Why Is Empathy Important in the Workplace?

One of the most valuable skills to have in the workplace is empathy, which can help you better relate to your coworkers and clients. Knowing how to be empathic can help you improve communication with others and create great relationships, making for a positive workplace.

In this article, we define empathy, why it’s important and how to become more empathetic in the workplace.

What is empathy?

Empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s feelings and experiences. Being empathetic can allow you to understand someone else’s perspective, strengthen your ability to connect with others and develop a broader view of the world.

This also allows you to better understand that your actions impact other people, which can lead to more productive conversations, especially when interacting with people with different backgrounds and perspectives.

Why is empathy important in the workplace?

Each person has their own values, cultural understandings, backgrounds and perspectives that make them unique. You can use your ability to empathize and understand others when working on these types of teams. Here are other benefits to being empathetic at work:

1. It improves communication
2. It strengthens working relationships
3. It boosts creative thinking
4. It increases sales and investment opportunities
5. It enhances customer service
6. It impacts job interviews

1. Improves communication

When you practice empathy, you are better able to adapt your communication style to the person or group you are interacting with. You can adjust your tone of voice or body language to best fit the conversation, such as if you are giving a presentation or speaking with a supervisor.

2. Strengthens working relationships

You can become a better team member and collaborator when you use empathy. Try to understand your coworkers’ backgrounds and perspectives to?build rapport?and promote trust. Consider using active listening and words of encouragement when coworkers share their ideas.

3. Boosts creative thinking

When you use empathy in the workplace, you may also develop more creative solutions. As a team, your company may ask you to consider your audience’s perspective or the most important needs of your target customers. Using empathy can help you and your team members put yourselves in the customer’s place and think of strategies that would most appeal to you in that situation.

Understanding a product or service from the recipient’s point of view can help you identify challenges or opportunities you hadn’t thought of before and be more willing to experiment with new solutions.

4. Increases sales and investment opportunities

Empathy in the workplace can help you better understand the motivation of your current and future stakeholders, such as clients, customers and investors.

Investors may have differing motivations for choosing companies, so you can practice empathy by researching your potential investors. Discover their professional background to identify any similarities you may share. During your conversation, appeal to their knowledge and experience that likely impacts their decisions.

You can apply the same research tactics and discussion methods when securing contracts with new clients or updating old contracts with current clients. Research to discover what is important to them so you can appeal to their needs in your pitch. Identify potential challenges their company may face that your company can provide solutions to.

5. Enhances customer service

Having empathy can improve your customer service skills because you can anticipate their wants and needs. When a customer calls about an issue, they may be frustrated and want you to listen to them. By letting them tell you all the details before responding, you can show them you value what they have to say. Clients and coworkers that feel valued are more likely to be open to your suggestions.

6. Impacts job interviews

When you?have an interview?with a prospective employer, they are looking for the right candidate to fit their specific hiring needs. While you can read the job listing to understand what the role entails, you can also listen to them when they discuss why they need to fill the position and what expectations they have for the candidate they select.

For example, they may state how difficult it has been without having a receptionist for the past few months. You could say that you understand the need for someone to answer phone calls and greet visitors and then describe your experience completing those tasks and the effectiveness with which you did.

This strategy is just one small empathetic gesture that shows your understanding of the position’s value, especially to this employer, and can increase your chances of securing the position.

How to be more empathetic

There are several ways you can improve your empathetic skills in the workplace. Use these steps to develop your empathy at work:

1. Actively listen

You can practice empathy through active listening, which is listening to a speaker to understand their question or request before thinking of a response. This strategy enables you to focus only on the speaker’s needs to fully understand their feelings and perspective.

2. Personalize your communication

When you are aware of your specific audience, you can start to consider how to best communicate with them. You might, for example, change the vocabulary and words you use based on the expertise of your client or colleague. For example, you may use more industry terms when talking with a colleague but use simpler, more universal words when pitching to a client. If you’re able to, you may even speak a different language when interacting with coworkers or customers whose native language differs from yours.

3. Offer to help

Empathy can also help you understand and address your coworkers’ challenges, such as an increased workload or a personal matter. You can practice empathy by offering to help in any way you can. This gesture can show your team members that you are dedicated to ensuring the team’s success and will assist them to reach team goals.

4. Consider a different perspective

If your team encounters interpersonal conflict, use the discussions productively, and try to see the situation from other points of view. Once you understand their feelings, you may be able to better respond. If you have any confusion over their issues on a topic, you can ask clarifying questions. Clarifying your perspective can help them better relate to you.

5. Ask questions

Empathy is all about trying to understand a different perspective and often, it isn’t always as easy as just trying to imagine what they are feeling. Asking your coworker or client various questions about their needs, feelings and perspectives can help you better understand how to help them,

For example, if a customer asks you to find a specific product your company no longer offers, you may ask what purpose they need it for. This information can help you better understand their position and think of other products that can meet their specific needs.

6. Validate their feelings

Even if you do not entirely understand and agree with someone else’s perspective, you can practice empathy by ensuring that they know you think their feelings are important. Listen carefully to your coworker or client and then explain that you understand why this is a problem and that you are ready to assist. You practice empathy by acknowledging what they are experiencing, which can have a positive impact on the conversation.

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