Essay on Empathy in the Workplace

Ideally, empathy involves one’s ability to relate as well as experience emotions and thoughts of other individuals one is working together or living with. In addition, there is a difference between sympathy and empathy because some people are not in a position to differentiate the two (Hess 220). When one is empathetic he or she can understand as well as offer support to others in a compassionate manner.

Notably, empathy is one’s ability to step into another person’s shoes and being aware of the other person’s feelings as well as understanding the needs of the individual. Therefore, at the place of work empathy enables one to have respect for other persons one is working with as well as showing the co-workers that you care about them as opposed to abiding by the rules and regulations at the workplace. Notably, empathetic leadership makes everyone feel that they belong to a certain team and leads to an increase in morale, loyalty as well as productivity (Hess 220). Therefore, empathy is an important tool in the belt of the leadership of a respected as well as well-liked executive.

Types of empathy

Emotional empathy involves the ability of one being in a position of sharing his or her emotions with the emotions of other people. For instance, when one sees the other person is in a happy mood, the person reciprocates by being happy too. Cognitive empathy involves the ability to have an understanding of what a certain individual is thinking as well as feeling or being in a position of seeking the perspective of the other person (Hess 225). Compassionate empathy involves understanding the feelings of the other person and going ahead to take action on the feelings, for instance, one can offer him or herself and take coffee to a person who has a morning presentation.

How empathy can improve or affect a job

Each worker has his or her background, values, perspectives as well as cultural understandings which makes them unique in one way or another. A leader can use his or her ability to understand as well as empathize with other coworkers when they are working with various types of teams.

Improvement of communication

By using empathy one is in a position of adopting a certain style of communication to a worker as well as a group that they are interacting with. Empathy, allows someone to adjust his or her tone as well as the body language so that they can fit in a certain conversation especially when one is presenting something or when addressing a supervisor (Ganegoda 776). For instance, one can use certain terms as well as the jargon of a particular industry when talking to their fellow employees and use universal words too when dealing with a certain client.

Additionally, one can speak a different language with various coworkers as well as customers who have a differing native language.

Empathy makes work relationships to be strong

By use of empathy, one becomes a better member of a team as well as a collaborator because one can understand the background of the co-workers as well as have perspectives that promote trust. On the other hand, empathy enables one to understand as well as address the challenges of the coworkers, for instance, an increase in workload as well as can address a personal matter. One can practice empathy by offering himself or herself to help a fellow employee in a certain way that they can.

Empathy leads to an increase in both sales as well as investment opportunities

Ideally, empathy, when practiced in the workplace, helps one to understand the motivation of the current stakeholders as well as future stakeholders who include customers, investors, and clients. Notably, most of the investors have motivations that differ in one way or another while choosing companies in which they want to invest their money. When one practices empathy they can research the potential of investors. Through the acts of empathy, one can discover the professional background and go-ahead to identify some of the similarities that they may share with the potential investors (Ganegoda 776). When one is interacting with the investors they are in a position to appeal to the investors’ knowledge as well as experience which impacts the decisions of the investor. On the other hand, one can impact similar tactics of research as well as methods of discussion when they are securing contracts with new clients as well as when they are updating old contracts with the existing clients.

Conclusion

When leaders of organizations use empathy they can perform better in their positions and help to differentiate average leaders from mediocre leaders. The distinction is as a result of a leader who works against numerous odds and incorporates attitudes of empathy during his tenure in the organization they work. Notably, when leaders spend their extra time identifying the needs of the employees, the leaders can be in a position to set the tone as well as an approach which employees take and they can achieve the goals of the organization. Empathy generally, plays a huge role in the place of work for every organization which deals with failures of the employees, poor performance as well as employees who want success.

Works cited

Hess, Justin L., Johannes Strobel, and Rui Pan. “Voices from the workplace: practitioners’ perspectives on the role of empathy and care within engineering.” Engineering Studies 8.3 (2016): 212-242.

Ganegoda, Deshani B., and Prashant Bordia. “I can be happy for you, but not all the time: A contingency model of envy and positive empathy in the workplace.” Journal of Applied Psychology 104.6 (2019): 776.