[Infographic] 20 Ways to Improve Empathy at Work

Showing empathy at work is an essential skill. You need to be empathetic to both your colleagues and customers.

As a manager, you can increase employee loyalty and engagement by being empathic. According to the Businessolver Workplace Empathy Monitor survey, 80% of employees would be willing to work longer hours for an employer they view as empathetic.

Displaying empathy and compassion to customers is important too. The same Businessolver survey also found that 42% of consumers would not buy from a company that they don’t feel is empathic.

Unfortunately, improving empathy isn’t as simple as saying you’re going to be more empathic. Empathy is a skill that needs to be practiced and honed. But it can be difficult to practice empathy at work because there are factors in the office environment that can act as empathy blockers. These blockers include:

Distractions, stress, and being busy.
Having “social distance” from your co-workers or customers.
Being frustrated and annoyed.

However, regardless of the empathy blockers inherent with the workplace you still need to find a way to try to be empathic. Apathy is much easier than empathy, but scientists have found that 98% of us are born with the ability to be empathetic – it just takes persistence.

GetCRM has put together a visual that offers tips for boosting empathy. These tips include:

Engaging in deep conversations.
Reading more books.
Identifying your own personal biases.
And more.

You must work at being more empathetic, but these tips can help you move in the right direction.

Improving your empathy at work will help you build better relationships, which will help you be more effective in customer service and well-liked at your office.

There are a variety of ways you can show empathy in the workplace. Actively practice some of these techniques and you will come across as empathetic.

Listen – don’t interrupt during meetings to make your point, be patient and listen to others.
Smile more – non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal, and simply smiling more around the office will make you seem more pleasant and approachable.
Use people’s names – speaking another person’s name will instantly make your communication more personal and human.
Ask more questions – asking questions will help you better understand others’ thoughts and actions, allowing you to be more empathic.

Check out the infographic below to learn more about how you can boost your empathy at work.