How to Improve Your Circle of Empathy in a Team

Effective leadership involves being aware of and managing one's social identities within the workplace. To foster a sense of teamwork and shared purpose, leaders should focus on building an environment where employees feel heard, understood, and valued. This not only strengthens group dynamics but also reduces the instances of us-versus-them mentalities.

Packer shared insights on how leaders can better manage their social identities, emphasizing the need to validate group identities continually based on his research and book, The Power of Us. He warned against potential pitfalls when employees get promoted, urging them to be cautious of their friendships at lower organizational levels. Packer underscored the importance of ensuring actions don't alienate leaders from the rest of the group, as this can negatively impact their ability to lead effectively.

In this episode, you will:

• Discover how group identity influences individual behavior and decision-making.
• Explore strategies for maintaining unity while encouraging constructive dissent within teams.
• Uncover the nuances of identity shifts, allowing you to better understand and predict consumer behavior.
• Learn about the critical role diversity and inclusion play in collaborative environments.
• Gain insights on translating group behavior principles to foster a thriving organizational culture.

00:00:00 - Introduction, Melina welcomes Dr. Dominic Packer to the podcast and introduces the topic of the power of group identity and collective behavior, as featured in Dominic's book, The Power of Us. 00:02:22 - Shifting Identities, Melina and Dominic discuss the multiple aspects of identity and how individuals shift between different identities based on context and group membership. 00:05:16 - Writing Through the Pandemic, The conversation shifts to the challenges of writing a book with a co-author during the pandemic, including the need for accountability and social support. (With lessons any aspiring author can use today.) 00:08:41 - Influence of Group Norms, Dominic explains how group norms can influence behavior through social pressure, informational influence, and signaling of group identity. 00:10:12 - Types of Identity, The three types of identity – personal, relational, and collective – are discussed, with a focus on how collective identities can become emotionally important and drive decision-making. 00:14:59 - The Flexibility of Identity, Identity is not only discerning, but also flexible, malleable, and adaptive to current circumstances. People have a readiness to identify, and a new way of categorizing ourselves can create a new identity. The story of two brothers who split their shoe making business in Germany during WWII divided a town into a fierce rivalry. This shows how categorizing the world can produce identities and group-based differences. 00:19:43 - Cooperating Opportunities with Others, Groups are fundamental to human survival, and we tend to band together for collective achievements. A thing we have in common with others is an opportunity to cooperate. By extending a little more trust to others and receiving a little more trust from them in return, it facilitates collaboration and allows groups to achieve things that they couldn't achieve on their own. 00:23:13 - Multileveled Identities, Lower-level identities in company corporate situations like different divisions or units are not necessarily bad. One solution to reduce tensions and rivalries between the lower-level identities is to shift people's focus from their lower level identity to their higher level identity, the superordinate identity, which is the company as a whole. Companies need to create conditions that bring people together through common goals and shift people's focus from their lower-level identity to their higher-level identity. 00:25:45 - Incentive Structures and Resource Allocation, Leaders need to create conditions by which people can see themselves as part of something larger than just their immediate experience. 00:29:56 - The Importance of Divergent Opinions in Groups, It is important for groups to have divergent opinions and new ideas to innovate and become more productive in the long term. Dissenting behavior is often seen as annoying or slowing down the group, which could be a threat, but that isn't the whole story. The most identified group members are the most likely to dissent because they care a lot about the group. It is important for leaders to create a psychologically safe environment where people feel comfortable speaking up and being critical. 00:35:59 - Tips for Creating a Culture of Dissent, It is important to distinguish between dissenters who are trying to change the group in a positive way and troublemakers who stir up trouble just to be difficult. Leaders should encourage a culture where dissenters who are positively motivated feel comfortable speaking up, engage in behaviors themselves that validate the group's identity, and make sure they embody it. Leaders should avoid behaviors that differentiate them too much from the rest of the group and reduce large-scale pay discrepancies between people at the top of an organization and the average employee. 00:39:15 - Leadership and Managing Social Identities, Leaders need to manage the social identities of the people they are leading, foster it, build it, and help people experience it and see it. A fundamental idea that arises from this is that followers are much more likely to be inspired and motivated by leaders who they see as one of us, that they see as possessing an identity in common. Leaders need to engage in behaviors themselves that are continually validating of an identity, reduce things that can work against that, 00:45:10 - Balancing Identity and Groups, Dominic Packer discusses the importance of balancing identity and groups, how our identities shift throughout the day, and how it affects what we buy and consume. He emphasizes the need for leaders to understand their roles within different groups and how they can be more effective members of the global collective. 00:46:28 - Key Takeaways, Melina reflects on the importance of understanding how easily we can be influenced by our identities and group affiliations. She highlights the concept of the "Town of Bent Necks" and sibling rivalries that can change what we buy and wear. She encourages listeners to read both The Power of Us and For the Culture, two books that teach valuable lessons for anyone in business. 00:48:14 - Conclusion, Melina's top insights from the conversation. What stuck with you while listening to the episode? What are you going to try? Come share it with Melina on social media -- you'll find her as @thebrainybiz everywhere and as Melina Palmer on LinkedIn.

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Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode:

• The Power of Us, by Dominic Packer and Jay Van Bavel
• Magic Words, by Jonah Berger
• For The Culture, by Marcus Collins
• How Minds Change, by David McRaney
• What Your Employees Need and Can’t Tell You, by Melina Palmer

Connect with Jonah: 

• Dominic on Twitter
• Follow Dominic on LinkedIn
• The Power of Us Website

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Other Important Links: 

• Brainy Bites - Melina’s LinkedIn Newsletter
• The Power of Us Newsletter