Empathy and Developing Interpersonal Skills

The word “empathy” was first used in the meaning of “in-feeling”, i. e., projecting one’s own imagined feelings and movements onto objects, not in the meaning of understanding another person’s feelings, as it is used at present. So, the word “empathy” meant nearly the opposite at the beginning of the XX century. Empathy means seeing, hearing and understanding the way others do.

Can empathy be developed or is it inherited? The research conducted by scientists showed empathy to be partly inherited, and the researchers came to the conclusion that women are usually more empathetic than men. Empathy consists of two parts: understanding and recognizing somebody’s feelings and the ability to react with a corresponding emotion. It is a strong feeling and ability that lets people understand the other’s thoughts and experiences, leading to a good relationship and improving communication with other people.

Empathy in the workplace is very important for a friendly environment among employees. Being empathetic at work, whether you are an employer or an employee, leads to strengthening working relationships and promoting trust among co-workers. Good leaders are required to have a number of skills, including the ability to create a happy, friendly environment in the workplace, making employees come to work with great pleasure knowing that they are understood and the workplace is inclusive. Thus, happy staff do the job better, as empathy contributes to positive results.

Scientists have already proven empathy to be inborn, but it does not mean it cannot be developed at all. Of course, inborn feelings are much stronger than created ones. But it is better to have something rather than nothing. Leading a group, a family, a political party, a company or a country requires a lot of abilities, skills and talent. Leaders should understand their employees and be empathetic to them, as empathy contributes to positive relationships and organizational cultures, as well as good performance, and they have to develop empathy by demonstrating it themselves. Even some indifferent and selfish people who do not care about their surroundings will try to be empathetic, some of them for keeping their jobs and pleasing supervisors, but some will do it as they appreciate their leader and try to reflect his/her character.

A number of studies have shown that the outcomes in the workplace mostly depend on a friendly and helpful environment at work, and a good employee-employer relationship created by understanding, i.e., empathy. When employees experience misunderstandings, rudeness and problems, they are sad, irritable, and cannot concentrate. It takes a longer time to complete tasks and the results are not good enough.

Both leaders and employers have to practice empathy by listening, asking questions, avoiding judgements and recognising feelings. They have to take time to speak, avoid judging and express empathy, demonstrating that they understand and feel everything as if they are experiencing the same problem. Empathy is the value that avoids a gap between an employer and an employee.

FCHAIN Corporation Management is empathetic to the employees as they know empathy is one of the musts for the company’s values and they try to develop understanding, empathy and respect among employees. Empathy or understanding of other people’s feelings and thoughts creates trust and confidence among them, and the management tries to give a chance to the staff not only to study new skills and abilities at the company but also to learn empathy and understanding as well. A happy staff member will perform their duties correspondingly and the results will be better than expected. The company has a strategy: an employer and employees depend on each other, and the teamwork depends on them, but the results of the work depend on the employer, the employees and their relationship. Thus, the company tries to cultivate empathy at work, knowing it to have a positive influence on work. The empathetic team of Financial Chain Corporation can understand the requirements of the clients easily and tries to develop more creative solutions, offering them the needed opportunities. They make the client-companies understand their priority to provide services contributing to the development and growth of their businesses. The employees understand empathy and understanding to build trust and confidence not only with the FCHAIN family but with the client-companies as well.

“Without empathy, it is not possible to get the best from your team, so for this reason it is the key to everything” Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft