Empathy may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you consider useful skills for the workplace. However, empathy is a soft skill that can make all the difference when cultivating a thriving work environment. From relationships between colleagues to those built with customers, empathy is at the center of it all.
Without empathy, morale is easily lost, and employees and customers feel no sense of belonging or loyalty to the company. Here are a few ways that putting empathy into practice helps to build a healthy workplace.
Creating a Positive Culture
Empathy creates a culture that is encouraging and inclusive. Strong leaders are often seen as having qualities such as confidence, determination, and passion. However, leaders who display empathy gain more trust from their followers than those who don’t. Listening to and understanding employees and their needs builds their trust in the leadership, making for a happier team all around.
Fostering Community
Taking time to listen and understand each other helps bring teams closer together. By having an open space where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, feelings, and ideas, employees grow closer with each other. This creates better relationships within the workplace, and helps everyone work better together as a team. Additionally, this can help foster ongoing relationships outside of the workplace that can last for years to come.
Improving Customer Interactions
Especially when working in an industry such as claims and collections, displaying empathy is crucial to helping others feel understood. Customers in these industries may feel stressed or alarmed, especially if caught off guard. While there may be no way of getting around some of these difficult situations or conversations, approaching them with an attitude of understanding can make all the difference. Better customer interactions build more trust in your company, leading to more positive outcomes.
Boosting Cultural Awareness
Empathy is also important when it comes to getting along with colleagues who come from diverse backgrounds. Making the time and effort to understand someone with a different perspective is beneficial on many levels, helping your team stay open-minded and innovating while building closer relationships. All of this starts from a place of empathy and being able to put yourself in the shoes of others.
How to Encourage Empathy
Just like other soft skills, empathy may not come as easily to some as it does to others. Here are a few ways to encourage empathy in the workplace.
- Talk about empathy: Start having conversations around the idea of empathy. What does empathy mean for you and for others? How does this look when on display?
- Practice listening: Be open to hearing new perspectives and give others a chance to share their thoughts, especially those who may not often get the chance to share. It may also be beneficial to learn and practice listening skills as a team, including how to be an active listener.
- Encourage team building activities: Allowing employees to connect outside of the regular workday is a great way to encourage empathy. Team building activities are a great way to include everyone and make people feel valued not only as an employee but also as a person.
- Check in regularly: Don’t let empathy be a one-time conversation. Keep the conversation going by regularly talking about this topic with your team and having regular one-on-one conversations with individuals. These conversations allow room for concerns and questions to be brought up as you’re all working to foster a more inclusive environment.
Just like other skills, empathy can be learned but may take some time and practice. If this is an area you’re striving to work on with your team, start by having conversations and taking some of these practical steps. Empathy is not a one-and-done achievement, but rather something to continue to grow in and learn. Being aware of this skill can help you and your team have more positive interactions with each other and customers.