How Leaders can Lead With Empathy Using The Right Technology 

how_leaders_can_lead_with_empathy_with_the_right_technology

 

In unsettling times, when accepted practices and norms become unpredictable – and even threatened, how should an organization respond to achieve the right business outcomes?  

With a growing need for people to work from the comfort of their homes, it’s only logical for business leaders and HR specialists to worry about motivation and the possibility of productivity levels dropping.   

It’s hard for people to stay engaged and connected, and consistent with the work they do while being physically dispersed.   

It is more difficult to communicate, collaborate and coordinate team efforts successfully.    

Empathy Equals Smarter and Effective Leadership 

At Mint Group, we place people at the center of everything we do, to ensure a seamless blend of people, processes, and technology that fosters innovation, collaboration, and connection.   

Our culture drives and embraces a People-First approach, and has proven critical to smarter leadership, in understanding the real challenges that your “now” hybrid workforce is experiencing.   

Mint Group UK  adopted the “Hybrid Work Model” in early 2021 and prioritized the importance of the right technology from the onset. We worked towards building an empathic spirit and developing a culture of continuous business resilience, to ensure that we thrive in these trying times.  

 As part of our hybrid work focus, we invested heavily in effective leadership techniques that all teams could benefit from. Great leaders will check in on your employees and facilitate problem-solving, as opposed to reacting to problems after they arise. It is critical to always ask yourself, ‘Did I provide everything the employee needed in the situation?’ An effective manager recognizes that an employee’s success reflects good leadership and nurturing.  

The Real Challenges Facing the Hybrid Workforce  

Globally people are experiencing a variety of pain points. From frustrations of feeling isolated and fatigued to facing operational disruptions and interrupting workflows.    

Disconnection: The isolation of remote work has seen an increase in anxiety and stress levels within employees and has taken a toll on business operations and performance.   

Digital Fatigue: Without clear-cut hours, many find themselves working extra-long hours. A well-thought-out work-life balance is just as important as a simple break or setting some time to do some of the things you love.   

Health: A lack of energy and burnout are some of the common signs of working from home. These often lead to psychological and physical effects, on our overall well-being.   

Interrupted Workflow: Tracking progress on live tasks, work allocations, compiling data, tracking documents, and automation remains one of the greatest challenges that businesses face.   

Support: Value and recognition are an integral aspect of any workplace, especially in nurturing an inclusive hybrid work culture.   

Leadership and Technology 

The constantly evolving technology has left no area of business untouched. Surpassing all the confinements, technology is now impacting all areas of life as we know it. No matter the size of the organization, technology can be seen happily waving at us from all corners.  

The right technology has not only facilitated freedom to employees, by working with ease. It has also empowered leaders to manage the business and their teams, from a distance.  This has brought the power of true collaboration and trust together. It has also brought a good amount of change in the way leaders communicate and deal with their employees.  

All in all, technology has given birth to a new leadership style; a style that empowers and inspires people to take upon the most compelling business opportunities, using the best of technology to guide them.  

How Technology is Impacting Leadership 

Embracing technology is the most vital ingredient of success for managers who aspire to be leaders. With the use of the latest technology tools, it is very easy for leaders to lead employees and achieve organizational goals.   

Let’s look at how you can use technology to your benefit and be a great leader:  
  1. Give Flexibility to Employees 

With technology, leaders can facilitate a collaborative work environment to a loyal employee, who is committed to delivering the best to the organization, and at the same time, needs freedom to work from any other location, other than the office.  

This sense of freedom not only leaves an employee satisfied but also motivates him or her to work more efficiently, due to increased convenience. As per the statistics, the number of employers offering flexibility to work from anywhere has grown by 40% in the past 5 years. 

2. Ability to Manage Anywhere in Real-Time 

Technology has given birth to more communication tools, now more than ever. With the use of the right tools, you can view the number of tasks being accomplished by your team in real-time.  

This helps you steer your leadership skills in the right direction.  

No matter where you are, you can easily ask for reports and feedback in order to make important decisions. You can organize team meetings through video conferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams.  

Your team needn’t wait for your approval to surpass certain procedures, to complete a task on time.  

Thus, technology not only gives you the freedom to work from anywhere on the globe but also makes your presence felt, even during your absence.  

3. Automation at the Heart of Collaboration

With automation, employees can accomplish a greater number of tasks in less time. With the right use of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence, they can also easily automate the decision-making process.  

Leveraging different technological tools, they can optimize business processes and activities for improved business results.  

4. Self-help and Insights  

With Microsoft’s latest Employee Engagement Platform release, Microsoft VIVA, the platform provides employees and leaders with deep insights on how they perform daily, engage with their colleagues and clients, how they utilize focus time, and their collaboration efforts. 

These employee-driven insights help with time management and optimizing the efficiency of your outputs against benchmarks.  In addition, it provides insights such as the amount of work you created for people outside of stipulated office hours and allows you opt-in to delay sending communications after hours to ensure people get their downtime in.  This evolution of AI and insights at an employee level, no matter their seniority or role, is playing a part in transformation and awareness of how to lead with empathy.  

Conclusion 

The impact of technology on leadership is substantial and the benefits are many. However, one thing that remains a challenge for all leaders across the world, is utilizing the right technology at the right time and in the right ways.  

Imagine you could have the right tools to help boost your hybrid workforce, you have the understanding of  the challenges, and you now can take advantage of tools your company needs.   

Create a safe place and give them the tech they need, when they need it.  

The aim should be to apply technology to the right tasks and reduce the need for human effort on repetitive tasks or mundane work. The application of technology should improve human involvement rather than outrightly replace it. It should result in improved outcomes in terms of decision-making and people management and ultimately give your employees more time to grow and do the work they love.   

Make that shift today, you have empathy, now you can choose intelligent tools to bring together People, Places, and Processes together to benefit all stakeholders.   

Create Tomorrow through Empathic Leadership Powered by Intelligent & Smart Technologies.

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The year 2020 transitioned business operations from ‘in- office’ work to ‘out of office. Fast track to 2021, working from home remains necessary. While some have returned to work, the majority of businesses have the option to work remotely- somewhere between the comfort of home, in the office, or the desired work environment.

In this Free Product Guide, you will receive:

  • The Challenges Facing the Hybrid Work Force
  • Digital Empathy and Why it Matters
  • How Microsoft Power Platform can Boost Business Resilience
  • The Real Benefits Of the Power Platform
  • How to Get Started
Or book an exciting short Demo of the Power  Platform here