The Power of Expertise & Empathy in Your Culture of Care
On 18 March 2023, Julia Buckley praised British Airways in a viral tweet that has since gathered over 94,000 views. In her comments, she commended the airline, and in particular the pilot, Captain Del, for singlehandedly ‘curing 80% of [her] fear of flying’.
How did he do this?
With a mixture of expertise and empathy.
When Julia was boarding her British Airways flight, she was incredibly nervous to fly. But Captain Del managed to allay her fears by taking the time to explain and draw the aerodynamics that keeps an airplane in the air. This time – and expertise – meant that Julia could feel confident in both the plane’s design for flight and in the flight crew themselves. And this confidence was truly ‘life-changing’ for her.
The Power of Expertise & Empathy in a Culture of Care
What is a culture of care?
If you’re part of my community or have been reading my articles, blogs or newsletters, you will likely have heard me talk about the culture of care. When it comes to your practice of business, a culture of care is simply the idea that the focus of your work is on your relationships – both internal and external – rather than the transaction of the work alone. Moreover, this culture of care drives your overall purpose.
There are many ways to create a culture of care in your practice, but one excellent way, as demonstrated by Captain Del, is by combining expertise and empathy.
Expertise & empathy – a powerful combination
Empathy is an important part of your culture of care in your practice. When you are an empathetic leader, you can establish true, authentic connections with your team and your clients that enhance your relationships and overall team and individual performance.
Expertise is also an important part of your practice. Without expertise, you would be unable to do the work that you do to the standard that you need to do it. This is a baseline requirement for success.
However, it’s where your expertise and empathy intersect that you can truly make a difference for your team and clients and vastly enhance your culture of care.
Consider Captain Del. The power of the scribbled diagram and explanation is who it came from – and that is an expert in the field. This is enhanced by the fact that the pilot, who very likely had other matters to handle before taking a commercial flight into the air, took the time to spend with a nervous flier.
He could have easily palmed this job off to a flight attendant. In fact, this is far more likely to have been within their scope of work. But he didn’t. He had the expertise, and he spent the time, and because of that, he made a huge difference in the life of one of his passengers.
Establishing your own culture of care
Mindset
The first step to having a culture of care in your practice is your mindset. And that means thinking about customer centricity. This isn’t hard to do – it’s actually the human thing to do (as Captain Del has shown us!). And when we implement care into our business model, we can have a huge impact on those around us.
Margaret Mead was an American anthropologist who completed research around belonging by studying indigenous tribes from history. She found evidence of bones (over 15,000 years old) that had been broken and then healed in ancient tribes, giving evidence that these people had been cared for within the tribe. Her research proved that these people weren’t just together for protection but that they had a care for each other.
She says, ‘A broken femur that has healed is evidence that another person has taken time to stay with the fallen, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended them through recovery. A healed femur indicates that someone has helped a fellow human, rather than abandoning them to save their own life.’
She continues, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; For, indeed, that's all who ever have.’
Generosity
The next element that you need to establish a culture of care is generosity. By this, I often mean a generosity of time and spirit. Again, we look to the excellent example set by Captain Del, who took the time (not required by his role) to listen, ask questions and provide an answer that ultimately helped his passenger immensely.
Because of this generosity – this ‘attention out’ – he was able to become the person with the right expertise and the right empathy to really make a difference for someone else. And it’s important to note that this wasn’t a one-off for Captain Del but part of his generous spirit. A respondent to the tweet, Captain Stephen White, agreed that Captain Del was consistently one of the ‘nicest and most reassuring guys out there’.
System
Finally, it’s important to have a system in place that can create the infrastructure that allows you to give your time, your expertise and your empathy to others. For example, pilots likely don’t have a lot of time prior to piloting a commercial flight. But because of the systems in place – such as a co-pilot, a team, duplicative checks, and time built into the process – Captain Del was able to take the time to step away and help someone else.
Get started
Care is like a pebble being dropped in a pond. It may only make a small ripple at the point of entry, but those ripples spread and widen and create an impact far beyond the initial impact. Your culture of care will do the same in your own business. It will create ripples of change (and ultimately success) for your clients and your team over the long term. So, if you’re worried about what steps to take, even the smallest can make a huge difference.
Questions
How can you create a culture of care in your own practice or business?
Where is your expertise, and how can you share that in a way that demonstrates care to your clients and team?
Can you create systems that give you more opportunities and infrastructure to demonstrate your culture of care?
I’d love to hear your thoughts….