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Jim Rainey was a man with a mission. As an outsider, he had just been appointed president and CEO of an agribusiness giant that was hemorrhaging from operating losses$374 million for the previous five years.

The good news is that within 12 months of taking over the leadership reins, Rainey injected a proactive, collaborative spirit into the corporate culture, inspired the workforce and their constituencies to accomplish things never before dreamed, and returned the company to profitability. The impressive turnaround became a case study at the Harvard Business School.

The most pertinent point here is not what Jim Rainey helped his people accomplish. The most pertinent point is how he did it.

He did it with integrity, trust, and respect. He did it with tough-minded focus on business detail, coupled with genuine caring for the human element of organizational change.

There are plenty of stories to illustrate Jim Raineys approach to leadership. One is especially appropriate here. A few days after joining the company, he walked into an early morning strategic planning meeting. You can imagine the attentiveness of all the eager beavers trying to impress the new boss.

When he first entered the room, Jim overheard a young man mention that his wife was in the hospital. Jim inquired about the womans health, and the man said his wife was expecting a baby which was likely to be delivered that day.

Let me make a deal with you, Jim told the young father-to-be. I promise to give you a personal briefing on the outcome of this meeting if youll rush over to the hospital where you belong. Youll get only one chance to witness the birth of your baby, and you dont want to miss it.

On the surface that may seem like no more than a nice gesture. But its that very kind of thoughtfulness that earns trust and loyalty.

Nobody understands that better than Bob DeKoch and Phillip G. Clampitt, authors of Leading with Care in a Tough World: Beyond Servant Leadership.

As a successful entrepreneur focused on economic development, DeKoch has devoted his entire career to mentoring aspiring leaders. Clampitt is an award-winning business professor at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. His business clients include PepsiCo, Dean Foods, the U.S. Army War College, and Nokia.

Rodger Dean Duncan: In discussing the importance of caring in a leaders mindset and behaviors, you differentiate between shallow caring and deep caring. Please give us examples of each.

Phillip G. Clampitt

Phillip G. Clampitt: One university professor was well known for bringing cookies to class near the end of the semester as teacher evaluations were about to be administered. However, this professor never seemed to have the time to answer student questions or talk about their career ambitions. Now we both love oatmeal raisin cookies, but thats no substitute for these potentially career-altering discussions. The cookie professor represents shallow caring. Professors who take the time for career discussions with or without cookies exhibit deep caring.

Similarly, in the workplace, a leader with a shallow caring mindset might routinely schedule after-work happy hours or inquire about how an employee is feeling, but never engage in deeper discussions about what really provides career and life fulfillment for the person. We think of shallow versus deep in terms of contrasts: short-term focus versus long-term, excuse-enabling versus developmental growth, reactive versus proactive, and placating versus empowering.

Duncan: Why do some leaders seem to think they can get away with providing only shallow caring?

Bob DeKoch: Because they can fool people in the short term, and they may even deliver short-term results. Sadly, some highly manipulative people learn to play a caring con game and delight in playing it. Subtle, short-term manipulation can be a way to exert power.

Other leaders simply dont know how to deeply care for those they lead. They may want to do so but they may not know how to invest in others in rich ways. They can be trained to coach employees in the Goldilocks zonenot too much or not too little.

Duncan: What are the measurable benefits of the deep caring you advocate?

Clampitt: Employee commitment. Lower turnover. Higher job satisfaction. In the surveys weve conducted for our research, we discovered that lower job satisfaction scores almost always occurred when the leader lacked the skill to meaningfully care for employees. In decades of our research with thousands of employees, weve consistently found that one of the strongest predicators of job satisfaction was the quality of the communication relationship with an employees immediate supervisor.

Duncan: What role do uncertainty and humility play in caring leaders interactions with their people?

Bob DeKoch

DeKoch: An absolutely essential role. Uncertainty and humility are deeply linked to one other. Leaders must embrace uncertainty if they hope to solve complex problems, seize unique opportunities, spark innovation, and develop the potential of others.

Leaders should approach most interactions with a mindset that (1) they do not have all the answers, (2) others do not have all the answers, and (3) the best insights often prove to be emergent from sharing with each other what is known and what is not known. Thats the essence of humility. Its not putting yourself down, its embracing the possibilities of making a dent into all the uncertainties that pervade life.

Duncan: How does a leaders language signal a desire (or reluctance) to embrace uncertainty?

Clampitt: The leaders weve observed who embrace uncertainty might say something like, Heres a perspective or idea but Im not sure is correct. What are your thoughts? Or, they might say, I dont know exactly how we should seize this opportunity or solve the problem. Ideas? Leaders who celebrate an argument or emergent perspective that is different than when they walked into the room are embracing uncertainty.

By signposting shifts of opinion during exploratory discussions, leaders signal the acceptability of not knowing. Its important for leaders to recognize something we discovered in our researchnamely, even when employees may have difficulty embracing uncertainty on a personal level, they still want their organizations to do so. This asymmetry between personal and organizational levels may be perplexing to some leaders.

Duncan: Trust is a value that many people claim to hold. How does a caring leader translate genuine trust into action?

DeKoch: Trust involves giving people plenty of operating space to explore ideas and even fail in the short term. Effective leaders encourage self-reflective learning to improve ideas and examine poor results. Trust also involves assuming positive intent if someone says something ill-advised or drops the ball on an assignment. Trusted leaders are generous with their praise and not afraid to say they were wrong.

Duncan: Whats your advice to an up-and-coming leader who wants to engage in lifelong learning?

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Clampitt: It all starts with a self-assessment often aided by coaches or mentors.

Second, it requires shifting between learning modalities. Some people prefer learning by reading. Fine, but there are skills and perspectives that can be learned only through exposing yourself to new experiences, meeting different people, and observing groups in action. When you look at any issue through the multiple lens of the written word, personal experiences, and careful observation, youve learned at a deeper level.

Third, it requires a breadth of exposure to different issues and ways of thinking. For example, engineers learn to think differently than HR professionals. Too much narrowness can hinder the engineer or HR professionals personal development. Avoid, for instance, going to the same type of conferences with the same people every year. Branch out in different directions. We are big fans of not only learning things outside your natural comfort zone, but learning them in unusual ways through experiences, assignments, or exposure to unusual people. We think of this kind of learning as a leaders mental cross training to enrich their natural perspectives.

Duncan: Some leaders mistakenly equate kindness with being soft. How do you disabuse them of that view, and why is kindness such an important ingredient in caring leadership?

DeKoch: Nobody would accuse the Navy SEALS of being soft. Yet the legendary SEAL, Dick Couch, admonished SEAL graduates to show kindness and offer thanks to all the support personnel. Leaders can act with civility towards others and still make the tough decisions. Skillful leaders recognize that kindness towards others is a form of respect that undergirds uplifting professional relationships.

Duncan: Coaching is an important role of a leader. What tips do you offer for providing make-a-difference coaching?

Clampitt: They fall into two categories: visible and subtle coaching. A visible tip would be to set up regular coaching meetings devoted to the persons personal development and growth. Another visible tip would be to seize opportunities to TAP (Thank, Applaud, Praise) people. Many people remember those special moments for decades. Why? Because those moments can be so affirming and even inspiring when offered just at the right time. A subtle tip would be thinking incrementally about the persons career, reflecting on how one assignment or job builds on the other to create a well-rounded professional.

Duncan: With a wide range of motives, many people seem eager to jump on the inclusion bandwagon these days. Beyond the politics and virtue-signaling that engulf the issue, how can a caring leader ensure that people have appropriate access to challenges and opportunities in the workplace?

DeKoch: Talking about inclusiveness in isolation from other practices is almost doomed to rampant cynicism or total failure. Inclusiveness is a byproduct of the diverse teams of individuals committed to engagement. Leaders must assemble the right group of people to tackle projects and then engage them not only on a personal level but also with challenging, meaningful tasks or projects. Well-trained soldiers fighting a common foe, regardless of their backgrounds, tend to bond in ways so deep that others find difficult to understand. In short, caring leaders use differences as a springboard to enhance outcomes rather than allow differences to spawn divisiveness.

Duncan: Much of what you discussed seems more aligned with smaller organizations or teams. Does leading with care scale for leaders of organizations with thousands of employees.

Clampitt: Absolutely. Yet how that leader scales this perspective is extremely important. It requires patience and a different mindset. For example, it would be impossible for a CEO to personally coach 1,000 employees, but she could coach a smaller group. That smaller team could, in turn, cascade that coaching practice and leading with care ideas through the organization.

Another cautionary note: embracing uncertainty requires a certain degree of finesse when addressing thousands. Why? Because some people need absolute certainty and if they dont have that, the rumor mill will start cranking out all sorts of crazy things. Leaders in that situation can share the knowns and unknowns while providing assurance about how the uncertainties will be addressed. Describing the process of how the organization will move forward wont stop the rumor mill but it will, at least, hold it in check until greater clarity emerges. This was one of the great challenges of communicating during the pandemic.

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Why 'Caring' Is A Must-Have Ingredient In Effective Leadership - Forbes