, you can not only create a positive and productive environment, but also increase the faith and satisfaction of your employees.

The next step is to anchor these values in your own leadership style.

Here are two examples of how you can embody these values in your everyday life:

CREATE CLARITY

As a founder, it is crucial to establish clear tasks, expectations and boundaries. This clarity gives your team safety and reliability. Checking in on them regularly and creating space for open communication are essential here. Make sure you keep asking: “Is everything clear?” This question helps to eliminate uncertainties that you may not be aware of. Remember that perfectionism is not a good teacher – it’s about continuously learning and growing.

BUILD TRUST

Trust is the basis of a successful team. It’s not about thinking:

“My employees perform well, therefore I can trust them.”

Rather, your attitude should be:

“I trust, that’s why my employees perform well.”

Mistrust creates stress and frustration, while trust is usually highly valued by both sides. Yes, it can happen that trust is disappointed. But these are exceptions. Soft skills such as trust do not show weakness, but inner strength. By promoting personal responsibility within the team, you take the pressure off yourself and give your team the support they need.

Now reflect on yourself. How do you feel when you are a leader who creates clarity? What emotions do you feel? What would you say? How would you think, act and move?

Want even more leadership tips for your tech startup? Then come to our next gate-Academy. In this free online workshop, our expert Lisa Hyna will show you how to lead teams with confidence, clarity and trust. Sichere dir jetzt einen Platz.

Empathische Führung: Lisa Hyna gibt Workshop im gate

3 LEADERSHIP TIPS FOR EVERYDAY LIFE

  1. Regular meetings: Regular team meetings are crucial to creating an open and productive work atmosphere. These meetings provide an opportunity to clarify expectations, discuss current projects and exchange feedback. This type of communication ensures that all team members are on the same page and misunderstandings are avoided. Moreover, employees feel more involved and valued.
  2. Time for personal communication: Encourage your team to talk about problems and uncertainties openly. A culture of open communication promotes trust within the team and helps to identify challenges early and find solutions together. Create a space where everyone feels safe to express his or her opinions and concerns without fear of negative consequences. This transparency strengthens the sense of community and collaboration.
  3. Culture of failure: Failures are inevitable, but how you deal with them can have a major impact on the success of your team. Create a culture of failure in which mistakes are seen as learning opportunities and not as an opportunity to blame. By analyzing mistakes and learning from them, you encourage an innovative and risk-taking way of work. Show your team that it is okay to make mistakes as long as you are willing to learn from them and improve.

YOU CAN LEARN EMPATHIC LEADERSHIP

I have specialized in leadership development in order to support entrepreneurs to strengthen their leadership skills and build a positive corporate culture. During coaching, we focus on the further development of leadership skills. The aim is to develop and strengthen the individual leadership personality so that the role can be carried out with confidence.

The first step is a preparatory meeting in which we discuss that the coaching is personality and value-based and that we will follow a very structured process through which I will guide you in a neutral and trustworthy manner. A short-term coaching session lasts around four hours, which can be individually extended. In the end, you don’t have to do any preparation or follow-up work. We will concentrate on the process and you will see the positive results in the feedback meeting a few weeks later.

With regard to leadership coaching, it is important to me that founders can lead their teams with confidence and calm. That’s what we focus on during the coaching process and it’s always great to see how much more confident the founders leave the coaching session. Immediately after a session, I often hear: “That was very enlightening and fun.” And a year later, the feedback is: “It really changed [context for the value]. Thank you!”

Are you ready to address the topic of empathic leadership effectively? In confidential 1:1 sessions, leadership coach Lisa Hyna will support you in developing your personal leadership style. As a startup in the gate, the first four sessions are even free of charge. Arrange your nonbinding preliminary talk with Lisa: lisa.hyna@gategarching.com

Über den Autor

As a leadership coach, Lisa Hyna combines her certified training in the triple scientifically validated St.Gallen Coaching Model (SCM)® with her master’s degree in management (Master of Arts, focus on corporate management). As a natural leader combined with her many years of experience in project management and as a dance teacher, she has perfected her ability to create trusting spaces for further development and to convey insightful guidelines.
Contact: lisa.hyna@gategarching.com; www.lisa-hyna.de; LinkedIn: Lisa Hyna