‘You have to have leaders that show up this way...that want to drive empathy in their teams’: KFC Canada’s Nick Dillman connects empathy to high performance
When Nick Dillman first walked into KFC’s Louisville offices for a job interview in 2018, the vibe and culture immediately drew him in, and it’s what continues to keep him there.
“When I walked in the door, I thought, ‘This is where I have to be,’” Dillman says.
This special ingredient of a welcoming, inclusive and innovative culture is what continues to inform his leadership style.
“I remember feeling everyone's kind of buzzing with energy around the office, people are talking to each other, they seem excited about the work that they're doing, in a really good way,” Dillman says.
“So after the in-person, I was like, ‘I gotta be here. This is a place to be.’”
As chief people and culture officer at KFC Canada, Dillman oversees people strategy in a brand with deep global roots but a cohesive cultural identity. A recent import to Canada from KFC’s Texas offices, Dillman experienced that consistency firsthand when he started his new role in Toronto.
“For KFC, I do think it's a fairly unified culture,” he says.
“I think that there's something about the culture, and I think it's around empathy and what it means to really be what we call a ‘heart-led leader’.”
Dillman says this emphasis on empathy is not an abstract idea but is operationalized through foundational programs across KFC’s global business units.
“We talk about the same culture. We talk about it the same way in every business unit around the world,” he explains, adding that this includes a consistent focus on recruiting “culture builders, who can come in and add to and uphold the culture that we've got.”
KFC expects employees to push boundaries and be innovative, Dillman says, but the key to maintaining a healthy culture is balancing that competitive edge with a deep commitment to emotional intelligence and empathy.
“Our teams should be innovating. Our teams should be making bold, calculated risks. But on the flip side of that is … the ‘what’ about the work – how the work gets done,” he says.
“For us, what it means is really showing up with EQ, with emotional intelligence.”
This “how,” explains Dillman, is about putting aside corporate jargon and getting to the core of what employees actually need to thrive, with the aim of creating a more authentic and productive workplace: “Dropping some of what you might find at other organizations, some of the corporate facade, if you will, and letting the human show.”
KFC Canada has a structured approach to nurturing empathy and authenticity in leadership; since Dillman joined the company in 2018, all above-restaurant leaders have participated in a program called Leading with Heart.
With an emphasis on peer coaching and leadership training, the program focuses on building empathy “muscle.”
“One of the things we talk about all the time is being authentic, and being authentic means being vulnerable,” he says.
This lays the groundwork for high performance by making teams feel psychologically safe, Dillman says.
“When you talk to someone else about how they show up in their behaviour, how do you build the muscle around empathy? How do you understand where they're coming from and really get to a common language, where it lowers defensiveness, it allows better collaboration. That's kind of what the program teaches.”
The impact of KFC’s leadership philosophy is not only observable, Dillman says – it’s also measurable in the form of increased performance and productivity.
“When we implement heart styles in different markets, we actually see engagement scores go up,” says Dillman. “When we look at some of our engagement scores, we also see this sense of camaraderie, this sense of collaboration, go up.”
He argues that this leads to tangible business benefits: “From a company standpoint, it actually does lead to better business results. It keeps your employees engaged. It keeps teams more productive, to prioritize mental well-being, psychological safety.”
The openness to talk about mental health, authenticity, and vulnerability in the workplace, Dillman believes, removes barriers and helps teams collaborate more effectively. “They allow people [to] maybe set some of that ego aside, the unhealthy competition aside.”
Culture cannot be sustained in silos, Dillman says; it must start with leadership. Not only that, just talking about company culture won’t cut it.
“You do have to have leaders that show up this way, leaders that want to drive empathy in their teams,” he says, and points out that for HR leaders concerned about getting other leaders onboard, "heart-led" leadership isn't a big ask.
“In a lot of cases, it really doesn't cost a lot of money,” he says.
“Actually, it's more about how you manage the change, how you communicate, how you shift the profile of leaders that you recruit into the organization, to really match whatever the value you're trying to create is.”
Dillman’s own passion for human resources comes from its ability to make a real impact, which he experienced for the first time as recruiting coordinator at Big Ass Fans.
“I fell in love with the conversations I was having with candidates, the whole hiring process, the idea that you could have a conversation that actually changes someone's life, that's cemented into their memory,” he says.
For Dillman, inclusive culture is more than a slogan — it’s about building psychological safety that is so instilled in the culture that it can be felt right away, much like his experience when he first joined KFC.
“What follows is that I have the freedom to ask for what I need. I have the freedom to share my thoughts about an idea. I actually have the freedom to bring forward a proposal that I think would be beneficial to the org or help us innovate,” Dillman says.
“It's creating a space where anyone could walk in the door and think, I have a place here. I belong here. My voice can be heard here.”
