Empathy - The Leadership Trait That Creates Safety in Uncertain Times

How can leaders manage their own stress while supporting teams through turbulence?

In this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded, Cynthia Kyriazis and Drea Martin tackle the critical leadership trait of empathy - one of the most vital yet misunderstood qualities for today’s leaders. 

Drawing from data-driven insights in their Sageforge.ai platform, they reveal the direct connection between rising anxiety, declining well-being, and deteriorating culture.

Far from being just a “soft skill,” empathy is a powerful capability that helps leaders create psychological safety, reduce stress, and sustain organizational performance. 

Cynthia and Drea share practical strategies for demonstrating empathy - from acknowledging observed changes in behavior to practicing active listening without immediately “fixing” problems.

They also highlight the oxygen mask principle: leaders must prioritize self-awareness and self-care before supporting others. Additional insights include reintegrating team members after mental health absences, offering flexible scheduling during high-stress periods, and developing empathy through emotional intelligence, vulnerability, and curiosity.

You’ll Learn:

•  Why empathy is both a mindset and a skill that drives culture and performance
•  How self-awareness and self-care form the foundation of empathic leadership
•  The importance of the “oxygen mask principle” — supporting yourself first to help others
•  Why acknowledging changes in behavior builds connection and trust
•  How psychological safety reduces anxiety and strengthens communication
•  Ways to show empathy: active listening, flexibility, and collaborative return-to-work plans
•  Practical steps to develop empathy: emotional intelligence, reflection, and curiosity. 

Whether you’re leading through economic uncertainty, organizational change, or personal stress, this episode offers practical wisdom for building resilience and creating workplaces where people feel safe, supported, and seen.

Ready to explore your leadership traits? Connect with us on LinkedIn or visit www.plllab.com to see how we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Leadership Traits Decoded
• 0:41 The Importance of Empathy Today
• 2:44 Benefits of Empathic Leadership
• 4:17 Self-Awareness and Self-Care for Leaders
• 6:00 Creating Psychological Safety
• 10:40 Supporting Team Members' Return
• 13:44 Developing Empathy and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Cynthia Kyriazis: 0:03

Welcome to Leadership Traits Decoded. I'm Cynthia Kyriazis, Chief Experience Officer at the Culture Think Tank.

Drea Martin: 0:10

And I'm Drea Martin, Chief Operating Officer of the Crucible. We are collaborative partners at Performance Leadership Learning Lab, where we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 0:22

Today we're unpacking the leadership traits essential for building, investing in and scaling successful companies. Our insights come directly from data-driven metrics within our platform's solution, so let's dive in. Hi Drea, how are you doing?

Drea Martin: 0:38

Hi, yeah, doing well. How are you, cynthia?

Cynthia Kyriazis: 0:41

I'm good. I think that the topic today that we decided to tackle is empathy.

Drea Martin: 0:47

Yeah, empathy is a great one. Tough but, great, Tough but great.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 0:51

Yes, you struggled a little bit in how to present. And I think what spurred me on to saying yes, empathy is a good one is because there was a post that I read in a nationwide magazine that spoke to the level of stress and the level of anxiety that CEOs are experiencing. Ceos, specifically, are experiencing because of the unknown nature of the economics and politics and so on and so forth. I thought if they are experiencing it, then certainly their direct reports are experiencing it. So I thought, today, how do you feel about kind of talking about both what the leader might experience as well as how a leader who maybe has a strength in empathy, some tools for them, and how to help somebody who's a direct report who might be struggling with it? Because, again, anxiety and uncertainty can flow rapidly and quickly in an organization.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 1:43

I was thinking that, in my opinion, this kind of stress level that we're seeing around money and where it's coming from and where it's flowing from, and so on and so forth the last time that I saw that type of uncertainty was during COVID, and before that it was during the financial meltdown at the end of the 2000s, and I thought, well, it's true, this level of uncertainty impacts culture.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 2:02

For sure, part of SageForge includes the level and intensity of anxiety that staff may be facing, and it also includes how that anxiety impacts well-being and the culture. So if you tell me that the culture is off, you're telling me that anxiety is high and well-being is low. So I went back and looked at some of our works and yes, in fact that is true. When one is high, the other is low, and I'm thinking that maybe we should hear from you first about, as we always do, the benefits of being aware of this trait and working towards that trait for one's own development as well as helping employees. I know you are a wealth of information around that, so I'll hand it over to you for a minute.

Drea Martin: 2:44

Yeah, happily. And some quick context here, because I know you mentioned SageForge. Sageforge is the AI tool that's the result of the PL3 collaboration that our two companies have. So just quick context on that, that's the tool that Cynthia was referencing and measures.

Drea Martin: 2:58

These I know sometimes helpful to define. Yes, yeah, empathy is a really interesting one because it's something that is so powerful, because having that ability to understand and share the feelings and perspectives of others is not only a mindset, it's also just a skill in general and it's a way to use. Having a lot of that and having a way to kind of measure and see what other people are experiencing, be attuned to that is a great skill, especially in uncertain times, high stakes or high change environments. That's the real benefit that you have is not only being more empathetic as an individual means you are attuned to these things, but also it might mean you're able to see a little bit more of who else shares some of that empathy around you.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 3:43

That's awesome. That is awesome. So one of the things that I think is sometimes not said is that there is still, even through C-suites, there is still a feeling attached to someone who needs assistance because you've sensed that they have something going on, and that need is still, to this day, in many ways identified as a mental illness issue, a mental health issue. Well, it is a mental health issue because anxiety can play on your brain. But that thought needs to be surpassed, I think, and it can start with the leader. If the leader themselves isn't taking care of themselves, if they are under undue stress and can't control some of what is going on, they have to treat themselves as the patient right to some degree.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 4:28

Two really important emotional intelligence virtues are to make sure that you are self-aware and make sure that you attend to and practice self-care. So if you are an individual who identifies as being empathic but you're feeling stressed, just remember those two self-awareness and self-care. You can't help anyone if you yourself are in a position of being empathic but totally stressed. One of the things I used to say to clients was you need to take care of yourself first before you start to try to take care of your team, and it's exactly what they say on an airplane the instructions about the mask. Should the mask fall, they tell the parent or the adult to put their mask on first, because the natural reaction is let me put the mask on the other person first. But if something happens to the caretaker, something's going to happen to the person they're traveling with. So it's exactly the same thing.

Drea Martin: 5:17

Yeah, you can't pour from an empty cup is another way. I've heard it said yes, yes, exactly. You want to give, you have to have and give yourself enough support to be able to give to others and be able to pour from that cup. You're filling.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 5:29

I think it's absolutely important to be able to say, hey, I've noticed something is up. If something seems different or you seem quiet, some acknowledgement that you've noticed some type of change and then actively listen. Not just listen, don't have your mind wandering, it's actively listening. If you are someone who is supporting a team that's also going through these ups and downs, can you think of ways I've got a few ways but can you think of ways that someone who supports others, what can they do to show support, to show that they are an empathic listener and have heard them? Here's what. What can I do for you? What kinds of things Like? For example, the usual one was provide resources, check with your HR team, find out what kind of conversations or coaching or discussion can happen outside of the arena of work.

Drea Martin: 6:13

Definitely. I think acknowledgement is a big factor here, and sometimes it can't be a company-wide acknowledgement. Sometimes there's other situations you don't want to take any kind of stance, or especially in the political environment that we're in. Sometimes it can't be company wide. But even acknowledging to an individual or someone that you know or has expressed to you that they struggle with something that you see going on in the day to day, acknowledging that they feel that, that that exists and that you see them in that way, and even showing support.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 6:43

That's a great word. Acknowledge, Acknowledge that you sense something or see something and that you're there to help them by providing resources. In some cases it's okay to share information that when I met with this, when I had this issue, I did X, Y, Z. It may not work for you, but it's something to consider person some time off. But I think it's more than that. I think if you're going to exhibit empathy as a leader, you really need to understand where the angst, anxiety is coming from, without the need to feel you need to fix it, but to understand that this person is pained and they need some assistance.

Drea Martin: 7:18

I think another factor that's helpful there is and I know we've talked about this in episodes here before, but there's something to having that space to be creative, to be strategic, to think bigger picture that buffer space.

Drea Martin: 7:30

We talk a lot about this on the Crucible team too, because it's so important to not have, especially on days when there's back-to-back meetings, to have other days when you don't have back-to-back meetings.

Drea Martin: 7:38

You have that breathing room, that room to do and think and process, and sometimes things like that, like that prioritization of creative space, can be taken away, especially when someone is trying to do the best that they can. They're functioning at maybe 50% or lower kind of energy, 100% overachieving kind of sense that they might be used to. Placing that into their schedule, encouraging that time, finding ways to lighten the load in areas they aren't required to kind of be in Maybe their presence isn't as necessary in this time, seeing how else the rest of the team can support without burdening anyone else of course, but seeing kind of what you can do to create more flexibility and more awareness around what they're going through within that little team or sub team or sub dynamic can be a really interesting way to let someone function and still get everything done without carrying some of the extra load that maybe they're used to and maybe normally isn't a problem.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 8:52

As usual, Drea, those points are right on. I mean right on exactly how it needs to happen, and because what I see is that creative time that you talk about, where we think about strategy and we think about approach and we think about alternate approaches C-suite individuals and that level of leadership team is doing that a lot and unfortunately that is the time that usually falls off the calendar. It's more about the doing from day to day, hour to hour, taking care of the people that report to them as well. But those are great points and I will say that, if you approach it in the way that you just described, we're here to help you.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 9:25

Flexibility you speak to a topic that was very much discussed during COVID, which is psychological safety, and psychological safety simply means that a person can do these types of things we're talking about and not have a fear of being reprimanded, losing their job, having a stigma attached to them because they need to go get some counseling or whatever. The answer is that psychological safety is everything when it comes to reducing levels of anxiety and improving communication and mostly improving well-being. It was really the anxiety well-being scenario that played out in COVID for months and months and months, if not years. Great points around creating psychological safety.

Drea Martin: 10:06

I'm curious what you would recommend. I think something I've seen kind of presents a challenge when someone is able to make those allowances and I see this more often physical injuries, which is interesting, like somebody has to take some time off their healing and then they come back. But this is applicable to what we're talking about as well. Mental health and all the things like that should be considered in the same realm as any kind of physical illness you're going through. But when you come forward then and you come back to this workplace, I think what suggestions there?

Drea Martin: 10:35

This is an interesting one. What suggestions would you give an organization that's trying to then bring someone back up to their normal workload or to their normal sense of, say, you've made allowances, you've taken extra things off their plate. How would you suggest someone goes through putting those back on that person's plate without any kind of potential reprimand of maybe they're not ready yet. Or navigating that timeline and that uncertainty around that timeline of how do you bring someone back to 100% on your team if they've kind of been in this situation and you've prioritized their well-being through the situation, which is wonderful, then navigating those nuances of how do you do that right, how do you make sure you don't mess it up. What would you advise someone when they're going through that process of you're managing someone and they say they're back, they're ready? What do you do then?

Cynthia Kyriazis: 11:53

no-transcript everything on them. That basically negates everything that just happened. So sit down with them, come up with a plan. How many hours a day are they going to work? If it's not decided yet, make sure that they're taking time for lunch or not trying to work like they did before and just sitting down. And again, communication is something we talk a lot about on our podcast. Having the communication to say don't expect you to get up and running in the beginning, would like to see what. There's a plan. I'm still here to support you. Let's touch base at the end of every day or the end of every week, or something that enables them to know they can take step by step. Nobody's expecting them to get all caught up on Monday for a meeting on Tuesday.

Drea Martin: 12:37

Right.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 12:38

Having the sensitivity of the step by step and being able to communicate that to the individual and have them feel they're part of their recuperative planning as they re-enter the workforce, so to speak.

Drea Martin: 12:49

And that's so helpful to think about. Just this notion of it's not as cut and clear, maybe even like I'm asking you to give direction where it's take it one step at a time and take that time and prioritize communication through that to make sure that, yeah, it's nuanced and that's something that's not going to go away.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 13:06

And it's a perfect example when somebody re-enters. To have that nuance, to have that is probably in many cases not even expected, but it's a great show of empathy. It's a great show to give that person the comfort of knowing. You understand, I can't do all of this today, so it's just exhibiting empathy yet again. Do you have any takeaway? This time? I think the whole thing is a takeaway.

Drea Martin: 13:29

I guess one kind of final area here is when someone doesn't have high empathy. What are areas that you'd recommend that they dive into there? And I can share a couple as well, but curious kind of what you suggest as a before we get into takeaways. I know I'm halting us here, but I'm curious. No, that's okay, I would say.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 13:47

Can't relate. I would say a Can't relate. I would say a couple things. Number one I would check into what does it mean to be emotionally intelligent? What aspects of that rise to the top for you saying I'm really good at this, but I'm not so good at that? Look at that for a while, of course. Get a trade assessment to see where you're going, without question. And the second thing is I think I'm a big fan of Brene Brown. She has some short words of wisdom that are really very helpful to have the courage of either way to either say I'm not good at this and I need to learn it If I want to grow. I am good at this, but I don't know how to help my employee. Some super good words of wisdom in there. And the emotional, the tenet of emotional intelligence, I think Wonderful. And what about you? What do you have to share with that?

Drea Martin: 14:33

Yeah, it's wonderful. I'm glad you brought in Brene Brown. Her work on vulnerability is wonderful, especially for this trait. Talking about empathy, I think the main thing when you captured this is really getting curious getting curious about your own abilities, getting curious about other people's perspectives, and also that notion of reflection Practicing active listening, practicing acknowledgement, really doing that reflection work to make sure that there's areas that you can use communication as a tool to compensate for maybe not having a natural inclination towards strong empathy.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 15:04

That's a good point. That's a very good point, awesome. Well, I hope our listeners everything that they needed to get started on learning more about empathy.

Drea Martin: 15:13

Definitely.

Cynthia Kyriazis: 15:14

Thanks for your insights, drea, you too. Thanks, take care. See you next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded. You'll be able to find all our episodes on the Performance Leadership Learning Lab website at wwwplllabcom, or you can listen on your favorite streaming platform.

Drea Martin: 15:37

We'll be back soon to explore the next essential trait. Until then, feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn if you have any questions or ideas.