Not only does empathy come with some serious, science-backed mental and physical health benefits, it can also make our work lives more enjoyable and more productive. We spoke with two empathy experts on how, exactly, we can harness the power of empathy to improve our productivity.
It can help explain changes in behavior, allowing you to course-correct
Helen Riess, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of The Empathy Effect: Seven Neuroscience-Based Keys for Transforming the Way We Live, Love, Work, and Connect Across Differences
- By using a lens of empathy, managers can pinpoint their specific productivity issues and figure out how to deal with it to ensure that the employee is thriving in their position
Decrease misunderstandings and conflicts
Using empathy as a way of understanding emotions and motivations can help
- When we demonstrate that we’re taking the time and energy to understand our colleague’s challenges or perspectives on something, it may help to de-escalate situations that may otherwise have gotten heated, taking away from the productivity at their workplace
It helps us give & receive feedback more effectively
One way to incorporate empathy into giving feedback is to start with a question like, “How do you think things are going?”
- This may allow someone to open up about an area in which they’re struggling, which may be hurting their productivity.
- Another option is to ask a person how they’d prefer to receive feedback
