Power of Compassion, Listening and Asking Questions for Executive Leadership

Compassionate leadership, the importance of listening respectfully and skillfully and how executive coaching best helps leaders: these topics are the points in the following conversation with Brooks E. Scott.

Scott is an executive coach, interpersonal communications expert, and DEI strategic advisor at Merging Path who specializes in leadership development and management training.

For some executives, compassion isn’t part of their leadership. It’s either viewed as impossible, problematic or unnecessary. Scott disagrees, going so far as to insist its vital.

“Leaders can't build strong, positive, and culturally sustainable companies without a foundation of compassion,” he says.

For doubters or critics who ask about how to quantify it, Scott has an answer.

“It's a tricky thing to measure because there are often too few data points that can be directly correlated to compassionate leadership,” he says.

But there is one thing for certain when it comes to compassion and executives, he asserts.

“You may not hear about the times you get it right, but you will most definitely know when you've got it wrong.”

Scott speaks of three, what he calls “non-exhaustive and unsung benefits of compassionate leadership.

“A decrease in the amount of time it takes organizations to identify a problem and then have a conversation about it: The longer it takes to talk about it, the more the problem will fester.

“Higher employee productivity: Compassion, in many cases, is the difference between your employees doing just enough to get by, and them going the extra mile for you and your organization because they know you care about them as a person.

“A stronger culture of direct feedback: Compassion leads to kindness, which helps us deliver tough messages and feedback that sometimes hurts. Want to know the difference between being nice and being kind? The answer is compassion.”

Curiosity, questions and paying attention while others are communicating are invaluable variables of success in any relationship and business and it has led Scott to ask two questions, “Where are all the books on listening? Where are all the books on asking questions?”

He explains his thinking.

“Everyone remembers the person who makes the witty comment, unveils the shiny new strategy, or has the perfect one-liner to shut a conversation down. So many leaders have modeled themselves off of other leaders who have built their careers in this manner. But I believe that the best leaders are the ones who can ask the right questions,” he says.

“And even though questions aren't as flashy as statements, they can often be much more powerful. By not upgrading our skills in listening and asking questions, we are losing out on innovation, creativity, and connection,” Scott adds.

He points out how this happens every day.

“Think of all the ideas lost or dissolved in the ether; ideas that could have changed organizations, governments, companies, and relationships — all because most leaders don't value listening and asking questions.”

Scott thinks so highly of questions that he contends, “It's questions that change relationships. It's questions that change organizations."

Executives haven’t always gained all the insights and skills they will need by the time they’ve risen to their position of responsibility, authority and power or as they grow in their role.

This is where executive coaching is beneficial.

“A litany of traps, barriers, obstacles, and biases exist in that ever so short distance between our brains and our external means of communication,” Scott says. “Executive coaching helps leaders communicate messages tactfully by thinking more about the receiver of the message and less about how they themselves want to convey it.”

Executive coaching can be a safeguard and professional guide to avoiding or managing landmines as well succeeding in the different areas that are expected and necessary.

“You can proudly wear your self-ascribed badge of bluntness on your shirt all you want to, but bluntness doesn't adjust for the individual. It only sustains your ego,” Scott directly says. “But if you really want the person to understand and receive your message, an executive coach can help you make those adjustments in your communication while still being true to your own unique leadership style.”