Younger's new book: The Art of Caring Leadership
Leading with empathy has become a hot topic for 2021 among leadership development professionals. There is a realization in this extended time of pandemic and protest that we need to care for employees first. That caring is the secret to better customer retention, and ultimately maintaining growth and profits. But how can managers actually develop and flex their “caring” skills?
Heather R. Younger’s new book, The Art of Caring Leadership: How Leading With Heart Uplifts Teams & Organizations, presents fundamental principles that reveal the roadmap to caring leadership for each and every leader. I interviewed Heather about what it means to lead with heart in practice - and why it’s a concept that every leader needs to grasp if they want their people to thrive.
Kevin Kruse: Why this book, and why now?
Heather Younger: If you had asked leaders even just a few years ago what they envisioned the future of work to be, I doubt anyone would have described to you the current moment we find ourselves in.
The rise in remote work because of COVID-19 means leaders are grappling with radically different workplace dynamics. Many among the global workforce have had to shift to a work-from-home setup and develop new routines tailored to their new normal; often in the face of school closures and children at home requiring homeschooling. The stress of the last year has taken a toll on employees’ mental health and created a parallel pandemic of anxiety, burnout, and depression. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg.
People-first cultures have never been more important, yet engagement surveys tell us that many employees still don’t feel cared for by those who are supposed to lead them. Since employees are the ones who execute on strategic initiatives and organizational goals, caring leadership can no longer simply be an interesting idea, it has to be an organizational imperative.
Kruse: What does caring leadership look like in practice?
Younger: Caring leadership looks like taking daily actions in ways that show concern and kindness to those you lead. It looks like genuinely caring for those people - not just because of what they can do for you or your team or organization, but because of who they are and can become.
Caring leaders are constantly tuned in to what each employee needs to do their best work and take regular action with that in mind. That might look like helping employees advance in their careers, encouraging independent thinking and action, or bringing an inclusive lens to everything they do. It all comes back to creating cultures of listening where every voice matters and is valued.
Kruse: Could you talk a little bit about the caring leadership framework?
Younger: The framework follows nine key tenets that were created to be timeless and help leaders quickly access the daily actions required to become a caring leader.
The first tenet affirms the need to cultivate self-leadership skills because it’s simply not possible to sustain caring leadership without doing the inner work to get there. The second outlines how we can make sure employees feel important, seen, and valued. The third discusses ways in which we can leverage the gifts of those we lead.
Often leaders feel that the problems facing the business are theirs to solve alone, so the fourth tenet is to involve employees in our decision making. The fifth tenet reminds us how important it is to lead the whole person by understanding what is happening in their lives outside of work; critical these days given that people are working from home so much or, as many have reframed it, “living at work.”
The sixth tenet breaks down what a listening culture looks like in practice, and the seventh tackles the importance of safe spaces that are free of judgment. The eighth underlines the need to empower employees to think and act independently, and the ninth discusses how to build resilience within those we lead to help them better respond to adversity.
Kruse: You talk about the ROI of caring leadership. What is that?
Younger: There is an ongoing debate regarding whether heart-based, caring leadership leads to hard-core business results such as greater revenues, greater customer satisfaction, and increased productivity. What I was able to uncover were direct correlations between these business metrics and what some consider soft skills - such as integrity, empathy, communication, positivity, flexibility, and teamwork. Leaders utilizing these skills produce real results that drive a business forward.
Kruse: What do you hope will come from this book?
Younger: No matter where they start, no matter where they live, no matter their industry, I want leaders everywhere to know that they have the power to change how they show up and lead.
This is life- and business-changing work. Most people spend the majority of their waking hours at work. What they experience and feel while they walk around the halls of their workplaces or interact virtually exponentially impacts how they feel about themselves; how they treat their families; whether they volunteer in their communities; when and if they take vacations; and whether they live healthy, thriving lives. If each leader commits to this type of change, my hope is that we will awaken the sleeping giants in our global workforces to be more and achieve more and create a healthier society for all. As I always say, “If your people know you care about them, they will move mountains”.
Kevin Kruse is the Founder + CEO of LEADx, a platform that scales and sustains leadership habits throughout an organization. Kevin is also a New York Times bestselling author of Great Leaders Have No Rules, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, and Employee Engagement 2.0.
