One of the most common phrases we’ve all heard in life is to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes”. Empathy is key to retaining employees. Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share one another’s feelings. Trying to feel for each other at work is crucial for an organization to succeed. There is no doubt that work can be tiring and stressful. But having an empathizing team will help you get through anything work throws at you. In the context of work, acknowledging and improving empathy decreases stress, builds positive relationships, and increases profit.
Benefits of Empathy
According to Indeed, “everyone has their own values, cultural understandings, backgrounds and perspectives that make them unique.” There are several benefits to empathy, such as improvement in communication, stronger working relationships, and better job interviews.
Improvement in Communication
Communication is key for any relationship to be successful. Giving someone your full, undivided attention shows you care about what they are going through, regardless of whether it’s personal or professional. Talking to each other allows you to vent out frustrations and, at the same time, share all the joys. Try not to interject soon after another person speaks. Take a minute to digest what the person says. It gives you a better chance of building a stable relationship with them.
Stronger Working Relationships
Clear and transparent communication results in a stronger working relationship. You want to build rapport with your teammates to earn their trust. Your teammates need to make sure that they can trust you. One surefire to achieve this is to have empathy for each other. Empathy shows that you respect your teammates and care about how they’re doing at work. This could be relatable to several scenarios, especially during group projects. You show empathy by supporting one another and working collaboratively towards common goals.
Better Job Interviews
When potential candidates come in for interviews, one of the things they enquire about is the company culture. Company culture entails the vision and mission statements of the company, which helps inform how employees work together towards common team goals. Candidates want to work in a positive and nurturing environment. Positive vibes are infectious. A happy employee results in them putting their best foot forward in their work. Positive work environments are also correlated with work relationships. It is important for employees to have a good relationship, not only with their teammates but also with their upper-level managers. This will make them feel good about going to work every day.
How to Show Empathy in Business
Follow the Platinum Rule
Empathy is one of the key aspects to happily coexisting with the employees in your organization. It is the ability to psychologically place oneself in another person’s shoes. According to Medium, one of the ways to encourage this is to follow the platinum rule – do unto others as they want to be done to them. In simpler terms, treat others the way they would like to be treated. Empathy helps create a positive work environment, encourage collaborations and prevent conflict at the workplace.
Listen to Your Employees
Sometimes all a person needs is to feel heard and validated. It doesn’t matter who’s listening. The point is that they have someone to talk to, whether it is a manager or a teammate. Employers always want feedback to make sure such team behavior and structure is productive for everyone involved. They want to know whether they are fulfilling their duties and responsibilities towards their employees. Feedback can help build a loyal and trustworthy relationship between managers and employees. Feedback should be genuine, constructive, and detailed enough to be actionable. Feedback should be given sooner rather than later so that the employee can breathe a sigh of relief and the employer can take timely action towards resolving any issues.
Understanding and Improving Team Relationships with PxidaEX
Employees want to be excited to come to work every day. But we all know that doesn’t always happen. Lucky for you, PxidaEX is a wonderful tool to gather actionable data and valuable feedback from your employees to take action towards the improvement of their work culture and environment. Try it out for yourself today with a free trial of PxidaEX!