Putting yourself in people's shoes

"Lack of sensitivity in dealing, tactlessness or the from-above arrogance of power that dupes others and ignores their opinions and considerations are registered and responded to quite considerably more sensitively today than in the past," says Munich-based collaboration expert Thomas Weegen, managing director of consultancy Coverdale. And the rationale for this assertion? "If we trace the roots of unsatisfactory operational performance, we invariably come across experiences of frustration that can clearly be traced back more to operational management and, in general, internal interaction behaviour than to other, for example, organisational problems."

Frustration and behaviour detrimental to the company
But for Weegen, a slowed-down willingness to perform as a result of frustration is only part of the problem. What should not be overlooked in this context is the fact that frustrations have a massive influence on the overall attitude towards the company in addition to performance. This influence is seriously underestimated. "To the extent that alienated employees distance themselves inwardly from their company, there is a growing danger that they will retaliate out of frustration not only with a well-measured willingness to work hard, but also with more extensive company-damaging behavior."

The problem that Weegen addresses is the well-known problem of unpaid bills. And frustrated people would settle these, in addition to cleverly disguised unwillingness, with subtle obstructionism, targeted badmouthing, bullying and intrigues. The inventiveness in this regard is remarkable. At the same time, however, the question should always be asked: Is this a definitive acknowledgement of insulting or hurtful behavior, or only of behavior that is perceived as such? Today, it is sometimes difficult to separate the two. What conclusion does Weegen draw from the overall problem? "More behavioral awareness!" Management sensitivity is not a luxury demand, but the solution-oriented answer to the changed sensitivity of working people as well as to the unsettling working conditions in the wake of technological development.

When it "humanizes" ...
"When it comes to the importance of emotions and, closely related to this, trust in management, the dismissive and condescending remark 'Here we go again!' is quickly heard," says Erich Kirchler, Director of the Institute for Applied Psychology at the University of Vienna. The professor of business psychology sees this as a tenacious expression of outdated thinking that ignores the demands of the times. "As a goal-oriented social interaction for task solving, leadership must without question be factually groundbreaking, concrete and demanding." This is a necessary, but today no longer a sufficient condition for performance stimulation and leadership success. But with this narrow way of thinking and dealing alone, neither the efficiency of leadership nor the loyal attitude of the workforce to the company can be guaranteed today. "Both criteria are only fulfilled with a contemporary understanding of leadership. In concrete terms, this means that it is only through the interplay of the factual aspect (what) and the relationship aspect (how) that leadership achieves the effect, both rationally and emotionally, that competition and technological progress demand in order to secure the existence of the company.

Leadership meets mentalities
Won't this demand place an even greater burden on managers who are already under a great deal of strain? This is not an unfamiliar question for Kirchler, but it is also not one that is actually aware of the problem. From the point of view of the problem, on the contrary, the combination of the factual and relationship aspects in leadership work would have to be seen as a relief. His argumentation: "Even a more conscious leadership sensitivity can just as little completely exclude frustration experiences as it can grasp and consider all individual sensitivities. Leadership always encounters mentalities and sensitivities. If this is ignored and leadership action is burdened with the demand for perfection, then this demand indeed overburdens the leaders. If, on the other hand, leadership is seen under the demand to make cooperation more emotionally relaxed in the coordinated combination of the factual and relationship aspects, then this results in a relieving effect - both for the leader and for those being led."

For Kirchler, the importance of leadership sensitivity lies in the fact that it frees the cooperation between superiors and employees from avoidable points of friction. "This makes leading more resistance-free, more energy-efficient and correspondingly more effective." Kirchler points to research findings. According to these, it is not motivation, which is always in the foreground, that controls performance awareness and attitude towards the company, but rather the conscious avoidance of demotivation. And demotivation, in turn, is also undisputed, says Kirchler, "arises less on the factual level and more on the relationship level. If managers invest in their relationship quality, they invest in their relief. As an additional effect, they do their own and their employees' health a service that cannot be valued highly enough."

When demotivation triggers frustration
Frustration "thanks to" demotivation, Viennese psychotherapist Professor Alfred Kirchmayr knows, is regularly underestimated. This misjudgement is more problematic today than in the past. Why? "Because the feeling of being treated inappropriately arises much more quickly today than in the past, and is let out much more unchecked today than in the past, and is answered indirectly or even specifically directly." Frustrated people are controlled and driven by their emotions. They are preoccupied with themselves. And that means in the behavioral expression as well as in the effect of this behavior: They are distracted, unfocused, inaccessible, unwilling, recalcitrant, petulant and often angry. "And out of this melange of feelings, they find ways to show it or make others feel it. It's a state of mind, it naturally radiates. Frustrated people are contagious, they can affect and drag down their whole environment."

It does not work without emotions
It is primarily thanks to the research spirit of the American neuroscientist Antonio R. Damasio, Professor of Neurology and Psychology and Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, that this power of emotions has been brought into the light. Damasio proved and exposed: Rationality and emotionality are two sides of the same coin; acting to the exclusion of feelings is wishful thinking; there is no such thing. Emotions influence thinking and acting enormously. In what is probably his most effective book, "Descartes' Error", he makes it clear that Descartes' famous assertion "cogito ergo sum = I think, therefore I am" falls short and, according to today's findings, does not correspond to reality. In the same vein, Philip Meissner, Professor for Strategic Management and Decision Making at ESCP Europe Berlin, writes in his recently published book "Deciding is easy": "Strictly speaking, there is no decision that is not influenced by emotions. After all, they are a fundamental part of our psyche. Our sense of justice in particular has a very strong impact on our decisions. When we feel unfairly treated, emotions take control of our thought processes and we make bad decisions."

Have a clue about people
"Leadership must set goals, leadership must trigger impact, leadership must lead to results. But leadership must also keep people in line. Leadership can only meet this requirement if leadership action develops from a combination of factual and relationship orientation and thus leads to trust-building between leaders, those led and, beyond that, between the workforce and the company," says Kirchler. It seems that business administration is opening up to these interrelationships. The words of Wolfgang Jenewein, Professor of Business Administration at the University of St.Gallen, are remarkable: "In my opinion, the entire VW Group could be led by a person who has little idea about cars. But all the more about people and the way teams function. A modern leader must be able to empathize with people." ■