What is empathy and why should i care?

The ability to understand another person’s thoughts and feelings from their point of view, rather than your own.

It is not sympathy which is where you are moved by the thoughts and feelings of another. With Empathy, you maintain emotional distance from the situation. In doing so you observe, reflect and listen to the needs of another and are then able to turn these observations into action, which is where Compassion comes in.

Compassion is what motivates you to take action to relieve physical, emotional, or mental pain of others and of ourselves. It is the fire that comes from the spark of Empathy and the driver to create change.

We have been conditioned in well-meaning ways that can make it harder for us to understand what Empathy really is. Such as being told that one way to help someone is to do what you would do in a given situation, when actually, you should try to understand what they might want to do in a given situation. What feels good for us is not necessarily what feels good for others.

We have also been told that there is no place for Empathy in certain contexts such as the workplace, meaning that we don’t always see the positive impact of empathetic and compassionate behaviors on business goals.  Empathy involves a great deal of curiosity (asking considered questions) and listening carefully (listening to hear). You can see how Empathy is a critical tool for delivering effective business strategies that are built on well thought out decisions that take into account an array of ideas and are built on reflection rather than pre-conditioned strategies that have long since expired in relevance.

This is why you should care about Empathy.

More to come in coming months on the importance of Empathy in relation to leadership, DE&I strategy and awareness of self and others.

Feeling inspired to share your thoughts? Email me: katie@beinghumanwell.com