Here's how you can enhance your empathy skills as a program manager.

Everyone we work with faces challenges and issues that span both their personal lives and work environments. As Program Managers, it's important to recognize and be sensitive to these realities, without prying into personal details. Managing and integrating the efforts of diverse teams demands that we are prepared to listen empathetically, ensuring team morale remains high and team members feel valued beyond their role as producers of work. When team members choose to share personal or work-related struggles, our role is not necessarily to offer unsolicited advice, but rather to actively listen and understand their perspective.

Enhancing empathy skills as a Program Manager can significantly improve team dynamics, stakeholder relationships, and overall project success. Here are several strategies to help you develop and enhance your empathy skills: 1. Active Listening 2. Understanding Perspectives 3. Building Personal Connections 4. Emotional Intelligence Development 5. Empathetic Communication 6. Conflict Resolution Skills 7. Cultural Sensitivity 8. Encouraging Inclusivity 9. Practicing Patience and Compassion 10. Feedback and Reflection 11. Continuous Learning 12. Modeling Empathy

Active listening is a key skill to have in your program manager tool belt. When joining a new team, I like to set up 1:1s with my team and all cross functional stakeholders. I get to know the person, let them know it is a safe space, and am intentional about getting all of their pain points documented. I do very little talking during those initial conversations. After the meetings take place I analyze the data, identify trends, organize it, and then gather the internal team to review. The outcome of the active listening becomes a catalyst for the team to align on actionable tasks with a goal to reduce the pressure of most problematic pain points. Bottom line: Everyone's voice in the room matters.

I love using a quick, easy retro after any big project or presentation. One of my favorites: Stop, Start, Continue. Stop: What must I stop doing to have a greater impact? Start: What can I start doing to have a greater impact on my communication and influence? Continue: What can I continue doing to have a greater impact on my non-verbal and written communication?

Reflective practice is a powerful tool for program managers aiming to enhance their empathy skills, crucial for effective team and project management. Reflective practice begins with self-awareness and mangers should consider situations from different viewpoints. Through reflection, managers learn from past interactions and decisions, fostering a continuous improvement mindset. By systematically reflecting on experiences, emotions, and interactions, one can cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves and their team members, fostering a more empathetic work environment.

An empathy mapping session is a great exercise for groups to “get inside the heads” of ‘users’. ?? So tart there; organise a simple workshop activity that can be done with stakeholders, marketing and sales, product development, or creative teams to build empathy ?? Get people and teams involved in the design and engineering of products, services, or experiences, or your programs. ?? If you involve stakeholders in empathy mapping sessions, PgMs can then better understand the desires and frustrations of stakeholders. Use this process to create program strategies that align with their values.. their expectations and their challenges… it’s should be about more ‘they’ and less ‘you’ ??