 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
Empathy is an important concept that many leaders do not fully understand the significance of. In this episode, Jesse discusses why empathy is important in learning to lead and engage people, and he explains key skills to hone your sense of empathy:
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scoop.it!
Empathy used to sound to me like a weak word associated with touchy-feely concepts. But in recent years, I have come to understand that it is actually an incredibly powerful concept. If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things … 6 Reasons Empathetic Thinking Is Powerful for Leaders
by JESSE LAHEY
Scoop.it!
Maybe you were attracted to HR because you like helping people. Maybe you still get the warm fuzzies when you help solve problems or ease employees’ pain.
Scoop.it!
The benefits of amplifying empathy
Scoop.it!
Confronting someone doesn't have to be a defensive maneuver or a counterattack. A few words about empathyYou have to be clear. But there are two kinds of clarity. The first kind is easy: “I feel this way.” That’s clear, if somewhat unhelpful. The second kind involves a little more work: “I believe that you feel this way. But I feel this way.” That’s empathy. And empathy changes everything. The whole idea of any kind of conflict management is to understand why the person is doing what they’re doing that’s driving you crazy,” Brett says. “You can often solve the problem or learn to tolerate it or generate a work-around.” If you are a naturally empathetic person, please skip to the paragraph that starts with “Congratulations!” (Note: This paragraph does not exist.) If you are not a naturally empathetic person (like the author of this piece), let’s take a journey, shall we?
Scoop.it!
To be an effective leader, it is crucially important to be a good listener. To be a good listener, I mean a really good listener, there are three conditions that must be met according to Dr. Thomas Gordon. They are: acceptance, empathy, and genuineness. Dr. Gordon studied psychology with Carl Rogers, one of the most famous psychologists of all time. Rogers talked about unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence and Tom Gordon applied those concepts to non-therapeutic situations that were practical for parents, teachers, and managers... Empathy is the ability to understand the other person’s point of view - both the content and emotions. It does not mean that you have to have the same feelings or experience the same things or have had the same experience in the past. Have you ever heard someone say, “I know how you feel.” It is difficult not to be sarcastic or to respond defensively. “ No you don’t!” Or, how about, “I feel sorry for you.” Wow! How insulting “Can’t you do anything on your own? I need to do this for you as well?”
Scoop.it!
Practical tips for enhancing your empathy and other leadership qualities: 2. Ask yourself what you are feeling... 3. Listen with your entire nervous system... Empathy is s natural human function. You just need to pay attention and be willing to believe what you sense. Expand your empathy to strengthen all of your leadership qualities and conversations. by Marcia Reynolds
Scoop.it!
The ability to perceive and empathise with the emotions of others may be one of the most defining features of humanity. When we can perceive and empathise, we feel what they are feeling and can work together from this platform of understanding. "Our self comes to include the people we become close to," said the authors on a recent empathy study. "If a friend is under threat, it becomes the same as if we ourselves are under threat. We can understand the pain or difficulty they may be going through in the same way we understand our own pain." by Sarah Berry
Yeshe Dorje's curator insight,
April 14, 2015 1:17 PM
What libertarians often miss with their emphases on extreme individualism, we are human animals not robots. We live in communities and are social, more akin to Bonobos, not orangutangs.
Scoop.it!
Dealing with loss is extremely difficult, especially when it involves a loved one. Every individual has their own way of grieving, and the HR department must deal with it in the right manner. If treated with compassion, grieving employees could possibly bounce back with vigor. Conversely, being unsympathetic could lead to bitter feelings and resentment.
Scoop.it!
That system is far more intuitive, far more human in its essence, than any new trick or analytics tool. We’re talking about empathy—basic understanding and responsiveness to consumer need—which all competitive companies of the future will have to harness to sustain and drive up their market value. The empathy we’re advocating is a systematic, scalable approach. It’s not about retrofitting a so-called friendlier face on an old system or sticking suggestion boxes, virtual and otherwise, around your enterprise. It’s not just about training customer service representatives. It’s what we call thinking round instead of linear—not focusing so much on production lines and bottom lines as focusing every aspect of your products, services and systems on the consumer. The ones who drive the top line.
Scoop.it!
"Indi Young is an expert consultant in user experience, offering her services in empathy research, strategy, and redesign to organizations around the world. She has helped with digital applications, services, process design, and content strategy.
Indi is author of, Practical Empathy: For Collaboration and Creativity in Your Work. (Put in the promotion code "CULTURE" for a book discount on the Rosenfeld publisher website)
From the book forward. "Indi Young's book is a practical manual for practicing empathy, which is a skill, not an innate talent. Empathy is a mindset that can be learned and improved with practice. There are best practices, techniques, and tools that help you get your own ego out of the picture and focus on what things are like from another person's perspective. It is not easy to do really well, but it is worth doing really well! And Indi's book shows you how to do it. Practical Empathy offers advice on how to practice an empathetic mindset toward other people involved in the conception, design, or implementation of a product."
Scoop.it!
As a business leader, here are some ways to harness empathy and make it your superpower, too: 2. Use empathy to become mission-driven....3. Use empathy to inspire loyalty....4. Use empathy as a your default communication tool....
Tania Tytherleigh's curator insight,
March 1, 2015 3:42 AM
Another word for connection - empathy. Use it to become a great leader.
Scoop.it!
full post http://facebook.com/EmpathyCenter/posts/937212546323408 I set up the empathy tent yesterday in downtown Berkeley and hope to set up again tomorrow.
I talked to 50 people or more. Handed out a couple hundred flyers, started wearing the empathy t-shirt that David Hazen made. We now need to start expanding the empathic space and make it more engaging and inviting. I can only carry the tent, so we need more people involved to bring chairs, etc. to fill in the space.
Warmly
|
Scoop.it!
by JESSE LAHE As you probably already know, yawns are contagious. Right now, the image below is causing many of you to feel the need to yawn. This even works with animals. A study by the University of London observed that 21 of 29 dogs yawned when a stranger yawned in front of them. Why? The answer is in what science refers to as “mirror neurons” or “empathy neurons.” As a result of mirror neurons, we literally mirror each other in corresponding regions of our brain. If a scientist hooked the two of us up to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, when I yawn, the same regions of the brain would light up in both of us. Mirror neurons don’t just involve actions like yawning. They affect thoughts and feelings as well. For leaders, this is huge. Understanding this is one of the keys that separate a traditional leader from a 21st century engager.
Scoop.it!
While the idea has previous been labeled "touchy-feely" and quickly discarded, creating an emotionally positive work culture can boast big benefits for both customers and employees, according to a new study from researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the George Mason University School of Business. They found a clear, positive correlation between compassionate behavior, work satisfaction and company success. Their results were recently published in the journal Administrative Science Quarterly. In the study, researchers Sigal Barsade and Olivia O’Neill focused on exploring the idea of a compassionate love culture, which they describe as the following in their report:
Scoop.it!
In the medical industry, there is no underestimating the need for empathy from your staff. With patient care as a prime directive, employees in healthcare need to provide a sense of care and understanding to what are essentially their customers. But how do you know whether or not a job candidate boasts empathy as a soft skill?
The Interview is the Best Place to screen for Empathy
Scoop.it!
From
www
The Lady Geek Empathy Index lists the ten companies best at using the 140-character medium to their advantage by creating an emotional connection; reassuring their customers, investors and employees; and doing it all with an authentic voice.
Scoop.it!
Do situations arise at work that confuse the way you relate professionally and personally with your colleagues? Have you ever listened to a colleague who felt upset about a problem and then felt uncomfortable about giving them feedback about their performance?... Empathic leadership means we consider the needs of those who will be impacted by our decisions and wherever possible, we include these people in the decision making process. This action requires skill, courage, compassion, focus and determination.
Scoop.it!
Empathy "is the visceral or emotional experience of another person's feelings," according to Seppala. "Though the concept of empathy might contradict the modern concept of a traditional workplace -- competitive, cutthroat and with employees climbing over each other to reach the top -- the reality is that for business leaders to experience success, they need to not just see or hear the activity around them, but also relate to the people they serve," wrote Jason Boyer, in "Forbes." (Boyer is an Ashoka Social Entrepreneur, which is a "global network of world-changing social entrepreneurs.")
Scoop.it!
Inc. BY NATALIE NIXON Well, it turns out that one of your roles as a business owner/leader is to be a problem solver. I turn here to the value of design thinking, which is a problem solving process that starts with an empathetic stance by asking "What problem am I solving for my customer?" Design thinking borrows from the way designers problem-solve to innovate tangible objects, and applies that process to the design of services, experiences and processes. The etymology of 'empathy', is from the Greek 'affection' and the 'ability to suffer with another'. What customer doesn't want that?! Starting with empathy could be the saving grace to your business...
Scoop.it!
Customer engagement efforts need to begin with empathy if companies want to drive higher user adoption, increased renewal rates, and customer success. A lot of great things have been written about how to cultivate customer engagement. But I think the why of customer engagement is lacking the same attention, as in, why customer engagement is important—beyond metrics, and even beyond the bottom line. That’s why I’d like to make the business case for empathy. Empathy can be defined as putting yourself in another person’s shoes. It’s a way of creating relationships by seeing the world through somebody else’s eyes. Empathy in the business world is gaining traction as a way to discuss interoffice relationships and leadership skills. But the conversation hasn’t shifted to the customer-business relationship, perhaps with the exception of customer journey mapping (at least, the customer journey maps that really take into consideration the motivations and barriers customers face). I’d like to argue that, for customer engagement to succeed, it has to begin with empathy. By: MATTHEW BERGER
Miklos Szilagyi's curator insight,
March 27, 2015 3:20 AM
It's soooo good that it needs repeating (and it's valid a far wider area than customer relationship management...): “Business is always personal. It’s the most personal thing in the world.” 
Donn DeBoard's curator insight,
June 9, 2015 10:03 PM
Great quote: "Business is intensely personal." Customer engagement is rooted in empathy for our customers.
Scoop.it!
Empathy has overtaken more traditional business skills to become the most important requirement for leadership success, according to Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch.
Empathy is now the single most important skill when you get to the top of an organisation. It means you can frame opportunity and challenge in the right way.
Scoop.it!
A 16-month longitudinal study at a long-term health care facility with 185 employees, 108 patients, and 42 of the patients' family members was conducted to test how the employees treated the patients and families versus their colleagues. The researchers found that there was lower absenteeism and employee burnout, as well as higher levels of employee engagement with their work with greater teamwork and employee satisfaction. In addition, the culture of compassion spread to patients and their families. Then, to see if the same positive results would be found in industries such as real estate, finance, and public utilities, they performed a second study involving 3,201 employees in seven different industries. Again, a greater culture of compassion in the workplace led to greater work satisfaction, commitment, and accountability. ...What steps can we take to develop or increase a compassionate workplace? 1. Try a morning ritual where you literally set a positive tone for your day.... 2. Look for what you have in common with others today. ... 3. Practice intentional, but random, acts of kindness... 4. Start a gratitude journal where each day you write three new things you are grateful for at work.... 5. Each night write about your day....
Scoop.it!
Connecting with customers enables growth in any industry. But where many brands go wrong is in thinking that social media “likes” equal connection. It’s not about “likes” – it’s about understanding. Only through understanding can companies create meaningful connections with their customers, or in the healthcare industry, their patients. So what does that look like? In a word: Empathy. Empathy in Action... Why Empathy Matters...
Empathy opens doors... Empathy builds relationships...
|
