Why does Empathy Stop at Work
don’t take it personal
it’s just business why don’t you leave
your emotions
out the door you got to learn how to
separate work
and life who do all of these remind you
of
i don’t mean to call anybody out but if
there is one thing i want to argue it’s
that businesses are like us
they’re like people too now as a social
media strategist
i work with many small and medium
businesses across different industries
and let me tell you these corporate
decisions they make
they are based on human feelings as well
therefore it doesn’t really make sense
to separate the entity of a business
and human connection now in both cases
we tend to compare
ourselves in the field as we grow the
focus shifts from
qualitative aspects to a more
quantitative approach
now the consequences to this in a human
sense is that leaders start losing sight
of what is important
i usually start asking my clients in my
initial
meetings what does success mean to you
and this is what i noticed their
responses range
from a high amount of vanity metrics
like likes
and engagements to an aggressive amount
of sales
more revenue and an increase in the
number of clientele
fair enough the easiest way for
everybody to measure success is through
quantifiable measures
now notice how this is very similar to
how many of us measure our success at an
individual level
the amount of money that we make
the value of our material possessions
and the amount of square feet we want to
have in our future home
now i encourage leaders to bring
yourselves back to that first day
you launched your business and generated
that idea
and remember these ethics you built your
company around
in the beginning you started with a
small team whom you work with really
closely
you spent countless hours together
working with these same people working
tirelessly
as they help you achieve your dream
this creates closeness between everyone
feeling more like a
then this causes also an increase in
pressure to meet results
and consumer demands
now although your business is expanding
leaders start to lose sight of all of
these connections they have around them
personally i have been a part of many
meetings when the sole focus of the
discussion was
my output how much revenue i brought
and how fast i worked and over the past
few years i realized that whenever i met
and exceeded these expectations they
were quickly met
with a monetary reward and a comment
it felt like my self-worth was tied to
my output making me feel so uninspired
to do my work
share my feelings and just be my
authentic self in the workplace
but why is this
it is because we all have emotional
blind spots
social and emotional differences that
make us unaware of how
other people feel and it is because of
these emotional blind spots that make us
all unaware of what is important
now at the end of the day money will
still be money
however your team your colleagues and
your employees
they are all the most valuable assets of
your company and are the real
contributors to your business’s success
and if you start prioritizing all of
them the numbers will surely follow
now the importance of having a safe and
open workspace is
often overlooked especially by large
organizations distracted by numbers and
results
and yes all of these components are
pivotal to your company’s success
however there must be a balance between
all of them we are all aware of the
concept of empathy
it is imagining yourself in someone
else’s skin
feeling what they feel and seeing
yourself and the world
from their point of view and i believe
that many businesses
often do not practice empathy
however we need to start thinking
and talking about it
why is it when someone doesn’t perform
well at work
we are so quick to judge and react but
when we are in a relationship
with a loved one who might mess up we
don’t just break the relationship right
away
we take a step back pause and ask them
what is wrong
now i understand not all higher-ups have
the time to deal with
everybody’s personal problems but the
issue that i’m trying to address here
is to have the option of creating these
open conversations
especially if you notice that someone’s
life outside of work
is affecting their performance at work
because these open conversations can be
opportunities to create
one-on-one meetings workshops and
personal discussions to figure
all of these routes out now workplace
relationships are to be work appropriate
and professional however these mental
check-ins are not only important for
your team
but for your whole company as well
because
at the end of the day where would
leaders be without their team
now this is important because someday
many of us will open our own businesses
while many others will hold leadership
positions
in multiple organizations and as leaders
of the future
we must accept the responsibility to
watch out for those
who we lead we must all contribute to a
safe
and open workspace where everyone feels
heard
and understood and by practicing empathy
and leadership we all need to understand
that everyone’s feelings matter just as
much as our own thank you