Empathy is the quality of character that can change the world. – Barack Obama
Empathy is critical for workplace wellbeing in today’s climate, particularly given the growing statistics of people across all industries reporting to suffer from some degree of mental illness or malaise.
Sometimes however, it remains something that we either ignore or avoid.
When I ask the question of why during my Inflection Points leadership programme, the four most common answers are:
– It takes up too much time
– I’m not aware of the moments where I could be empathetic
– I don’t have an answer or solution
– It makes me uncomfortable or I feel awkward
Consider this however:
– It takes far less time than having to deal with abseenteeism, presenteeism, recruiting or compromised performance
– Those moments pop up all the time – we just need to have our attention out and our focus on to be able to register them
– You don’t need to have one – you just need to draw on your own experiences. As Barack Obama also said, “Your experiences give you special insight. Tap into that, and it should endow you with empathy.”
– Just remind yourself it’s not about you, it’s about them. Be curious and use the moment to learn from seeing things from their perspective
Mick Dundee once famously said of problems that no-one needed a therapist in Walkabout Creek, they just tell Wal who tells everyone else and then it’s not a problem anymore.
I’m not recommending sharing other people’s problems to others as Wal did, but maybe it’s time we adopt a more casual approach around checking in on people and being open to exchanging concerns or issues with each other. Why not extend the great initiative and make every day an ‘RUOK day?’
For more on empathy, watch this great animated short by Brene Brown.