The empathy problem: Balancing emotion in decision-making

Decision-making is a key aspect of being a manager, and a complex mix of skills, experiences, judgments and instincts. So how do you help your managers make smarter decisions at work?

In this week's episode of The Mindtools L&D Podcast, our own Dr Anna Barnett reveals insights from our new report 'The empathy problem: Balancing emotion in decision-making', part of our Building Better Managers series.

We discuss:

• Whether managers are more inclined to delegate difficult tasks than those they think will be achieved
• Why too much empathy is a problem in decision-making
• How to build emotionally intelligent managers.

During the discussion, Anna referenced the following papers:

• Maas, V. S., & Shi, B. (2023). ‘The effects of target difficulty and relative ability on managers’ delegation decisions’. Management Accounting Research, 60, 100851.
• Kaiser, R. B. (2024). 'Has empathy really become more important to leadership since the COVID-19 pandemic?'. Consulting Psychology Journal.

To read all of our reports, visit mindtools.com/thought-leadership/reports

For more from Mindtools and Kineo, visit mindtools.com. There, you'll also find details of our new face-to-face and virtual workshops, each aligned to our Manager Skills Assessment.

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Connect with our speakers

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with us on LinkedIn:

• Ross Dickie
• Dr Anna Barnett
• Ross Garner