The Vital Role of 'Empathy' in Organizations

While all of my previous articles I published have predominately been on various topic areas of Risk Management, I am writing today on a topic that I find as often overlooked & which I find has emerged as one of the most vital for organizational success that plays a critical role towards organizational development and productivity. This is about the topic of Empathy and no risk management strategy can succeed without an empathic organizational culture. Let's start to examine firstly the concept of 'Empathy' and to also see how it differs from the concept of 'Sympathy'.

Empathy usually refers to the ability to perceive and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or experiences of others. Those with high levels of empathy are skilled at understanding a situation from another person’s perspective and reacting with compassion. Empathy in the context of the workplace simply means that your people are able to establish true, empathetic connections with one another that enhance relationships and performance.

In understanding the key difference between sympathy and empathy,?as the 2 are often confused, it's important to draw the distinction between the two.

• Sympathy?is typically defined by feelings of pity for another person, without really understanding what it’s like to be in their situation.
• Empathy, on the other hand, refers to the capacity or ability to imagine oneself in the situation of another, experiencing the emotions, ideas, or opinions of that person.

At the individual level, empathy helps us respond appropriately in social situations, build social connections, support emotional regulation, and encourage us to help others. At a more broad level, organizational empathy has been characterized both as the collective capacity of an organization to demonstrate empathy to all stakeholders as well as a commitment by the organization to develop a deep understanding of the needs of its customers.

According to expert opinion, there are three basic elements of organizational empathy. These are:

1.??Transparency.

No one wants to think secrets are being kept from them or that information is being deliberately withheld. Keeping people updates with what is happening within the organization and share news with them helps employees feel involved and valued, which helps drive interest.

2.??Communication.

Frank & open communication is the key to understanding. This implies that employees should feel comfortable speaking to their leaders about their concerns and opinions. They should never have to worry about the consequences of being honest.

3.?Trust.

In this case, trust applies specifically to the entire organization. It isn’t enough that senior staff are transparent and have open communication and it must extend to every single employee.

So what specific steps should you take to ensure you’re utilizing these three elements when driving change?Organizational empathy - Its Significance Today

Organizational empathy is moving beyond a “customer-centric” focus to prioritize on employee expectations, in recognition that this is needed to drive business success. It focuses on the capability of an organization to demonstrate empathy towards all stakeholders as well as a commitment to develop a greater understanding of the needs of everyone involved.

With employee distress – anxiety, health complications, mental health issues, financial woes ? at an all-time high due to the?pandemic, embedding empathy in the organizational culture, interactions, and processes has become crucial. Furthermore, many employees have witnessed first-hand how their organizations have failed to provide a personalized humane approach during their hour of need.

Organizations centered on empathy continuously and effectively listen to what their employees and clients have to say, which enables them to proactively predict and solve problems while innovating. Employees who experience compassion from their leaders report higher engagement as compared to those who experience less?compassion. Strategic, operational, and technical excellence are critical to achieve organizational success. However, right at the intersection of it all is the need for care, consideration, and empathy for the employees who make this possible. Studies on organizational change show that leaders across the board agree that if you want to lead a successful transformation, communicating empathetically is critical.

Leaders can demonstrate empathy in two ways. First, they can consider someone else’s thoughts through cognitive empathy (“If I were in his/her position, what would I be thinking right now?”). Leaders can also focus on a person’s feelings using emotional empathy (“Being in his/her position would make me feel ___”). But leaders will be most successful not just when they personally consider others, but when they express their concerns and inquire about challenges directly, and then listen to employees’ responses.

“Be not disturbed at being misunderstood;

be disturbed rather at not being understanding.”?

~ Chinese Proverb

According to the 2019 State of the Workplace Empathy Study,”?reported on HR Dive “92% of CEOs believe their organization is empathetic, while only 72% of workers agree.”According to influential psychologist Daniel Goleman, empathy is one of the five key components of emotional intelligence - a vital leadership skill. It develops through three stages: cognitive empathy, emotional empathy and compassionate empathy. Here, I'll briefly define these 3 stages:

Cognitive Empathy

Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand what another person might be thinking or feeling. It need not involve any emotional engagement by the observer.

Emotional Empathy

Emotional empathy is the ability to share the feelings of another person, and so to understand that person on a deeper level.

Compassionate Empathy

Compassionate empathy is the most active form of empathy. It involves not only having concern for another person, and sharing their emotional pain, but also taking practical steps to reduce it.

Building empathy

Empathy is a skill and cannot be faked. It’s a mindset, a culture, and the core of a healthy organization. Empathy should be a driving force that envelops all activities inside an organization, whether or not it’s customer-facing. Empathy starts with listening, understanding, and anticipating the needs of another. In customer service, this means putting yourself in the shoes of the customer and seeing the issue from their point of view. Empathy is anticipating what the wants and needs are of the customer at a specific moment within their journey. Then, it is all about delivering on these wants and needs by creating a positive and friction free experience.?Being empathetic does not imply that one is obliged to agree with a person—it simply means understanding the point of view being presented. And unlike sympathy, in which you may feel sorrow or pity the customer’s situation, empathy reduces the distance between two parties building upon respect and trust.

Concluding Remarks & The Way Forward

The Covid-19 crisis and its after effects have impacted people in ways we have yet to understand fully. The work environment has a massive impact on employees’ lives beyond day-to-day responsibilities and their employer’s bottom line. Remote work has dramatically blurred the line between personal and work life. To attract and retain talent, managers need to lead with empathy. Employees who feel valued and can achieve work-life balance are more willing to challenge themselves to provide better results.?On the surface, it may seem that people may be quitting their jobs for different reasons but underneath many of these reasons is usually a common denominator which is that people have been feeling there is a but a general lack of empathy and compassion that underlies the culture at many organizations. This lack of compassion leads organizations to forget, or fail to understand, that employees are human beings, and that human beings?are not wired for so much unrelenting stress and uncertainty.

The unrelenting stress and uncertainty continues to keep many people in situations where they need a lot of flexibility with work. However, people’s individual circumstances vary, so flexibility can mean different things and it’s not just a matter of letting people work from home indefinitely. As we saw in the later stages of the pandemic, many people realized that they?actually did not prefer?working from home.

The COVID-19 pandemic tested every management and organizational structure worldwide, with quarantines, social distancing, and remote learning and working becoming part of the new normal. While the pandemic has been the ultimate test of our ability to adapt and change, empathy could be one of the biggest lessons we take from it. With it, we can create more trusting and compassionate relationships, especially in the workplace.