When we think about business profitability, we tend to consider it in objective performance indicators—that is, in numbers, percentages, variances, ROI, etc. While business leaders are tasked with optimizing processes behind these stats to balance or increase margins, there is an important performance indicator that workplaces are leaving on the table—whether employees feel cared about.

For nearly three decades, I have helped leadership at companies big and small reimagine how they approach business success and profitability through the lens of neurobiology. Appreciating your staff makes sound business sense and, in my work, tactical empathy has been a resoundingly successful, feelings-focused, science-based solution for nurturing a sense of care in the workplace. Better yet, it’s readily available and turnkey—as humans, we have the ability to exercise tactical empathy.

WHAT IS TACTICAL EMPATHY?

The concept of tactical empathy stems from Daniel Goleman’s seminal work on emotional intelligence in the mid-90s. In his 2016 bestseller on high-stakes negotiations, Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss coined the phrase tactical empathy, which incorporates similarities of Daniel Goleman’s work around three types of empathy. Today, the ability of leaders and managers to practice tactical empathy has become a cost center issue that directly impacts a company’s profitability.

Sarah Peyton, a neuroscience educator, defines empathy as feeling into something that someone else is experiencing with them, and being moved by a sense of their emotions. Empathy says, “I can feel a version of what you are feeling and it stirs something within me.”

Tactical empathy goes one step beyond that. It’s the act of demonstrating thoughtful consideration of someone’s position to make them feel understood. Tactical empathy provides this framework: “I am noticing that you’re having this experience. I am naming the experience you’re having. When you’re ready, I am happy to offer a solution to or a reframe of the experience you’re having.”

Neurobiologically, the power of tactical empathy rests in that it draws on both the right and left brain hemispheres. Tactical empathy starts with the relationship-building, right-hemisphere skill set necessary to establish trust—when we actively notice and name the experience of a colleague. Then it shifts into the transactional, left-hemisphere functions that manage problem solving—or when we offer thoughtful solutions or reframes to someone experiencing challenges or obstacles.

THE “MATH” OF TACTICAL EMPATHY

In the workplace, practicing tactical empathy is crucial for those in leadership or management positions. That’s because a primary output of management exercising tactical empathy communicates a sense of value in and appreciation of the general employee base.

“I would rather my direct reports perform the duties of their job descriptions, meet deadlines, and hit goals, KPIs, and other data-based metrics,” you may be muttering. Heard. But the thing is, there is a strong correlation between feeling cared about at work and active engagement in the workplace.

A study by CEB, Inc. (now a part of Gartner) found that 60% of people coordinate with at least 10 people daily in their work. That means it’s likely there is a minimum of 10 people in your workplace whose active engagement impacts your own productivity.

Additionally, a 2022 Gallup study also found 18% of participants reported active disengagement in their workplace. If 18% of the talent who impacts your work is actively disengaged, that’s like depending on two colleagues who are nearly always out of office. Financially, in a workforce of 10,000, it means at least $60 million lost in salaries and benefits alone, plus a whole lot more lost in ROI linked to recruiting, onboarding, training, absenteeism and production potential.

Employees won’t want to meet or exceed their job expectations if they don’t feel cared about, and if feeling cared about influences an employee’s level of engagement, it influences their productivity and your profit. Making employees feel valued is incredibly relevant right now as the current workforce encounters daily struggles that are leading to overwhelm, exhaustion and quiet quitting.

HOW DO I “DO” TACTICAL EMPATHY?

Tactical empathy can mitigate workplace behaviors that neurochemically signal to people that they are not valued or appreciated (i.e. cared about). It allows leaders and managers to become aware of ways in which they may be participating in toxic workplace behaviors. It also builds awareness of others in the workplace who may be engaging in exclusionary behaviors that contribute to a challenging environment for getting things done.

Tactical empathy is exercised when we:

1. Notice the emotional status of a direct report, rather than ignoring it.
2. Name what you are noticing to a direct report without becoming emotionally reactive yourself.
3. Manage problem solving with a direct report to address the issue at hand and move into resolution.

HOW NEUROBIOLOGY CONTRIBUTES TO PROFITABILITY

When managers model self-regulation by practicing tactical empathy, direct reports, colleagues and peers can also engage in self-regulation and work through the same process of noticing and naming. When parties are able to self-regulate simultaneously, they enter a state of co-regulation in which they can connect, communicate, and solve problems collaboratively.

Both self- and co-regulation activates our vagus nerve—a nerve that runs down our entire body and controls our responses to safety versus danger or life-threatening situations. Social engagement is the technical term for when the vagus nerve responds to feelings of connection and initiates biological processes involved in calming our bodies, such as slowing heart rate and lowering blood pressure. Being in a calm physical state leads us to feel safe, open and curious in our interactions with the person we are experiencing connection with. It is also key to the leadership skill of sitting in discomfort.

It’s in a state of calm co-regulation that managers can explore the unmet needs at the root of a colleague’s particular emotional response. Studies have suggested that naming what we feel sends a calming signal to both our amygdala and nervous system.

The benefits to profitability when exercising tactical empathy are twofold:

• Direct reports can experience a return to equanimity quickly
• Managers discover workplace challenges that may result in future low performance or disengaged behaviors

Both outcomes ultimately lead to behaviors and mindsets that have a positive impact on a business’ bottom line—the employee feels heard and cared for, which boosts engagement and productivity, and the manager can now remove or improve a workplace obstacle previously hindering profitability.

Tactical empathy is an important skill for modern leaders and managers to develop and lean into. It allows us to ascertain the unmet needs contributing to employee stress while simultaneously making employees feel supported, becoming aware of personal hardship others may be experiencing, and finding resolution for workplace issues.

Tapping into tactical empathy ultimately means capturing more of your organization’s potential productivity and profitability. It’s time to add tactical empathy to your KPIs.