Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings and vulnerabilities of those around you. Having team members help and build each other up is a key attribute to building a strong and supportive team. As your business starts to expand and more team members onboard, exercising empathy is crucial. 

Whether you are focusing your efforts on building a better work environment this 2020, or you want to grow your client list, empathy is a great way to show your support for your team day-to-day. Research shows that over 60% of employees would take a pay cut to work at an empathetic company—evidence that investing in your employee’s well-being should be a priority for industry leaders.

On the flip side, showing empathy for your team doesn’t just happen overnight. There are small changes to be made for a long term impact on your team. 

3 Types of Empathy

As empathy in the workplace has various pros for your team and clients, it is best practiced after learning and understanding the different types of empathy. For instance, some empathy types are more uplifting while others require more boundaries to keep a healthy working environment. 

1. Cognitive Empathy

Also known as “perspective-taking,” this type of empathy focuses heavily on understanding one’s emotional state. This empathy type provides a comfortable and flexible company environment to help build your team’s ability, goals, and aspirations for growth. 

2. Emotional Empathy

This type of empathy is also known as “effective” or “primitive” empathy as it triggers an emotional feeling on a deeper level, affecting one personally. For instance, if someone got in trouble for a project gone wrong, you might develop fear over losing your job or making the same mistake. 

3. Compassionate Empathy

Compassionate empathy is the most actionable of all three. This involves seeing someone go through pain, experiencing it emotionally yourself, resulting in an instant desire to help. For instance, say an account executive isn’t meeting their goals that month and have been put on a performance plan. Compassionate workers will do everything in their power to help direct prospects to that team member, schedule additional educational meetings, or give sales directly to them.

Now that we know the different types of empathy that can be shown, Fundera has created a roadmap to practicing proper empathy in your workplace.