Empathy and Mass Layoffs - Simon Sinek

so why is it that when somebody has performance problems at work why is it that our instinct is to say you're out we do not practice empathy what does empathy look like here's the lack of empathy this is normal in our business world you walk into someone's office someone walks into our office and says your numbers have been down for the third quarter in a row you have to pick up your numbers otherwise I can't guarantee what the future will look like how inspired you think that person is to come to work the next day here's what empathy looks like you walk into someone's office someone walks into your office and says your numbers are down for the third quarter in a row are you okay I'm worried about you what's going on we all have performance issues maybe someone's kid is sick maybe they having problems in their marriage maybe one of their parents is dying we don't know what's going on in their lives and of course it will affect performance at work empathy is being concerned about the human being not just their output we have for some reason our work world has changed over the past 20 and 30 years we are suffering the side effects of business theories left over from the 80s and 90s Nast layoffs using someone's livelihood to balance the books right it's so normal in America today that we don't even understand how broken and how damaging it is not only to human beings but to business you know companies talk about how they want to build trust in cooperation then they announce a round of layoffs do you know the quickest way to destroy trust and destroy cooperation in a business literally in one day lay people off and everyone gets scared all right can you imagine sending someone home to say honey I can no longer provide for our family because the company missed its arbitrary projections this year and forget about the people who lost their job think about the people who kept their jobs because every single decision a company makes is a piece of communication and the company cut the company has just communicated to everybody else this is not a meritocracy we don't care how hard you work or how long you've worked here if we miss our numbers and you happen to fall on the wrong side of the spreadsheet I'm sorry we cannot guarantee employment in other words we come to work every day afraid and we're asking our youngest generation to work in environments where how would any of us ever stand up and admit I made a mistake we're cousinly being told you have to be vulnerable leaders are vulnerable what does that even mean it doesn't mean you walk around crying I'm vulnerable right know what vulnerability means is you create an environment in which someone feels safe enough to raise their hand and said I don't know what I'm doing you've given me a job and I haven't been trained to do it I need help I made a mistake I screwed something up I'm scared I'm worried all of these things no one would ever admit inside a company because it puts a target on your head in case there's another round and so we keep it to ourselves and how can a company ever do well if nobody's ever willing to admit they made a mistake that's scared or they don't know what they're doing and so we've literally created cultures in which every single day everybody comes to work and liya hai lies hides and fakes and we're asking our youngest generation to work and succeed and find themselves and build their confidence and overcome their addiction to technology and build strong relationships at work we're asking to do this and these lis environments we've created we keep saying to them you're the Future Leaders we're the leaders now we're in control what are we doing this is what empathy means it means if there's an entire generation struggling maybe it's not them it's like you know the only thing that I that the common factor in all my failed relationships me same thing Oh II just can't get the right Apple you know the right performance out of our people maybe it's you right it's not a generation it's not them they're not difficult or hard to understand they're human beings like the rest of us trying to find their way trying to work in a place where they feel that someone cares about them as a human being by the way that's what we all want in other words it's not even generational it's all of us this is the practice of empathy that of wish struggling to communicate to someone if it's struggling to help someone be at their natural best I'm tired of people saying to me how do I get the best out of my people really that's what you want there like a towel just Wingham how can get the most out of them know how do I help my people be at their natural best right we're not asking these questions we are not practicing empathy we have to start by practicing empathy and relate to what they may be going through and it will profoundly change the decisions we make it will profoundly change the way we see the world someone's driving to work you're driving to work and someone wants to cut into your lane what do you do do you pull your car up would you let them in most of us pull our cars up and go like this you wait your turn now let's practice empathy I don't know maybe they've been out of work for six months maybe they had trouble getting the kids out to school this morning and now they're running late for a really important interview and they just have to get to this interview and they're gonna cut into our lane or maybe they're just a bastard I don't know but that's the point we don't know we don't know and the practice of empathy will say I'll let them in and I'll arrive to work one car lengths late right we don't always have to be right we don't always have to be in charge we don't have to be the one who succeeds it's not about winning or losing

Channel: Tahir Duzyol

Views: 66,746

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Id: 5hpwOB-NE-k

Length: 6min 10sec (370 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 31 2017