Empathy Is A Natural And Learnable Skill
Here are a few steps to be more empathetic
Posted on 10-05-2021, Read Time: Min
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During the pandemic we have gone through loss, grief, fear, social isolation, and those employed had to navigate and manage their way through these new circumstances and life challenges while also having to perform job responsibilities efficiently. Even though employers are concerned about their bottom line, empathy was becoming an added mandatory skill for leaders in the workforce as employee performance was fluctuating due to the impact the pandemic was having on our lives. While the pandemic may have created more businesses to be open to empathetic leadership, we must continue to evolve in this direction of perceiving and relating to other’s experiences moving forward for the long haul.
Being empathetic doesn’t suggest giving employees an unending free pass to not work due to unfortunate events. Actually, this powerful skill can help your business be successful. By creating a positive work environment, you’ll retain employees and maintain or increase productivity. Having empathy exhibits your humanity and makes you relatable, allowing you to establish trust with your employees, as well as earn respect and develop loyalty. Employees who feel understood and valued are more likely to be happier at work and produce more effectively.
Empathetic leaders are genuinely interested in what their employees are thinking and feeling, giving them the opportunity to step into their shoes and feel what it’s like to walk in them. They sincerely seek to understand their perspective to support their needs while maintaining accountability and ambition to achieve goals.
Empathy is a natural and a learnable skill. It’s the dual process of perceiving the feelings of others and also being cognizant of working to understand why they feel the way do to determine how you can be helpful to them.
A Few Steps for Practicing Empathy in the Workplace
- Be attentive while listening.
- Be observant of their emotions and how they speak.
- Hear their perspective and resonate with their experience.
- Refrain from projecting assumptions and judgments based on your personal experiences.
- Ask for clarification when necessary – do you understand what they experienced and what they are asking for?
- Make a plan to address concerns or a situation.
- Follow through with plans that reflect a care for their wellbeing.
Some examples that show empathy:
- You take into account that the pandemic has left some parents with a lack of access to childcare or elderly care. You may need to allow them to work remotely, offer flexible working options, or provide childcare programs.
- Some employees are dealing with loss and grief, which affects their ability to focus. Showing your understanding and offering support may bring them comfort to refocus.
- If some employees are anxious about returning to work, ask open-ended questions to find out why. If they share, you can alleviate their angst by following protocols for cleanliness and be willing to accommodate those warranted requests.
- If there are employees who are experiencing workplace discrimination, be committed and follow through with establishing and sustaining structures, processes, and policies that lead to long-term behavior changes that will create an environment that is inclusive, respectful, fair, and safe.
- Empathize with how the pandemic has affected mental health, along with other life challenges. Offer mental health services. Your willingness to incorporate supporting your employee’s mental health, does a couple of things. When you humanize mental health you’re dismantling the stigma and you’re making it more accessible and comfortable for people to seek the help they need.
A Few Techniques to Strengthen Your Empathy Abilities
- Participate in self-awareness training. When you understand yourself, you can better understand others’ perspectives and emotions as well.
- Be aware of what factors have developed your views of self, others, circumstances, and life.
- Be mindful of your thoughts evoking specific emotions.
- Acknowledge how your emotions and beliefs influence your choices, producing unfavorable or favorable results and experiences.
- Get to know people outside of your comfort zone. This allows you to minimize judgments and assumptions.
- While having conversations with people you don’t really know
- Remove distractions so you can be fully invested in the conversation.
- Ask open-ended questions to have a deeper exchange than just small talk.
- When you interact with them, let go of any expectations on who you think they are, allow yourself to see them for who they truly are, pay attention to the individual’s beliefs, values, aspirations, and more.
- Follow people on social media from various backgrounds and not just people from different races, genders, and ages, also those with different religious and political beliefs than you.
- Don’t debate your views.
- Understand their beliefs and why they have them.
- While having conversations with people you don’t really know
- Remember it’s not about you.
- Even if you find yourself having a hard time understanding another’s perspective, you can still respect them.
- Be an advocate for causes that don’t directly affect you, because you’re still supporting what will help someone else.
Overall, consider what it’s like to live in another’s daily life. When you find yourself judging less, assuming less, being annoyed less, and instead wanting to understand more, feel more, care more, determine solutions that will benefit the wellbeing of your employees more, then you’ll know you are practicing empathy. You are being an empathetic leader, and you are creating an environment where employees feel valued, safe, and consequently, happy to be there.
Author Bio
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Hailima I. Yates is the CEO/Founder at Luv Mrk. She is a Transformation Speaker, Mindset Coach and Author of the book, Dissolving the Anchor. Visit www.hiyates.com/ Connect Hailima I. Yates |
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