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